Hi All -

I'm new to the forums and to Descent (sort of). I've been collecting everything that has come out for the game but haven't had the opportunity to play more than a couple of "starter" games to get familiar with the rules. I've wanted to play a real campaign but finding consistent players with consistent schedules has been challenging.

Well, that being said, we have our party of adventurers and are ready to delve into the Dark but, having accumulated so many great expansions I'm not sure where to begin.

Should we just stick with the base game and characters ?

Or be able to select from all characters, monsters and expansions ? That seems overwhelming.

Should I use the RTL app and let it randomize the game with all I have ?

Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions !

Hi All -

I'm new to the forums and to Descent (sort of). I've been collecting everything that has come out for the game but haven't had the opportunity to play more than a couple of "starter" games to get familiar with the rules. I've wanted to play a real campaign but finding consistent players with consistent schedules has been challenging.

Well, that being said, we have our party of adventurers and are ready to delve into the Dark but, having accumulated so many great expansions I'm not sure where to begin.

Should we just stick with the base game and characters ?

Or be able to select from all characters, monsters and expansions ? That seems overwhelming.

Should I use the RTL app and let it randomize the game with all I have ?

Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions !

Half a year ago, I was in a very similar position. My group opted for using base game heroes and classes and decided to go for the Shadow Rune campaign first. The thinking was that we get familiar with the system and play all the other full and mini campaigns afterwards, adding more and more components on the way. Little did we know ...

We completely underestimated the time it would take us to finish The Shadow Rune. We have been playing approximately 4 hours every forthnight. Half a year later, next Monday, we will finally be playing the last quest. I have to say that the team composition changed a couple of times in between, because of people dropping out and new people joining, which usually eats up some time. In addition, some people in the group are notorious over-analysers, so in the first couple of sessions, a hero turn could take up to 40 min. Most of the times we only managed to get a single encounter done in one session! So we finally decided to add a time-limit for turns (10 min heroes, 10 min overlord, no limit for first turn in an encounter) and this works really well.

As the overlord was at the verge at getting steamrolled by the heroes we allowed the overlord to add a plot deck and more monsters at some stage of the campaign. This helped a lot to keep the game interesting and even challenging for the heroes. Heroes got shop items from 2 expansions shuffeled into their shop decks, although, I think, the variety in the base game is good enough for a full play-through of a campaign

The introductory quest of Shadow Rune is a great tutorial. Having played a couple quests of the Heirs of Blood and Shadow of Nerekhall campaigns with other groups in parallel, I think, that the relatively simple mechanics in Shadow Rune are great for starting Descent. After adding a little help for the overlord the balance is fine. Although most people think that the Shadow Rune is an inferior campaign compared to other two I mentioned, I am really very happy that we started with this. Starting with another campaign and then going back to Shadow Rune would not have worked as well.

The group also played a couple of RtL quests in between but only after we already were familiar with the core rules of descent. RtL is quite different in many aspects. I love the competitive character of the standard game, so RtL is not really my thing if I have the other option. For you it might be the other way around. I suggest starting with standard, to get the rules down and then try RtL after one or two sessions. See what your group likes better. Keep in mind that standard supports up to 5 players, RtL up to 4 players.

Last suggestion for the first session: Descent is a game of rules. Before starting this fantastic experience, at least one member of the group needs to read the core rulebook very carefully. You should also get a print out of the most recent errata and read it. The next day, read those again very carefully. Your group will still make many mistakes. Do not worry, keep on going, using resources here and at BGG to help you along your way. Most importantly: Have fun on this great journey!

Hi! Welcome, hope you'll find this game as addictive and awesome as I have!

I see and understand your problem as I have similar experience and so on.

I really have only gotten to have one single group to be able to play the main campaign with, other than that I've gotten random groups multiple sessions.

If you have one game night I suggest using the RTL app!

This will make many things more simple for you. It keeps track of everything you need and the first campaign is relatively short but still in several steps so it's pretty perfect for one session to finish!

It randomizes items in the market for players to buy so they just pick and chose from what is randomized.

I understand the problem of having overwhelming content that might scare new players instead of having just the base game. This is where the app seems the most smooth.

Playing epic or expert rules is a HUGE pain in the butt even for players that know what pretty much everything does and it's not something I think I'll ever play much of.

Thank you all for the advice. You make some excellent points. Thanks !!

I'm currently in a very similar boat myself and was happy to see this had good comments about the situation. I love this game and have often found myself playing a full campaign by myself when none of my gaming friends are available (I work 7-on, 7-off, so plenty of spare time.) I've been running four heroes as well as the overlord and trying to outwit myself every quest.

So far, I've had a few runs with people at the local game shop, but haven't solidified a group yet. Here's hoping!