Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition Hits Stores This Summer

May 2, 2012

Fantasy Flight Games has a summer release planned for the second edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark and the optional conversion kit for gamers looking to update their original copies without having to buy the new edition. This second edition promises a campaign system, updated rules, as well as all new heroes and monsters.

From FFG:

Descent: Journeys in the Dark is a semi-cooperative game in which two to five players will take on the antagonistic roles of heroes and Overlord. Up to four players will choose characters with a wide assortment of skills and innate abilities to be the heroes who will explore dungeons in search of treasure and adventure. One player will take on the role of the Overlord and will control the dungeon’s many traps, puzzles, and monsters.

The heroes’ goal will be to cooperatively conquer the dungeon, seize its many treasures, and achieve other objectives as set by the scenario. If the heroes cooperate and achieve their goals, they will all win. The Overlord’s objective is simply to use all the means at his or her disposal – from deadly traps and ferocious monsters – to kill the heroes. Each hero has a certain Conquest Point value to the party and if too many Conquest Points are lost through hero death, the party loses and the Overlord wins.

Are you equipped and ready to step onto the Glyph of Transport and cross the dark portal into the world of Descent?

Descent: Journeys in the Darkhas the feel of a classic, dungeon-crawl adventure where heroes will equip themselves with weapons, armor, and magic items, and explore forgotten dungeons full of monsters and treasure.

For those players who are looking for a tabletop alternative to pen-and-paper roleplaying – one-off adventures full of the same swords-and-sorcery excitement of classic RPGs, but without elaborate character and campaign creation – Descent: Journeys in the Dark will fit the bill nicely.

Right out of the box, Descent: Journeys in the Dark will provide hours and hours of fun and entertainment if you like adventure in a fantasy universe full of magic and monsters. With the wide variability of combinations of characters, skills, and scenarios, both in the book and self-made, Descent can have a place on your gaming table for a long time.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark is similar to a roleplaying game in that players will take the part of characters on an adventure while another player directs the non-player characters and the setting of the adventure, but unlike an RPG, the goal is not to create a collaborative storytelling experience, but to win. The Overlord and the heroes have mutually exclusive win conditions and the only way to win is by defeating the other side. The heroes will have to work together and plot their moves carefully in order to win out against the hordes of monsters at the Overlord’s disposal. The Overlord has many dangerous monsters at his command, as well as fatal traps that can spring at any moment, but even so, the Overlord must also play carefully, marshaling his or her forces just right to produce the best – and deadliest – effect.

Each round of the game will involve the hero players taking turns and deciding cooperatively what they are going to do, from engaging in combat to exploring new areas of the dungeon, after which the Overlord will take a turn moving and activating monsters, and working to pick the heroes off one by one.

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...