Starting our first real campaign this weekend...with 2 new players.

As overlord...if I want to WIN...is it a case of focusing most fire on a certain hero (maybe the weakest) to bring them down to get more OL cards?

Do people play like that? It seems (in some circumstances) to my newcomer mind the best tactic...but also dosnt seem very 'fair'.

Guessing this has been covered before.

Playing with new players can be like walking a razors edge. To be honest, I'd go a bit easy on them. Instead of playing just to win, play so that they have a challenge to overcome. Once they know the rules and which tactics to use, you can start to play unhinged.

I recommend this because nothing stops a Descent campaign faster than the heroes losing some quests in a row.

Descent is a weird game in that its set in a genre where players are accustom to the heroes 'winning' all the time.

Descent involves a healthy amount of defeat for the heroes, and that is included in the narrative, but don't expect new heroes to understand that. @DerDelphi is correct, you definitely want to play it a little loose for the first few games. It may set you up for failure in the long run (heroes gain more gold, become stronger by the end campaign etc) but your group will have more fun, and you will have more fun because of it.

That said, if your group is like mine, there is always one 'I play dungeons and dragons' player who feels his plot armor is nearly invulnerable, and runs within 3 squares of an entire group of goblin archers after every other hero has already moved, or is too far to engage the group.... if so, feel free to stick him like a pincushion.

1 hour ago, DerDelphi said:

Playing with new players can be like walking a razors edge. To be honest, I'd go a bit easy on them. Instead of playing just to win, play so that they have a challenge to overcome. Once they know the rules and which tactics to use, you can start to play unhinged.

I recommend this because nothing stops a Descent campaign faster than the heroes losing some quests in a row.

I agree. Don't be a munchkin and try to win all 9+ quests. If the heroes get to Act 2 and they haven't won a single quest, most if not all of them will be despondent, and some might even drop.

I've found that the best way to give the heroes a boost or handicap is by adding or removing the "Nothing" and "Secret Passage" cards from the search deck. If the heroes start to lose a lot, you might want to consider taking out the "Nothing" card and adding in the "Secret Passage". That way, you're not forced to play it soft on them. You can do the opposite if you start to lose several quests in a row.

One simple 'handicap' that I've found helps out discouraged heroes is to let the loser pick the next quest, rather than the winner.

This doesn't apply to all campaigns, but where applicable its a minor 'leg-up' that could help a losing team pick a favored map to try to get back in the saddle.

Cheers all, good advice.

Yes I dont want to start and smash them, would be silly. Want to enjoy the game without obviously messing it up.