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Hey Maniacs

Just a few questions and thoughts. I have recently considered purchasing the Descent Jorneys in the Dark Boardgame for me and my regular gaming buddies as I think it would be a cheaper alternative to a $600AU + Ebay bill. Unfortunatly a gamer has to eat also.

Just wondering what people's experience is with the game and does it compare with WHQ?

And lastly, it probably goes with out saying but why the hell (pardon the french) dont GW do a new version of it. They would make an absolute Killing! If you go of the prices on Ebay then obviously some gamers are prepared to fork out that much for a boxed version of the classic game? Im no economics expert but if thats what the market price is currently then surely the guys at GW must be aware of that at some level?

What do you all think?



Thanks in advance I have been pondering this like Aristotle for some time

Their last fantasy board game bombed. They couldn't GIVE Deadweight (sorry, Dreadfleet) away.

Their last SF game sold its socks off (Spacehulk).

Besides, FFG are doing better Fantasy themed dungeon bash games than GW these days. Not that GWs ones were all that good to start with.

As the owner of both, I'll jump in. First you have to realize the current version of Descent is really dumbed down compared to the first version, which depending on your play style can be good or bad. Personally I think they went a little too far and it kind of hurt the game. The first addition is a closer comparison to WHQ I think.

The biggest difference between WHQ and Descent is how the game is run. Having the monsters run by the overlord really gives the game the edge in difficulty. The overlord can set devious (some would say cheap) traps for the players that can really ruin their day. in WHQ, the game itself runs the monsters and if you are good, you can position yourself in such a way that it can be rally hard for the monsters to win. However unlike descent, you can't simply run out of the dungeon to town to heal up and come back to where you left off, so that makes it up for it a little bit.

WHQ is also really random. Most of the game events (besides monsters) are done by rolling on a d100 or even a d1000 table so you have no idea what you could be up against. In descent, the monsters are mostly set by the scenario, with the overlord having some monster and event cards he can play from his hand, but with enough play you know what the overlord has in the deck and can take the appropriate steps.

Finally, the campaign system. Both have a really great campaign system where you can keep your characters between games. WHQ is a little more hardcore, as RAW, if your character is unlucky enough to be killed and makes a bad roll in the permanent effects chart, he is perma-dead; start a new character from scratch! In descent, death has no consequence besides giving the overlord points, which makes him more powerful, and you lose some money. No perma death until the final scenario.

Which is better? It's hard to say. I personally like WHQ a little more simply due to nostalgia. It was the first GW game I ever owned and it got me into the h-h-hobby. Descent is a great game and has the edge in overall difficulty simply due to the presence of the overlord, but bad luck in the draw of monsters/bad event rolls can really make some WHQ games a close run thing.

Thanks Samurai_Eduh that's a useful comparison. I looked into getting descent about 6 months ago. Having not played either descent or WHQ before I didn't have a problem with the "dumbing down". But I still couldn't commit myself to buying the guy! Mostly down to finding enough opponents/comrades to play it through. Where as WHQ doesn't need a dungeon master to play.

I still don't have either games but I have downloaded the rules for WHQ with the plan the eventually create my own dungeon and fill it with new miniatures and conversions.

If GW rerelease WHQ I will be all over it though!

I have Descent, I never played WHQ but I remember it fondly still from back in the day.

But, I like Descent a lot. To me I think of it as a board game version of the video game Diablo. It's a hack n slash dungeon crawler. There's some different quest objectives but at the end of the day it's all about killing beasts and grabbing loot.

I like the minis a lot too. They're simpler and not as detailed as GW stuff, but they get the job done and still look good if you don't want to paint them. And you get a lot of em. I think the boxed game and the expansions are a good value when you think about all the stuff they put in it.

So, would Descent be similar in vibe to Heroquest? It sounds very similar..

WHQ always matched up with AHQ in my mind..

-P

You can check out Super Dungeon Explore in addition. I think it falls between Descent and WQ in terms of gameplay (Overlord but no bailing to the city). There's not much of a campaign experience for it however.

You might want to tough it out and wait for MYTH to release. I think it's going to end up scratching the WHQ itch for many people.

Just checked out Myth and it looks rather good! Anyone know when it is likely to go on release?

To the OP, also you might want to check out this thread.. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/552708.page

Certainly, there are a lot more options these days than having to get stung by the Ebay sharks for rare, older games.

 Pacific wrote:
Just checked out Myth and it looks rather good! Anyone know when it is likely to go on release?

To the OP, also you might want to check out this thread.. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/552708.page

Certainly, there are a lot more options these days than having to get stung by the Ebay sharks for rare, older games.

Checking it out right now my friend... Thanks

The thing with dungeon Crawlers is there are two major kinds: Ones with DMs, Ones Without.

Both have benefits and drawbacks, but I find that a game which is 4vs1 turns some people off. If you already have a gaming group which understands DMing, then you should be fine.

MYTH looks sharp, and I am curious to see how it turns out when it comes to 'No DM'. If the AI is smart and the game effects are good, it may be a great game. The Kickstarter is looking to deliver hopefully by Christmas (that was their optimistic goal) so you may be able to get it 1st quarter 2014 retail.

I have to say, I still enjoy Heroquest, especially as a transition drug for new players. It is fun, Easy, and lots of decent quests out there.