Across the land, courageous heroes delve into shadowed dungeons, journey to lost cities, and explore forgotten ruins. In the darkest corners of the world, these heroes confront deadly and terrifying monsters. For those few who survive, the rewards are many. For those that confront the Overlord, master of traps and monsters, in his dangerous dungeon realm and fail... only eternal darkness and the Overlord's hollow, echoing laughter...

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?

GETTING STARTED

Descent: Journeys in the Dark has 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.

For the full rules of Descent, head over to our Support Page where you can download a free PDF copy.

HEROES

There are twenty heroes in the Descent core game and hero players will get new skills for them every game. The synergy of different character special abilities, skills, and equipment will produce a new and challenging experience every time you play Descent, even if you were to play the same scenario over and over again.

Each hero, apart from any skills and special abilities he or she may possess, has an intrinsic Conquest value. The higher the Conquest value, generally, the harder a character is to kill.

A hero's Conquest value is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the Hero Sheet. The value ranges from one to four.

The heroes start a scenario with a certain number of Conquest points and every time a hero is killed by the Overlord, the party loses that hero's value in Conquest points. Should the heroes ever run out of Conquest points, the Overlord wins. Do not despair, heroes! Over the course of a Descent scenario, Conquest points can be acquired through activating Glyphs of Transport and achieving other scenario objectives. Conquest points are the most valuable resource in the game for heroes: guard them carefully!

Left: A Conquest token.

THE OVERLORD

The Overlord manages all of the traps, monsters, and puzzles that lurk in the dungeon with the sole purpose of killing the heroes and running the party out of Conquest points. The Overlord's principle resource for mayhem is Threat, received at the start of every round and based on the number of heroes in the game. The Overlord draws one Threat token for each hero and spends Threat to activate game effects from the Overlord Deck. The Overlord deck contains the traps, monster spawning, and powers that will stay in effect for the rest of the game.

Left: Each Overlord card has a cost (left circle) and a value in Threat (right circle), as well as the game effect triggered by spending Threat. Below: A Threat token.

In addition to drawing one Threat for each hero, the Overlord can also discard cards from his or her hand in exchange for Threat. The Overlord can also acquire threat through Curses found when heroes open certain treasure chests. A Curse equals one Threat for each hero and can be immediately spent to spring a trap or other effect.

There are many ways of gaining Threat, but the Overlord must still be careful when spending it: overspend and you will find you don't have the resources you need to defeat the heroes!

THE SCENARIOS

Descent is scenario-driven, meaning that the game comes with a toolbox of dungeon-building equipment - dungeon tiles of chambers and corridors, plastic monster figures, treasure and relic tiles, and more - that is put together in a wide variety of ways. In the Descent core game, there are nine scenarios - from "Into the Dark" to "Old Friends" - but you can take the components of Descent: Journeys in the Dark and build your own dungeons and create your own challenges.

You can download the Descent Scenario Editor and start populating your own dungeon today!

EXPANSIONS

If you find that you just can't get enough of Descent, you can explore the dungeons of the Descent expansions: Well of Darkness, Altar of Despair, and Tomb of Ice. Each expansion adds new optional add-ons for your Descent including new monsters, items, dungeons, and more. For more information on the Descent expansions, follow this link to our Product Page.

The fourth Descent expansion deserves special mention as it takes the game to an even grander and more epic level. In Descent: Road to Legend, the heroes and the Overlord will start off small - with very few powers, abilities, and skills - but will gradually grow, over the course of many sessions into powerful entities. Descent: Road to Legend will especially appeal to players who want the feel of a long-term roleplaying campaign and the opportunity to guide their favorite characters from humble beginnings to massive power. For more information on Road to Legend, you can download the rules from our Support Page.