Descent speculation

By Bucho, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

On 6/10/2018 at 7:03 AM, Tetrarch said:

(...)You unlock a campagne when you buy the physical content and of course in the box is all the stuff you need for an overlord campagne

Good point. It's the only way I can imagine about new physical content. Even so, unfortunately, I don't think they'll do it.

4 hours ago, any2cards said:

This is very much a chicken/egg and/or horse/cart catch-22 situation.

The Vault isn't getting much use because it has significant bugs, is missing significant content, receives no responses for support from FFG, etc.

I get that FFG abandoning the vault has doomed it but frankly it doesn't look like it's ever gotten much use...

16 hours ago, Bucho said:

I get that FFG abandoning the vault has doomed it but frankly it doesn't look like it's ever gotten much use...

Likely, it's one of those situations where there's a relatively low number of people who use it (compared to the numbers that play/GM the game) but the ones that use it use it a LOT. I, for instance, have over 20 quests on there, myself, and there's a lot of fairly popular full-blown campaigns by different users. I'd hate to think FFG abandoned it because it didn't get much use... because of the outcry for support that never came because it didn't take off like they had hoped, leaving us that rely on it to create custom content for 5-hero games with no other tools to use....

Wouldn't be surprised , mind you, but would hate to hear it nonetheless.

All the proof you need for the lack of support for this vault is the fact that it is still considered BETA 5 years later.

Someone in the Descent FB group just posted that he visited the FFG headquarters in St. Paul and asked a FFG representative if there will be a big box expansion to Descent in the future. The answer was "Stay tuned". If this post is legit, there is hope that we will get more physical content for Descent. Could be an expansion to 2nd edition or 3rd edition.

Here is the link to the source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/descentfans/permalink/468042560315138/

Edited by Sadgit

Thanks Sadgit. Now I'm 97.5% certain about a 3rd edition announcement at Gencon (hopefully with some kind of conversion kit but I'm a lot less certain about that). Time will tell.

If there is any new edition, I hope rather for something like 2,5ed. and possible upgrade of 2ed stuff. Seriously I don't want to see anything like 1 ed to 2ed. Remade of all the minis again etc even if not all was done. It took me a while to paint most of that stuff:D

Well- yesterday there was announcement made that Mists of Bilehall for localized Polish edition will finally hit the shops by the end of month or so(it was postponed for almost a year because of no production run made by FFG), that will conclude the expansion boxes released in Poland. Also there was a hint by Poland FFG distributor-Galata Games(and they claim they share only "confirmed" information because of the deal they have with FFG), that there will be a very big update for app localization files. No info about last wave of lieutenants and 4 or 5 of H&M packs that remain to be translated. So something is going on, but nothing really new.

So IMO if they ware to ditch the IIed. there would be probably no move at all in the matter(as it was for ex. with Mansions of Madness 1ed for about two years).

Edited by Reedmooley
19 hours ago, Helvwin said:

Thanks Sadgit. Now I'm 97.5% certain about a 3rd edition announcement at Gencon (hopefully with some kind of conversion kit but I'm a lot less certain about that). Time will tell.

I think that I'm actually ok with no conversion kit. If they're going to make a new edition I don't want them limited in any way by the previous versions content. For the base game of 2nd edition it felt like they had to make monsters just to fill the box, and I'm not really impressed with any of them compared to the 1st edition roster. And now 2nd edition has almost everything from 1st edition and then some. I think a hard, clean reboot would let them pick and choose what to keep and reinvent without worrying about what players already might own.

8 hours ago, Proto Persona said:

I think a hard, clean reboot would let them pick and choose what to keep and reinvent without worrying about what players already might own.

This might indeed be a necessary evil to improve the game overall.

If they are doing a 3rd edition, I really hope they are also overhauling some of their mechanics to make better use of expansion content.

Just thinking back that in addition to the 9 base game monsters, all of the 25 conversion kit monsters as well as the 20 lieutenant packs were limited by the base game content in regards to dice and conditions was a shame.

16 hours ago, DerDelphi said:

If they are doing a 3rd edition, I really hope they are also overhauling some of their mechanics to make better use of expansion content.

Just thinking back that in addition to the 9 base game monsters, all of the 25 conversion kit monsters as well as the 20 lieutenant packs were limited by the base game content in regards to dice and conditions was a shame.

Well, I don't think you really needed to be limited that way. They could have put anything in that kit they wanted, certainly condition cards would have been no big deal. What I found more problematic was the decision to move away from the threat system (which they immediately went back to) meant that every monster group needed to be equivalent.

I would prefer not to have a 3e because better usage of the tiles or monsters adjustments and etc, Those could be easily done with an adjustment within an expansion, like Heirs of Blood did for city drawing and 2 players game. They could make a new attack die even. Unless they would make a complete new overhaul of the game, I dislike the idea of a 3rd edition.

16 hours ago, DerDelphi said:

This might indeed be a necessary evil to improve the game overall.

I don't know...on the one hand I could see how increasing monster bloat could be problematic. But it also doesn't need to be all or nothing. For instance converting the expansions but not the H&M collections would make the game more manageable and let them recycle a lot of the more mainstream monsters.

Quote

If they are doing a 3rd edition, I really hope they are also overhauling some of their mechanics to make better use of expansion content.

What's your issue with the current system? Personally my expansion content (other than tiles) gets frequent use. As for the tiles, I wouldn't actually want them to change the mechanics to try and mix expansion tiles into other quests. I WOULD like them to plan ahead a little better. Putting extra tiles in the core game in basic shapes to use down the road could potentially cut down on the tile bloat that 2e suffered from.

I'd also like enough hearts and fatigue in the core to avoid wasting a bunch of cardboard on that in numerous expansions.

6 hours ago, Bucho said:

What's your issue with the current system? Personally my expansion content (other than tiles) gets frequent use. As for the tiles, I wouldn't actually want them to change the mechanics to try and mix expansion tiles into other quests. I WOULD like them to plan ahead a little better. Putting extra tiles in the core game in basic shapes to use down the road could potentially cut down on the tile bloat that 2e suffered from. 

Better planning is essentially what I meant by that. It would be very bad if 75% of any content released would be featuring base game stuff again. Some examples:

Map tiles: Unfortunately there is no easy solution here. They could add variant of the same shapes with different terrain, but that would make a lot of the tiles feel identical and boring. One other thing could be setup variants, but this would be a lot of additional work.

Conditions: Either integrate a lot more conditions into the basegame, or make them interchangeable by grouping them together (think the monster trait system but for conditions).

Dice: Adding new dice down the line limits there use massively. So better put all dice types you want to use in the base game box, even if some of them might not be used in the base game.

Search Deck: Make an interesting search deck this time which can easily be expanded.

Monsters: Definitely add more Monster groups to the base game, because these very frequently also get used in every expasion as pre placed groups. But generally try to use as many open groups as possible.

Conditions being rare would be solved by a bigger variety of monsters making appearances. Monster variety could be easily handled by a point buy system. Instead of set groups and open groups, you get a certain number of points to spend and traits to limit you a little. Each monster group is worth so many points. This allows for greater OL customization and ensures that the base game monsters aren't overwhelmingly used.

Map tiles I think would be better if it went back to the 1st edition system. Generic tiles covered all the basic building shapes in the base game. Expansions generally had some extra generic tiles and usually some really neat special rooms. Terrain would be tokens you placed on the tiles instead of being printed on the tile directly. It allowed for a much greater variety of maps and the dungeons didn't feel repetitive. No cases of "oh, this tile again" like there is in 2nd edition.

13 hours ago, DerDelphi said:

Monsters: Definitely add more Monster groups to the base game, because these very frequently also get used in every expasion as pre placed groups. But generally try to use as many open groups as possible.

Yeah, a bigger base set would help a lot but I doubt that would ever happen on account of price point. But what I'd hope for are more mainstream monsters, ettins for example are fairly obscure.

10 hours ago, Proto Persona said:

Conditions being rare would be solved by a bigger variety of monsters making appearances. Monster variety could be easily handled by a point buy system. Instead of set groups and open groups, you get a certain number of points to spend and traits to limit you a little. Each monster group is worth so many points. This allows for greater OL customization and ensures that the base game monsters aren't overwhelmingly used.

1e and Imperial Assault have already solved this issue. It's just a 2e over simplification problem.

Quote

Map tiles I think would be better if it went back to the 1st edition system. Generic tiles covered all the basic building shapes in the base game. Expansions generally had some extra generic tiles and usually some really neat special rooms. Terrain would be tokens you placed on the tiles instead of being printed on the tile directly. It allowed for a much greater variety of maps and the dungeons didn't feel repetitive. No cases of "oh, this tile again" like there is in 2nd edition.

I have mixed feelings. Certainly the 1e system adds a lot more game for a lot fewer tiles but I think the custom tiles can add a lot too. For instance these two tiles are functionally equivalent but I don't think you can argue that using them is the same.

pic4065047.jpg

I think what I'd like too see is a highbred tile system where there are some unique and interesting rooms (especially in expansions) but where every tile isn't so overflowing with artwork that new players can't figure out where it's ok to stand.

9 hours ago, Bucho said:

I have mixed feelings. Certainly the 1e system adds a lot more game for a lot fewer tiles but I think the custom tiles can add a lot too. For instance these two tiles are functionally equivalent but I don't think you can argue that using them is the same. 

pic4065047.jpg

I think what I'd like too see is a highbred tile system where there are some unique and interesting rooms (especially in expansions) but where every tile isn't so overflowing with artwork that new players can't figure out where it's ok to stand.

Depends on what the community sees as more important, form or function. I certainly like the artwork in 2nd ed. I'm not happy with how often the layout of dungeons feel samey. It doesn't feel like you have to adjust your tactics for room layouts as often in 2nd ed.

On 6/14/2018 at 3:49 AM, Proto Persona said:

I think that I'm actually ok with no conversion kit. If they're going to make a new edition I don't want them limited in any way by the previous versions content. For the base game of 2nd edition it felt like they had to make monsters just to fill the box, and I'm not really impressed with any of them compared to the 1st edition roster. And now 2nd edition has almost everything from 1st edition and then some. I think a hard, clean reboot would let them pick and choose what to keep and reinvent without worrying about what players already might own.

Having a deeper read of Realms of Terrinoth it is possible they may refocus and balance the character/lore location out in a 2.5 or 3 edition. ROT split Mennara up into its distinct regions each with its distinct local species / entities and it wouldn't surprise me if Descent evolves along these lines, there are still some hints they may have been thinking about future Descent (and likewise Runewars Miniatures) when compiling the book even without any certainty over what if anything would actually be released in future.

I wonder if the core box will have heroes and adversaries from a balanced mix of the regions (or the expansions may tie in to the regions) and maybe match some of the terminology- I noticed Heroes of Terrinoth does with its minion/nemesis classifications.

On the 2e tiles I like the detail so wouldn't want the tiles to be less detailed- if clarity's an issue maybe the relevant markings on the tiles needs to be clearer rather than the art being less detailed, although for me personally it's fine as I like the marking being subtle- it doesn't ruin the artwork. The 2e tiles are much nicer artwork-wise than the 1e tiles. Bigger spaces to accommodate bigger minis might be handy, or tiles that allow for more/bigger minis and maybe for landscape/building minis for those of us that have them in our collections. Certainly some geographical and building/location diversity would be nice in the tiles, 2e feels a bit like we got loads of variety minis/character wise, but the tiles weren't expanded enough.

And make the tiles join up (if the squares aren't resized of course)- was also annoying that 2e and 1e tiles couldn't be used together!

Rules for dual classes and thought up ahead of the expansions being present in the core game would also be good.

I'd remove the limits on monster selection groups (as well as renaming monsters as adversaries as it's a broader catch-all and matches the ROT terminology.)

I guess a conversion kit isn't an essential- they could maybe even just have conversion rules that replaces a costly-to-make kit with a rules document.

I pondered a move away from a three of most monsters approach for cost/quantity factors but then it's fun to play with groups of monsters so I'm undecided on what would be best for that.

I can agree starting fresh without being limited by 1e/2e would give the game a fresh new start- would perhaps be nice to see a move away from the overused group of the Farrows, Splig etc to something that actually feels less tired purely through being so heavily used in the games- I don't dislike these and they pop up a lot in my games, it's just that they feel a bit heavily featured FFG-wise, not in itself a bad thing as it ties the lore/games together but variety's a good thing too. But then I do really like the range of characters we have from 1e/2e- as I've said it really bugs me that some great 1e characters I never got back then never saw a revival for 2e, I'm still gutted I can't get hold of the 1e lieutenants. Was waiting to get them when I could then 1e was killed off... So I would like the 1e and 2e characters to remain available but separate to the new content. Maybe a new edition could sell these singly in the case of monsters - then you don't have to get them in threes unless you want to. As the special characters such as the lieutenants are most important, maybe with how many there are they can't do all the heroes / monsters or another option would be similar to a certain other company with a lot of minis, maybe some of them could be made for Runewars Miniatures but in such a way as they can be played in Descent, then it's less risky having such a big range. There could also be a market for the minis for RPG minis users with ROT. But I really want FFG to bring back the 1e lieutenants. And even though I have them all for other players they shouldn't drop the great 2e lieutenants like Skarn and Ariad/ Queen Ariad (although the latter could maybe be resculpted and improved for her spidery form).

Edited by Watercolour Dragon
On 6/16/2018 at 6:23 AM, Proto Persona said:

I'm not happy with how often the layout of dungeons feel samey. It doesn't feel like you have to adjust your tactics for room layouts as often in 2nd ed.

How much of that do you suppose is the line of sight rules along with smaller maps?

3 hours ago, Bucho said:

How much of that do you suppose is the line of sight rules along with smaller maps?

Tough question to answer for me. The LoS changes definitely made cover a lot less important. I'm not really sure how much that contributes to things for me.

Mostly I'm a function over form person, though aesthetics such as nice miniatures definitely draw me in. In the end I care more about the tactical aspects of the game. Pretty pictures on the tiles don't interest me as much as interesting puzzles that require actual tactical thinking. Having the tiles always in set formations limits how creative anyone can be. I preferred the possibilities all those bits and bobs could be used for.

13 hours ago, Proto Persona said:

Tough question to answer for me. The LoS changes definitely made cover a lot less important. I'm not really sure how much that contributes to things for me.

Mostly I'm a function over form person, though aesthetics such as nice miniatures definitely draw me in. In the end I care more about the tactical aspects of the game. Pretty pictures on the tiles don't interest me as much as interesting puzzles that require actual tactical thinking. Having the tiles always in set formations limits how creative anyone can be. I preferred the possibilities all those bits and bobs could be used for.

You'd probably really enjoy Gloomhaven then. It's very much a puzzle dungeon crawler.

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 6:50 AM, Sadgit said:

Someone in the Descent FB group just posted that he visited the FFG headquarters in St. Paul and asked a FFG representative if there will be a big box expansion to Descent in the future. The answer was "Stay tuned". If this post is legit, there is hope that we will get more physical content for Descent. Could be an expansion to 2nd edition or 3rd edition.

Here is the link to the source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/descentfans/permalink/468042560315138/

They said stuff like this at Gencon last year though and nothing happened.

The last substansive release for Descent now was the Nerekhall RoL campaign and that was announced and released absolutely ages ago now.

Do you guys think we'll ever see any crossover with some of the new Runewars stuff?

Not so much as component crossover, but if some of the units and characters not already in Descent might have a chance of being brought over?

Edited by subtrendy2

There is a lot of good stuff coming out for Terrinoth at the moment (Genesys, Runewars, Runebound 3rd, Heroes Card Game coming soon) - it would now seem to make sense than ever to reboot Descent a little further as its flagship to support this. My own feelings are that it does not need to be a full restart but should standardise the hero models to a common scale and even utilise some new Runewars models.

Personally i am not sure we will see anything for another year. It would be quite possible though to write a new RTL campaign with a new box expansion to support it with a nice theme from Genesys (jungle or ice ?). I would think that would sell pretty well myself.

On 6/27/2018 at 4:39 AM, Crusaderlord said:

There is a lot of good stuff coming out for Terrinoth at the moment (Genesys, Runewars, Runebound 3rd, Heroes Card Game coming soon) - it would now seem to make sense than ever to reboot Descent a little further as its flagship to support this. My own feelings are that it does not need to be a full restart but should standardise the hero models to a common scale and even utilise some new Runewars models.

Personally i am not sure we will see anything for another year. It would be quite possible though to write a new RTL campaign with a new box expansion to support it with a nice theme from Genesys (jungle or ice ?). I would think that would sell pretty well myself.

There's far too much under utilized boxed content currently with RTL to create an entire campaign and new expansion around it.

They really need to add campaigns for the expansions into RTL or update it to make better use of tiles from the various boxes outside of side quests.