I played a map today that had an island in the middle surrounded by a chasm that the heroes can cross via tokens representing pathways. There were 4 spiders on the island in my 3 hero game.
When the spiders activated, it said they try and engage the closest hero, and as there's no mention that monsters can use the pathways, I moved all the spiders over to the side of the island nearest a hero which in effect blocked the pathway token on the island.
If you have no ranged attack (fighter-healer 2 hero combo), then you're stuck barring sending a hero round to lure them back across the island while another sneaks in, which I'm pretty sure isn't what's intended. I'm presuming that you treat the chasm as a pit regarding ranged weapons etc.

And yes, I realise that you could just choose not to move the spiders but it is supposed to be designed to follow the rules as written.

Has anyone else run into this and found it a little under-cooked?
How have others tackled the island?

4 hours ago, player2884311 said:

When the spiders activated, it said they try and engage the closest hero, and as there's no mention that monsters can use the pathways, I moved all the spiders over to the side of the island nearest a hero which in effect blocked the pathway token on the island.

*Disclaimer I haven't played this level.

However, here are some ideas:

1. Did that actually block the token, or would a hero simply appear in the closest empty space? (Keeping in mind that a two player game would have 3 spiders)

2. It's entirely possibly to move into the pit and kill the adjacent spiders.

3. Climbing out of the pit just takes an action. So instead of moving to the passage and spending an action to cross. Move into the pit somewhere a spider isn't on the other side and spend an action to climb out on the far side.

The "pit" is actually described as a chasm, so I believe the intention is that you can never enter it. I was referring to the pit mechanic from a ranged weapon LOS POV (you would be shooting through two map borders otherwise, so no LOS would be available).

But that then raises the issue of what happens if you manage/are even able to force monsters off the island. Are they instantly killed? Is the chasm supposed to be treated as a pit even though it doesn't have pit demarkation around it? (A chasm certainly sounds like something much more obstructive than a pit)

There's no mention of placing on nearest empty space in the set-up instructions, and if that were the case, it would seem a bit pointless having an exit token for the pathways - why not just place your hero on an empty island space?

There are lots of possible work-arounds for this, but it seems the set-up is a little sketchy in details and does require a reasonable amount of interpretation on the player's behalf.

36 minutes ago, player2884311 said:

But that then raises the issue of what happens if you manage/are even able to force monsters off the island. Are they instantly killed? Is the chasm supposed to be treated as a pit even though it doesn't have pit demarkation around it? (A chasm certainly sounds like something much more obstructive than a pit)

I don't need to know the flavor text, just what the map actually looks like. Physically, on the tiles, what is this chasm?

38 minutes ago, player2884311 said:

There's no mention of placing on nearest empty space in the set-up instructions...

It wouldn't be. They'd just give you scenario specific info and expect you to already know the general rules.

I'd suggest this fan made guide the purpose of which is to put all the rules and errata in one place: https://descent-community.org/index.php/crrg/

Thanks, I'm aware of the general rules and they don't appear to cover the specifics of this map.

The island is a rectangle made up of 2 end caps and 2 joiners and is nested inside a rectangular corridor. The chasm is comprised of the adjoining black borders of these tiles.

Under normal rules, the borders should block LOS and could be interpreted as representing that the chasm cannot be shot across.

Placement on a full space is covered under stand up/recover rules and monster placement, but should the get-out-clause used there be transposed to the path exit token when you are specifically instructed to move a hero to that token?

It just seems that a lot is being left open to interpretation and wanted to see how others who have played this encounter found the experience.