Descent the board game

[luis the young]

Anyone played this game that can comment on it ? Is it any good ?
I wanna buy one to play with my friends, but not sure if its challenging for grownups or is a little kids game.

Thanks

[Kyle]

Have played a shit ton of it, have all the expansions except for the recent Sea of Blood one. Was running a campaign for a few months too.

The game is like a simplified game of D&D, it's all about hack and slash play, no role playing involved. It's not a game for kids, though it has simple mechanics, to succeed in many scenarios will need good team work and strategy. Game requires one person to be the Dungeon Master whose trying to win by killing the players or stopping them from getting the objective, while the rest of the players play a group of heroes who have to work together. Basic game involves players picking characters, and achieving whatever objective the scenario puts forth, often it involves a huge dungeon you set up or a multi level dungeon.

I would recommend getting some of the expansions with the game, and also be ready to try the game multiple times. In the original box game, the game often favored the players. Large part of this was as the scenario played out the players would get very powerful gear and by the end they were overly powerful.

The expansions kinda skewed things in favor of the DM as they introduced many new creatures and rules for use against players. Each expansion adds in a series of scenarios for use, and there is also a separate book they put out that has a bunch of scenarios as well.

The campaign system is good too, and there is now two separate campaign sets and each can be run multiple times and plays differently each time. Campaign can be run over a long period of time really as well, has lot of longevity and is like playing a RPG campaign with characters leveling up.

[luis the young]

Awsone, thanks bud, just what i was looking for in the way of comments. Gonna see if i give it a try.

[Kyle]

The only negative I've seen people have is that one player has to be the DM, I know some people prefer to all be on the same side but it seems that the DM role often goes to the owner of the game since they tend to know the rules the best. The rules recommend choosing the DM at random though to keep things interesting.

It's kind of like a more advanced version of the old Herosquest series of games.

[luis the young]

I'll play the bad guy, im gonna make their lives a living hell, they'll wish they were in the 9th lvl of hell sorrounded by Fiend Lords instead of the horrors i will be throwing at them... MUAHAHAHAAHAHAH..

[rokassan]

I have it as well with all the expansions...except the latest one. Ive played several times with Eric,my Brother, Stephan and Phil. Its a great game. I played the game master. Its cool in that as the game master your trying to beat the characters, your actually playing to win not just run the game. Its great fun, I loved beating up on the players. At first I was trying to go easy so everyone would have fun, but you realize as the game master you have to play tough and try to win or itll be a cake walk for the players.Even playing tough it evenly matched.

[jerryb]

So if the original box set was unbalance toward the DM and then the expansions made the game unbalanced toward the players, how do you run a balance game? Is it possible?

JerryB

[Kyle]

Yes the game is supposed to be a challenge for the players, if they fail badly, do it again, have them see what they did right. Failure can sometimes be attributed to just luck or shitty hero group.

By the rules players are to be given their heros randomly, which keeps things interesting but can lead to shitty matchups. You can let players choose their characters as an option, but this can also lead to players making a group that is too good for the run.

I believe it was Tomb of Ice expansion which added in the new hero talent cards, but they are helpful for them. The 2 original expansions made it VERY hard for the hero players, from my experience and those of people on the official board, the game became almost unfair for the heroes. The Tomb of Ice added in "feat" cards which were like one time use special bonuses for heroes which kind of help and I would recommend.

If your playing with just the base set..... no mercy!

Jerry - It's not totally broken, it's partially luck but in large part it's heavy on strategy. Players mess up or leave a hole, they can get raped. The players are meant to be challenged in the game, so it's not easy, but it's not impossible. The campaign system also is extremely balanced, it changed many rules to make it more like a full RPG style campaign with leveling up and such for heroes. But campaign takes major investment in time.

[jerryb]

Sorry, just wanted clarification, it seemed confusing. Different rules sets with different box sets. So you can use the rules for all the expansions? It's back-wards compatible, or you can mix and match. The tiles from one box with another, feat cards here and there, switch out the various miniatures, and so on, yes?

JerryB

[Kyle]

The expansions basically add new scenarios that use the new components. The game is backwards compatible though so the stuff in the expansion if you want can be used in the base game or mixed with other expansions. You can use them as stand alones but it all mixes together.

The 'Road to Legend' and 'Sea of Blood' sets are the stand outs as they are each a separate campaign system. The components are basically meant to be used with the Base game and it's expansions if you want. Which expansions you use or such is up to you when mixed with the campaigns. 'road to legend' is your generic fantasy setting style of campaign, while 'seas of blood' is a campaign set that involves naval adventures with battling on boats and going to islands.

[ShadowMaster]

I bought it but was unimpressed. I'd rather play Warhammer, Mordheim, or D&D

[rokassan]

You cant compare, its like comparing apples and oranges. Decent is a board game. Warhammer and Mordheim are miniature games you have to assemble and paint shit. D&D is roll playing...at least 1st and 2nd edition were when I played(Im really old school). Normal every day people arent gonna play those. They may sit down and play Decent the board game. You cant go into it(Decent) and expect it to compare to Mini war gaming or RPG's. Its in a different category.

[Kyle]

D&D 4th Edition is basically a board game now.... sadly.

[rokassan]

Sickening. I played from 1983 to around 1995. I DM'ed and played. Those were the good old days. These companies get bought up by big companies and these great games are simplified to appeased the masses.

[ShadowMaster]

The rule system in Descent is too complex to consider it a simple "board game". Just because it has a board......

[rokassan]

True, but it aint 40k.

[ShadowMaster]

No - part rpg, part skirmish, part miniature game. I'm told it is a blast with the right crowd, but you'll need that group to use and enjoy it.

[KingdomCome]

The rule system in Descent is too complex to consider it a simple "board game". Just because it has a board......

Very true. This game has more complexities than 40k, imho. Each expansion adds more rules as well. I DM the group I play with and I give them absolute hell. Sorry to hear you're not enjoying it Bill, but the group I play with love it. We get together at my house and throw down for a few hours, it usually ends with screams of "ASSHOLE!" being thrown my way.

[Kyle]

Descent is complex? Wha?

[KingdomCome]

Descent is complex? Wha?

Sure it is. As the DM I get headaches, in a good way, trying to plan down the line for the heros demise. The game has a ton of rules (with all of it's expansions) and there are actual tactics involved. Line of sight, spawning, threat token management, etc.... As the hero, it gets more intense. More planning and team work involved. IMHO, Descent is easier to learn than 40k, but harder to be good at. Especially if the heros get screwed when drawing abilities.

[ShadowMaster]

Like I said - I hear it's a blast with the right group.

It's not a game you'd play with the family or with the neighbors. You need a gamer group to get the most out of it. That was really my point.

[jerryb]

Like I said - I hear it's a blast with the right group.

It's not a game you'd play with the family or with the neighbors. You need a gayer group of men to get the most out of it. That was really my point.

I'm down with that Shawdow, that's what I do, I play with a roon full of naked gay men.

Tau King.

[Kyle]

Well it's not a casual gamer board game. Game rule wise is very simple, it's the strategy part that can be fairly heavy. Try to teach people the full rules for Race for the Galaxy, now that is a complex game

[luis the young]

The players would mainly be me and 2-3 friends. Can 3 people play the game and still enjoy it ? or you need a bigger group ?

[Kyle]

3 is fine, the game scales slightly by having different stats on different sides of the cards for different amount of players. More players in the hero group then the tought monster sides are used for example. Don't play with just 2 heroes though, the game is not fair for that amount.

If your players have too hard a time with the amount of heroes on the board, easy thing to do is let players run multiple heroes for a bigger group. While the monsters get tougher with more heroes, it sometimes helps them with having more strategic depth and variety.

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