Descent: Journeys in the Dark - What's Next?

 

So what's next? Having finished up (FINALLY) the original (sort of - I played Heirs of Blood campaign from the core set using only the core set of stuff), I can plow ahead. Up next is the small box expansion set - Lair of the Wyrm (which has already been painted and waiting to be played for quite some time). 

That being said, this small box expansion only adds in two more heroes and two new monster types. Yawn. That's not the kind of additional variety I want and need after facing the zombies and cave spiders repeatedly  - the core alone had eight heroes and nine monster types. Let's face it, I don't know that I need to worry too much about adding a lot of heroes to the mix, but more monsters would be nice - I really don't need to see goblin archers and flesh moulders every other quest anymore either.

Since Lair of the Wyrm's campaign is nice and short - only four quests, I don't need to go way overboard. The Crusade of the Forgotten monster and hero pack was the first full hero and monster expansion I painted to completion, so if I add them into the mix that would add (combined with Lair of the Wyrm) five monster types and six heroes. That matches up pretty decently with amount from the original core set I think. 

What I don't know is how much other content there is to be added. Lair of the Wyrm does add a few new market cards, search cards, and travel cards - all good. Also, we have the possibility of side quests now (Crusade of the Forgotten also has some additional side quests). I'm not sure if I want to dive into those, or just plow on through the four main story quests of the mini-campaign, but the options are nice to have. I also don't know if I want to stick with three heroes or just go with two this time around. I was thinking about giving two heroes a go since the campaign is short and would give me an idea if I should stick with that or go back to three for the campaign after that (which would be a big box set). My concern (if you can call it that) is that if I only play two heroes, I'll be lucky if I ever see more than a fraction of the heroes in play.

A lot will simply depend on the quality of the main quests honestly. If I actually am playing and enjoying the expanded world of Descent, I may just plow on through to the next expansion (which would have to be Trollfens, since I don't have Labyrinth of Ruin yet). I'll likely do the same thing - add on the mini expansion and another Hero and Monster set. So, on the one hand, it makes sense to hit some of the side quests during the short campaign rather than adding to the length of a longer one later. Right? I mean, the point of collecting and painting all this stuff is to play it and enjoy it, so either plan works.

Of course, the main question left is which heroes and classes of heroes to use. My only guidelines here are probably not to reuse anything I've already played with. I am leaning towards not using Reynhart and saving him for a later campaign. If I try and always use one of the new heroes, that means definitely using High Mage Quellen. From the Crusade of the Forgotten set of heroes, I think I'm going to go with Tetherys as a Wildlander. Since I want to try using a healer as well I'll dip back into the core set and pull out Avric. I really hope not having a meat shield, but having a healer works out.

Here is one thing of interest. Though the hero and monster packs add heroes, they do not add classes. Sooooo - I'd get two new class choices from Lair of the Wyrm, but only for the fighter and mage types. While I was looking over the various class types available, I realized there is yet another option available to me - the Lost Legends expansion. 

This expansion was one of the last things put out by FFG for Descent 2nd ed. Basically, it was released so they could finish releasing classes (so that all the types had an even number). This small expansion is literally just hero classes. Additionally, there are hybrid types. You pick a type along with one of the other class types and can use cards from either set except the 3XP cards. Perfect for the small box campaigns! It also means I could add a Warrior skill set to Avric so he can tank a little. Or I could add some Scout class to Quellen along with a mage set. That could be really cool in a limited campaign setting. I'll have to dig a little into the option before I fully decide. 

Having finished the first campaign for Descent just has me excited for more. Should be fun getting started again!