The german distributor of Descent added a leaflet with optional rules to his version. I just wanted to introduce them to the community if these options are not well known already.

I have tested quite a few of them, but two of these give the heroes the heebee-jeebees.

Optional Rule 1 Hidden Maps

Map tiles are not placed when the heroes enter a dungeon level. The heroes obviously should not get a look at the map in the quest guide during the game. Only once heroes actually gain line of sight (LOS) to a map tile is it placed (obviously the starting area is completely placed at the beginning). Also place any obstacles only when the heroes get LOS to them.

Once a tile is placed it remains in game to the end of the dungeon (or level).

In an RtL campaign I construed the starting area to be the area marked in red where no monsters can be placed by the OL. Also I never told the other players the name of the level they were on currently. This kept them in the dark for some time as many levels start similarly.

Optional rule 2 Hidden Monsters

Monsters are not placed on the board when the heroes enter the dungeon but only when they gain LOS to them. Any monsters which are on the board remain visible as long as they are alive. This also applies to spawned monsters as they obviously can not be spawned within LOS.

This gives the OL an immense tactical boost especially at later stages where his monsters actually become a lot better than plain vanilla monsters. Also the heroes dont know how to best place themselves to prevent that mage from being killed from behind unless they go very carefully. Careful advancement again takes time - and time is the OL's friend.

Although these two optional rules sound quite tame they are killers. It removes a lot of the instant tactical knowledge the heroes get from the game. This is replaced with finding the monsters first, thus wasting time and resources. Also it removes the instant dungeon clearing effect a bit as the heroes have to choose their actions a lot more carefully. Guard actions become more interesting as the players don't know if a melee monster has enough movement to really reach them if it came from around a corner just up ahead or if they should wait for its big buddy (which might be too far back, etc.).

If you enforce one of the two at silver campaign level, and both of them at gold you give the heroes a lot tougher time. At least this helped me a lot.

I added my own optional rules to this.

Additional map tiles:

At silver campaign level the OL could add up to 4 small to medium (no more than 2*4 straights or a crossroads, turn-off, or a curve tile) map tiles anywhere on the map except between the starting area (red marked spaces) and the first room. All the original map tiles still had to still be used.

At gold campaign level the OL could add up to 6 small to medium (no more than 4*4 rooms or the above tiles) map tiles anywhere (again placed as above).

Additional obstacles

At silver campaign the OL is allowed to play up to 4 additional 1*1 space obstacles, at gold up to 6 additional 1*1 space obstacles anywhere on the map (OL choice). These hadd to picked at the start of a dungeon level, and placed next to the playing area. Each time a new tile was placed the OL has the chance to pick any or all of the obstacles and place them under the restrictions shown below.

Obviously any of these obstacles have to be placed to leave a legal path to the end of the dungeon for all heroes.

Hidden monster powers:

All monster powers are hidden until the first time their effect is used against the heroes or affects the actions of the heroes somehow. Until that occurs the monster powers (speed, armor, wounds, attack dice, specials) are kept secret. For this keep the monster stat cards hidden during a level until the heroes actually beat a monster at least once. Only those effects the heroes had any chance to notice are immediately revealed (for example pierce, ironskin, etc.). Obviously the real pros already know all the powers, but until then you might keep some players in the dark a bit longer.

All dungeon cards are revealed at the end of a level as well as the map in the quest guide. The hero players may check for any incongruencies with the laid out map and the played monsters afterwards.

Together with the hidden maps rule above this totally changed my later stages of the game. The players grew to be a lot more careful and started using their heads a lot more.

To balance any OL cheating which might occur due to the hidden monster/monster power rule the hero players had the following options: if they could flawlessly prove the OL's cheating they may remove the offending monster/obstacle/tile plus any one other monster or obstacle from the current dungeon level. Also they gained one immediate roll on the chest table plus one conquest token for detecting this cheating attempt. This is normally enough to keep the OL on his toes and play it straight.

I especially like the rule about adding tiles to the rather smallish RtL maps.

What remains unclear to me is how the OverLord tracks where his critters are. Does he keep a separate dungeon? Does he make a paper map? It seems quite difficult to pull off.

Also, what do you count under obstacles? Fog or cursed terrain can be placed too?

I don't think that hidden minions are playable in RtL. Unike regular Descent, where each monster's placement is given by the scenario, the Overlord could cheat on the selection and placement of his minions. There is no way to verify that it was done properly (i.e. in advance and not reacting to the heroe's actions).

Also, hidden monster powers turn the game into a one-time experience: It's a huge advantage for the OL if the players have never played the game before, a slight advantage if they have never met the given Named Monster and pointless if they have.

Just my two €-cents;

Darastin

Dont like any of thoses rules.

All lenghten play for no good reason and require bookeeping...

@Xandria

You could choose any obstacles/props, including fog, ice, water, etc. The only thing which has to be observed is to keep a legal path for all heroes to pass through to the final destination.

How you keep track of monsters and map tiles is rather simple. Pick the necessary map tiles (including additional tiles) from the available stack and place them in a spot where the players cannot see them. As soon as the heroes gain LOS to a map tile place it and any monsters on them.

For monsters the OL photocopies the map and scribbles in a little shorthand for each chosen monster (BM for beastman, BMM=beastman master, BS=bane spider ).

OR for all of these optional rules your players trust their OL so far that he does not (intentionally) cheat on them. If you can come to that agreement, it works great. Then you could even ignore the cheating/proof additionol rule. If an OL sees he has truely unintentionally 'cheated' on the heroes he should be honorable enough to offer them a sufficient reward.

You could even tell them that the first placement of the tiles and/or monsters is according to their actions. This gives the OL even more power. Remember, this is only for later stages of the game where the balance usually swings toward the players anyway.

If this is too much power for the OL you might link these optional rules to something similar to the legendary areas trigger. If the OL is behind the heroes in a campaign level by -let's say- 10 CT he might use one of the hidden aspects of the game. If he is behind by more than 30 CT he might use two aspects, and should he be more than 50 CT behind he is allowed to use all aspects of the optional rules. These triggers are not playtested yet, and they are also up to your own style of play.

This is just an idea for the implemenation of these optional rules.

@Ivan Kerensky

You are welcome not to like them.

Yes, some (not all of them) require bookkeeping. But as OL you usually have ample time between your turns to plan future moves anyway while the hero players are acting. During this time you can draw in any monsters you have moved from LOS.