I'm a good fan of Runebound and Descent. I find the setting of the world new and interesting with plenty of potential for role-playing. The problem is that the makers of the game haven't released a solid world-book for the Runebound/Descent line, only giving tidbits of background lore and world information with each game as well as implied information about the races and monsters of the world. Suffice to I wouldn’t mind if they actually made a sourcebook for D&D 4.0 in order to turn the board game into a role-playing setting (Although inventing a whole new RPG system is not out of the question). With a little adjustment, a lot could be fit into the world using existing systems, although certain races might have altered backgrounds and a new pantheon of Gods would have to be drawn up, considering that I don't think Kellos alone can fulfill the role of the Gods of Terrinoth, as there is likely other gods and goddesses both good and evil. Certain races already fit in the world:
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The Common Civilized Races

Humans: They're everywhere, primary central Terrinoth and the free cities, but also the Dread Isles (west), Al Qualim (south), Ishiem (north). Only the Wildlands (east) have a proportionally small population of humans, as the region is populated by lots of savage races including the beastmen

Elves: There are two primary races of elves. The Frost Elves who make their homes in Ishiem and the Forest Elves who make their homes in numerous woods in central terrinoth as well as the Wildlands. While the race en mass lives away from the free cities, numerous pockets still make their lives in other lands, as tradesmen, explorers or adventurers.

Dwarves: Rule the city of Forge but also have numerous strongholds in a number of mountain ranges. Although only Forge retains strong ties to the Free Cities (as it is one of them), the Dwarves are involved heavily in trade of produced goods, precious metals and of course mining and are much more involved with humanity than the elves.

Halflings: The Halflings have scatters of villages across Terrinoth and are stout and involved friends to humanity. They also have a strong presence in the free cities fulfilling numerous roles such as tradesmen, cooks, labourers or the numerous other jobs that the cities have to offer.

Orcs: The Orcs are an accepted race in the free cities, ruling Dawnsmoor but having a presence throughout all the free cities. They are often hired for military pursuits but also make excellent labourers due to their natural strength and resilience. While they can be brutish and short tempered, they are a common sight in the free cities.

The Uncommon Civilized Races:

Teiflings: Teiflings are decedents of an infernal bloodline, possibly from people either tainted by infernal magics or decedents from demonic bloodlines. Not a common race per say, teiflings are not well accepted in a number of the free cities, but hold some influence in Nekhall and Dawnsmoor as well as the Dread Isles where they dive themselves into shady dealings and other darker practices. Some teifling households hold great amounts of underworld influence in some locations. A few become adventurers either for love of money or the perhaps redeeme their corrupt bloodline but most of the race are unaligned to evil bent in nature much like their forefathers and serve as agents for dark powers.

Dragonborn: The Dragonborn were not a naturally conceived race but a race created by the Dragonlords themselves. When the Dragonlords rose to power, in an effort to create a race of superior draconic servants captured a number of humans and infused them with eldritch sorceries, twisting them into a race of Dragonmen much stronger than human stock and perfect warriors for the Dragonlord's vision for the world. The Dragonborn were loyal servants to the Dragonlords and when the armies marched to war, the Dragonborn marched with their armies, bringing destruction in their path. Powerful warriors with deadly skill in arms and natural abilities, the Dragonborn were among the fiercest of weapons wielded by the Dragonlords. But eventually the Dragon Wars came to an end and the Dragonborn suffered such casualties that they were almost driven to extinction. Now the Dragonborn are a fallen race, possessing no true kingdom of their own. They live in small isolated settlements, living and breeding with others of their kind. Those few who come to the free cities are those seeking their fortune as warriors, mercenaries, labourers, adventurers and the like. They are distrusted and sometimes by most of the other races as a reminder of the many scars of the Dragon Wars. While most of the Dragonborn have chosen to live in the now, a number are still loyal to the imprisoned Dragonlords and seek to secure their release so that they can once again gain dominance in the world.

Eladrin: The Eladrin are a mysterious race that emerges from the Wildlands from time to time, curious about the civilized world. The Eladrin are elven-like in appearance but that is where their similarities end. The Eladrin are creatures native to the Feywild, an alternate dimension where numerous creatures foul and fair reside. While they have a sizeable population in the Feywild, they rarely have the need or the wish to enter Terrinoth. Those few who do are those seeking to explore and adventure in the new world and thus have no true settlements in Terrinoth and instead associate with other races as travellers. They are on good terms with the elves and are often welcomed into their community. There are rumours that the Eladrin and the Elves are related races, but no scholars really know for sure.

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Certainly a lot of D&D monsters can be fit into the setting. Goblins certainly would have a role to play. But as for the unique monsters, they would have to be statted out. Kobolds for instance wouldn’t exist in the D&D incarnation as it’s already been defined that the Kobolds the world are a diminutive form of beastman. As for Beastmen, the closest thing I can see to fitting them is Bugbears. Bugbears look a LOT like beastmen, so using Bugbear stats for beastmen could work, although you probably would have to expand the monster list considering there is only two builds for Bugbears. As for Kobolds themselves, they would have to be made totally differently. Then there is Razorwings and the Ferrox that don't have a D&D equivalent. So what's your opinion on having an RPG based on the Runebound/Descent world?

Sounds like a lot of work and there are a few problems with the crossovers. Clerics for example are not really represented in Descent.

If I were to play D&D (which I did for 25 years), and wanted to play Descent style, I would start simple.

First of all, use the map from RtL as the base map for the campaign.
Convert the monsters in Descent so that they have D&D stats.
Create D&D magic items based on the treasures in Descent, at least try and use the same names for flavour.

As for characters, I would just play D&D 4.0 as it stands with all the races and all the classes.

You could even play an RtL campaign using D&D. Or in other words, play a D&D campaign based on the way that a game of RtL would go. Personally, with how broken some of the combos and cards are in RtL, if I still played D&D, I'd probably prefer to do this

In my mind clerics and mages in D&D were always just two sides of the same coin. The nature of their spells and equipment differ somewhat, though that's more a question of specialization than a completely different class... So the fact that Descent doesn't have a Cleric analog isn't really a problem.

I do agree with Paul though, in that it seems to be a lot of work for little benefit.

If I were to do something like what you suggest, I'd look more closely at the 4th edition and D&D minis skirmish rules... Before RtL came around, we were toying with creating a Descent analog using D&D (at that point, a simplified 3rd edition) and a campaign system remarkably similiar to the mechanics used in RtL...

All in all, though, it sounds like you just want to use the Runebound/Descent world to play D&D, in which case all it would really take is just making a "Monster Manual" and some unique magic items.

It'd actually be an interesting setup to use some of the dungeon concepts from Descent coupled with adventure/quest concepts from the runebound encounter cards... You could have a more-or-less randomly generated D&D campaign with relatively little work!

FF has done a good job creating a rich setting in these two games, so there's a lot to work with there. I wish you luck in your endeavour! I wonder if it'd bother the mods if you posted your ideas for D&D stats for R/D monsters and LTs here?

As for Clerics, they'll definatly be in the game. Already there has been some Gods mentioned in the game, most importantly Kellos and the Order of Kellos, as well as a deck of cards for Runebound for Kellos worshipers and characters. So most definatly clerics exist in the Runebound/Descent world, even though there is none as available characters. One thing I might incorporate is Rune Magic. Wizards/Warlocks still cast spells as normal, but runes can be used as magical implements. In addition using a rune a wizard/warlock can cast a spell infused with the rune The average runes give a power that can be used either once ever (Requring a ritual to recharge) or a single daily power, the more powerful runes give encounter powers or at will powers. Just some ideas to throw out. BTW, what are the names of the cities listed in the Islands of Dread, Al-Qualim and Ishiem, as I'll need to know them if I want to build and incorporate them into the RPG world.

D&D is too crunchy. I think Eden Studio's Unisystem is the way to go for a Runebound/Descent based game. In fact the core rules and the Dungeons and Zombies sourcebook is a nice start. But I also find the other books in the Unisystem help out in coming up with idears for this.

CanadianPittbull said:

It all depends on your tastes... If you're familiar with D&D, then it's an easy transition. 4th edition simplified a lot of things as well. And if you STILL find it too clunky, there's the skirmish/minis rules as well. There are always options.

As for the comments about rune magic, the 4th edition D&D introduced spells and abilities that are not exhausted with use, which sort of fits in with the concept of rune/staff magic. It would take a bit of tweaking, but the "free" spells available to mages could be influenced by the rune(s) they have equipped. I think it would be an interesting mechanic.