by deeminllama
I have been meaning to post this somewhere for years…just keep forgetting…At some point I had DOOM and DECENT. They were the first ‘big’ boardgames I ever played, that introduced me to the world of not-Monopoly, and that I purchased for myself. It was also the first time I was introduced to the concept of a Dungeon Master or Overlord. I was the owner of the game and everyone else wanted to be ‘the heroes’ so I always got to play the Overlord. For the first two or three games this was fine. We were all still new and had great fun. Then the trouble started.
I am the ‘clever’ one in my group and, coming from a chess background, by the third game I could beat them into a pulp. The game started to feel unbalanced and I discovered/saw too late a flaw with these games: The gameplay difficulty is to a great extent determined by the Overlord. My options were:
1.I could hold back, make ‘dumber’ plays than I could and therefore make it easier for them. This however made the game extremely boring for me and counter intuitive. It felt like I was watching 4 other people have fun.
2.I could use many of the optional ‘difficulty modes’ made by fans or, in the case of Doom, that the expansion introduced. This helped somewhat but not always as the difficulty level would also swing back and forth depending on how clever my opponents were.
3.Having other people play the Overlord. However, quite often they do not want to, or the problem is simply reversed as they are ‘dumber’ with things like these and the game becomes too easy.
This aspect of the game eventually spoilt it for me. It was, unfortunately, only after I sold my games that I one day found a way I enjoyed playing it...
One day I had to be Overlord for a Doom game again. For some reason, and I wish I knew why I did not think of this before, I decided to assign behaviours too the different units.
For example: The Zombies in Doom I would always have attack the first person they gain line of sight of. They would simply walk in a straight line and attack that person. Like a Zombie would. The dogs would b-line for the closest marine. If shot it would head for the person who did the most damage to it the previous round (drawing agro). The imps would always stay out of range, annoying them the entire time maybe getting a 1 damage hit in now and then, and run away when approached. The spiders would all swarm the closest marine. Etc.
I did all of this even though it was NOT the best move to make…but it made sense for the character to do so. Bosses or bigger units that you expect would have some brains I played a bit ‘cleverer’ however, but still withing characteristics I thought appropriate. I did so without telling any of the other people. I could however see that they picked up on this, either consciously or subconsciously, as they started responding to the characters based on this. Drawing the zombies out with one marine while picking them off with the other.
This, for some reason worked for me and I found the game highly enjoyable. Instead of changing startups, or experience gained, or cards drawn...I worked within the assigned character behavioral traits that I thought were appropriate…yes, my units died more because of this…but I could wail on them with the unexpected extra powers and abilities and units I could summon etc. I could do so without having to hold back, acting ‘stupid’, whilst the game (as far as I could see at least) still remained a fun challenge for both sides.
I thought I would just share this in case this might help other Overlords who also struggled or are struggling to find a right balance for the game.
Unfortunately I have not yet tried Descent 2. I have read the balance is better but still does not feel 100%. Was wondering how the Overlords manage this
Regards