Could FFG's current focus on Terrinoth lead to some new D2E content soon?

A few of us have been hoping for more d2e content (it's been a while) but there are some tantalizing signs it may - just possibly if we're lucky - be on the way albeit after a long hiatus.

Firstly I now think the long gap could be intentional so they're not competing with their own new line launches of new product lines set in the Runebound universe so that fans focus on this while it gets established. Also the frequent restocking of D2E items- the core set and some other items have quite regularly sold out then been restocked- suggests they may also have delayed new D2E content due to some key content being out of stock and also clearly still selling well.

They're clearly developing the back story and lore of Terrinoth a lot at the moment.

The Runewars Miniatures Game has launched with some races not represented fully/ at all in Descent yet as well as some that have been featured in Descent, some of this content for RWM isn't even out yet. With so much content being developed for RMG I'd be surprised not to see some of this to find its way into Descent in the not too distant future.

I'd started to give up on that hope then Genesys and Dragonholt came along and my optimism returned- The Runebound Universe is in very good health.

The Genesys Roleplaying System I have to check out- the prospect of RPG'ing with D1E/D2E and potentially RWM kit as well as some of my other fantasy gaming kit has already been on my mind and a Terrinoth-based core system for doing this seems ideal- even if it turns out to not be the perfect RPG system (and it's looking good so far from what I've read) there will be things you can use such as lore and the dice system has loads of potential. It also excites me for potential new D2E goodies as it very much suggests FFG are very much set on making full use of the lore and races across different games- I'm sure they're working on some D2E things or planning to soon that will follow a similar trend of building on the lore and factions/characters across multiple game types.

Finally with the new product lines there's Legacy of Dragonholt which has a race not seen in Descent? Have the catfolk featured- not sure without checking?- but I'd love to see more of them in D2E, especially the one pictured in this article: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/11/24/to-new-roads/

LoD could also marry up quite well with Genesys for creatives looking for inspiration for the stories they want to tell in a fully RPG setting and also sounds like a great stand alone in its own right- FFG are developing a great family of different games which if you like the lore behind them, the characters that lore offers and different styles of gaming you'd get a lot from owning the different Runebound universe games, with plenty of new options to pick, choose and customise your Terrinoth gaming experience to suit what you and your gaming friends enjoy.

With Descent still popular and the RTL app I'm sure all this Terrinoth activity has to finally, eventually mean some new things for D2E, I'd love to see the possibilities explored for Descent as to what new environments, characters and challenges this further development of the lore of Terrinoth could bring to the game. The RPG it seems will also see us getting some useful resources about this lore such as races and characters, would be truly awesome if they united all the Runebound universe games in this way (even the out of print ones), a kind of Terrinoth encyclopedia and who's who so you'd have characters' links to their community and factions/races- that could be useful for anyone making their own quests/ RPG storylines and so on. The Realms of Terrinoth sourcebook sounds like the beginnings of this kind of resource. I'd love to see all the monsters, characters and so on in one series of reference books but from all the games, the RPG sourcebooks are the best way to do this but could also be used by players for things like designing D2E quests or even to just get more out of playing D2E.

As I've said before this all ties in to the fact there is scope to mix things up a bit if you're a creative type, don't mind some mismatches of scale and a few stretches of the imagination working round such limitations- which could be so much fun. I'm already wanting some carrion worms to use as a parasitic creature with some life cycle stages using other pieces and some larvae props I've set aside to paint/adapt from some suitable packing material that looks like cocoons, being creative with gaming can be part of the fun- and using all those minis' potential in Genesys is already exciting the creative me (I'm not sure if it's designed to be used with mapped-out, mini based RPG'ing but if not there's no reason why it couldn't be as any RPG is going to involve moving through an environment and encountering things, and if you have lots of suitable minis/map bits/scenery bits/props etc including from different games the possibilities become awesomely limitless, you can create any storyline you want and see what your players do faced with it! But of course RPG's can also be pure narrative- I enjoy both forms.)

So this is what the US government means when they talk about "Dreamers ...".

Just teasing.

I recently got into Descent, and cannot for the life of me find a copy of Shadow of Nerekhall in any of the game stores in Toronto (if anyone's missing The Chains That Rust, a store in Toronto has about 100 copies at $39 each), so I hope the re-stocking continues. Having enjoyed Descent, and the Road to Legend app (more campaigns, please!), I've started taking a look at Runebound, which I think I will also be purchasing soon. Terrinoth is a great place, and I look forward to exploring all of it's corners across different games. It's even got me tempted to check out the Realms of Terrinoth Sourcebook, even though I've never played that kind of RPG, I'd just want to read it.

1 hour ago, MSToronto78 said:

I recently got into Descent, and cannot for the life of me find a copy of Shadow of Nerekhall in any of the game stores in Toronto (if anyone's missing The Chains That Rust, a store in Toronto has about 100 copies at $39 each), so I hope the re-stocking continues. Having enjoyed Descent, and the Road to Legend app (more campaigns, please!), I've started taking a look at Runebound, which I think I will also be purchasing soon. Terrinoth is a great place, and I look forward to exploring all of it's corners across different games. It's even got me tempted to check out the Realms of Terrinoth Sourcebook, even though I've never played that kind of RPG, I'd just want to read it.

You can set up a notification alert here:

https://www.boardgamebliss.com/products/descent-journeys-in-the-dark-second-edition-shadow-of-nerekhall?variant=650951201

Excellent! Thank you very much, good sir!

To clarify, this is all just musing, there doesn't appear to be any actual hints of anything. Or am I misunderstanding?

1 hour ago, BruceLGL said:

To clarify, this is all just musing, there doesn't appear to be any actual hints of anything. Or am I misunderstanding?

You are not missing anything. It's all speculation, there have been no indications from ANA of anything new for D2e since the frostgate trials.

I am saving a lot of money recently (in the past 2 years), having nothing to buy ;-) Asmodee doesn't know latin: pecunia non olet ;-)

12 hours ago, Zaltyre said:

You are not missing anything. It's all speculation, there have been no indications from ANA of anything new for D2e since the frostgate trials.

Correct - It's called optimism. Very extreme optimism. The remote hope that FFG know not all their fans are Star Wars, GOT, Android or 'other things they do keep releasing new stuff for' collectors (not knocking those lines just saying some of us collect lines they've neglected a little of late!) Although it is speculation hopefully the Terrinoth focus does mean they'll remember 'oh yeah we've got that line called Descent that's had nothing new offline for ages' Roll for proficiency and boost.....

My complain is that title, it is pretty much click bait.

6 hours ago, BruceLGL said:

My complain is that title, it is pretty much click bait.

The new games are prompting a lot of mentions of Descent on their respective forums so I'm hoping FFG are as aware of the value of new D2E content as much as the fans. And although there's a certain amount of wishful thinking / using the force (believe enough and it may just happen *smiles*) I am genuinely more optimistic for new content and I don't think it's being too over-optimistic, with the Terrinoth source book being the first for Genesys and all the other activity there is that between-the-lines hope that FFG are building up all the games, I could be wrong but I am expecting something for Descent with all the recent activity, once these new lines have had a chance to take off. It's a gut feeling but a strong one with Terrinoth seeding a lot of new product in the way other game lines have - this is something new as far as recent times go, actually getting some Terrinoth in the news feeds, but granted my optimism is subdued a bit by the fact it still gets less focus than FFG's other lines which make the news feed more often, we shall see..

On 19/01/2018 at 2:29 PM, MSToronto78 said:

I recently got into Descent, and cannot for the life of me find a copy of Shadow of Nerekhall in any of the game stores in Toronto (if anyone's missing The Chains That Rust, a store in Toronto has about 100 copies at $39 each), so I hope the re-stocking continues. Having enjoyed Descent, and the Road to Legend app (more campaigns, please!), I've started taking a look at Runebound, which I think I will also be purchasing soon. Terrinoth is a great place, and I look forward to exploring all of it's corners across different games. It's even got me tempted to check out the Realms of Terrinoth Sourcebook, even though I've never played that kind of RPG, I'd just want to read it.

I have Runebound 3rd edition, and expansions, all pimped out but have only played it twice.

Runebound mention in Genesys core book is very slightly teasery in places- especially hitting the sore spot with "that new games and expansions continually add to" - stop doing this to me FFG just subtly hinting at more to come. I get such hopes way too easily. If you just mention the world I'll get excited. So- In fact don't mention the world except in the Genesys sourcebook until there is more

Terrinoth isnt in good health.

Today, Terrinoth is the Test Field where FFG tests their systems. We all are the FFG´ s balloon probe.

2 hours ago, vendettarock said:

Terrinoth isnt in good health.

Today, Terrinoth is the Test Field where FFG tests their systems. We all are the FFG´ s balloon probe.

I mean... that's not accurate. The dice system in genesys was actually a star wars rpg first, now they're expanding to other settings.

Man people didn't stop panicking for long after the last DLC.

34 minutes ago, Bucho said:

Man people didn't stop panicking for long after the last DLC.

Well the last DLC was lazy and small. Certainly not big enough to convince me Descent is high on the list of developer priorities.

1 hour ago, Bucho said:

Man people didn't stop panicking for long after the last DLC.

Also some of us are much more interested in new physical content for Descent (e.g. missing Hero classes, missing CK heroes, more multiclass options, more items, traditional campaigns etc.) than RtL content, and its been a very long time since any of that has appeared.

2 hours ago, Charmy said:

Also some of us are much more interested in new physical content for Descent (e.g. missing Hero classes, missing CK heroes, more multiclass options, more items, traditional campaigns etc.) than RtL content, and its been a very long time since any of that has appeared.

I wish I could 'like' this several more times. There has been no physical content in more than a year and a half (Sept 2016, Chains that Rust) and nothing announced since well before that. I'm pretty solidly convinced there won't be any physical content going forward, but that's been true for months.

The lack of physical content is accompanied by a lack of a FAQ update (2 years) or a vault update since the release of Mists.

In my opinion, the physical arm of D2e was retired with the ANA changeover. The time lines up.

As of late though, FantasyFlightGames is kind of turned into StupidWarsGames who would rather raise someone else's universe while leaving their own in the dark. Is it right for a parent to raise someone else's famous child while abandoning their own child?

Yes, I call that overhyped space universe mess Stupid Wars.

Unfortunately or fortunately there do seem to be two or three possibilities.

Both based on the fact there has been a lot of news and new product from FFG generally across different lines just not Descent (notwithstanding the only glimmer of hope, that being the new Terrinoth items):

1. FFG and its new company owners are focused on developing all their lines well and just haven't got back round to Descent yet (I do give them some kudos for actually restocking Descent lines and thus keeping them available, hopefully they keep this up), partly as suggested due to the focus on new Terrinoth product lines

2. FFG have forgotten how awesome Descent is and have locked it in the metaphorical dungeon preferring to focus on IP's and loads of new stuff for lines already with loads of recent new stuff when it's getting longer and longer since we had any news on Descent

3. They are working on Descent in a big way in a very secretive 007-style bunker and are going to blow our minds with something awesome enough to make us less miffed at waiting so long for it

One thing to bear in mind I guess is that IP's already have starting points - in house creations have to be grown in-house, maybe it takes longer, and logically the Terrinoth Genesys sourcebook surely gives them something they could work with as a sparking point for their other future ideas.

On the valid 'own child' comment, if they don't soon give Descent some attention it's a bit like looking after a friend's famous, popular kid because it's the easy option also meaning they become even more famous and popular while overlooking all the potential of your own 'til nobody knows their name anymore and forgets about them, when someday said famous kid's parent could say we want our child back, it's not yours to raise any more. But that does kind of come back to my original theory in the OP, I do think FFG are paying Terrinoth some attention for this reason, hence the new stuff and choosing Terrinoth as the first dedicated Genesys sourcebook (this too should give us at least some hope, it is kind of significant that they made that choice.) Descent's a big seller and one of their classic games so it would be foolish to abandon it, so I think we will get some news and 'new's at some point, the only frustration for us all is when. At the very least they could do with finally bringing the missing 1e content into 2e, it is a bit of a case of they were storming ahead with that then forgot to top the engine up. Although of course other d2e stuff selling out and being remade could have taken priority perhaps? There's always the possibility they pre-plan a run of new releases- look at Runebound miniatures or the current Star Wars frenzy- if we do get more after the long hiatus maybe it will come quite close together. There's yet another maybe to explain the delay- they may already have started thinking about 3e even if this is some way off, it wouldn't be impossible for new 2e content to maybe be potentially 3e ready, just a thought.

Just as a point of interest- when was the (gen con ?) promise of more Descent stuff some people have mentioned? And what if anything came since? I've read people mention this hint of new stuff that they feel came to nothing- can those that have the info elaborate? I'm just curious as to when it was and so on.

August 2017, at the in flight report, this was said.

Then, nothing happened for a little while, and in late September, we saw this . Since then, silence.

There's nothing wrong with the Frostgate DLC, it's an enjoyable game mode. At the same time, however, it does not seem like the sort of oroject that would explain a year of development time (and it was entirely DLC, no physical product).

I'm glad that Terrinoth is being utilized, it's a fun universe with a lot of potential.However, Descent can be forgotten even while Terrinoth shines. Runebound 3rd ed, Runewars miniatures game (see original Runewars for an example of future expansions dying quietly in the dark, there are still people waiting for another expansion to that 5 years later) etc.

You mention Terrinoth as source material for new expansions- yes it is- but one (or three) of the expansions a number of us were hoping for require no invention, as they're just the last 12 heroes from first edition. 36 heroes from first edition arrived in hero and monster packs and then the line went dark... Manor of Ravens (a few years back) gave us 6th scout and warrior classes, a lot of us would have liked to see mage and healer classes to balance that out. These are not far-fetched ideas.

To be clear, ANA has no obligation to release anything for any of their games, including Descent. We bought what we bought, and if that's not satisfying without additions.... that's kind of our problem. And, it's reasonable to close a game line 5-6 years into its lifespan. That being said, the fans of said game line want some closure- whether that be products to complete the set or news that the line is retired- and that's reasonable, too.

Latin said: "pecunia non olet" (i.e. money doesn't smell meaning it is "always" a good deal to get new money). Asmodee seems not to trust them since "new Descent pecunia" is not worth to them :-) To me this can only mean that they don't trust their Descent product anymore: they just try to sell what they have (i.e. just reprinting old stuff) or, and this is a best case hypothesis, they are completely reinventing this line (worst case the line is at its end). No news about a 3rd edition? That's reasonable since they want to get money from the existing reprinting (who would buy old content if he knew a completely new one will be out sometime in the future and the old content will be thrown away?).

In the meanwhile, many of us saved money and "game space" or bought products produced by different manufacturers: is this a "big" deal for Asmodee? Their managers have the "right" answer :-) (btw, I have mine ;-) )

On 2/9/2018 at 10:43 AM, Zaltyre said:

There's nothing wrong with the Frostgate DLC, it's an enjoyable game mode. At the same time, however, it does not seem like the sort of oroject that would explain a year of development time (and it was entirely DLC, no physical product).

I'm not super optimistic about more physical content in the near future. Having transitioned to Descent 3rd edition they have a ton of physical content to port over and abandoning Descent 3rd edition for a 4th edition at this point makes no sense unless 3rd edition wasn't selling. Which I find unlikely as they brought Imperial Assault over as quickly as possible. I suspect what's happened is they are REALLY concentrating on the starwars IP right now. That's the sense I got at gencon and it would be fairly dumb not to try and capitalize on the new trilogy's hype.

What I'm expecting is DLC to support an existing expansion and considering how they seem to still be getting the hang of how software releases work I wouldn't expect much pre-publicity, heck the last MoM DLC was out for a day before they said it existed.

We have to remember too the ever-growing ANA has a lot of game lines to manage and making games isn't a quick process (even one of the huge releases I supported from another company on Kickstarter took around 10 months to go from funding to delivery so probably considerably longer development wise if you consider the planning before this. Just developing a game is a major process with play tests and so on, then there's getting it made). One thing that I hear a lot which I do think is unfair when discussing the game with friends or in other posts online is that ANA aren't doing a good job of managing their lines post merger or similar views- thankfully this so far seems incorrect, they seem very active in restocking for example (Formula D which I've wanted for ages is also 'on the boat' so my wallet is already hiding trembling in the corner, maybe a bit of a wait for more Descent isn't too bad a thing for me!)

There's also been quite a bit of add on/ new game content from the group as a whole, this and the reprints do seem to have ramped up in recent times, so there is maybe a bit of a case of not being able to do everything at once. Launching Runewars Miniatures must have taken a lot of development time, with Descent being such a key line (it's still selling out component kit periodically even when such content gets reprinted) it may be something they want to give proper focus too- it may just be having to await its time development-wise. There's also the logic that if people are still buying the core set and there's plenty for new fans to buy to go with it, maybe give the current new fans a little time to catch up (and there may be a decent number of recent 'first time buyers' as it were with the boost the app gave) and buy some expansions themselves then offer them and the longer-term fans something more, there's actually a benefit in selling more core sets before selling new stuff if you get the timings and strategy right.

As of this month ANA have just played the 'give me all your cards' card on, I mean acquired, Mayfair Games and this hasn't been the only new addition post-FFG and DoW so the approach seems to be to add major titles that have been popular on a long-term basis to their portfolio of games and if anything they do seem to have a clear aim of making the most of the popularity of such games. And as Bucho says the new SW films mean it's a time it's not surprising they're focusing quite heavily on pushing out SW content, when the hype train comes into town....

Zaltyre's right in that they don't have to give us anything new, they don't even have to complete porting over the 1e kit to 2e but personally I don't think the line's run out of steam yet in terms of being able to sell quality new content, especially if they planned it to launch as a major app release at the same time which we could see happen as the app has proven to be an effective driver of physical sales. I do think bringing the rest of 1e to 2e would sell if they chose to do it.

And Descent is still very popular- considering the level of competition and its longevity its Board Game Geek stats remain impressive (would be nice to see 3e in future push it higher) *crosses fingers*:

Overall Rank

72

Thematic Rank

24

And how many ranked board game category games are there on BGG? I've just checked and it appears to be 15,053 so to be at 72 in February 2018 speaks volumes. Descent is still a very -much-loved game.

I remain rose-tintedly optimistic that it still has plenty of life in it and hasn't been buried by ANA (reprinting so much of its content to meet demand still suggests the opposite) and we will get that good news, eventually, after a lot of antici..............

Just in case you're wondering Tic-Tac-Toe aka Noughts and Crosses comes in in last place (hmm, maybe because of it's 'slightly flawed strategy mechanic', which ironically makes it a really brilliant game for teaching children logic and strategy- working out how to win or at worst force a draw is a useful skill )