Guise Knights

Article by  a Heck of a Guy called Hoss! --- Read more from this author

Like most of my (de)generation, Dungeons and Dragons was my first
role-playing game. The initial experience was sort of like one’s first
girlfriend. There was a lot of fumbling around, no one really knew what
they were doing, and while it was a lot of fun at the time, I eventually
moved on. Also like many a first girlfriend, I’ve gone back to visit
periodically. The visits are generally fun, but brief. She’s gotten a
little longer in the tooth, put on a few pounds of source material,
gotten a little wrinkled around the modules, developed a few spots on
the dice. I can still see the freshly-scrubbed young thing I loved so
long ago, hidden behind the years…

And then I met her daughter. 21, blonde, stacked, working her way
through college as an
“entertainer”.

Her daughter’s name is Descent, and she is definitely a hottie. She’s
not looking for a commitment, but she can definitely go all night.
What’s more, she’s got some extras to make her much more visually
appealing, much more ‘hands-on’.

Okay, I’m dropping this metaphor now, before I need to take some alone
time.

“Descent: Journeys in the Dark” is a big-box game brought to us by
Fantasy Flight Games (proposed motto: If you can lift it, it’s not one
of ours!) It’s a modular, customizable, fantasy-themed board game,
seating 2-5 players. There are several available expansion sets which
can add significantly to the play experience but are not necessary.

If you like simple games with few pieces that play in under an hour,
stop reading now. If , on the other hand, you’d like to enjoy a 4-8 hour
dungeon crawl and hackfest, you’ve come to the right place. If you’ve
been scratching your head and wondering how you and your gaming group
are going to manage to kill an entire Saturday, read on!

In the game, most of the players will take on the role of “Hero”. There
are 30 pregenerated heroes available with the base set, with another 6
or so per expansion, and resources available online to create your own.
The “Hero” players are there to do what heroes do…explore dungeons,
kill monsters, solve puzzles, and find treasure. Along the way, these
players will earn conquest points, thus keeping score. Sounds easy, no?
No. Nothing is ever that easy.

One lucky player will NOT be playing a hero. Instead, this player
(usually the most handsome and intelligent in the group) will assume the
noble role of Evil Overlord. The mighty Overlord is not the Dungeon
Master. He is not there to create a collaborative storytelling
experience. He is not there to guide and assist. He is there to kill the
“Heroes”.
In his arsenal are traps, monsters, evils spells and curses, and a
knowledge of what comes next.

The game comes with several scenarios, canned adventures that anyone can
use. Expansions add scenarios. The board pieces fit together rather like
a jigsaw puzzle, allowing the Overlord to craft his/her own adventures.
These typically end up being more fun, IMEO. (In my Evil opinion.) Each
“hero” character has its own playing piece, which pales in comparison to
the huge number of terrifying beasts, monsters, and denizens of the
Lower Realms available to the Overlord.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing different facets of the
game. You may hear from one of the “hero” weenies, but pay them no mind.
We all know who has the most fun, right?

Evilly yours,

-Hoss

Tags: boardgame, descent, game

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 1:13 PM and is filed under Games We Run, Reviews, _Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.