by NHack2013
As some of you might have noticed, I really like Descent as a coop experience (German coop rules Automatischer Overlord - Koop Kampagnenregeln, German adventures here:Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Forgotten Souls, also an English translation thanks to unwohltaeter. As a matter of fact I only ever played Descent (Second Edition) as a solo board game. With two heroes it’s a decent
challenge, very variable and I really like the theme, artwork and stories.That’s why I’m still hoping that FFG will someday release a big coop expansion. To speed up the design process and give them a little first help, I’d thought I use these forums.
Step 1 - What do we want?
A game system which plays similar to “Forgotten Souls” or “Nature’s Ire”, but is more variable and uses every expansion up to date and yet to come.
Step 2 - Analysis
A coop adventure consists of twelve encounters. We got 4 main encounters, one treasure encounter, three trap encounters and one encounter for each monster used.
The ten peril cards are tied to the story. There are effects for summoning monsters, direct damage, in play effects and one timer card which moves doom.
The activation cards describe the actions of the monsters. They are more or less restricted to attacking the heroes, but try to copy some typical strategies for each monster type.
Step 3 - A new coop adventure
For a new adventure we need a story, spanning over 4 main encounters. The story gets further supported by ten peril cards.
To fill in the gaps between the main encounters we need a set of treasure encounters, trap encounters and monster encounters.
(By the way: Step 2 und 3 are all you need to know to design your own, already quite balanced coop adventures.)
Step 4 - Monster Mix
Every Monster group gets a unique activation card. Each card contains a number of possible activations, which resemble typical activations of this group (Goblins spot at range, Barghests howl and so on). At the beginning of the monster activation step you determine a number and activate every monster group in play according to the actions listed under this number on the group’s activation card.
Step 5 - The encounters
Some of the main encounters are probably outdoor adventures (Trollfens for example). So we need a selection of treasure and trap encounters on the A and B side of the tiles.
And we need one encounter for every monster group in the game. Depending on the monster it could either be an outdoor or a dungeon encounter.
These encounters can’t cover the main story but some typical “you enter a horrible room and see…” flavor text would be sufficient.
Step 6 - Bringing it all together
So, if we want to experience “The Trollfens” as a coop adventure, we pick the 10 Trollfens peril cards, one random outdoor treasure encounter, three random outdoor trap encounters and 4 random outdoor monster encounters. These encounters build a deck of encounter cards like the ones in “Forgotten Souls”.
We also need the activation cards for the monster groups from the main encounters. When our heroes enter an encounter which covers another group we simply pick up its activation card and continue.
What if you don’t have every expansion?Every card could be marked with a corresponding symbol. When picking the main adventure and the encounters, simple leave out the cards with symbols of expansions you don’t own (yet
).How to incorporate future expansion?Heroes and Monster Sets simply include a new encounter and a new activation card for every monster. New big expansions also contain 4 new main encounters and 10 peril cards.
So what does FGG need to design and print for this expansion?48 monster activation cards and 48 corresponding encounters. 28 main encounters. One encounter guide for the descriptions of the encounters. 70 peril cards for the main stories.
To have enough variety I think we also need at least 3 outdoor and 3 dungeon treasure encounters and 10 outdoor and 10 dungeon trap encounters.
Oh, and of course activation cards for the lieutenants which are used in the main encounters.
All in all it would be a card heavy expansion, not unsimilar to “Miskatonic Horror” for Arkham Horror.
Why would they release something like this?It would be a great way to “finish” Descent and still sell it. Everyone who already owns the game and enjoyed its expansions, can now one-shot his favorite campaign on a single gaming night. Everyone who doesn’t like the Overlord mechanic can finally buy Descent (and every expansion).
So please FFG, make it happen!
