Descent

On Christmas, both Laura and Dan got their own copies of Descent. As such, our gaming group has been getting the itch to give the game a try. We've managed two games that I've been involved in so far - the first two dungeons in the initial game set. Both of them ended in easy victories for the heroes, but after reading up on the game, that's not unexpected. The first few dungeons are easy for the heroes, and they get progressively harder after that.

So far I've been a hero in both games, but my love of GMing has me wanting to play the Overlord. Dan, who has been playing the Overlord, is more than happy to relinquish that role and take the side of the heroes, so starting with the next mission, I'll be playing the monsters and setting the traps.

I know our experience in the game is limited at the moment, but I figured after a couple games I could give my first thoughts:

I enjoy the game. I enjoy it more than I did the first time I played it long ago, I think. I think my dislike came from a few arguments that came out of the line of sight rules. Bar none, those rules are the most fiddly in the game, and while I still don't have as good a handle on them, at least being able to read the rules has helped out a bit.

The customization of the heroes with skill cards is nice, and the game feels very tactical with how important it is to figure out the exact order of the characters and figure out which actions optimize to get the results you want.

On the downside, right now the game feels long and easy. The dungeons come in at three to four hours, and in the most recent one, where we got more of the rules right, not a single character died. Hopefully this will change as we get deeper into the book. The difficulty, at any rate, if not the length of the game. I think it might just be inexperience that's making the game longer, but I can't really see the game being finished quickly the way it's set up.

I'm looking forward to trying my hands as the Overlord. I'm hoping for an Overlord victory sometime in the next three games or so. Might be a lofty goal, but I think I can do it...