Hello all,

This is my first board game i have ever purchased and was really excited i recieved my product yesterday!

But after playing the and reading the rules several times, it seems like it is almost impossible for the bad guys to win, so can some one please answer the following questions as im very confused.

1) when a hero is reduced to 0 wounds, he is knocked down. But surely if all heroes are knocked down the game should end? but it seems like they can spend their action to get up. It seems like it is impossible for the hero's to die. (was a little upset you couldn't kill hero's but only knock them out, and would always recover on the next round) am i right with this or have i mis-read something.

2) can the overlord target heroes if their is a friendly blocking line of sight?

3) Also how does stun work for the overlord minions? do they lose an entire turn if stunned or an action?

If anyone could answer these i would be so greatful!

fire_933 said:

1) Don't get hung up on killing her heroes as the Overlord's objective. Most Quests have something that the Overlord needs to do; like kill villagers, or escape. That being said, no, there is no way to permanently kill a hero, nor does the Overlord win by knocking them all out. But consider this: When a hero uses the Stand Up action, that is all they get to do that round. Period. So it's very easy to just knock them out again, and then there's the OL card you get do draw for doing so.

2) No. All figures block line of sight, friendly or unfriendly, for both heroes and the Overlord.

3) Stun works the same for all figures. The first action that figure takes must be to remove stun, but then you still get your second action.

Thanks for the swift reply pal! really appreciate it!

I was playing stun so wrong yesterday lol was play it as you can't do anything! But can stun effects stack?

Also about loosing heroes i may create a house rule if you die X amount of times its gone unless you complete the scenario. Not a fan of immortal heroes lol. Will test it out as this will make him think before he constantly charges into the fray!

None of the conditions stack; you can only have one of each at a time.

fire_933 said:

But you are fan of having players sitting around and not playing and presumably being bored out of their skull?

This is a board game, not an immersive RPG. The penalties of being knocked out are significant and aid the OL to victory, without penalising the players with having to sit the game out as well.

well no they won't be bored out of their skulls, just means they'll play sensibly. Also they wanted to do this as much as i. Also im sure the game allows a few house rules does it not? if this does not work i will revert back to original rules.

I see the whole game to be a sociable board game with co-operation, and if you all agree with one thing there is no harm in adjusting a rule to see how it works.

I always factor the game should be fun rather than serious game, if one of us is not having fun i will revert like i said im not here to spoil anyone games to benefit myself, i rather see people think more about their moves and plan ahead. Like i said though the gaming group wants to try this out.

fire_933 said:

If the OL kills one of them early on, that player will likely be bored for the rest of the game, unless he happens to be one of those people who has fun watching other people play (and such people do exist.) Of course, if death is permanent the heroes will strive to avoid being killed, but if the OL is really serious about trying to kill them, it will still happen sometimes, no matter how careful they are.

Keep in mind that the official rules are written with the assumption that heroes cannot be permanently removed from play. This means the OL has some pretty nasty tricks up his sleeve, potentially including a couple of insta-kills (I don't own the game yet so I don't know of any specific effects that do this, but the rulebook does mention the possibility of being "defeated" by other means than your hero's last HP being removed.) In a game where getting KO'd means you're permanently out of play, such effects might become game breaking.

fire_933 said:

The primary purpose of playing board games is to have fun, so if you and your group are really this unhappy about the idea of immortal heroes, then by all means feel free to make a house rule. Please also make sure to report back about how it works out for you. I'm not planning to implement any such house rule myself, but I'd still be interested to hear how it affects your playing experience.

The one piece of advice I would offer is to remember which rules you're using are house rules and which are the actual rules. If the game starts to feel unbalanced towards one side or the other, I would recommend removing house rules rather than adding more, otherwise things will just spiral out of control.

I'm in agreement with Steve-O on this, even though I almost always wear the Overlord mantle. Implementing such a house rule would severely skew the balance of the game towards the OL, and I don't see how that could be any fun for a group of intrepid heroes (I know mine would never want to play the game again, that's for certain.

If you do it, please do report back. I want to hear the outcome of this, though in my opinion it seems a fool's errand.

hey all,

sorry i think i may have worded what im trying to say quite poorly.

A hero will have "X" amount of lives and if all heroes die, the quest is over. Although if all other heroes die apart from one who completes the quest than all heroes recover on encounter 2 and carry on adventure and heal like normal. I have tried this and it seems to work thus far but maybe fall short in later quests.

I will report as this campaign progresses further.

fire993 I would suggest checking out 1st edition Descent. One of my complaints about second edition is that the combat is lackluster since the heroes can't die. In first edition, they die and you get a reward for killing them. Plus, the hero is back and at full health the next round making it fun for the players too.

MasterBeastman said:

If a lack of hero death is an issue, I am not sure Descent 1e is much of a fix. In 1e, heroes have even more of a complete respawn after being defeated, coming back at full strength next round.