I have almost every game and expansion published for 1st and 2nd edition Descent. I started at the very beginning when it was published and just kept up. I now have this huge collection but to be honest am so confused as to how to even proceed or play. I played each 1st ed expansion regularly and then fell in love with Road to Legend and never looked back. I introduced some house rules for additional monsters and such but continued to play Sea of Blood and RtL only for years. Then 2nd edition came out and I jumped in. I was immediately disappointed though as good as the new game was it lacked that epic feel RtL had, understandably so as it was just the first small game. But I gave it time and it helped that I could port over characters and monsters from 1st ed. So I started buying up the new expansions as well. Then I took a break, a long one, over a year or so and am not staring at this monstrous pile of Descent on my gaming table. How to get back in?

Ill probably never go back and play 1st ed. again, even my old favorite RtL. So how much of the 1st ed. stuff should I keep? The monsters I suppose and figures, the characters certainly. Do I need all the old counters and map pieces? Do they even serve a purpose anymore? Some of them are attached to the various monsters as I recall but geeze how to go back and find out? The rulebooks from the old expansions seem like they could be trashed but some of them hold references to elements that might be brought forward, like the various monster abilities and such for example. Is there a reason to keep all those extra map pieces? Maybe for making your own dungeons or something someday? Is there even a need for that given all the expansions now available? **** Ill be playing for years before I get through all of them.

Any help out there? Has anybody else run into this problem?

If you really feel you will never play 1st edition again or any of its parts, put the whole collection up for sale. Unless if you're the sort of person who has to have it for having its sake, what more will it give you? Even if you sell it all for a fraction of what you paid for it, why not?

Speaking of which, is it possible to donate a game like this to some place that might get use out of it? Homeless shelter? Hospital where there are long-term patients? Maybe even a long-term care facility/retirement home? Asking because I would genuinely like to know.

It sounds like you have the conversion kit for 1E to 2E, so that should allow you to continue to use the 1E monster and hero figures. Nothing else is carried over from 1E to 2E, so you can dump the rest if you want. I, myself, would probably keep the terrain and related terrain tokens (lava, ice, etc.) for making dungeons for Rangers of Shadow Deep or some similar game.

Heya Rgrove!

Hmmmm...tis a dilemma. Do you keep something that once brought you enormous pleasure but you'll never use again? Could you sell it to fund an equally rewarding experience with a different game set entirely?

Have you had a go with the Road To Legend app? That could be a new way to breathe new life into the Descent universe for you.

Descent 1st Edition is the first 'modern' boardgame I bought so it has a unique nostalgia association for me, although I still play it with the family from time to time. It totally nails that epic, immersive story adventure in a way no other game I've played does. However, Descent 2nd Ed is perfect for those times when you don't have four hours to play a game!! :)

The other considerations are space and funds: Do you have room to keep it? Would recycling it free up some funds to get you into a new adventure of some sort.

I tend not to 'harvest' game components for other uses...I think it's a strange purist trait I have...I either keep the game or trade it but I couldn't keep 'parts' of a game...to me I should either be enjoying it or someone else should....but again that's just me and my own funny internal psychology!

Best of luck!

If you do part with any 1e stuff be sure you'll never want to use it again- it is really hard to get hold of some items now!

If you don't do any custom stuff (scenario designing etc) and you've pretty much fully moved over to 2e and the app never to return to 1e then you probably could ditch most if not all of 1e as it's only really useful for bringing elements of 1e into 2e creatively or continuing playing 1e, if neither of those appeals to you now then 1e will be somewhat excess to requirements.

Similarly if you have the 1e and 2e versions of monsters/heroes it depends if you have a need for both- again unless you're making campaigns or like the idea of the variety of sculpts you may only need one set.

In terms of selling if you do sell, I've seen both full sets and specific components on ebay etc (I guess they sell separately as people do lose stuff etc, I got a 1e rule and quest book as mine were missing after a house move), so the two options fit either keeping what you want or selling it all, although a complete set is of course more valuable.

What 1e stuff do you have btw (asking for a friend ) ?

UK Games Expo does a bring and buy for charity so there may be similar locally to you which is another option for any bits you may wish to let go off on their own adventure.

On 7/12/2020 at 1:41 AM, kris40k said:

I, myself, would probably keep the terrain and related terrain tokens (lava, ice, etc.) for making dungeons for Rangers of Shadow Deep or some similar game.

Although the 1e terrain doesn't work with 2e (different joins) you can still use it with 2e- you just have to have an entry/exit point to 'edition jump' which if you have 1e could be something like a stairs token, so the unjoined tiles still link up