It seems, that with the new campaign system there is a way for the hero players to manipulate the game by out running the clock so to speak. Thing of Descent as a video game in that there are many video game mechanics. One of these mechanics is that the heroes can return to the main town in the middle of a dungeon run. During this trip to town they can receive some quick healing, buy some potions and return. The game it would seem presumes that at least one hero is remaining in the dungeon to kick some ass and take some names. But by the rules, all of the heroes can technically leave the dungeon, go shopping for any length of time, and return.
During such an extend shopping trip the Overlord is free to fill the dungeon with countless monsters, so the heroes would return with an uphill battle. Thus it’s quite foolish for the players to wait in town for any real length of time. Part of the strategy of the game comes from the idea that players will need to minimize their trips to the ‘mall’.
But the loophole in the campaign rules is two fold. First, while on a dungeon run, both sides have the ability to earn Conquest tokens (think of it like XP). The heroes earn Conquest tokens by exploring, looting and murdering the inhabitants of the dungeon (sweet!). The Overlord earns Conquest tokens from murdering the Heroes, with said inhabitants, and by cycling through his evil Overlord deck of cards (which is a timer for the Heroes to speed things up). Second, the game is forced into a confrontation conclusion when the total Conquest tokens (earned by both the Heroes and the Overlord) reaches 600 tokens.
Thus, some crafty (rules lawyers) players have figured out that if they are loosing badly, they can just enter a dungeon, all ‘port to town, announce to the Overlord that they are waiting for 600 turns or so to go by at which point the game hits 600 Conquest tokens (cuz the Overlord is cycling endlessly through his deck and earning Conquest) and the Heroes are magically transported to the Overlord’s Keep and battle with the Overlord’s Avatar begins. Ta da!
No, no…it gets better.
The Overlords have discovered their own rules manipulation. This is less of a rules loophole and more of a jack ass thing that Overlords who are playing to win can do.
Imagine that the focus of the game is for the Heroes to go through about 12-15 Dungeons, where both sides increase their power slowly. The Overlord puts pressure on the heroes and has a few ways to win the game premature to the heroes confronting the Avatar. The heroes need to make some tough choices and if they make the right ones, the heroes will thwart the plans of the Overlord. This should take roughly 80 hours of game play.
Or….the Overlord can teleport one of their Lieutenants to the main city of Tamalir and siege it. Once the city of Tamalir is razed (taking about 4-6 turns) the game ends. The reason why this works is because a starting Lieutenant is more than a match for the heroes. It’s expected that the heroes go through a couple of dungeons before they face a fearsome Lieutenant. But if they do go through a few dungeons first (getting the much needed loot and magic items to defeat the Lieutenant), a vicious Overlord can earn enough Conquest tokens himself to upgrade the minions of the Lieutenant so that as a whole the Lieutenant and his minions are once again too strong for the players to face. Thus they lose horribly and cannot stop Tamalir from being sieged and the Overlord wins the game.
Far be it from me to judge these Overlords or Heroes who play a game like this. But I will anyway.
To the Heroes…well…their tactic is just stupid. An Overlord should just say ‘no’. At some point the deck cycling should end or the town should kick the heroes back into the dungeon or the dungeon portal should close. It’s exploiting the build it timer of the game.
To the Overlords…okay what do they think they are playing here? If they want to use the rules to manipulate the game so that they win a game in hours which is supposed to take weeks to months to play…who are they fooling? How much of a titanic loser do you have to be to not only steal the hero’s thunder by not even giving them a chance, let alone a fair chance, but to use a cheap rules combo to win the game before the heroes can react properly to it. What is the point of ever playing with a person like this? Is this player proving something to themselves? Will they gloat that they won in record time? Will they gloat about how they crushed the other players so badly?
After reading these exploits, I feel so much better about my stance to be both a Storyguide and an Overlord in these games. I no longer think it’s an option. It should be required.
If the Overlord is being a dink, then I would encourage the hero exploit being using to trump the Overlord exploit, however. Because there is some great comedy to it. You see: when a hero teleports from a dungeon to go shopping, they go to Tamalir. The very city that the Overlord can siege (and raze) to prematurely end the game.
We enter a narrative on week (turn) 4 of the new campaign:
Citizen: Woe is us! The Overlord sends his minions to attack us. The siege is blocking our food, our water and our hope. Woe is us. Will no one help?!
2nd Citizen: No, there is no one. The Heroes are weeks away and I heard that they just entered a dungeon. Even once they leave, they will not be strong enough or experienced enough to save our city. No one can help!
1st Citizen: Can you save us?!? Can you help us?!?! Please, you must!
Heroes: Oh yeah. No worries.
2nd Citizen: Nay, they cannot help. They are in the middle of a dungeon run. And even once they are done, they still won’t be strong enough to fight the evil that sieges our city.
Heroes: Whatever. We got it covered.
1st Citizen: Pray good sirs, what are you doing.
Heroes: I said, we got things covered.
2nd Citizen: But the siege engines will not stop. We are but a week away from the walls failing.
Heroes: Trust me. This’ll work.
Heroes: That’s us.
Both Citizens: I can’t believe that worked…
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