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I'm thinking of buying 'Descent: Journeys In The Dark', by Fantasy Flight Games and wanted to ask a few questions of anyone who plays it. I usually game once a week with either one or two other chaps and we've been playing a lot of 'Cutthroat Caverns' and 'Munchkin', which we thoroughly enjoy, but we're ready for something a little meatier. They don't fancy 40k, WHFB, Warmachine, Hordes, or anything like that and I stumbled across Descent. It's a relatively costly game at around £60 for the main game and I want to make sure it's going to do what we want.

My main question is: "How does it work with just 2 people?" Most of the time it's just two of us, and while we're learning the game, it's probably a good idea to have one person controlling just one hero, rather than trying to figure it out for more than one hero at a time. Is the game at all balanced with just one hero?

How easy is it to learn? None of us has ever played it. Does it need someone who is already familiar with it?

How do you rate the game? Everywhere I've looked it gets great reviews, but it would be interesting to hear your thoughts too.

Thanks in advance!

Anyone.....?

Descent is a good game but be prepared to spend a bit of time getting use to its concepts. At first you will find that the "heroes" will be overwhelmed and it does not seem that rewarding.

However, if you perservere it gets much better, new characters get trashed but once they level up.....

One on one (a bit like Doom ) is slanted towards the Overlord (dungeon keeper) but if you can get multiple good guys it is a lot of fun.


I would rate Warhammer quest as the better "dungeon crawl" but if you compare the premium you have to pay to get a copy on EBay, then Descent is a good gaming choice

Its a great game. I would try a few runs with one hero til you get the mechanics down, then the player should run at least 2 heroes.

One key thing to remember is that Descent is not a "clean out the dungeon" game. If you play that way, theplayers lose every time.

Delaying favors the overlord. If he spawns a group behind you, ignore it if possible and move on. Getting through the dungeon is all that matters.

Otherwise you lose too many resources trying to take out spawns, which allows the Overlord to spawn more, and keep delaying you while going for the TPK.

One fun thing is to run the same dungeon multiple times and keep track of conquest lost/won as your score.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and be sure to use the monster cards with the 2 on them with just Overlord and one hero.

The number is the total number of players, not PCs.
Learned that one early. Game is way too easy using the 4 cards with 4 heroes and OL.

skrulnik wrote:Its a great game. I would try a few runs with one hero til you get the mechanics down, then the player should run at least 2 heroes.

One key thing to remember is that Descent is not a "clean out the dungeon" game. If you play that way, theplayers lose every time.

Delaying favors the overlord. If he spawns a group behind you, ignore it if possible and move on. Getting through the dungeon is all that matters.

Otherwise you lose too many resources trying to take out spawns, which allows the Overlord to spawn more, and keep delaying you while going for the TPK.

One fun thing is to run the same dungeon multiple times and keep track of conquest lost/won as your score.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and be sure to use the monster cards with the 2 on them with just Overlord and one hero.

The number is the total number of players, not PCs.
Learned that one early. Game is way too easy using the 4 cards with 4 heroes and OL.

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking of doing exactly as you said, running it with just one hero for a while until we get the idea. Probably switching who is the overlord and who is the hero, so that we can get a good idea of how the whole game works and thus play better. Also, we may then find that one person prefers one role over the other. Keeping score seems a sensible idea at first as well - thanks for that!

I'll have to remember what you said about not trying to clean out the dungeon!

Just to clarify, if I was playing with one other person (totalling 2 players), who is controlling 4 heroes, are you saying that we would play the '2' monsters rather than the '4' monsters? Surely the number of players doesn't affect the chances of the heroes winning, it's the number of heroes in the dungeon....

wilycoyote wrote:Descent is a good game but be prepared to spend a bit of time getting use to its concepts. At first you will find that the "heroes" will be overwhelmed and it does not seem that rewarding.

However, if you perservere it gets much better, new characters get trashed but once they level up.....

One on one (a bit like Doom ) is slanted towards the Overlord (dungeon keeper) but if you can get multiple good guys it is a lot of fun.


I would rate Warhammer quest as the better "dungeon crawl" but if you compare the premium you have to pay to get a copy on EBay, then Descent is a good gaming choice

Would I be right in thinking that if you're just playing a single dungeon rather than a campaign, that levelling up happens within the dungeon?

Thanks again!

I don't think you would ever want a player to run 4 heroes solo. That is a lot of work. Maybe 3. Definitely work to increase your player number.

You are correct. the number should be the overlord plus number of heroes.

As far as leveling goes, that kind of happens as you find better treasures. The silver and gold treasures represent the growing power of the heroes.
Also, any skills/gear that you are able to buy when you visit town.
But I have found that in the basic missions in the book, you might be able to skill up once, maybe twice in a map.

If campaign is what you are looking for, the Road to Legend expansion covers that.
Heroes start out lower powered than normal, but far surpass it over time.

skrulnik wrote:I don't think you would ever want a player to run 4 heroes solo. That is a lot of work. Maybe 3. Definitely work to increase your player number.

That's a shame. Mind you, my mate is a glutton for punishment and he seems drawn to the role of the heroes, whereas I'm more drawn to the role of the Overlord. We'll see how it goes. Would you advise him just controlling one hero on the first few games then? It will probably be mainly me plus my mate, although there is another chap who is sometimes in our gaming group, depending on his work. Obviously I want to get as good an experience of this as possible, so ultimately I would work towards having the two of them controlling two heroes each, thus four heroes in total. I guess I'll have to see how it goes though.

Thanks for your other comments too. Only problem with the campaign idea is that you need 4 heroes for it (I think) so that would be difficult with just me and my mate. Shame really, as the campaign setting seems great. Although, since the quests are shorter in 'Road To Legends', maybe he could control 4 heroes..... Just a thought!

Well, if your buddy is up to it, go for it! Try running single Areas at a time, rather than trying the whole dungeon in a single go. That is if you can leave it set up between sessions.

The smaller dungeons in campaign could help too. But definitely decide if you like the game before buying expansions. It costs enough already.

I am already 2 expansions behind. RtL was the last I picked up. Unfortunately our group fell apart before we finished. Real-life issues and all.

Good luck with Descent!

Thanks for all the help and advice Skrulnik. I'm going to stick with the base game for a while, but it's good to see the route to greatness unfolding in front of me!

descent does work with 2 players. I.e. one dungeon overlord and 1 adventurer controlling 2 characters. So far ive been running the starter map with a my 10 year old and we have had about 5 attempt. He has got gradually nearer and nearer each time to completing the first dungeon. I dont know about playing it with 4-5 players as ive only played it with 2 and i think it works really well.

2 players work well. My GF and I play this semi frequently.

If it wasnt for the long resolution of the game it would see more play, which is why we play Claustrophobia more frequently.

I'm glad to hear it works well with 2 players. I'm not too worried about the fact it's going to be a long game as my friend and I can semi-regularly schedule long sessions of gaming.

Well worth the money - although I am not sure Descent is the true heir to the dungeon-crawlers of old. There are a few goofy mechanics in the game that give it too much of a video game feel. I generally think this system works better for their Doom game. The expansions are sort of a mess after awhile - not so much in rules or gameplay, but just in keeping everything straight. I think you are smart to stick with the core box set fro awhile. There are plenty of extra quests and house rules on the net to keep you busy for a long time.

I agree. But the Rolling Ball of Doom is cool

Matthias wrote:.....There are a few goofy mechanics in the game that give it too much of a video game feel.......

Like what? I've been readingt he rules prior to getting it and it all seems fairly straight forward to me....

I would assume the spawning and character death/respawn mechanics.

That makes sense I guess.

Quick question about spawning, is it ok to spawn in an area that has already been investigated? i.e. can I effectively spawn new monsters behind the heroes, assuming that all of the LOS rules are obeyed?

I really must get around to buying this game now. I'm getting a bit obsessed with looking stuff up on the net for it

InyokaMadoda wrote:Quick question about spawning, is it ok to spawn in an area that has already been investigated? i.e. can I effectively spawn new monsters behind the heroes, assuming that all of the LOS rules are obeyed?

Yes you can. This is when you can really slow the party down.

If you can get a spawn of skeleton archers or Sorcerors behind them, they can't ignore them due to range.
So they need to go back and get them, or get through a runedoor they can close.

That is my biggest complaint. The game can bog down REALLY badly at times, and it isn't really fun for anyone playing.

Best you can hope for is the "GM" not spawning much for a round or two to let you move towards objectives.

Or you do what you are supposed to and run away from the spawns behind you.
Most of the time you can just outrun spawns behind you.

With the fatigue, you can outpace anything in the game.
A run with full fatigue use can get you two moves and a closed door away from nearly everything in the game.

Besides, if the OL is using all his threat to spawn things, he is not gaining powers or dropping traps.
If the players will run from things behind them, it will make the OL think twice about spending threat that way.

That's all fair enough. I was just thinking about it from a theoretical point of view as it does open the doors for sneaky Overlord play, which I like! At least it means you can spawn into a side corridor that the heroes have just walked past - an added distraction if they're already in a fight with something!

That's exactly what it does.

The first couple times I spawned behind them, my players were eager to chew through the monsters.

But the delay let me get a few conquest for going through my deck and capping the mage.

A few games later, I could see them sweat when I did it, as they decided if dealing with them was worth it, or if they should move on.

Definitely puts the pressure behind them.

Excellent. Good to see I'm thinking along the right lines for being an evil overlord before even buying the game!

It is pretty awesome, but it'll take a few run throughs and rereading of the rules along the way. The players really have to understand what they are doing and how to work together. Passing on what I was told, you should have 1-2 Brutes, a runner and a blaster. A runner just focuses on grabbing chests/runes/coins as soon as possible so the bruisers and blaster have the items to help them do what they do. The blaster tries to get a blast ASAP while the bruiser try to get in the way and protect the other 2. It may be tempting for everyone to try and kill as much as they can, but it doesn't work as well. The other note, it seems melee shines at the start but magic wins once it gets blast. Once you are into the gold treasures, anything the Overlord can spawn will be 1 shotted, or a room will be cleared by one blast. It really is key to slow them down and guard those chests!

You see Deminyn, you should really be telling my mate most of that as he has already said he wants to be the hero player. I'm not going to tell him your strategy for winning as he needs to be discovering it for himself!

Mind you, I'll heed your warnings and slow him down as much as I can and guard the chests! Thanks.

I've played with three and four players (that is, 2 against 1 and three against 1). I would say that it's much better with more people.

Yeah, most games are, but my gaming group is usually two. Then again, he is a mug and will happily control four heroes once he is ok with the rules. Obviously we'll miss out in the banter stakes though...

All games are better with more players.

Best we had is the one guy who is a gambler. He acts as a runner and gets all the loot.

Then when he goes to town with his share, he trades everything in for a draw from the best treasure available.

Once, he traded to draw 2 golds. Didn't like them and sold them. Had enough for one gold. Didn't like it.
Traded in for a silver draw, didn't like it. traded for a copper, didn't like it.

He ended up with a couple potions. The rest of us were laughing our asses off.

ouch. yeah, there was a guy (mage) who didn't like how expensive the starting staff and rune is, so he bought a copper. got the blast rune... way too lucky.

skrulnik wrote:I would assume the spawning and character death/respawn mechanics.

Yep - that is exactly what I was getting at. I also am not a huge fan for the instant portals to town and back. Sort of ruins the dark, deep dungeon mystic for me when you can pop back to town, grab some healing potions and jump right back to the action in what amounts to a manner of seconds.

That said - still a fun game.