I had an idea that I wanted to get some feedback on: Overlord Encounter Decks. My initial thoughts are as follows...

This concept would work similar to the co-op mini-campaigns (forgotten souls, nature's ire, and dark elements).

1. The overlord would select an "Encounter" which would consist of 4 encounter-specific room cards. (Intro, Objective 1, Objective 2, & Finale)
2. The overlord would then select a number of generic room cards based on the number of heroes (3 cards per hero) and divide them evenly between the Encounter cards with the intro on top and the Finale on the bottom of the deck.
3. The intro card would be drawn and played to begin the encounter. This card would contain flavor text introducing the story, one (sometimes more) map tiles and any special rules that apply
4. Each new room card would include instructions such as where to place doors, search tokens, etc and may allow the OL to spawn new monster groups, gain threat, draw OL cards, etc.
5. Objective cards move the story forward and may be required for heroes to reach the Finale or they may simply grant the the heroes or overlord special boons depending on their outcome.
6. Heroes would explore the dungeon revealing a new card each time they reach the edge of the map.
7. Some map tiles fork requiring the Encounter deck to be divided between the two paths. In this way, the heroes must explore to "find" the objective and finale cards.
8. The Finale would spell out win conditions and rewards.
9. These encounter decks could be used in succession to form an endless "campaign" of unrelated quests, rescues, and expeditions for adventures.
10. Once heroes reached a certain level, the OL would transition to Act II.

I think there would also need to be a way of "retiring" or "killing off" the heroes. Once they are maxed out on skills and Act II equipment, there's nowhere left to go. Perhaps hidden personal retirement quests like hunting for a certain relic(s) or slaying a certain lieutenant(s) where once the heroes satisfy all personal quests, they can reveal the cards and win the "campaign." Alternatively, though, a similar mechanic would be needed for the OL to win. Something along the lines of the D1E plot decks maybe; a set of Objective cards that give him a boon for each reveal and a win condition once all objectives are met.

Thoughts? Concerns?

I quite like your idea. I am interested in more things to do with the map tiles. I had been thinking about making a deck of all the room tiles and monster cards for a sandbox dungeon type explorer too. Have you worked more on the idea?

Are you trying to "convert" the original coop way of playing to a vs OL way of playing? Could you consider that your "product" could be used for coop too?

BTW, about the map topic, I think that @Rodiger17 idea is quite nice. About the monster topic, I would capitalize on the original coop cards (of course for the coop version, if you plan it: we don't like vs OL approach 😉 )