We did a test run of Descent so that we can learn the rules. being used to D&D, my players wanted to optimize their starting skills and choose what character they wanted. since this was just a test run without using the Overlord Cards I allowed it but the players are begging to be able to do this on a normal basis because nearly got killed.

I told them they can but its a crippling blow to the overlord so I'm going to do something to re-tip the scales.

Whats the most appropriate advantage to give the overlord in this situation?

I'm thinking about either taking away their treasure boxes so that they can only buy them at the town. or outright taking away their portals so that they have to walk back to the town, or making pay a cost to use the portals.

As a side note I'm worried that one of my players is just afraid of dying/losing/confrontation. After the game when I said that If they want to optimize their characters I'd give the overlord a big advantage so they arent impossibly hard to kill, she stated that she would rather the Overlord would DM to make an interesting game rather than try to kill the players. I also got Descent because only the males in the group liked the heavy PVP style of the game we were playing before so I wanted to get something that could co-op.

This is also after a quest with no overlord cards, not using the monster's surges, attacking once when they don't move, and the players killing most monsters with one hit, most monsters not being able to scratch the players, the boss monster dying with one round of damage. All of that and she was still voicing the concern that the game seemed 'hard'.

I'm just not sure how to handle this sentiment. I can understand optimizing a character so that you don't have nothing but bad abilities but breezing through the game is not interesting, so I'm getting the feeling that she doesn't want to play a game so much as just experience the setting and hit things without real conflict.

my group discussed characters roles and house rules. However since we were all new to the game we decided that we should play it as it was meant to be played for a handful of games, before we start bending rules.

That way we are all formaliar with the rules and have had a chance to play skills we would not normally pick, so we would see how they actually played out. Because untill you use a skill card a couple times, it can sometimes be hard to imagine how it will effect the game play, exspecially if one is new to the game.

Malwing said:

Not to sound rude, and I apologize if I do, but what you describe here was your group not actually playing Descent . You guys played DnD minis using Descent. Descent is not DnD, nor is it meant to be. Trust me, I used to play DnD constantly and it took me a little time to adjust as well. What you are asking is not even remotely easy.

Which quest did you guys do? The first quest in the book is notoriously easy on the heroes and is meant as a training exercise of sorts. They do get harder as you go along. Descent has a very steep learning curve to it.

Letting them pick characters won't break the game, but do not let them pick the skills. Yes, at the outset this won't be much of a problem but as soon as they learn what the skills can do you can put together some seriously abusive combinations.

As for your player...I'm not sure what to tell you. I don't know the person, but Descent does have a steep learning curve. If your hero dies, so what? They come back to life, maybe lose a little money and that's it. They come back into the game at the start of their turn. It basically sounds like she might not like Descent for a game which is fine. Descent is not an RPG, its a tactical board game. The story of the quests is secondary to what is going on.

And please do yourself a favor and start using the OL deck. The monsters are cannon fodder in all realistic terms, your real power comes from that deck. How you were managing to kill the heroes so much without that deck is something I have trouble understanding.

Do not take away the treasure chests and do not remove the glyphs from the board. Those are not viable options.

Alright, enough of overstepping my bounds. If you want to let them pick heroes, that's fine. I highly recommend you do not let them pick starting skills, and do not remove the chests and the portals from the game. Have everyone reread the rules and the FAQ because there is a lot there that can be missed the first or even the third time through. And please start using the OL deck, you are doing yourself an injustice.

Does this player play Monopoly, Sorry, or other games designed to have a clear winner? Some people just don't like that sort of thing, but that's how Descent is designed and there are much better alternatives if that sort of game isn't enjoyable for the group.

I agree, although we didn't use the overloard cards to gauge a few things and sort out some rules. I'm confident that things would get more challenging as we start over using all the rules but becaust they liked optimizing a few of the players are begging to pic their characters and starting skills insisting that they'll be upset if they get bad abilities.

I can understand that they want to personalize their characters but I'm pretty sure I need to house rule an advantage in the Overlord's favor if i did so.

I'm also just concerned that there was sentiment against the game trying to kill them and the game seeming hard despite doing nothing but a walk in the park as opposed to a game. I'm not sure how to deal with that without outright alienating the non competative players.

Does this player play Monopoly, Sorry, or other games designed to have a clear winner? Some people just don't like that sort of thing, but that's how Descent is designed and there are much better alternatives if that sort of game isn't enjoyable for the group.

Not really. she plays more RPGs than anything else. we've played monopoly and other games where there is a clear winner but so far the ones that go well don't have active disruption or things that you can call tactical PvP.

The only thing I would suggest for your group is to play Road to Legend and let them create their own characters using the .pdf template here...

www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/descent/descentmakehero.pdf

This way your players can create their own character so they feel attached to them and they get to travel overland and experience an epic campaign where they do "level up" sort of like an RPG over a long period of sessions. It's still a tactical miniatures game, but there will more of the elements they want while remaining true to Descent.

And since they play D&D they can pick their favorite mini and model their Descent hero off that.