Hi guys,

I want to tell you a bit of our first game of RtL. It seems we did some things wrong, but we can't figure out which. In the beginning, we did only add 150 coins per coin token to the treasure chest, same with the reward from the chests. Later we took it four times, so the heroes actually could afford something. But still, the Overlord was very strong, scoring about 44XP in one dungeon (all three stories). We explored four dungeons in the whole campaign before hitting 600XP in total to fight the overlord himself.

What did we do wrong?

Well, maybe you are awarding XP in instances where you shouldn't be.

OL Conquest:

1. Kill a Hero (Each hero is worth between 1 and 4 conquest)

2. Start of a turn (OL gets 1 CP plus 1 for each razed city.)

3. Plot (Depending on your plot, you could be awarded additional CP)

4. Deck (Cycling your deck in a dungeon will get you 3 CP)

Hero Conquest

1. Kill a level leader (Usually 2 CP)

2. Kill a Lieutenant (4CP)

3. Explore a dungeon for the first time (1CP)

4. Activate a glyph (3 CP)

5. Open a treasure chest that doesn't provide a treasure (1 CP)

There may be one or two that I missed off the top of my head, but unless you are killing the group a couple of dozen times per level, I'm not sure how you got to 600 after 4 dungeons.

!?!?! Wow, yeah, that's a lot! Considering the heroes get around 20-25 Xp per dungeon, that means the OL got around 450 Xp (or so) in 6 dungeons. Meaning the OL was averaging about 70 Xp in the last 5 dungeons. Which comes out to 18-23 hero kills per dungeon, or about 6-8 kills per level?!?!?

I think something is wrong. With out more details, it's hard to tell what exactly.

Note: All calculations are approximate.

I suspect one of the more common mistakes:

The game level is determined by total Conquest Points (which were neatly summed up by Feraldis) - NOT by total XP.

Note that for the OL CP equals XP, but for the heros it is CP = 4 XP (1 XP per hero), thus you will reach 600 "XP" very soon, but not 600 CP.

Stefan said:

Well, you seem to have caught the fact that gold pile tokens are 400gp, not 150gp.

As for the XP...wow. Did you guys just get creamed on each floor? And did you not think about fleeing? A decent rule of thumb is to take what the OL's lowest monster upgrade cost is, and leave the first dungeon before he has a chance to get that much XP. That way heading into the second dungeon it should still be all cooper monsters, not one of them at silver.

What's the Avatar and Hero party?

We made the CP = XP error. That's an explanation. I'm the sorcerer king, having eldritches on diamond and the rest on silver, fighting Laughing Buldar, Grey kerr, the Runebitch and the Orc.

That many upgrades after 4 dungeons? Either your heroes are moving very slowly or you are purchasing more than one per round.

They had to move to different cities vor skills, defeating lieutenants and such things, so I could purchase more. I had all three additional gold dice, +1 armour, +1 00wound, all surges canceled, +15 wounds for the overlord alone.

Do Glyphs of transport give XP for everyone of just for the hero activating it? We played it the latter way.

And is there any way to increase the hero's maximal armor by more than +3? That's the best armour they found, at gold level.

Stefan said:

The Heroes gets 3 CT for tripping a glyph, so each Hero gets 3 XP.

Feraldis said:

Hi,

I was wondering, because I can't find this in the rules.

Can anyone provide a reference to FAQ or rulebook?

Kind regards,

Zwergenkrieger

Zwergenkrieger said:

RTL rules-page 10 under "party actions":

"If the heroes end their movement in a dungeon area, they
receive one conquest token if they’ve never been to that area
before. They may then may enter the dungeon according to the
rules under “Dungeons” on page 17."

Note you do not actually have to explore the dungeon, only arrive at a location you've not been to before. What I do is put a check mark next to locations heroes have been to before but not entered, and then X out the square once they actually explore it.

That we did right, at last. But many errors still. The game doesn't seem too good balanced though.

Someone said earlier that RtL is very balanced, but very unforgiving. Against experienced Heroes and an experienced OL, it's a tight game. But if one side screws up (either due to inexperience or other simple mistakes), then the other side will pull very far ahead.

For the Heroes, especially early in the game, you have to remember that you control how much CP the OL earns. LEARN TO FLEE! Most beginners forget that you don't have to go down to the 3rd level of every dungeon. In the Copper campaign, the first few dungeons you should not even go to the 2nd level. Just do the first level with zero deaths if you can help it, then flee. Remember that the OL is *stronger* the deeper you go down into a dungeon (Power Cards, Stacked up Threat, more cards in hand, etc) so leave before he can kill a bunch of heroes. This will keep the OL's CP down for a long time early in the game.

-shnar

Feanor said:

Hi Feanor,

thank you very much! I've read the RtL rulebook serveral times, but I didn't recognize this point.

It would have been great, if FFG included an overview reference chart to RtL.

Regards,

Zwergenkrieger

Check out boardgamegeek (under files, order by 'hot') or headlesshollow (scroll down for descent):

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29298

http://www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html

You'll get plenty of help reading these. Just make sure to read the official FAQ again afterwards

Does the OL keep his thread after a dungeon is finished to take it in the next?

After a Dungeon: Nope

After a Dungeon Level which is not the last: Yes.

Stefan said:

It stays between dungeon LEVELS, but not between actual dungeons. Each dungeon you start with 0 threat and 3 cards, unless you are the sorceror king.