Maybe Overlord does have the advantage

By joeyman3, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hello all,

My friends and I picked up this game recently and are loving this game. We've argued it both ways but we haven't finished a campaign yet so I can only comment on things that are currently happening.

First, We felt these types of games could easily become a 1v1 situation even with multiple players. Meaning one person may think theyir strategic thinking is better and would therefore overpower others decisions. So to combat this we made a rule that the heroes can't discuss strategy between turns. It's also allows the OL to play against 1 mind at a time, rather than 2 or 4.

Secondly we made random hero selections. Otherwise people tend to pick favorites and changes the way people are used to playing.

With this set up so far, I have only lost the introduction.

In my other game (1v1) 2 heroes. I'm playing against a preselected hero comp or the girl who stuns and the knight with movement.

I lost fat goblin, where I probably should have won. I played an elemental (illegal) that opened the door and died. So I should've lost but Splig was 2 squares from reaching the exit. He lost Theodir on Masquerade Ball and it wasn't even close. Shadow dragon and 2 Barghest's as meatshields.

I was also very close to winning Death on a wing. I couldn't manage to keep him trapped and his warrior just kept breaking stones, but at one point I only had 3 stones to go. Eventually I had my entire deck which I think is the best case scenario. I was 3 health from killing the last two guards and instead of making belthir run I just went for it and lost. My mistake.

So far here's my assumption: The game is quite balanced. But the OL's job requires much more attention. I really don't care much for knocking down heroes, my goal is the quest, so I use minions as meatshields and inhibitors for movement mostly, unless they are overwhelmed. The key is patience. I've noticed my turn as OL takes twice as long as the heroes because I have to carefully plan out every aspect, even decided which group to move first is crucial. I lost Death on a Wing because of 1 mistake. Everything takes a long time, and patience is your worst enemy here. I played the first episode of Death on a Wing for 2 hours with a pair that had a potential of 19 movement spaces.

I would love to hear some advice from heroes.

Well,

I've just played the Dawnblade Act2 quest as both Overlord and Hero ;

And I have to say - this quest seems extremely unbalanced in the overlords favour.

It was so unbalanced that even as the overlord - I was trying to help the heros make the most efficient use of their actions as possible - and still, they didn't stand a chance.

Is this quest deliberately skewed in favour of the Overlord because the heroes need to win the Act1 quest to play it?

It certainly seems that way.

Even if the heroes start encounter 2 with the dawnblade - there's 2 ways for the overlord to win.

It wasn't a fun quest at all, because it was so one-sided.

Hi, we played Dawnblade yesterday and think the same thing the quest is skewed in favor for the OL

We played for 7h i was the OL, it become boring in the end so I finally gave up and did let the heroes win.

It was in act 2, I was trying to get the dragon out and and it was 3 heroes so they tried to stop me.

The heroes are quit overpowered but I just spawn a new dragon when the last one is killed, se we kept fighting in the hall up an down.

What do you think about this quest?

After playing a campaign, I feel like the game leans only a little for the OL. It really depends on who wins in act one. We did Fat Goblin, Plight, and Masquerade. I, the OL, lost only Fat Goblin. I won the interlude and then would have one 2 our of the three quest that match the quests from act one (except they where moaning on how I was OP, so I handed them the game where they could take the Staff of Shadows from me >P),

All in all, I lost because over grown shadow dragon means nothing to a hero that can generate their own surges AND hits for ten H a turn. Really, I lost because I gave up the Staff of Shadows. The moral is I won the same quests (or would have) I won in act one as I did in act two.

It really depends on who gets on top first, and how much money the heroes get. Allot of heroes will save all their money so they can spend it all on act two weapons and toys. I hate to admit it, but it's a really good strategy. If that is what they did for act two I can see why they could mow down the OL so quickly. You won't see me telling my heroes that though >(