Sorry fellas I couldn't find a rules section here...

AND i have a couple of questions and will probably ask for more help so please bear with me...
(This was 2 years ago, so I don't really remember everything)

We tried vanilla Decent and we all liked it, we did not finish the first quest (ran out of time), then the next time we played the game we jumped directly to the 2 quest and got annihilated by the boss. So my question is, are you supposed to keep the same heroes and items you find from the previous quest because the boss was just too strong for us or is every quest a "new" game?

Second question (Mandatory idiot question) : We can't figure out what the pet does. How does he (or she) move? Can the OL kill him (or her)? what about respawn? Traps?

Third question : When a Hero enters the town does he regain full health and fatigue tokens?

Fourth question : Hero order tokens... I understand run, attack and advance but i'm not so sure about the ready command...


Sorry and thank you all for any kind of help...
EXCELSIOR :D:DD

Mayek said:

#1 You do not need to keep the same hero's. You can play each mission as a separate game. But there are some rules for keeping the same characters between each 'game'.

#2 What the pet does is explained in the rule book. The person who has the character that controls the pet is the one that moves it. And pets can not die. (pg. 14)

#3 Resting in town only heals a players fatigue (with use of the Rest order(pg. 15)). They would need to purchase a potion to get their health back up.

Mayek said:

Every quest is a new game. You can keep the same heroes if you want to, but all gear, training and extra skills are discarded and you start fresh in the next quest.

Mayek said:

Familiars are invincible and they move after the hero who owns them has finished his turn. Each familiar (or companion) has a special ability detailed in the rulebook. Most traps trigger off of things that "figures" do, and familiars are not figures, they're tokens, so generally they are immune to traps. Even if they do somehow get caught in one, they can't take damage.

Mayek said:

Only if he re-enters town by dying. =P

Mayek said:

Ready allows you to place an Order token (one of Aim, Dodge, Guard or Rest) and either move your Speed OR make an attack. You may place the order before or after doing the other part of your turn.

Aim lets you re-roll one attack you make (any or all dice therein.) It remains on your hero until it used, until your hero moves (voluntarily or otherwise), or until your hero takes a wound.

Dodge lets you re-roll ANY attack that targets you (only once) in the same way as above. The new roll stands for ALL targets of that attack. Dodge stays until your next turn.

Guard lets you make an attack roll during the Overlord's turn (only) as an interrupt effect. You can interrupt in between any two events, such as moving from one space to another or immediately before an attack is made. You cannot interrupt in the middle of an attack (ie: after targets are declared but before dice are rolled.) Guard stays until your next turn or until you take a wound, or until it is used.

Rest restores all of your Fatigue points, up to your maximum at the start of your next turn. It stays on you until the start of your next turn or until you take a wound.

Thank you for you'r help, they helped alot!!

Sorry fellas a couple of more follow question...

How common is it that the OL wins the game? And if the OL wins then is it usually the boss or the monsters?

If we want to get an expansion pack then should we start by buying the first expansion pack or is it ok to just buy the one that seems to be the coolest one (or can you guys recommend the best expansion)?

The off-hand bonus i get, BUT do you also get the dice bonuses from the off-hand weapon or is it simply the "off-hand bonus" you get?

Thank you guys again !

Mayek said:

1. In Descent, the Overlord is a full fledged player like the players playing the heroes, so he should have a good chance to win the game. That said, it depends on hoe well he and/ or the heroes play, on the setup of the group (some hero characters are stronger than other and generally a group consisting solely of mages would be vulnerable to certain situations). If the heroes tend to lose too much for your tastes, they should re-evaluate their tactics. Run the dungeon (i.e. don't wait too long, as the OL gains THREAT each round and can then play card that will hurt the heroes.), remember that the OL cannot spawn monsters in the heroe's line of sight, so it's sometimes a good idea to spread the heroes out a little so you can see many corners of the dungeon (though seperating is dangerous).

2. Check the website to see what the expansion give you. Generally, all the expansions up to Road to Legend (RtL) give you new rules, making the game more complex and more fun, some new heroes, tiles, skills and quests. RtL and Sea of Blood (SoB) are refered to as the advanced campaign, meaning that the game changes a lot from vanilla Descent, mostly in the fact that you don't play one quest and then start over, but you play many quests, keeping your heroes with their skills, equipment and all, so that you can evolve the heroes. Also the campaign takes place on a Terrinoth world map as well as in dungeons.

I would recommend getting the expansions in order of appearence, since th newer ones include rules based on the older expansions. When you and your group have some experience and played some quests, you might think about getting RtL. SoB is generally considered to have some issues with rules (my group hasn't touched it yet).

3. No, dice bonus just the bonuses of the off-hand weapon, like +2 range or something.

Have fun,

Roobikon

Mayek said:

Assuming both sides are playing "for keeps" and you follow the rules to the letter (even when they don't make logical sense), the win rate is roughly even between the two. If the OL wins, it's usually because he crushed the heroes early. If the heroes get to the boss (or, more generally, if they get to the Gold chests), it's usually all over but the crying.

This is probably one of the greatest flaws with the game, IMHO. I love the game and everything, but either the heroes get crushed early or they walk all over the boss when they get there. Very few games end in the middle, almost none are down-to-the-wire, so to speak.

Mayek said:

None of the expansions REQUIRE any other expansions to be played, although some of them do have a handful of extra components that only work in conjunction with another expansion. In general you still get your money's worth no matter what.

The Advanced Campaign expansions are popular for providing a more "continuous" long-term adventure, although really all tehy do is stretch out the amount of time it takes to get gold gear, and boost the monsters some to compensate for advancing power levels of the heroes. It's more likely for the OL to be able to defeat the heroes in "the middle" (by completing his plot or razing enough cities), but the early game crush and the end game cakewalk are still present. I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most in 2e is a campaign mode that's part of the rules fromt he ground up, rather than one that got tacked on in an expansion. They did the best they could and all, but it's a pretty radical change of pace when you're bound to maintain compatability with vanilla.

The other expansions (non-AC) are generally best for the extra monsters and heroes they give you. Other elements can be nifty but they don't see much use outside the quests that come with that expansion.

Mayek said:

You only get the Off-Hand bonus, nothing else.

Steve-O said:

Ironically I think this misconception is the main problem with people who don't have good campaign experiences.
The Advanced Campaigns are very different map-based games that contain the descent quest experience as one of the basic game-moving mechanisms (a game moving mechanism, not the actual game itself). But if you don't figure out that the game is on the map, not inside the 'quests' (dungeons), that is usually when one side (invariably the OL, as his only proactive things are on the map, dungeons being entire reactive, so he tends to have a better map-focus instinctively) wins mid way through.
I think that the idea that all the ACs do is stretch out the time to get gold gear and boost monster strength is a classic example of flawed thinking that leads to inevitable early defeat.
Sorry Steve-O!

Corbon said:

Odd, I thought everything you were saying up to the last bit was agreeing with me. I'm certainly willing to consider the idea that I haven't played enough of the AC game to fully understand its intricacies - I think I've played a grand total of four games, all as OL and most of which didn't actually get finished.

I speak base don my own experiences, of course. No offense taken if someone who knows better wants to chime in. =)