2 new descent novels and a new edition of the Board game

By mulletcheese, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

The point is with an app you can have a REAL crawler and not just a tactical skirmish system. With an app you can have both tactical combat and a real dungeon to discover, plus horny surprises (traps, mysteries to solve, machine puzzles, music, real decisions).

And i imagine that with some thinking you can even have a Versus mode powered with an app (random battlefield and so on).

For the rest you already have Middara, GloomHaven and others.

6 minutes ago, Tintaglia said:

The point is with an app you can have a REAL crawler and not just a tactical skirmish system. With an app you can have both tactical combat and a real dungeon to discover, plus horny surprises (traps, mysteries to solve, machine puzzles, music, real decisions).

You can have all those (except the music) without an app. Descent 1e did. Those features don't tend to pair well with super competitive overlords, but I think the best fix there is just not to play the game with super competitive overlords.

That said there's nothing Gloomhaven does that an app can't, really you can do a ton more with an app than a deck of cards...if they're willing to put the effort in.

1 hour ago, Bucho said:

You can have all those (except the music) without an app. Descent 1e did. Those features don't tend to pair well with super competitive overlords, but I think the best fix there is just not to play the game with super competitive overlords.

That said there's nothing Gloomhaven does that an app can't, really you can do a ton more with an app than a deck of cards...if they're willing to put the effort in.

Yes, even the music with i tunes. If we speak of a poor trap deck then yes of course. But you know how it could be cumbersome to prepare the game when you have to deal with all these side decks. And it is exactly the issue with Mage Knight, Descent 1st and GloomHaven. i am already tired when i get to think about all the stuff to put on the table. And if i want something similar to D&D, well then i run a RPG evening.

That said i was more thinking about things like what we find in Unlock or Mansions o Madness. Now sure once done, surprise is over and of course it can only exists in a coop mode, but still so cool.

But don't mistake me to play in VS mode with a hand and decks of cards is still something that i would really really appreciate.

Mansions of Madness does a pretty decent job of investigation/surprises with the app that you can't always get with the open information of a quest book.

Edit: The mention of side decks reminds me of how cumbersome 1E did get, and some really good points that were made about the video-board-game Armello , where people are screaming for a physical copy to be made, but the developers, and folks like myself, have realized that there is so much bookkeeping that is done by the game behind the scenes, that trying to implement that in a physical game "without the app" would be incredibly unweildly. The app allows for some really nice gameplay features and it would not be the same without it, no matter how much I would love to have a physical copy on my table.

Edited by kris40k

Simon and Schuster book description got updated again, this time removing the line about the new edition of Descent:

Quote

Mighty warriors fight to save the realm from blood magic and evil, in this battle-soaked epic fantasy novel, from the hugely popular Descent games

The once-glorious Barony of Kell is a ruin of its former self, assailed by banditry and famine; its noble Baron Frederick caught between saving his people and defending his borders. Yet worse is to come… for a Dark tide is rising. Sadistic warrior-priestess, Ne’Krul, spying an opportunity to wreak magical mayhem on behalf of her demonic masters, leads her Uthuk warband into a brutal invasion. Kell’s only hope lies in holy warrior, Andira Runehand, and legendary hero, Trenloe the Strong, both drawn to Kell to defeat an alliance of evil unprecedented in Terrinoth. They must not fail.

So, they first say there is a new edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark , then its a new edition of Descent: Legends of the Dark , now its just based on Descent

Gotta love disorganized leaks.

Edited by kris40k

Looks like some calls were made.

Looks like things are off to a good start. 😅

Fredrick... wasn’t that guy in the original Shadow Rune campaign?

pffff why remove it if to be announced in two weeks. Oh god i wish i didn t get excited for nothing.

9 hours ago, Tintaglia said:

pffff why remove it if to be announced in two weeks. Oh god i wish i didn t get excited for nothing.

It doesn't mean it's not happening; it means someone plugged the leak.

In marketing, you want to have big reveals, build suspense, excitement and such, not just let stuff slip out like that out of control and context.

Consider this series of events:

  • The line announcing the new edition of the game was included in the product description of the new novel The Shield of Daqan . So, someone, somehow , had it in their head that a new edition of the game was going to be released sometime around the release of the 2nd novel. You don't just pull copy out of thin air. The idea originated somewhere, internally.
  • The Simon and Schuster product description was already edited to change the sub-title of the game from Journeys in the Dark to Legends of the Dark. That means someone was told to go back a day or so later and edit the copy, not because there was not a new edition of the game happening, but because the subtitle of the product was incorrect. Then someone looked at that and said, "yeah, that looks corrected, publish that."
  • Then someone a day later after the official forums, BGG forums, etc. have been chattering about it, edited the line in the product description to just say its based on Descent, which does not mean the game isn't happening (nor confirms it is), but at most that they don't want to announce a new edition of the game that way at this point in time.
  • As well, the company trademarked the Legends of the Dark name. That take time and money to do to file, which isn't done without reason.
Edited by kris40k

You re getting my hopes up again ! fingers crossed.

"but at most that they don't want to announce a new edition of the game that way at this point in time."

Also when you announce a new version, demand for the old version plummets. Sure, some of us will race out for that last lieutenant pack or whatnot but nobody's purposely getting into the "obsolete" version as a new one's coming out.

56 minutes ago, Bucho said:

"but at most that they don't want to announce a new edition of the game that way at this point in time."

Also when you announce a new version, demand for the old version plummets. Sure, some of us will race out for that last lieutenant pack or whatnot but nobody's purposely getting into the "obsolete" version as a new one's coming out.

Yeah, while some people may want to complete their collections, by having someone at Aconyte send over bad copy to Simon and Shuster, they effectively killed FFG's ability to move any old stock, and also stole any thunder they were hoping to create with the announcement on their planned schedule. All that happened outside of FFG's control, and I bet they are pissed about it.

I mean, I was just getting more into 2E over the last few months, and have expansions on wishlists, but I'm putting those planned purchases on hold so I can save those funds for 3E.

Edited by kris40k

"I mean, I was just getting more into 2E over the last few months, and have expansions on wishlists, but I'm putting those planned purchases on hold so I can save those funds for 3E. "

Yep, that's probably going to be the typical response. Having an app run games for my girlfriend and I is pretty great right now. Enough that I bought into Mansions of Madness and bought several Imperial Assault expansions. But if I got news that either was getting replaced I think I'd just wait for the hot new thing rather than getting more expansions that I'd have trouble getting my friends to play.

I'm in as long as they don't remove the overlord playstyle, I'm all for a solo/co-op experience but right now what makes descent stand alone on the market at current, I have multiple other titles that are full co-op its not why I have both Descent 1e and 2e and all the expansions for them on my shelf. Don't do that and why should I choose it over something else.

Sorry man full coop's all the rage and it lets them bring back the exploration mechanic without worrying about whinning that overlords used the secret information to gain an unfair advantage.

Plus the app as overlord gimmick is the biggest thing they've got going for them. It'll definitely be that.

Edited by Bucho

The only way we play Descent is RTL. My family would rather have my daughter DM D&D than play Descent with OL.

Edited by doubletapdaddy

The leaked twilight imperium expansion had an expected release date of november, which matched the date of the upcoming twilight imperium novel.

if a descent novel is being release alongside 3rd edition we have 2 possible release dates, October and February

I would bet for october and first expansion for February then.
I least that would be nice :wub:

30 minutes ago, Tintaglia said:

I would bet for october and first expansion for February then.
I least that would be nice :wub:

I'm sure it will be like Runewars : a base game soon but I don't think anything before Chrismas, mayber later because of that stupid covid thing, then, 3 expansions in the year and ... nothing more, so let's go to another game, with maybe 2 or 3 others games in the same universes, with few declinaisons of gameplay thing, like Lord of the ring, until anything else.

Good years of gaming are after us :(

3 hours ago, mulletcheese said:

The leaked twilight imperium expansion had an expected release date of november, which matched the date of the upcoming twilight imperium novel.

if a descent novel is being release alongside 3rd edition we have 2 possible release dates, October and February

Well, the leak for the 2nd novel was the one that previously said it was "introducing a new edition of Descent: Journeys into the Dark Legends of the Dark", so I am leaning towards Feb.

Someone at Aconyte had that in their head when they passed the copy to S&S.

16 hours ago, Bucho said:

Sorry man full coop's all the rage and it lets them bring back the exploration mechanic without worrying about whinning that overlords used the secret information to gain an unfair advantage.

Plus the app as overlord gimmick is the biggest thing they've got going for them. It'll definitely be that.

Then I won't be bothering, not sure why I would need too I've got a half dozen other full co-op dungeon crawlers.

If they did both styles of play I'm good but it would take something special for me to invest in another Co-op experience and everyone here uses gloomhaven as a ideal but gloomhaven while so cleverly designed isn't particularly fun or really a crawler at all its more a euro styled puzzle game and why would I need another one of them, I've got gloomhaven and I'll pick up frosthaven at retail so this needs to be its own things to fill a need in someones collection.

Anyway all speculation but 'full' co-op with no other playstyles is becoming a very crowded market place.

1 hour ago, crimsonsun said:

Anyway all speculation but 'full' co-op with no other playstyles is becoming a very crowded market place.

Not with an app, it's the gimmick they've got setting them apart at this point. Also, considering how much Journey's in Middle Earth is knock off of Mansions of Madness 2e I figure that's what we'll get.

20 hours ago, Bucho said:

Not with an app, it's the gimmick they've got setting them apart at this point. Also, considering how much Journey's in Middle Earth is knock off of Mansions of Madness 2e I figure that's what we'll get.

Sadly you are likely right, I have descent with road to legend app and Mansions of Madness 2e so I'm hoping for more, obviously expected App style overlord, just was hoping it wouldn't be the only way to play.

On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 5:20 PM, kris40k said:

Well, the leak for the 2nd novel was the one that previously said it was "introducing a new edition of Descent: Journeys into the Dark Legends of the Dark", so I am leaning towards Feb.

Someone at Aconyte had that in their head when they passed the copy to S&S.

Yeah that would fit in my agenda perfectly, i wanted to run through Nerekhall one last time before :).

On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 8:38 PM, crimsonsun said:

...everyone here uses gloomhaven as a ideal but gloomhaven while so cleverly designed isn't particularly fun or really a crawler at all its more a euro styled puzzle game and why would I need another one of them, I've got gloomhaven and I'll pick up frosthaven at retail so this needs to be its own things to fill a need in someones collection.

Anyway all speculation but 'full' co-op with no other playstyles is becoming a very crowded market place.

Yeah sure, there is a lot of coop now, but how many that could really compete with Descent or GloomHaven.
And speaking of GloomHaven, it is as you said more of a euro game and has a poor narrative background. FrostHaven will be far better on that regard but still, it is card driven, not much of ennemies. No app, which means no deep interaction with the players regarding narratives. Descent will have to learn much from GloomHaven FrostHaven to be able to compete with, but FFG has good cards in hand and i expect that they can do it. Now one does not forget that there is LotR : JiME out there, who is already interesting with a good IP.
So no choice here, they have to come up with something really, really BIG, otherwise RIP Descent.