Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Descent
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 5555454" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>Honestly, as someone who owns Descent and all its expansions (save the individual minis), if you play D&D regularly, Descent is unlikely to serve your needs. It has a number of features - I hesitate to call them flaws - that make it what it is.</p><p></p><p>The game is far better balanced than Doom, insofar as a full set of heroes generally have a good chance of winning (although 2 heroes vs overlord can be very unbalanced). The game occasionally skews too far towards the heroes, but both sides have won in the games I've played, with the proportion slightly higher towards the heroes. This doesn't bother me.</p><p></p><p>More problematic is the set-up and playing time. This isn't a short game. Most of the scenarios in the basic book will take a similar amount of time to a RPG session, perhaps 3-4 hours is good average (this depends on familiarity with the game, of course). Setting up is a lot slower than HeroQuest. On the other hand, you've got these great looking passages and rooms to show for it - and, once the expansions are added - there's a great deal of customisation possible.</p><p></p><p>The basic game isn't in campaign form. Heroes restart between adventures, although the adventures in the base game give an overarching storyline. An expansion - Road to Legend - gives you the opportunity to run a big, big campaign game that sees the heroes striving against the plans of the Overlord in many smaller dungeons and in the wilderness. It's long to play through (100 hours?), but it's designed to be played in a lot of shorter sessions. Balance for it is somewhat questionable.</p><p></p><p>The biggest problem with the game for D&D players is this: why aren't you playing D&D instead? You're basically playing with a DM plus 2-4 players, and it takes a similar amount of time as for a D&D session. </p><p></p><p>You can download the rules from the <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=5&esem=4" target="_blank">FFG website</a>, which will give you an idea whether or not the game is to your taste. <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17226/descent-journeys-in-the-dark" target="_blank">Boardgamegeek</a> has a number of reviews.</p><p></p><p>Finally, here are a few pictorial session reports I've written about the game:</p><p>* <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/493125/quest-1-narthak-in-an-epic-battle" target="_blank">Narthak in an Epic Battle</a> (first scenario).</p><p></p><p>* <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/464799/quest-4-perhaps-we-should-have-opened-the-door" target="_blank">Perhaps we should have opened the door?</a> - two heroes don't make it out of the starting chamber.</p><p></p><p>* <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/486825/quest-4-four-adventurers-fall-short" target="_blank">Four adventures fall short</a> - same scenario as previous session, but the heroes almost won.</p><p></p><p>Hope this helps!</p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 5555454, member: 3586"] Honestly, as someone who owns Descent and all its expansions (save the individual minis), if you play D&D regularly, Descent is unlikely to serve your needs. It has a number of features - I hesitate to call them flaws - that make it what it is. The game is far better balanced than Doom, insofar as a full set of heroes generally have a good chance of winning (although 2 heroes vs overlord can be very unbalanced). The game occasionally skews too far towards the heroes, but both sides have won in the games I've played, with the proportion slightly higher towards the heroes. This doesn't bother me. More problematic is the set-up and playing time. This isn't a short game. Most of the scenarios in the basic book will take a similar amount of time to a RPG session, perhaps 3-4 hours is good average (this depends on familiarity with the game, of course). Setting up is a lot slower than HeroQuest. On the other hand, you've got these great looking passages and rooms to show for it - and, once the expansions are added - there's a great deal of customisation possible. The basic game isn't in campaign form. Heroes restart between adventures, although the adventures in the base game give an overarching storyline. An expansion - Road to Legend - gives you the opportunity to run a big, big campaign game that sees the heroes striving against the plans of the Overlord in many smaller dungeons and in the wilderness. It's long to play through (100 hours?), but it's designed to be played in a lot of shorter sessions. Balance for it is somewhat questionable. The biggest problem with the game for D&D players is this: why aren't you playing D&D instead? You're basically playing with a DM plus 2-4 players, and it takes a similar amount of time as for a D&D session. You can download the rules from the [url=http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=5&esem=4]FFG website[/url], which will give you an idea whether or not the game is to your taste. [url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17226/descent-journeys-in-the-dark]Boardgamegeek[/url] has a number of reviews. Finally, here are a few pictorial session reports I've written about the game: * [url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/493125/quest-1-narthak-in-an-epic-battle]Narthak in an Epic Battle[/url] (first scenario). * [url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/464799/quest-4-perhaps-we-should-have-opened-the-door]Perhaps we should have opened the door?[/url] - two heroes don't make it out of the starting chamber. * [url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/486825/quest-4-four-adventurers-fall-short]Four adventures fall short[/url] - same scenario as previous session, but the heroes almost won. Hope this helps! Cheers! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Descent
Top