Can't buy it anymore?

By Jabulu, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

I've been reading a lot about different board games. I'm just now realizing that board games are more than Sorry or Monopoly. So I've been buying them and loving every game. I read a lot about Descent and thought it sounded awesome.

I came on here to purchase it and it isn't in production anymore, but the expansions are?

I thought that was weird so maybe I was just reading it wrong.

The only actual question I had about the game is this. Does the Overlord actually have a fun job, or is he just a rulebook that lets the players have fun by helping them win?

The Overlord has a fun job. Personally, I prefer playing as a hero (as the heroes)...but I know someone who won't play as other than the Overlord.

Jabulu said:

I came on here to purchase it and it isn't in production anymore, but the expansions are?

I thought that was weird so maybe I was just reading it wrong.

None of the game's expansions are in production anymore. It's possible that not all of them have sold out on the web store yet (I haven't checked), but everything is out of print as of last November or so.

The only new and upcoming material for Descent is the Second Edition core box, which will entirely independent of the first edition.

Jabulu said:

The only actual question I had about the game is this. Does the Overlord actually have a fun job, or is he just a rulebook that lets the players have fun by helping them win?

The Overlord can be played either way. By design, he is intended to be a legitimate opponent with as much chance of winning as the heroes have. Some groups find this jarring to what they expected the game to be, however, (ie: they thought the heroes would always - or at least almost always - win) and those people often choose to play a more lenient game.

In short, there's nothing stopping the Overlord from throwing the game in the heroes' favour if he wants to, but that's not how the game was designed to be played. The Overlord is a player like any other, and he is bound to adhere to the rules just as any hero player would be.

I guess I'll just have to wait for the second edition.

I'm so happy that the Overlord has more of a team 1 v. team 2 vibe. Then maybe it will be a blast to play as him.

The only question I really have about it is should I even get this if my group plays dnd? I mean we end up playing dnd maybe once a week or so, it's not always easy writing stories and doing all of that. Will this game just feel like, why are we playing dumbed down dnd, or is this a very unique experience?

I LOVE playing as the overlord!

Just wanted to add that.

Jabulu said:

The only question I really have about it is should I even get this if my group plays dnd? I mean we end up playing dnd maybe once a week or so, it's not always easy writing stories and doing all of that. Will this game just feel like, why are we playing dumbed down dnd, or is this a very unique experience?

I can only speak for my experiences with first edition, of course, but the game is mainly a highly tactical dungeon crawler. Depending on your reasons for playing D&D, this may or may not qualify as a "dumbed down" version of the same. If all your D&D games revolve around combat and miniatures then odds are you'll find the rules for Descent unnecessarily restrictive and perhaps even unrealistic. As tactical as Descent is, D&D still has a wider variety of options for those who enjoy digging in to such things. (For starters, it has a proper third dimension =P)

If your games of D&D focus more on role-playing and story-telling, then Descent will probably be a sufficiently distinct experience. Descent 2e will reputedly have a stronger story element than 1e did, but I somehow doubt that any board game will hold a candle to the level of freedom you have in a standard RPG. Board games, after all, do not generally adhere to the Golden Rule that the DM can do whatever he wants in the name of a good story.