Anyone else hoping that new RuneWars will bring some Descent Expansions?

By Silidus, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Looks like FFG just announced the Latari faction for the new RuneWars miniatures game.

Is anyone else hoping that with the new models being made we can see some 'easy to produce' Descent expansions featuring Latarin and Ulthuk models?

Maybe even a new big box expansion for each of the major factions?

Yep. So far I think Runewars has one Descent hero (Lord Hawthorne), so it's easy to see them going the other direction and bringing Ankaur Maro and this newly announced Aliani of Summersong to Descent. It already has Reanimates and Golems, so I'm not sure what to do on the monster front. Carrion Lancers and Aymhelin Scions?

It would be interesting to get an expansion and/or campaign pitting the heroes against enemies that aren't necessarily "evil" but on the opposite side of the heroes' goals, like Latari Elves or Daqan soldiers. I suppose there are several ways they could do that:

  1. Regular Overlord who is manipulating things (like Nerekhall in a way).
  2. New Overlord who leans more "lawful" than "chaotic," with a new Overlord deck to match.
    • Could even take this to the level of a good Overlord/monsters vs. evil Heroes, reversing the system and bringing rocs, knights, etc. to the table.
  3. No Overlord. (A box expansion specifically for use with the app?!)

I would love to see the elves integrated into Descent somehow (and not just as heroes). I could certainly see a campaign set around a Latari Isolationist Overloard, manipulating politics behind the scenes to cause war, or convince the Elves to further withdraw, someone who is not necessarily evil, but at odds with the player characters... unfortunately I think gameplay itself would end up being tonally dissonant when integrated with the rest of descent;

OL: "We should be on the same side Heroes! Our goals are not so dissimilar.. I only want what is best for my people!"
Heroes:" Dude... WHAT? We seriously just fought 2 Greater Demons, a battalion of undead reanimates, and a god da#m Crypt Dragon to get in here!!!"

Maybe instead throw in corrupt versions of various units, like blighted Treants, or feral Leonx. I think the Ulthuk has more potential for random creatures left in the deep after the first runewar etc, but who knows.

Yeah, there would need to be a rule limiting which monsters the Overlord player could deploy in a campaign like that (replaced by new, more fitting monsters).

I don't know much about Terrinoth outside Descent, but Syndrael's background seems like fodder for a Latari campaign:

Quote

Having sworn her blade to the service of Lady Tyviel, Syndrael found herself a scant century later in the awkward position of having her patron named and exiled as a traitor to the Latari elves. Lady Tyviel had the decency to formally release her subjects from their oaths, but Syndrael still found herself with no welcome throughout the Aymhelin. Having concluded that her lady could not be a traitor, Syndrael has followed her into exile. She now travels throughout Terrinoth, upholding the ideals of the Latari as she seeks her lady and an explanation for her fate.

That raises the idea of campaigns more closely tied to specific heroes or races, including bonuses and penalties for using them. Maybe an evolution of the random encounters in Road to Legend that affect certain classes differently than others. How fun would it be to take an all-dwarf or all-orc party on a Latari campaign and have it react to those choices?

18 hours ago, Silidus said:

I would love to see the elves integrated into Descent somehow (and not just as heroes). I could certainly see a campaign set around a Latari Isolationist Overloard, manipulating politics behind the scenes to cause war, or convince the Elves to further withdraw, someone who is not necessarily evil, but at odds with the player characters... unfortunately I think gameplay itself would end up being tonally dissonant when integrated with the rest of descent;

OL: "We should be on the same side Heroes! Our goals are not so dissimilar.. I only want what is best for my people!"
Heroes:" Dude... WHAT? We seriously just fought 2 Greater Demons, a battalion of undead reanimates, and a god da#m Crypt Dragon to get in here!!!"

Maybe instead throw in corrupt versions of various units, like blighted Treants, or feral Leonx. I think the Ulthuk has more potential for random creatures left in the deep after the first runewar etc, but who knows.

I think the easiest way to handle that would be to add prohibited monster traits to the scenarios. Just excluding 'dark' and 'cursed' would potentially exclude all inherently evil creatures.

Might be problematic that (including alle expansions and hero+monster collections) only 25 monster groups remain when excluding those two traits.

29 minutes ago, Shimaaji said:

I think the easiest way to handle that would be to add prohibited monster traits to the scenarios. Just excluding 'dark' and 'cursed' would potentially exclude all inherently evil creatures.

Might be problematic that (including alle expansions and hero+monster collections) only 25 monster groups remain when excluding those two traits.

That is actually a really good idea. Just putting 'not [trait]' in the Special rules would probably solve the problem. I would assume that the set itself would include a few new monster groups with the city trait, so probably not a huge issue. For the most part, I have found open groups are usually only added to scenarios as fodder or flavor. Thematically, most campaigns favour the 2-3 monster groups included in the box..... and goblin archers, always goblin archers.

On 10/04/2017 at 7:47 PM, And Drew and Drew said:

I don't know much about Terrinoth outside Descent, but Syndrael's background seems like fodder for a Latari campaign:

Good point, I'm thinking there is some campaign book/ expansion campaign material just waiting for FFG to think it up. There's a bit of a 'no new physical Descent content' gap opening up that needs closing ;o)

Also maybe because there are some who'd welcome certain characters and others who'd be hostile to them such as "Syndrael still found herself with no welcome throughout the Aymhelin" this could give some interesting dynamics as to what kind of welcome the heroes get/ what impact they have/ what choices they may have to make...

Edited by Martinslair
Welcome or unwelcome heroes?!
5 hours ago, Martinslair said:

Also maybe because there are some who'd welcome certain characters and others who'd be hostile to them such as "Syndrael still found herself with no welcome throughout the Aymhelin" this could give some interesting dynamics as to what kind of welcome the heroes get/ what impact they have/ what choices they may have to make...

Yes, theses small things add a lot of flavor. Like when you use Sir Valadir while playing the rise of all Goblins finale in Road to Legend :)

Edited by DerDelphi
7 hours ago, Martinslair said:

Good point, I'm thinking there is some campaign book/ expansion campaign material just waiting for FFG to think it up. There's a bit of a 'no new physical Descent content' gap opening up that needs closing ;o)

That's what's strange about these other Terrinoth game announcements. Some material seems like it was prepped for Descent but for whatever reason hasn't been announced yet. There's the updated artwork found on the app for Brother Glyr, Mad Carthos, Red Scorpion, and Varikas the Dead (as shown on this thread), not to mention four new heroes. To my knowledge, only Red Scorpion's has been officially used so far...but for Runebound, which will also get an update on Eliam now, judging from the new "Unbreakable Bonds" announcement:

rb06_preview1.pngImage result for descent eliam

I'm not exactly lacking on Descent material right now...but it's always fun having more to look forward to! And hopefully these hints do mean more expansions are coming.

2 hours ago, DerDelphi said:

Yes, theses small things add a lot of flavor. Like when you use Sir Valadir while playing the rise of all Goblins finale in Road to Legend :)

I wasn't aware of that. What happens? (Or is that asking for spoilers?)

;) It's just a small thing, but I like it. I wouldn't want to spoil it for everyone.

Just read the story text when you confront Splig in the finale with Sir Valadir in your party :)

" not to mention four new heroes" I'm still expecting these to make an appearance, they seem too planned to be dropped from the series, especially with the 'the living' suffix. And Ruen looks like he might just be an elf? And Varikas The Dead is in Runewars The Boardgame.....

1 hour ago, DerDelphi said:

;) It's just a small thing, but I like it. I wouldn't want to spoil it for everyone.

Just read the story text when you confront Splig in the finale with Sir Valadir in your party :)

Interesting! I wonder how many other heroes trigger hidden flavor like that. I've only seen class-specific effects so far, but I also haven't spent as much time with the app as I would like.

8 minutes ago, Martinslair said:

And Ruen looks like he might just be an elf?

Huh. I hadn't considered that, but he does have the blond hair and pointy ears. Maybe he's an orc groupie or something. Has all their albums.

Tenzi of the Path could be another doorway to expanding Descent. I believe she's the first non-white human in the game.

33 minutes ago, And Drew and Drew said:

Tenzi of the Path could be another doorway to expanding Descent. I believe she's the first non-white human in the game.

I don't think Tahlia is intended to be white. The 1st edition she appears (at least partially) Asian, while in 2nd edition I always kinda pictured her as Indian (India).

Between her name and her Arabian appearance, I always assumed she was inspired by Talia al Ghul from Batman. :huh:

Would be nice if we didn't have to buy the figures twice, just give us the kit to use them in D2e such as new hero Aliana (at least I think she's new), would make sense and prevent people supporting just one of the games on grounds of cost.

Edited by Martinslair
On 4/10/2017 at 1:25 PM, And Drew and Drew said:

It already has Reanimates and Golems, so I'm not sure what to do on the monster front. Carrion Lancers...

PLEASE! I need that!