I picked up Descent a few weeks ago but only bought the base game. Although it is a really fun game, some of the players are getting a bit disgruntled that they don't retain any of their items and hard earned treasure from one dungeon to the next.
Is there a compromise with this in the sense that the players will have some sense of advancing without making future dungeons way too easy for them?
There is a little chart (On the front or back of the quest book, forget which) it shows that the can start with bonus gold and the overlord gets bonus threat, but that is all there is officially.
And that little chart seems a total afterthought with no playtesting; hardly anyone would actually recommend using it.
If you want slower hero development over the course of many sessions, you should really consider getting RtL or SoB.
Kahai said:
I picked up Descent a few weeks ago but only bought the base game. Although it is a really fun game, some of the players are getting a bit disgruntled that they don't retain any of their items and hard earned treasure from one dungeon to the next.
Is there a compromise with this in the sense that the players will have some sense of advancing without making future dungeons way too easy for them?
As others have said, the basic campaign isn't really worthwhile. Technically it doesn't give you continuity you want either. You get starting bonuses based on how many quests you have previously done, but you still have to buy everything from scratch before each quest, so you can't hold on to that one gold weapon you drew last time.
The Advanced Campaign expansions were made in response to overwhelming fan demand in this regard. If you want a continuing experience, get one of them (Road to Legend or Sea of Blood.) Or play D&D using the bits from Descent to make your maps. =P
Another option is to randomly re-draw heroes along with everything else. This is technically going the other direction, but I'm guessing you at least let your players keep the hero they played last time. If heroes are redrawn before each quest, along with everything else, it helps to create a mental break between the two quests, so maybe the discontinuity won't be so annoying.
I also just purchased the basic descent game and had planned on using (we've yet to game) the basic campaign rules provided in the manual. Now my friends are all experianced meta-gamers who tend to like developing characters over time so this seems like a good starting point. Well I really want them to have a good first impression of the game since I solely invested the capitol and would like to continue playing (and even purchasing the expansions). Would you honestly not suggest using the campaign rules and just ignoring that till we determine if purchasing RtL or SoB is worth while?
You can try it... we did it (the OL let us pick out only 1 copper treasure to start off with instead of "keeping" the old treasure) but it unbalanced the game making it far less challenging. I suggest if you want to do it that you start with increasing the armor/hps of the OL's minions.
Quanlin - The answer to your question is simply, yes. Your friends most definitely will not like the way developing characters over time works in vanilla Descent, it just wasn't made for that at all. On the other hand, Road to Legend and Sea of Blood were. There is no comparison. Road to Legend and Sea of Blood trumps the vanilla Descent version of "campaign rules" by a factor of 1,000 +. Vanilla Descent is great fun, but not for a campaign mode.
Quanlin said:
I also just purchased the basic descent game and had planned on using (we've yet to game) the basic campaign rules provided in the manual. Now my friends are all experianced meta-gamers who tend to like developing characters over time so this seems like a good starting point. Well I really want them to have a good first impression of the game since I solely invested the capitol and would like to continue playing (and even purchasing the expansions). Would you honestly not suggest using the campaign rules and just ignoring that till we determine if purchasing RtL or SoB is worth while?
Yes, I would recommend staying away from the basic campaign. Firstly, it won't give your friends the same "build up over time" experience that it sounds like they want. Secondly, trying to force that kind of mentality into your first few games of (vanilla) Descent will probably leave you all with the wrong impression of the game. You'll end up thinking of it like some sh*tty failed RPG attempt instead of an awesome tactical dungeon crawl (whose story elements are mainly an excuse for why you're crawling through this particular dungeon.)
I would recommend forgetting about character development altogether (beyond whatever you get in a single dungeon.) Focus on the mechanics of the game and the fighting, not on the story. The thing about Descent is that the heroes don't always win (or at least they shouldn't.) The OL is allowed to conquer the world from time to time. Play your first few games as one-shot adventures, see if you like the mechanics of the game. See if your group is comfortable with the idea that the heroes might lose sometimes. See if they can wrap their heads around "illogical" things like "every hero gets a treasure card when we open a chest, even the ones in town or on the other side of a closed door." (Believe me when I say that example is only the tip of the iceberg.) Try to think of this game like a computer game, only without the computer.
Assuming your friends do enjoy the game, but want a bit more overarching story and character advancement, then look into buying one of the Advanced Camapigns to provide that. The OL can still win in AC games, plot holes still exist in AC games. It's the same basic gameplay, really, just a slower progression to the end. If your friends really don't like Descent then the ACs probably won't help you, unless the only complaint they have is how they lose their stuff after each dungeon. That's the biggest difference between vanilla and AC when you boil it down.