I'm sure that this doesn't have anything to do with the upcoming release of Myth, which is a co-op dungeon crawler.

BTW, the page is back up now that the official announcement has been made. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4582

I'd love to see some 3-D terrain similar to the furniture used in Hero Quest (MB Games). The combination of plastic and cardboard made the HeroQuest items gave those items a very nice feel and longevity - compared with e.g. purely cardboard 3-D terrain used by D&D (Wizards of the Coast).

I'd love to see some 3-D terrain similar to the furniture used in Hero Quest (MB Games). The combination of plastic and cardboard made the HeroQuest items gave those items a very nice feel and longevity - compared with e.g. purely cardboard 3-D terrain used by D&D (Wizards of the Coast).

well, there's this for descent 1, and for general "3d" awesomeness there is worldworks games (30% sale on everything till januray 7th btw )

I'm pretty sure you could kitbash something for descent 2nd ed, would take a look at it myself but descent sadly barely hits the table these days - no one wants to play the overlord.

coop dungeoncrawlers existed for quite some time, it has nothing to do with new releases.

for example the d&d games, mice & mystics and even gears of war (kinda)

Just because co-ops have existed for some time doesn't mean the recent trend towards co-ops is irrelevant to FFG's decision. It seems to me that there have been a lot of co-op dungeon-style games lately, Myth is just one example. If that's the trend the market is taking these days, I'm sure FFG is aware of it.

Having said that, I'm fairly confident that the motivation for this recent development has more to do with what Descent fans have been asking for, rather than what the rest of the industry is doing. FFG has a history of listening to what the fans say online, and there has been a fair amount of discussion about the idea of co-op Descent lately.

I'd love to see some 3-D terrain similar to the furniture used in Hero Quest (MB Games). The combination of plastic and cardboard made the HeroQuest items gave those items a very nice feel and longevity - compared with e.g. purely cardboard 3-D terrain used by D&D (Wizards of the Coast).

well, there's this for descent 1, and for general "3d" awesomeness there is worldworks games (30% sale on everything till januray 7th btw )

Some plastic/cardboard combo furniture akin to HQ would be cool, although it would seem to run contrary to the design philosophy for D2E. They printed obstacles and terrain on the tiles in D2E to streamline set up time, as compared to D1E that had separate terrain tokens for everything. Making this kind of furniture would be cool, no doubt, but it would also revert that apparent design decision.

As for 3D tiles; they certainly do look awesome, but I have enough trouble storing this game with tiles that lie flat. =P

I also have my work cut out for me painting all the figs, I don't especially want to paint the tiles as well. But hey, for someone who's up to that challenge, more power to them I say. =)

I'm pretty sure you could kitbash something for descent 2nd ed, would take a look at it myself but descent sadly barely hits the table these days - no one wants to play the overlord.

My group has that problem, too. Eagle Games' Defenders of the Realm comes out the most with our group but the sheer amount of content Descent has (and continues to get) would change that. I've gotten everything that's come out for Second Edition and co-operative rules would see that trend continue.

do you know if will be possible to purchase the kit even if I'm not a retailer?

I tried to preorder it but I cannot add to my chart

do you know if will be possible to purchase the kit even if I'm not a retailer?

I tried to preorder it but I cannot add to my chart

It may not be possible right now, but I believe FFG mentioned in the announcement that the package would be available for purchase later in the year, after the Game Night event is over.

do you know if will be possible to purchase the kit even if I'm not a retailer?

I tried to preorder it but I cannot add to my chart

No, you have to have a B2B account to order the kits. Here's what Steve-O was referring to:

Even if you don’t attend a Game Night at your local retailer, the adventure included in Season One 2014 Descent Game Night Kits, Forgotten Souls, will be available to you via In-House Manufacturing after the kits are rotated out of circulation later in 2014.

Note that FFG says the "adventure" will be available, not the whole kit. So I would guess it won't include the dice and hearts.

Dice are not necessary.

What is important is the rules and special cards.

thanks a lot for the quick answer

Funny that Myth was mentioned earlier, because I thought the description on the news article closely matches what we know about another big kickstarter game, Shadows of Brimstone:

"Every room is represented on an Exploration card, which features special rules and conditions that must be met for the heroes to advance. Once a room is complete, you will open the door. Then, a new Exploration card is drawn, and a new room is revealed with monsters and dangers for you to face.

After a room’s objective has been completed, either by successfully accomplishing your goal, or failing to reach it, you will move on to a new room, generated by drawing a new Exploration card. Monsters and tokens are placed in the room matching the revealed Exploration card’s entry in the Encounter Guide."

I'm really keen on this idea, at any rate, as it might mean I get to play this game as much as I want to if it can become a solo-able game!

Note that FFG says the "adventure" will be available, not the whole kit. So I would guess it won't include the dice and hearts.

That's a good point. If translucent attack dice and fancy looking wound markers are important to some, you may want to make a point of attending the Game Night after all.

If the general release is indeed just the adventure and stat cards, that would make it a lot more feasible for POD, too.

Personally I can live without the bells and whistles, but I'm definitely intrigued by the mechanics.

We would love a co-op rework of everything 2nd edition to date. The Overlord is our least liked mechanism in Descent 2nd and we much prefer co-op games.

Regular descent without an overlord i think would be kinda sucky. The overlord being human is what gives the game its strategical difficulty, it gets rid of predictability of the monsters and would generally makes for a really in depth game. If your group thinks being the overlord sucks, that just should be a sign to FFG to continue to make the overlord a more exciting player to play.

I am about to start playing with the plot cards very soon as they just arrived the other day, i hope this adds my thirst for something more with the overlord. This said i hope FFG do not stop at just the plot cards and continue to create new and exciting things for the overlord.

Usually it is the overlord who has the most experience with the game and thus usually is the one playing overlord (many exceptions to this generalisation of course). I think FFG would be well served to keep overlords happy playing overlords by continuing to release overlord related content as generally speaking its the overlord who is the one purchasing the add on content. This also does not just mean more and more plot decks, overlord decks and overlord classes; it means releasing entirely new mechanics to help the overlord become more and more interesting as time passes.

I for one think that this new add-on to the game looks interesting and i will definitely purchase it. It is giving the same game a fresh new feel by not trying to just be regular descent with no overlord.

I will be honest. I did not think I would like this when I first read it, but after, it looks great. I am normally the OL and I love my role, but since our group is a number of three right now it would be great if I joined the ranks with my heroes from time to time.

The idea and how it works really perks my interest for me as well. I am interested in seeing how it comes about.

Sounds like a change of pace. Plus killing cleric after cleric gets boring as the overlord. No one wants to be the cleric or the overlord in our group, I think this might be an ok alternative.

It would be nice for solo play as well to scratch that itch when others aren't available to play. Hopefully you can play solo

It would be nice for solo play as well to scratch that itch when others aren't available to play. Hopefully you can play solo

Any co-op game can be played solo. That's one benefit of everyone being on the same side - a single player can always co-operate with himself.

Some systems may require you to control multiple heroes (or hero-equivalents) to maintain effective balance, but that's nothing new for Descent anyway.

Can't wait for this to be available for consumer purchase. Just what I wanted for this game!

When I played this game a few times I always feel like something is missing from the game and I can't put my finger on what that is exactly.

I've played few games like this and only this one makes me feel that way. I feel like this game can be good to me if they or somebody can figure out why it doesn't do it for me and fix it. Maybe this co-op hero thing might work who knows.

Note that FFG says the "adventure" will be available, not the whole kit. So I would guess it won't include the dice and hearts.

That's a good point. If translucent attack dice and fancy looking wound markers are important to some, you may want to make a point of attending the Game Night after all.

If the general release is indeed just the adventure and stat cards, that would make it a lot more feasible for POD, too.

Personally I can live without the bells and whistles, but I'm definitely intrigued by the mechanics.

Shiny treasure is always nice.

Personally I can live without the bells and whistles, but I'm definitely intrigued by the mechanics.

Shiny treasure is always nice.

I agree, but I'm not spending $500 in travel and hotel expenses to find my way to a Game Night event just so I can score a few plastic hearts. If there's one locally that I hear about, and it doesn't cause great inconvenience to my schedule, then of course I'll go check it out.

Otherwise (and more likely) I'll just get the version they release to the general public, whenever that is.

Made the point over on the geek but here too, why is COOP designed for organised play? Surely it fits more in with solo players and smaller groups? Organised play surely a new overlord vs overlord would have fitted having more players but maybe they are after a large gaming store carrot.

It's more about it being for "Game Nights" to bring new people in. A competitive game with the Overlord versus 4 others, especially when certain Overlord tactics may involve using his monsters to gang up on an individual hero, can be off-putting to a lot of people. Whereas it's really hard to take it personally when you're playing against a cardboard box. This is something that will allow people to experience Descent without the Overlord feeling like he might have to either take it easy on the heroes or risk alienating a new player. This scenario can be especially risky with new players when they don't fully understand the rules of the game yet.

If this helps bridge that gap and get the game on the table more often, I'm all for it. Once players get a feel for the basic rules of the game, they can then try out the competitive version.

I'm not getting how this helps FLGSes.

So, a customer comes into a game night and loves playing the new co-op Descent.

"Wow", he says, "that was the most fantastic board-gaming experience I've ever had. I'd love to play this with my family and friends. I'd like to buy a copy right now!"

"I'm sorry," the FLGS owner replies, shaking his head, sadly, "but I can't actually sell you this. I can sell you the normal Descent game, but it doesn't play anything like the game you just enjoyed so much."

Frustrated and disheartened, the customer leaves the FLGS, promising never to return since it is clear that a business who won't actually sell their product doesn't deserve his patronage.

So that could indicate that the game nights are a "sandbox", which allow the testing (and fine tuning) of a future coop expansion.

Personally I can live without the bells and whistles, but I'm definitely intrigued by the mechanics.

Shiny treasure is always nice.

I agree, but I'm not spending $500 in travel and hotel expenses to find my way to a Game Night event just so I can score a few plastic hearts. If there's one locally that I hear about, and it doesn't cause great inconvenience to my schedule, then of course I'll go check it out.Otherwise (and more likely) I'll just get the version they release to the general public, whenever that is.

Is there a way to search for Game Night events or a list of participating retailers?

"I'm sorry," the FLGS owner replies, shaking his head, sadly, "but I can't actually sell you this. I can sell you the normal Descent game, but it doesn't play anything like the game you just enjoyed so much."

Frustrated and disheartened, the customer leaves the FLGS, promising never to return since it is clear that a business who won't actually sell their product doesn't deserve his patronage.

Alternatively, the FLGS owner politely explains that the co-op expansion will be on sale later this year, and that the customer can buy the core box now if he likes, as it will be required to play with the co-op expansion later anyway.

The customer, who ideally has an attention span longer than 6 hours (especially if he wants to play FFG games), understands that the Games Night was just a preview/promotional event and that he might actually have to wait before he can get the new thing they were advertising there.

I freely admit that I've never owned a gaming store before, but I have served my time in retail. In my experience, the customers who stomp out and promise never to return are rarely worth the time they would take to satisfy anyway. They always act like the removal of their money will single-handedly sink the store, but in truth they usually only spend a fraction of what other, more reasonable customers do.

Also, some canny FLGS owners might just give away the co-op promo material they have in some kind of raffle or contest, so the possibility of the impatient gamer getting his grubby mitts on the product right away are not zero. (Although he would probably still call shenanigans if he didn't win.)