Game description from the publisher: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) is a board game in which one player takes on the role of the treacherous overlord. Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition is a game for two to five players in which one. ‘Tis a shame your journey ends. Campaign rules are explained.
No one is forced to pick a rumor before the interlude, even if one is in play. This has been answered in the FAQ (look under Lair of the Wyrm, general rules:) Q: If an Act I Rumor card with an available quest is in play, are the heroes and overlord forced to play it before the Interlude?
A: No, but that quest will no longer be an eligible choice after the Interlude has been completed. The FAQ clarifies that what is meant by the above quoted section of the rules is ' if you're going to play one, you must play it no later than before the interlude.' I do not dispute that important words were left out of the Lair of the Wyrm rulebook in that paragraph, but that's what the support documents are for. Edited February 5, 2015 by Zaltyre. No one is forced to pick a rumor before the interlude, even if one is in play.
This has been answered in the FAQ (look under Lair of the Wyrm, general rules:) Q: If an Act I Rumor card with an available quest is in play, are the heroes and overlord forced to play it before the Interlude? A: No, but that quest will no longer be an eligible choice after the Interlude has been completed. The FAQ clarifies that what is meant by the above quoted section of the rules is ' if you're going to play one, you must play it no later than before the interlude.' I do not dispute that important words were left out of the Lair of the Wyrm rulebook in that paragraph, but that's what the support documents are for. I had not seen this in the FAQ (or at least, had not remembered seeing it). Thanks for pointing this out, as it basically reverses what the base rules have to say.
An important change to be sure. You can play at most 1 rumor quest card from each expansion per campaign. If you drew 2 quests from trollfens, you could only play 1- but you could play both a rumor from trollfens and one from manor of ravens.
The quests do not have to be played, however they must be played sometime before the interlude if at all, since the cards still in play are then discarded. Zaltyre, Can you direct me to this chunk of rules for 1 quest from 1 expansion? My ageing eyes and failing brain have failed to spot it. Hello, I always was of the impression that only 1 rumor quest can be played on act I. But let´s consider a campaign, where the heroes already played the introduction, one act I quest and a rumor quest. As established there could be multiple rumor quests in play, so is there anything, that would forbid the overlord to bring another rumor quest from his hand into play, after one was already played?
The quote above is a bit dubios: ' If one or more Act I Quest cards are still in play immediately before playing the. Interlude, the heroes must choose one of them to attempt (before proceeding to the Interlude). After completing this quest, all other available Act I Quest cards are discarded from the game without effect.'
This seems to be the case, because the example is based on the assumption that the quest is played right before the interlude, so it doesn´t exactly apply to my above example. It seems not to imply, that the rumor cards on the overlord hand are discarded, since this step normaly happens after the interlude, when the game transitions to act II by the RAW. So, the RAW seem to not have a restriction on how many rumor quests can be played in act I, is this correct? If yes, I´d be a bit confused to say the least. I ignore what I think that paragraph means in the rulebook (based on wording alone), and only consider what they say it means in the FAQ- if you are going to play an act 1 rumor, you must do so before the interlude, because after that quest they're all discarded. I think the idea that only 1 rumor could be played comes from the (understandable, but mistaken) assumption that 'after completing this quest' refers to that first rumor you choose to attempt. However, by the FAQ clarification, it is clear that by 'this quest' they mean the interlude, not the rumor.
Look how drastically differently this paragraph reads just by being specific about what quest is meant. It adds to the total quests played, which is why it doesn't reward experience.
I had not noticed that these quests did not reward experience. I have yet to introduce Rumor cards on the table. I still think I will wait for my party to complete our first campaign before introducing them.
We are all new to the game and I got the feeling that other players felt a little. Overwhelmed by all the options in the game. I own all the expansions, monster packs and lieutenant packs so just selecting Archetypes and hero classes took us over an hour!
As advice from one OL to another, take great care introducing Rumors to a campaign if you want a competitive experience. Psychology 8th edition gleitman gross reisberg pdf file. Every Rumor quest played with standard RAW is a boon to the heroes, not the Overlord, as I had to learn the hard way when trying to introduce them for the first time. First of all, the Overlord might lose, which usually gives the heroes a powerful relic and/or card ability. If the Overlord wins the quest on the other hand, many of the Act I Overlord rewards are poor or circumstantial. Relic rewards are often useless, as they require a lieutenant to come into play (many quests do not have one), and you may already have all the relics you can support from the regular campaign even if you do have one.
If the reward is an OL card, even the good ones are still replacing another card the Overlord could have drawn from his deck. It is more of a trade-off, while the hero reward is a net gain. The Act II rewards are sometimes better (e.g. The ability to summon a Hybrid Sentinel is amazing), but that is the exception, not the rule.
Furthermore, the heroes are always guaranteed another shopping phase and gold from the search tokens whether they succeed at the quest or not. They may also encounter a treasure chest or secret passage, further bolstering their gold stash. I hated not being able to play my rumors though, as I enjoy the quests a great deal. To make them viable for the OL to choose, I play with the variant that the rumor quest does not grant the heroes a shopping phase, and search tokens acquired during the quest are not worth any gold at the end. Heroes could still find a treasure chest or a secret passage, but at least its not a guarantee.
This puts the focus of the rumor more on the fun of the quest, and less about how it might upset the delicate campaign balance which makes competitive Descent so interesting to me. Edited February 10, 2015 by Charmy. I happen to be of the opinion that rumors inherently favor the overlord as a balance mechanic by simple virtue of the fact that you have complete control over when they are played as the overlord. If the quest seems winnable easily and you can limit search tokens gained, play that badboy down, especially if you won the previous quest and can force it to be played immediately. If you don't think you can win it easily, simply don't play it. The use of rumor cards gives you more ability to gain threat, which in turn can help you win the most important quests in the game. These are all good tips.
On the balance issue: Would giving an extra XP point to the OL notwithstanding the Rumor card quest result resolved the unbalance issue or would it unbalance things furthermore? I am a little wary about giving the Overlord too much XP, as that can result in the OL being able to achieve card combinations which might be too strong.
This is similar to why the heroes aren't given too much XP either, as play balance has not been tested in situations where the heroes were given access to their entire skill tree. It was a mistake of Lair of the Wyrm to provide an XP reward in its final quest, a mistake they have since rectified in future expansions. Hehe, I figured Whitewing would have a dissenting view on this! I don't think he chimes in when we do happen to agree;-) Threat isn't nearly as valuable a resource as gold and shop card draws are. The overlord always has to weigh the pros/cons of threat and fortune. An awesome sword is just an awesome sword.
Also no matter how hard you try to limit the search tokens, they are still going to come away with a few. This is especially true if the quest goes south for them and they decide to ditch the objective and devote all their resources to acquiring treasure. If you have ever been on the receiving end of your critical lieutenant being wiped out in a single turn by the many powerful weapons in the game, you'll know how important every single shop card draw is in swaying the balance of power. And don't forget that there are travel cards that force the Overlord to play their rumor quests! You do not have as much control over if/when they are played as you think you do. Ultimately though, I think the best advice is to experiment. Try out the rumors as is, and see if you agree with Whitewing.
I know I'm not alone on the board in viewing rumors as bad for Overlords, so try out the variant too and see if you enjoy that. Edited February 10, 2015 by Charmy.