New to Descent, and have a couple questions

By Cursain, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Good morning everybody,

I just purchased all the Descent 2nd edition box sets, and last week I hosted a game night so the five us players could familiarize ourselves with the rules (including the FAQ).

We plan on starting the campaign named "The Shadow Rune", and as the Overlord I'm a bit anxious

So the first game we played was of course First Blood. I lost pretty bad, and all the heroes (geomancer, berserker, treasure hunter and disciple) managed to score all the search items. During "The Campaign Phase", we followed steps 1-8, but when we got to step 3 "Receive Rewards" we were a bit confused.

The "First Blood", scenario already granted, win or lose, 1 experience point to all heroes. Do we get another experience point on top of the one from "The Campaign Phase"? The reason I ask is because some quests like "Rude Awakening" from "Lair of the Wyrm" only grant relics, and I thought step 3 of "The Campaign Phase" was to grant an experience point.

Next game night is in September, and we're starting the campaign over since the introduction didn't count.

We did get one quest completed "The Masquerade Ball", and I whooped on the players. I took the Magus1 card that lets the OL use one action from a monster group to draw that many cards, and keep four cards. It helped a lot, but unfortunately the FAQ reduced it to two cards so when the campaign starts, I'm wondering if that's the first OL card I should take.

I appreciate any clarity you can give on my experience point inquiry.

Sincerely

-Cursain

Hi Cursain,

My interpretation is that the "Receive Rewards" is just a formalization of when you should take the rewards listed in the Quest Guide (bear in mind that the Rewards section of a quest is only relevant if you're playing a campaign). All players get just 1 XP in principle, except for those who win in quests that grant additional XP for the winner (generally the OL; example: A Fat Goblin). I believe that it's stated both in the description of the Campaign Phase and in the Quest Guide just for redundancy, so that you don't forget about it because it's important. In fact, the ruling of the Receive Rewards step is:

"3. Receive Rewards: The overlord player and hero players each receive one experience point, regardless of who won the quest ( as listed in the Quest Guide )." (emphasis is mine)
So I interpret that to mean you just get the 1 XP listed in the Quest Guide.
Lair of the Wyrm quests do not grant the automatic 1 XP if played as part of The Shadow Rune campaign. They only award XP if played as a mini-campaign on their own (more on that here: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?showtopic=77275#772941 , and rules for the mini-campaign are here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/descent-second-ed/news/lair-of-the-wyrm/rules/LotW_Campaign_Rules.pdf )
Can't give you advice on Unholy Ritual because I read the errata before playing and haven't tried it yet (mostly because of the errata I must admit).

Another question I have, what happens if an ettin throws a hero into a lava pit? The lava pit says they get defeated if they stop in the lava during their turn, but if the ettin throws them into the lava during the OL's turn what happens?

Heroes are defeated when in lava at the end of their (i.e. hero) turn.

So, when the ettin throws them into lava, they only will defeated by the lava if they remain in it during their coming hero turn.

Edited by Robin

They will take a damage for entering the lava space, and possibly at the start of their turn(?). Not too sure about the second half, that might just be how we had ruled it.

They will take a damage for entering the lava space, and possibly at the start of their turn(?). Not too sure about the second half, that might just be how we had ruled it.

The rule says (p. 18) : "A figure entering a space containing lava immediately suffers one damage.

Any figure that ends its turn in a lava space is immediately defeated."
So starting a turn in a lava space does not generate damage.
Only entering a lava space does (and ending a turn in it defeats the hero - whose token is placed in the nearest, empty non lava space).

Thanks for the tip, I don't have the books in front of me since my buddy has them to run our next campaign.

Thanks for the tip, I don't have the books in front of me since my buddy has them to run our next campaign.

I also scanned the quest book (with OCR option) so I can cite it.

Thanks for the tip, I don't have the books in front of me since my buddy has them to run our next campaign.

FFG has all the rule books (not quest books) on the support pages. If you have an iPad or something it is actually faster to search rules using that then the physical books.

And the search (ctrl + f) function helps find rule elements "hidden" in some dark corners of ghe rulebook...