Descent 2nd Edition

[wisdomknight]

Does anyone have Descent that can tell me their opinion of it?
I was thinking about getting it for Xmas for my kids to play with them for something new.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616611...PDKIKX0DER

I was wondering about the replay value without expansions, and if there is any value purchasing the conversion kit just for the monsters/heroes without the older editions.

How is it coming from a DnD RPG standpoint?

Always been a DnD RPG fan (player/DM) when I was younger.
Would love to have a good board game interpretation of DnD PnP.

BTW, there's no way I can afford the 1st editions so suggesting that over the second wouldn't do me much good sadly

Thanks

[Atraangelis]

Own it (also own 1st ED)

Quote:I was wondering about the replay value without expansions, and if there is any value purchasing the conversion kit just for the monsters/heroes without the older editions.

Replay ability is off the chart due to the fact that the game is set up as a series of adventures. to be played in sequence as a campaign. Heroes earn XP after completing an adventure. A adventure can go from 1.5 to 3 hours. The ability to make your own adventures add to the replay ability.

Dont need conversion kit unless you have first OR you simply want to add more monsters and heroes using your own minis. thats all the C-kit does. Brings older monster stats and heroes inline with Desc-2. thats it.. you miss nothing if you dont get it.

Quote:How is it coming from a DnD RPG standpoint?

No RPG more along the lines of a Diablo. Mission, Dungeon.. go loot .. Win lose..

Quote:Always been a DnD RPG fan (player/DM) when I was younger.
Would love to have a good board game interpretation of DnD PnP.

If your looking for this your looking at the wrong game systems... you want to try the Dungeons And Dragons Adventure game systems. Ravenloft/Ashardalon/Drizzt. I own these as well and will say the play experience is different to Descent. Descent is a tighter set of rules but must be multiplayer. The DnD games you can SOLO!!..as the monsters run on a a AI system.
Also Descnet the dungeon is pre built, in DnD it builds as you go deeper randomly...

[samuraitrev]

I loved the idea of Descent (I was weaned on Heroquest).
I just found it unbalanced and the Overlord used to be unbeatable. We played it 6 times and the Heroes won once. I bought several expansions too and I desperately wanted to love it.

Do you suggest any changes Atraangelis to make it a little more even? I've heard in vs.2 there's less Overlord cards or counters I forget

Maybe I should dig it out and give it another chance. This is me when it arrived several christmas' ago
   
One thing I will say is you get shed loads of miniatures and the cards and board sections are top notch.

I painted some Descent figures. Here's a few
Skeletons (The red guys are always Masters i.e. Hard Mofos)
   
Sorcerers
   
2 of the 20ish Heroes you get
   
Here's some of Shelob's kids
   

[Atraangelis]

Dec 2nd Ed vs Dec 1st overlord role is very different.

The game leans slightly towards the heores now that the entire board is prerevealed with the starting monster locations populated and monster limits are now limited by # players and not plastic in the box. THe overlord must now play a conservative game with his minions to win instead of simply overwhelming the players.

Overall i thing FFG did a good job removing the uber power of the overlord(especialy a skilled one) in simply taking down heroes willy nilly..

[samuraitrev]

Do I need to buy the 2nd edition to play. Or can I buy the new rules etc. seperately? I'm quite tempted...

[Atraangelis]

you need to get the game, many of the mechanics changed and the dice.. same but different enought that nothing except the minis move from 1st to 2nd ed.. and with that you need the conversion kit.

[wisdomknight]

thanks that really helped!

[Bokya]

Let me just say, that I got this game and my friends and I are quite hooked. Some issues I've found though:

Overlord
1) There are only 9 monster groups to Choose from. You don't get much Variety with switching it up.
2) The decks flexible customization is a little misleading (One of the level 3 spells of the Overlord 'Archetypes is so much better than the others, you'll almost always go that route.)
3) People unfamiliar with the game will complain at "lucky dice" without considering that Dice mathcraft isn't as simple as '6 beats 5'.
4) If you're not playing with a group of 4, it's very hard to form reliable Chokepoints if the Heroes can down a big mob in one turn.
5) Less Creative Flexibility in terms of 'tactics' on board. Most of your the fight is won through deckbuilding plus proper monster choices.

Heroes
1) There is no Respec. Some skills will be there for the purpose of stopping the overlord from playing a certain way, rather than you actually utilizing the effect.
2) Unless playing a full group of 4, there will almost always be one weakness the overlord can continuously exploit.

General
1) At least one Mission (The Masquerade Ball Encounter 1) is almost entirely luck based. The victory condition is based on a single die roll.

Overall, the game is a blast. (We've blown 8+ hours last week alone) Some of the problems can be circumvented by either choosing proper Campaign progression pathing, or buying the Conversion kit (Heck, if you're a little tight this Christmas, you can even resort to online data on multiple websites that makes the Conversion Kit nearly moot, besides having the physical cards.). The rest of the problems will most likely fix themselves with expansions. I can easily see my friends playing this well over the basic 20 hours of gameplay. It really helps that there are already fan Campaigns being made.

[wisdomknight]

(11-12-2012 09:07 AM)Bokya Wrote:  Let me just say, that I got this game and my friends and I are quite hooked. Some issues I've found though:

Overlord
1) There are only 9 monster groups to Choose from. You don't get much Variety with switching it up.
2) The decks flexible customization is a little misleading (One of the level 3 spells of the Overlord 'Archetypes is so much better than the others, you'll almost always go that route.)
3) People unfamiliar with the game will complain at "lucky dice" without considering that Dice mathcraft isn't as simple as '6 beats 5'.
4) If you're not playing with a group of 4, it's very hard to form reliable Chokepoints if the Heroes can down a big mob in one turn.
5) Less Creative Flexibility in terms of 'tactics' on board. Most of your the fight is won through deckbuilding plus proper monster choices.

Heroes
1) There is no Respec. Some skills will be there for the purpose of stopping the overlord from playing a certain way, rather than you actually utilizing the effect.
2) Unless playing a full group of 4, there will almost always be one weakness the overlord can continuously exploit.

General
1) At least one Mission (The Masquerade Ball Encounter 1) is almost entirely luck based. The victory condition is based on a single die roll.

Overall, the game is a blast. (We've blown 8+ hours last week alone) Some of the problems can be circumvented by either choosing proper Campaign progression pathing, or buying the Conversion kit (Heck, if you're a little tight this Christmas, you can even resort to online data on multiple websites that makes the Conversion Kit nearly moot, besides having the physical cards.). The rest of the problems will most likely fix themselves with expansions. I can easily see my friends playing this well over the basic 20 hours of gameplay. It really helps that there are already fan Campaigns being made.

Thanks for the thorough review Bokya!

[sickboy]

Never played it but it looks very interesting (massive hero quest fan).