I have recently got Descent me and some friends are playing thru the quest book. It seems really easy for the heroes which could be that am a poor overlord but most of the basic monsters (beastmen, skeletons, spiders, etc) just get one shot by the heroes and barely do, if any, damage to them. The most damage I cause is from traps.

I guess the question is should I buy one of the expansion like WoD or AoD so I can add treachery cards to make my deck stronger in the basic set?

Monsters dying in one hit is par for the course. The first couple quests in the quest book are also designed as "learning quests" and are pretty easy for the heroes; they get harder. If you just want to check whether it's possible for the heroes to lose, the hardest quest in the base game is #7 ("The Black Blade"), and the next hardest is probably #5 ("Last Wishes"). I'd also recommend rotating the overlord player so that everyone gets a chance to see both sides of the game; it sometimes produces insights into strategy and can reveal if someone is just better or worse at a particular side.

But yes, buying the WoD or AoD expansions will generally make things harder for the heroes, both in terms of basic rules and in terms of the quests they offer.

You could also look into The Enduring Evil if you don't like monsters dying in one hit, but it requires a bunch of home-printed cards and stuff.

Nope i haven't found it unbalancing at all you are probably being a poor overlord. You have to understand that the way to win is to when you hit you have to make sure you kill someone.

Example if you spawn 3 beastmen in around the corner they should be enough to destroy any player they attack. Don't hesitate to play rage - aim cards to make sure you don't miss. Traps are only affective if you plan to deal the killing blow so save them for that or discard them. Use gust of wind to do surprise spawn something that the players will definetely won't expect and you can spawn creatures like sorcerers (really bad dudes, skeletons, razorfings, or hellhounds all capable of covering the 6 squares to the heroes and if you gang on one you should be able to kill him by playing rage - aim if needed or play a trap in the next round if he is ready to die).

Dark charm is almost an automatic win card if player right. Save it for when the players have really bad ass weapons or if by playing it you WIN the game with a kill. The bigger weapons they have the better for you. Especially stuff like blast or the word of vaal. Weapons of silver or gold are so ridiculous that a single blow will kill any player. I have seen a gold axe to do 17 damage with 6 pierce. Even though the best was the mage that had a blast wand with burn tokens getting all 3 players each time with it and giving them multiple burn tokens.

Use crushing block not to make damage (something you will do anyway) but to obscure the line of sight so you can spawn creatures by creating a non line of sight area when the last player plays. Follow above example if you can spawn a beastman war party and all 3 attack there is 99% that the guy dies and 100% if you rage the master beastman.

As you will understand with the exception of dark charm which is the best card all traps pale to comparison to well placed spawns which are very cheap and should only be used to finish off players.

As always you will get easy and hard quests.

P.S do you play with random or picked heroes?

We always play with random as anyone can use any weapon and it all matters about the skills not the heroes and adds spice. If the players pick heroes it's definetely a huge plus. My players stopped bugging me though when they won with a party of 3 mages and one them being a character with 1 black die on each ability which they found useless but later realized that it is quite amasing and better than 3 black dices on 1 skill. Also the only thing that has troubled me is the bogs rat that really helps the players by giving an immortal player with LOS to help them.

Drglord said:

I see your grasp of statistics is just as tenuous as your grasp of Descent strategy.

General_Chaos said:

The first few quests in the base game are really easy for the heroes. Especially if you have 4. Later quests get a bit harder, but 4 heroes is still reasonably balanced. The quests in WoD and AoD jump up in difficulty quite significantly. If you play with less than 4 heroes, they will probably lose. That said, buying WoD or AoD as an artificial means of presenting a stronger OL front is not wise. Learn to play the game first. Maybe the heroes are winning a lot right now, but as you learn you will improve.

Monsters (especially whites) die quickly. Don't count on the ones that start on the map to hurt the heroes too much. Count on them to slow the heroes down long enough for you to spawn next turn, and hurt them with your spawns. Use weaker spawns like skeletons to try and lure the heroes back to areas they've already been to. Anything you can do to distract the heroes from making progress is a win for you. Remember, even if nothing else goes your way, you earn CT for cycling the deck.

Rotate OLs, too. Let someone else try being the bad guy. It will improve both the OL and the Hero sides if everyone knows how both sides work.

The expansions will add new challenges, but make sure you know what you're doing with the base game first. There are enough rules to learn in that without adding more from expansions.

Drglord said:

I used the rules from RTL and allow the players to draw three cards and choose one.

I also changed the chests that contain more than one item, that only the hero that opened it gets multiple items and everyone else just gets one.

I have been doing better in the last couple games. Killed the heroes in the first time around then they learned what to expect and won.

So if I cast gust of wind I can spawn monsters just outside of the 5 squares because they have no LOS? Hmm didn't think about that... guess I'll quit just pitching that card every time I see it

General_Chaos said:

As long as the other players accept this change, then fine. Use OL training wheels if you need them. Remember, however, that the OL is a player just like the heroes. He isn't a DM and there is no Golden Rule like in RPGs. You can't go around unilaterally changing rules without gaining the approval of everyone at the table - that's cheating. =P

Also, if you find at some point in the future that the OL is killing the heroes way too easily, remember to remove this house rule before you start changing other things to try and "fix the game."

General_Chaos said:

Indeed. I don't use this card very often myself, but there are certainly times when it makes a difference. =)