Just a couple of quick questions here,

1. When the OL uses a card to gain threat tokens, must he show the discarded card to the heroes? If not it basically means using the "honor system"? If so this means the heroes know of at least one card the OL doesnt have and can plan accordingly?

Example: If the OL discards 'mimic' to gain 3 threat, does he show that card to the heroes, so they now know he doesnt have mimic?

2. Do spike pits , falling blocks or any other type of trap cause the heroes turn to end? or even movement to end? Exactly what actions can a player take after falling in a spike trap etc..

Example: A hero with 3 speed falls in a spike pit on his first movement. Can that hero on the same turn use 2 movement to climb out ? If he was performing an advance action (move-attack) would he then continue his turn as usual and make his attack after he climbs out? (or from inside the pit if the enemy was adjacent to the pit?)

1. I always assume discards are face-up unless the game specifies otherwise, though in this particular case I am unable to find a rule that specifically supports this.

2. Traps do what they say. Some trap cards explicitly state that they end the hero's turn (Paralyzing Gas, Curse of the Monkey God). All other traps allow the hero to continue with the rest of his turn.

I concur with Antistone.

Discards are, as a rule, face up and therefore the heroes can see the card that was discarded. It may not explicitly say that anywhere, but I'm reasonably certain I've never seen a rule that explicitly says they're hidden, either. Without specification from the rulebook, I would assume it's public knowledge as that is generally the case for most board games that have discards.

Steve-O said:

Far more importantly, in the case of OL discards something on the card (the threat discard value) is being used . No seriously competitive game (such as descent claims to be and is) would use an honour system and have hidden cards that are actually being used, unless they are revealed at some relevant point.

We always play the discards face up, I don't say what the card is I just discard the card and announce how much threat I am taking. The hero's can check if they want as the discard pile is close enough to see what I am discarding, having said that I don't recall any one checking up on me, or vice versa when one of them is the OL.

I suppose that we have been playing together as a group for so long (various games) that it's not an issue.