Well you know how it is. You've can barely move through the room for boxes with games, some of them still waiting to be played some day, but still you can not resist to go out on the internet and look for MORE....

I know it is an addiction, buying games, but probably on of the better ones.

So now I've stumbled on descent and am wondering, what is this game all about. Is there a promotional movie explaining the game anywhere? It looks a bit like a combination of Battle Lore and Hero Quest...... yeah I know, I'm just guessing as I haven't got a clue.

What seems clear to me, having had a look on this site, is that it is another game with endless expansions.

Well, the expansions are not edless, and are not necessary pr se to enjoy the game. They just add stuff.

There's a lot of good and bad about this game.

Good:

*Even if you don't like the game at all, it comes with a heap of great minis and tiles; you could write your own game and just use that stuff.

*It is a co-op and cometitive game at once, with the Heroes cooperating against the mean and tricky Overlord.

*It's tense, and rewards clever play. The balance can shift any moment, and often the winner is determined that last crucial turn.

*It's easy to learn, and hard to master.

Bad:

*Early losses can be pretty discouraging for the Hero players.

*With the amount of content, it's inevitable that the game is buggy. There are countless rules loopholes, and brain-numbing conundrums about how to play something correctly. Not so much in the base game, but much more so as expansions come along.

*It's also luck-dependent, but most games are.

*The content from the expansions does not use content from other expansions; especially Road to Legend could use Well of Darkness and Altar of Despair much more than it does. Also, Tomb of Ice provides little Road to Legend content.

It is a dungeon-delving adventure game.

You're pretty close with your assessment. It's like Hero Quest in that there are good guys playing against a bad guy. However, either side can win, and should try to.

It's like BattleLore because it's a pure strategy game. Story elements are just that - fluff. The strategy aspect is very solid.

Easy to learn, fun to master is what I would call it.

Thank you both for your reply

Xandria said:

Do you mean to say that each expansion is sort of standalone. So you can go for any you like without necesarily needing any of the other?

The dark side:

who is the dark side, from the little I've read about this, I understood each player controles a team of heroes on a quest. So who is playing the dark side?

You only need the base game to play.

You may add as many or as few expansions as you'd like. Each one adds an element to the gameplay. The upside is you don't have to buy them all. The downside is you won't see any quests containing elements from more than one expansion.

The game is played by 2-5 people. One player must be the Overlord - he controls the monsters and tries to kill the hero characters. The heroes are played by the other 1-4 people, even if one person plays more than one hero character.

One player is an evil overlord, controlling the monsters and evil plots. Other players, preferrably 3-4 control each one hero.

So, basically this is a game of overloard against a team of players.

For me this is ideal, as I'm playing as an overlord against my three sons. They have to learn to make decisions together, and not kill each other in order to beat me... Very educational.

Plus, the quests differ, and there is enough good fluff to give an exciting setup for the game. At lest for the boys the story elements really give the mood and motivations to beat the evil.

Yes evry Expansion is standalone.

RtL uses some parts of evry Expansion. But it is non of the other expansions needed to play RtL.

One player controlls the Darks that as you name it. He is the Overlord.

The other Players controlls one Hero each.

Printed on the Box it is sayed that you may play with 2 players, but that doe not work, only then if the Player controlling the Heros side controlls more then one Hero.

Best matchup in Vanilla Descent is the Overord aggainst three Heros.

If you use any of the Expansions the it should be 4 Heros.

Descent is an amazin game. I never am bothered by things like game disbalance, rule loopholes, buggy mechanics etc. Personally I think these complaints are very exagerated. If you like Heroquest, Warhammer Quest or Advanced Heroquest, then you will love Descent. I played the three aforementioned games, and finally caved in an bought Descent. I am so glad I did, becuae I am not missing out on the only in print and modern Dungeon Crawl in he same brotherhood as Heroquest.

Desent can be played by anyone.

Rules are easy and in oposit of Doom, heroes can win.

On other hand the overlord have a very tense time to win, choosing when to hit hard. But at the end everyone would have fun.