Descent Quest Rules

Descent quest Instructions & quest guide Created by Mark Thomas v.1.0 last updated 9/16/2009

what is descent quest? Over the years there have been a lot of board games in the “dungeon crawl” genre. It’s ar guable that none of them have really claimed the title of “ultimate dungeon crawl”. Descent: Journeys in the Dark is the current “king” of the genre,

but an old favorite called Warhammer Quest has some features that are not present in Descent. Each game has its advantages, and Descent Quest is an attempt to mix the best parts of both games. g ames. Specifically, Descent Quest (referred to as DQ from here o n out) makes Descent a fully cooperative game, like WQ. The game is no longer played with an Overlord. Additionally, the dungeon difficulty scales to the number of heroes, so you c an play with a single hero, or possibly even more than 4 heroes. Finally, DQ uses dungeon cards like WQ, meaning the dungeon is different different every time. You no longer know what pat h you’ll be taking. While it’s best played with the dungeon car ds, the rules can be used without the dungeon deck in order to play standard quests.

What do I need need in order order to play? All you need to play Descent Quest is this document and the Descent board game. This document contains new c ards that will describe the dungeon areas and the monsters therein as well as special spec ial events that can happen while exploring. You’ll also find a table that determines what rewards you’ll receive for defeating your enemies. As for Descent itself, all

you really need need is the base game, but this game uses content from every expansion except for Road to Legend (W ell of Darkness, Altar of Despair, and Tomb of Ice). Expect Road to Legend support soon. To fully enjoy the game, you will want the expansions. No elements from Warhammer Quest are needed for the game.

What is included? included? In this guide you have the instructions, of course. In the back you will find cards that you will need to print. While it’s true that some cards have “wasted space” on them, I chose to keep a consistent format so that t here would be room for

future expansion. Some cards do require the extra room, so it’s necessary that it is present on all cards. If you want to save some ink, only the Quest Guide and D ungeon Cards really need to be printed in color. The following types of cards are present: -

Event Cards. These are random events that can happen every turn you are in t he dungeon. Some of them are pulled from the Overlord’s bag o f tricks, but others are quite different. The results can be good or bad…

usually bad. -

Dungeon Cards. These are empty sect ions of dungeon (often more than one piece per card) that you will lay

down as the cards are drawn. -

Objective Area Cards. Objective Areas are the final areas of the dungeon. See below.

-

Monster Spawn Cards. Each time you enter a new area, you will draw a monster car d to see who (or what)

is lurking in the area. -

Door Cards. Each exit in an area has a door placed in front of it. When opening a door , you will first draw a

door card to see if any special events occur. The Treasure Guide lists all the loot you can re ceive after winning a battle, and what dice rolls will produce it. Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Warhammer Quest are trademarked by their respective owners. This modification is unofficial.

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The Power Guide lists all the dark powers that run rampant in the dungeon, punishing lingering heroes. The Quest Guide lists various pre- configured “Boss Battles”. While most of the dungeon and its c ontents are randomly generated based on cards and dice rolls, the final room of the dungeon is handmade and can contain special rules.

Setting up the game Preparing a new game of Descent Quest is much like preparing a game of regular Descent, except you don’t set up the

board based on a quest map. Note: If a rule is not specifically mentioned in this manual, assume that you follow the rules of Descent. After printing this manual, c ut out all the cards and divide them into their respective decks. Follow these steps to set up the game: 1. Choose your heroes as you would in a normal game of Descent, including skill selection, equipment purchases, etc. For best results, re sults, choose from 1 to 4 heroes. The game is fully playable with one hero, but certain monsters such as Shades can cause difficulties for a wrongly-equipped lone hero. Additionally, you can take more than 4 heroes, but the rooms can get quite congested due to the extra monsters that will spawn. Note: You may re-draw any feats or skills that would be useless in your current arrangement. Examples would

be anything involving taking cards from the Overlord, or if playing with one hero, anything that only affects other heroes. Some feats or skills involving threat are still useful (see below). You may also re-draw any skills (or treasures during the game) that assist with line of sight such as Boggs the Rat. Traditional rules of spawning are not used in Descent Quest… when monsters show up, the only thing you can do about it is fight!

2. Select the monster stats for the number of heroes + 1 (if you have 2 heroes, use the monster cards with the 3 in the corner). 3. Count out 20 threat tokens toke ns and place them in a stack. Each t urn, the pile will deplete. When it’s empty, bad things happen. See below. 4. You start the game with 5 Conquest tokens. If you run out, it’s game over. You will still receive conquest from glyphs as normal… if you find any, that is.

5. Shuffle the Objective deck, and draw the top card, face down. This will be the goal of your quest. It’s best not to look at it; it’s more e xciting that way. You can set the rest of the Objective deck aside; it will no longer be

needed. 6. Shuffle the Dungeon deck. Draw 4 cards into one stack, and 4 cards car ds into another stack, both face down. Shuffle your Objective card into one of t he stacks, then place that stack beneath the other stack. At this t his point you know you will be traversing at least 4 dungeon areas to get to your objective, but it could be up to 8! You can set the rest of the Dungeon deck aside. 7. Shuffle the Event deck and place it face down nearby. It will be used t hroughout your quest. 8. Shuffle the Door deck and place it face down nearby. It will be used any time your heroes want to open a door to reveal a new area of the dungeon. 9. Set up the dungeon entrance so that it looks like the picture to the right. Place a door, but you do NOT need to draw c ards of any type in the starting ar ea. You also don’t need to reduce the threat pool or draw for an event until after the door is opened. 10. Place your heroes, and go directly to the “Sequence of Play” section.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Warhammer Quest are trademarked by their respective owners. This modification is unofficial.

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The Power Guide lists all the dark powers that run rampant in the dungeon, punishing lingering heroes. The Quest Guide lists various pre- configured “Boss Battles”. While most of the dungeon and its c ontents are randomly generated based on cards and dice rolls, the final room of the dungeon is handmade and can contain special rules.

Setting up the game Preparing a new game of Descent Quest is much like preparing a game of regular Descent, except you don’t set up the

board based on a quest map. Note: If a rule is not specifically mentioned in this manual, assume that you follow the rules of Descent. After printing this manual, c ut out all the cards and divide them into their respective decks. Follow these steps to set up the game: 1. Choose your heroes as you would in a normal game of Descent, including skill selection, equipment purchases, etc. For best results, re sults, choose from 1 to 4 heroes. The game is fully playable with one hero, but certain monsters such as Shades can cause difficulties for a wrongly-equipped lone hero. Additionally, you can take more than 4 heroes, but the rooms can get quite congested due to the extra monsters that will spawn. Note: You may re-draw any feats or skills that would be useless in your current arrangement. Examples would

be anything involving taking cards from the Overlord, or if playing with one hero, anything that only affects other heroes. Some feats or skills involving threat are still useful (see below). You may also re-draw any skills (or treasures during the game) that assist with line of sight such as Boggs the Rat. Traditional rules of spawning are not used in Descent Quest… when monsters show up, the only thing you can do about it is fight!

2. Select the monster stats for the number of heroes + 1 (if you have 2 heroes, use the monster cards with the 3 in the corner). 3. Count out 20 threat tokens toke ns and place them in a stack. Each t urn, the pile will deplete. When it’s empty, bad things happen. See below. 4. You start the game with 5 Conquest tokens. If you run out, it’s game over. You will still receive conquest from glyphs as normal… if you find any, that is.

5. Shuffle the Objective deck, and draw the top card, face down. This will be the goal of your quest. It’s best not to look at it; it’s more e xciting that way. You can set the rest of the Objective deck aside; it will no longer be

needed. 6. Shuffle the Dungeon deck. Draw 4 cards into one stack, and 4 cards car ds into another stack, both face down. Shuffle your Objective card into one of t he stacks, then place that stack beneath the other stack. At this t his point you know you will be traversing at least 4 dungeon areas to get to your objective, but it could be up to 8! You can set the rest of the Dungeon deck aside. 7. Shuffle the Event deck and place it face down nearby. It will be used t hroughout your quest. 8. Shuffle the Door deck and place it face down nearby. It will be used any time your heroes want to open a door to reveal a new area of the dungeon. 9. Set up the dungeon entrance so that it looks like the picture to the right. Place a door, but you do NOT need to draw c ards of any type in the starting ar ea. You also don’t need to reduce the threat pool or draw for an event until after the door is opened. 10. Place your heroes, and go directly to the “Sequence of Play” section.


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Sequence of play summary Each round (starting after the heroes have opened the initial door), follow these steps in order. Below these brief descriptions are details about each step. If you are not ready to explore the dungeon further, skip steps 2-4. 1. Remove h threat tokens from your threat stack and place them in another stack. 2. Explore (if next to a door) a. Draw Door card b. Reveal new area c.

Determine Glyph (any duplicates on two power dice)

3. Draw Monster card to populate new area 4. Determine ambush (blank on one power die) 5. Determine Event (surge on one power die). Do this every round. 6. Combat 7. When combat is complete, consult the Treasure Guide for loot. Continue with Step 1.

Sequence of play details Step 1 – Threat The dungeon is a dangerous place, and the longer you are in it, the more dangerous it gets. The “threat pool” starts with

20 threat tokens in it. Each turn, move h tokens into a separate pile. “h” refers refers to the number of heroes. For example, it will take 2 heroes 10 turns to get through the pile, but it will only take 5 turns for 4 heroes. Once the threat thre at pool is empty, roll all the standard attack dice (red, blue, yellow, yellow, green, green, white) and consult the Power Chart to see what power comes into play. Use a paper and pencil to keep t rack of what powers are currently curr ently in play. The powers e nd up with 3 “DOOM!” powers in play. The process then starts over with your newly can stack, stack, so you could very well end

created threat pool (the discarded toke ns). Certain skills or feats that involve taking threat from the Overlord can be used to reclaim threat from the “discard” pile. Skills or feats involving the increased cost of playing Overlord cards are

not applicable here. Step 2 - Exploring

As in regular Descent, the t he heroes move throughout the dungeon by spending movement points. This takes place eve n if you are not in combat. If you are adjacent to an exit of a dungeon area, you can choose to continue exploring. If there is a door (there usually will be), draw a D oor card and follow any instructions on it. The hero spends two movement points to open the door, just in regular Descent. This has caused some confusion among players, since it can seem like the first hero’s turn is being split into two parts. This isn’t really the case; even if the heroes choose to open a door in the middle

of a turn (usually not wise), you should think of such an action as being similar to revealing a new area in regular Descent. The new area is set up (described below), and you must see if you’ve been ambushed. If you are ambushed, the heroes’ turn ends. If not, continue with the heroes’ turn as normal.

After resolving any instructions on the card (you may not actually get to open the door until several turns later!), draw a Dungeon card and turn it over. Lay down the appropriate map. Place a standard door at all the exits. Descent Quest does not use rune-locked doors. You may have to orient the map pieces differently depending on your current dungeon configuration. If you are unable to make the dungeon card work as designed, adjust it so that it is as close as possible. Next you need to determine if the new area contains a glyph of t ransport. Roll two power dice. If you roll two power enhancements, two surges, or two blanks, place a glyph of transport in an appropriate place in the new area, usually in Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Warhammer Quest are trademarked by their respective owners. This modification is unofficial.

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an end cap. If the dungeon card has specific instructions on it, follow them immediately. This can include placing various map elements such as mud, potions, etc. Dungeon card instructions can override ANY rule listed here. Corrupted Terrain

Corrupted terrain serves a slightly different purpose in Descent Quest, but it still involves threat. If a hero suffers a wound while on corrupted terrain, the threat pool also loses a threat token on a one-for-one basis. Forked Paths

Sometimes an area will have more than one exit. When this happens, divide the remaining dungeon cards as equally as possible between the available paths. Do this by dealing from t he bottom of the deck, alternating between the paths. For example, if the area has two exits, deal the bottom card from the dungeon de ck (still keeping it face down, of course) and place it by one of the exits. Next, take the next card, again dealing from the bottom, and place it by the next exit. Repeat this process until the rest of the dungeon deck is split between the exits. If the heroes run out of dungeon cards and still haven’t found the objective area, they have reached a

dead end and must backtrack. If some other event such as a cave-in forces them to turn around, merg e any remaining dungeon cards in with those of another path. This ensures t hat the heroes will eventually find the objective area. Step 3 – Monster Spawns

Draw a card from the Monster deck. Generally, monster cards will have you roll a single power die to see what monsters are in the new area, but some cards may have specific instructions on them. Once you’ve determined the monsters you

need, place them according to the Monster Behavior guide below. Monster Quantities

Many monster cards have quantities of monsters like 2 + h, or 1 + h (max 4). In all cases, ‘h’ refers to the number of heroes playing. When a maximum number of monsters is specified, do not exceed it, even if the formula would normally have you do so. See the e xample below for more information. If you are asked to place more monsters than there are available figures, use master s or other tokens as replacements. Step 4 – Determine an Ambush

Roll a single power die to see if you have been ambushed. If you roll a blank, skip to step 6 and the monsters activate immediately! Ambushes automatically remove Guard orders! Step 5 – Check for Events

Every round of the game, the heroes must check to see if a special event happens. The only exceptions are w hile the heroes are still in the starting area, if you’ve been ambushed, or if a card specifically instructs you to NOT check for an event. Roll a single power die to see if an Event card is played. If you roll a surge, draw an Event card and execute its instructions immediately. Step 6 - Combat At this point, there’s a good chance that your heroes are surrounded by monsters, so it’s time to fight! Combat in

Descent Quest follows all the rules from Descent. The differences come in with regards to the initial placement of monsters and their behavior. This is of course due to the re being no set map pieces or Overlord. If the heroes have been Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Warhammer Quest are trademarked by their respective owners. This modification is unofficial.

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ambushed, the monsters activate first, skipping the heroes’ combat turns. See the Monster Behavior guide for more details. Note: Guard orders can be used at any time during the monster activation period , unless you have been ambushed . For all intents and purposes, consider this time “the Overlord’s turn”. Step 7 - Treasure

When all monsters that were spawned via the monster card have been killed, consult the t reasure guide to determine the party’s reward. Monsters that spawn as a result of events have their own rewards printed on the event card.

Assuming the heroes still have remaining conquest tokens, repeat the sequence of play. Remember: Check for an event every round, even if the dungeon does not currently contain any heroes. A trip to town

is not a holiday! You also lose threat tokens every round.

Sequence of play example 1 In this example, our party is made up of Nanok of the Blade and Runewitch Astarra. Nanok has reached a doorway of the current dungeon area, and decides to explore. First the player draws a door card. He gets lucky this time; nothing special happens. Nanok spends two movement points to open the door as norm al. The player turns over a dungeon card and adds the indicated pieces onto the dungeon. The player t hen draws a monster card. Since it is a standard monster card, he rolls a power die and gets a surge. The card indicates that a surge result will spawn 1 + h Ferrox (max 3), 3 + h Skeletons, and 1 Manticore. When you see “h” referred to in this way on cards, it means “the number of heroes”. To

finish our example, we would have 5 Ske letons (3 + 2), 1 Manticore, and 3 Ferrox (1 + 2). In the case of the Ferrox, a further rule was specified that there be no more than 3 Ferrox regardless of how many heroes there are. Following the rules of monster placement, the Ferrox are placed at a range of 4 from where the heroes enter the area. Usually monsters are placed in the order they are listed on the card, but regardless of order, melee creatures are placed first. The Skeletons are placed next, at a range of 3 from the last Ferrox. Finally, the Manticore is placed at a range of 3 behind the Skeletons. See the Monster Behavior section for more details on monster placement. Once the monsters are placed on the board, the player rolls a power die to see if the party is ambushed. He unfortunately rolls a blank, indicating an ambush. He does NOT roll for an event card, and the heroes do not move any further this turn. The monsters immediately activate according to t he monster behavior rules. Once they have all activated, play continues… assuming the heroes survived.

Sequence of play example 2 In this example, our party is made up of Brother Glyr, Trenloe the Strong, Tetherys, and Runemaster Thorn. The heroes have adventured into the dungeon for 4 turns already. The threat pool has 4 tokens remaining. It’s the beginning of the

round, so one of the players takes the remaining threat tokens (one for each hero) and moves them to the ‘discard’ pile. All of the threat has now been used, so the player rolls all the at tack dice (except for the stealth die). He adds up the range and damage, which comes to 10 and 13 respectively. Consulting the power guide, he sees that the “Wrath” power has come into play. Each hero is now wor th one more conquest point if killed. He takes the discarded t hreat tokens, and they now become the new threat pool, to be depleted all over again.


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The heroes are not ready to explore a new area; they are still in the midst of combat. A player rolls a power die to see if they need to draw an event card… he gets a surge. Turning over an event card, they see that an ogre spawns in the area,

following standard monster spawning rules. First, a blue attack die is rolled to see if the ogre is upgraded to a master. Luckily the result is not an X; it’s just a standard ogre. Next, a power die is rolled to see if the ogre ambushes the heroes.

Event spawns get a special roll for this; they ambush on a surge. Unfortunately for the heroes, a surge is exactly what is rolled. The ogre immediately activates. After its turn, the heroes get to take their turn, attacking the remaining monsters and the newly spawned ogre. When the heroes’ turns are complete, all the monsters activate in turn, including the ogre.

Monster behavior Without the benefit of a pre-determined map specifying monster locations or a human Overlord controlling their behavior, Descent Quest has rules governing where m onsters should be placed on the map and how they behave when it is their turn to activate. These rules should be fine for most any circumstance, but by all means if there is ever a situation where you think a monster should not follow the rules in this guide, feel free to do as you please; there is no Overlord to upset. The philosophy behind monster behavior in Descent Quest can be summed up with these points: -

Monsters are selfish; they are only concerned with t heir own attacks.

-

Monsters are cowards; they always retreat after attacking, if possible.

-

Monsters are fair; they evenly divide themselves amongst available attack targets whenever possible.

-

Monsters never close doors but they w ill open them. They only do this in order to get at the heroes.

Monster Placement

When placing new monsters on the board, we divide the monsters into the groups that are listed on the monster spawn car d. For example, if our card says “2 Master Razorwings, 1 Golem, 1 Master Skeleton”,

we have three groups. The first group is placed at a range of 4 from the nearest hero. Place monsters in the order they appear on the card, but just in case, melee creatures are ALWAYS placed first. If there is multiple melee groups, as in this example, place them in order of appearance on the card. Once the first group has been placed, place the next group at a range of 3 behind that group, and so on until all groups are placed. See the example in the Sequence of Play section for an illustration of this. When there are m ultiple squares available that satisfy the range requirements for placement, fan out the monsters as best as possible. This helps avoid effects like Blast and Aura from devastating the monsters before they have even had a chance to activate. Finally, if there is not enough room to place all monsters while maintaining the desired gaps between the gr oups, you can place a group

Spawning on both sides of the

on the OTHER side of the heroes, starting again at a range of 4. If that is not possible,

heroes

drop the gaps between the groups to a range of 2 or even 1. Finally, if there truly is not enough space to spawn monsters, they will not be placed at all. Note that if a card calls for more monsters of a g iven type than are available, use masters o r other replacements as needed. The Morph Ability

When placing a creature with Morph, follow these guidelines: if the monster will immediately have line of sight to the heroes and can be placed at a range of 4, consider the attack to be melee. Otherwise consider the attack to be ranged or Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Warhammer Quest are trademarked by their respective owners. This modification is unofficial.

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magic. Choose based on the target; if t he target is weaker against a given type, use that. It’s what an Overlord would do. Above all, handle the Morph ability so that the monster’s attack can be as devastating as possible. Monster Attacks

Monsters will attempt to follow the “one on one” r ule from Warhammer Quest; this means that if there are 4 monsters and 4 heroes, they will each attack a hero. If there are 7 monsters, 3 heroes will have 2 monsters attacking them while 1 hero only gets attacked by 1 monster. However, monsters will only attack heroes who are actually in their line of sight; if only one hero is visible, he will be attacked by all the monsters! If monsters have no line of sight to any heroes, t hey will move in the direction of the heroes (they are aware of the heroes’ presence). Once they gain line of sight to at least one hero, determine who will be attacke d following the one on one rule. The following exception exists for the one on one rule: creatures with Swarm will attack the target previously chosen by another Swarm creature. For exam ple, if a kobold attacks a hero based on the one on one rule, other kobolds will ignore the rule and try to attack that same hero. Each round, the nearest monster to the heroes activates. Once his target is chosen, he will move toward that target as follows: -

Ranged monsters will stop at a range of 3

-

Melee monsters will stop when they are adjacent, unless they have Reach, in which case they will stop at a range of 2.

-

Monsters will actively avoid heroes with Aura whenever possible. If there are NO monsters available that can attack the targets without entering the Aura, they WILL do it, even if it spells their doom.

Once a monster has reached the desired range, he will make his attack. Upon completion of that attack, he will use any remaining movement points to retreat away from the heroes. Exceptions to this rule are as follows: -

creatures with the Swarm ability will NOT retreat if there are other Swarm creatures in the area

-

if retreating will only move a monster closer to another hero, he will stand still

-

if he has already suffered wounds from entering an Aura, he will stand still, in hopes of avoiding further wounds. Note that you may find that playing as Shiver makes this game far too easy.

Once the monster’s turn is over, the next-nearest monster activates, and so on until they have all activated. If a monster spends all his movement and has not reached the desired range to his target, he will attempt to make an attack if possible (on any valid target), rather than losing it. Monsters with Breat h will always use it if they can attack multiple heroes, regardless of how many fellow monsters t hey may damage. Monsters with Blast will attempt to target spaces that will maximize the number of heroes affected, again with no regard for other monsters. Monsters with Knockback will always attempt to knock heroes into an e nvironmental hazard (pit, lava, etc.) if possible.

Optional Rules You may find the game too easy o r too hard, primarily based on your party makeup. These are some optional rules that can help to adjust difficulty. -

Have Skeletons stop approaching at a range o f 4 (5 for masters) since they get a range bonus.

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Add 1 damage for every 2 surges monsters roll.

-

Use Road to Legend silver or gold dice for the monsters. These could follow with the treasure level of t he dungeon.


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-

Use Road to Legend silver, gold o r diamond monster cards. These could follow with the treasure leve l of the dungeon.

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For single heroes, roll twice when revealing a new area to determine if there is a glyph.

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Have single heroes start with 6 CP, reducing 1 CP per hero after that.

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Don’t play with feats.

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Increase the size of the threat pool.

Event cards Event cards can have any number of effects. You may see references to the “current area”. This is intended to mean the

last dungeon card turned over. Sometimes effects will take place in that area, even if no heroes are in it. For events that are traps (you’ll know them when you see them), consider these “trap cards” for purposes of feats,

abilities and skills that can mitigate trap effects. For events that result in lingering e ffects such as burn or frost, the heroes may roll for their removal immediately after receiving the tokens. This is because events take place directly before the heroes’ turn.

Some event cards spawn new monsters. When yo u spawn these monsters, roll a power die. On a surge, the monster(s) activate immediately. When they are done, the heroes’ turn resumes, then other monsters (including those just

spawned) will take their turn. This is essentially a bonus attack that the event card monsters receive.


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Treasure guide There are three stages of treasure in DQ: copper, silver and g old. The level is determined by how many dungeon cards you have turned over. If you have turned over 1 – 4 dungeon cards, you are in the copper stage. 5 – 7 cards puts you in the silver stage, and anything beyond that is gold level. Unless otherwise stated, each reward is per hero. If you roll something that is not on the chart…sorry, you find nothing! Further notes: Treasures are ALWAYS available to purchase

in town at your current treasure level, even if you’ve never found any. Actual treasure c hests (usually found in Objective areas) grant 1 treasure per hero and 2 conquest points total. Dice Roll

Copper Reward

Silver Reward

Gold Reward

50 coins

100 coins

150 coins

100 coins

150 coins

200 coins

50 coins + health potion



50 coins + vitality potion



50 coins + power potion



50 coins + invisibility potion



TRAP! Roll a blank or take 2 wounds



150 coins + 1 Poison token

200 coins + 1 Poison token

250 coins + 2 Poison tokens

invulnerability potion



Copper treasure

Silver treasure

Gold treasure

Copper treasure + 50 coins

Silver treasure + 100 coins

Gold treasure + 150 coins

Copper treasure + 100 coins

Silver treasure + 150 coins

Gold treasure + 200 coins

Copper treasure + 1 Curse token

Silver treasure + 1 Curse token

Gold treasure + 1 Curse token

Copper treasure + 1 potion of choice

Silver treasure + 1 potion of choice

Gold treasure + 1 potion of choice

2 Copper treasures

2 Silver treasures

2 Gold treasures

2 Copper treasures + 1 Curse token

2 Silver treasures + 1 Curse token

2 Gold treasures + 1 Curse token

TRAP! Roll a blank or get a Stun token



2 Copper treasures + 1 power potion + 1 feat

2 Silver treasures + 1 invisibility potion + 1 feat

2 Copper treasures + 1 Curse token + 1 feat

2 Silver treasures + 1 Curse token + 1 feat

2 Copper treasures + 100 coins + 1 potion of choice

2 Silver treasures + 150 coins + 1 potion of choice

2 Gold treasures + 1 invincibility potion + 1 feat 2 Gold treasures + 2 Curse tokens + 1 feat 2 Gold treasures + 200 coins + 1 potion of choice


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Power guide As described earlier, when you have depleted the threat pool, you must roll to see what dark power comes into play. These powers are stackable, so multiple copies of t he same power can occur. Some powers may specify a maximum number of times they may come into play. If you have already reached the m aximum number of times a power can come into play and you roll that power again, ignore the result; no additional power will come into play. For t his chart, roll all standard attack dice (red, blue, ye llow, yellow, green, green and w hite). Add the range on all dice. This number is down the left of the chart. Add t he damage on all dice. This number is across the top of the chart. Below the chart are descriptions of the powers; some of them be have differently than they do in regular D escent. DAMAGE

2-5 E G N A R

2-4 5 6-7 8-9 10 - 12 13 – 14 15 - 17

6-7 Wrath

Trapmaster (max 2) Master! Master! Dire Warnings

Unholy Swiftness (max 3) Dark Armor (max 4) DOOM! (max 4) Envy

8-9 Greed Unholy Swiftness (max 3) DOOM! (max 4) DOOM! (max 4) Dark Armor (max 4) Trapmaster (max 2)

10 - 11 Urgency Brilliant Commander Trapmaster (max 2) Brilliant Commander Unholy Swiftness (max 3) Master! Master!

12 - 14 Envy

15 - 17

Dire Warnings Wrath Dire Warnings

Brilliant Commander- The first creature in the first group of a spawn card g ets upgraded to a Master. He remains in the

same group. Dark Armor- All monsters get +1 armor for each Dark Armor in play. Dire Warnings- When a hero opens a door, his turn ends immediately. Ambushes occur on a surge instead of a blank. DOOM!- All monsters roll one extra power die for each DOOM! in play. Envy- Heroes are no longer able to trade equipment. Greed- Deplete a threat token from the pool for every treasure card the heroes receive. This does not apply to treasures

the heroes purchase. Master! Master!- Monsters from event cards are automatically upgraded to master level, no die roll is required any

more. This only applies to cards that specify dice rolls. Trapmaster - Event trap cards cause 1 extra wound for each Trapmaster in play. Unholy Swiftness- All monsters get +1 speed for each Unholy Swiftness in play. Urgency- One extra threat token is removed from the pool each round for e ach copy of Urgency in play. Wrath- Each hero is worth an additional conquest point for e ach copy of Wrath in play.

Quest guide When you finally reach the objective are a, consult this guide to see how you should lay out the map. Each objective area usually contains special rules regarding the dungeon leader, his minions, or the nature of the objective area. You do NOT roll for an ambush when discovering the objective ar ea. You also do NOT draw a monster spawn card. You DO continue to draw event cards each round, and you also continue to deplete the threat pool. Note that unless otherwise mentioned, any chests in objective areas follow the “Treasure Level” rules listed earlier . Also note that unless otherwise mentioned, your goal is always to kill the leader(s) of the dungeon. This results in an immediate victory as his rem aining forces will flee in terror at your display of might.


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Bells of fire D’dhe’Ceville is a master demon with 6 extra wounds per hero. He is immune to Aura and Burn.

The two master hellhounds have 2 extra wounds per hero and 1 extra armor per hero. They are not named monsters.

Command Central ‘alTh’gha is a master chaos beast with 4 extra wounds per hero.

ANY monster in this area has the Command ability. If the monster leaves the area, Command is lost. ‘alTh’gha may NOT leave the area.

Corpse run This objective has no “boss”. The question mark indicates the location of a dead comrade (choose any available hero figure). One hero must pick up and carry the body back to the start of the dungeon; all other glyphs are disabled. The hero carrying the body can only use equipment in one hand (either a shield or a one-handed weapon) and can carry nothing in his pack. His speed is reduced to 4. Event ca rds are drawn during the entire trip back.

Every other round AFTER the body has been picked up, the altar of evil spawns more monsters. Draw a monster spawn card a nd roll a die as normal; the monsters are placed adjacent to the altar. Descent: Journeys in the Dark and Warhammer Quest are trademarked by their respective owners. This modification is unofficial.

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Crypt of the undeath The Master Skeleton directly to the south of the sarcophagus is Captain Lansing. He has 5 extra wounds per he ro, and 1 extra armor per hero. Standing adjacent to the sarcophagus and completing a Prolonged Melee(4), Ranged(4) or Magic(4) action will destroy the sarcophagus. This causes all Masters EXCEPT for Captain Lansing to lose the Undying ability. This prolonged action must be continuous; if it is stopped for any reason, it must be started over from the beginning.

Fungi of Doom Lady Ssihthz is a master naga with 6 extra wounds per hero. She also has the Knockback ability.

Gust of wind Gust is a master dragon with Shadow Cloak and Iron Skin. He has 5 extra wounds per hero and does +2 damage. The beating of his wings in such a small area forces tremendous wind through the entire area. At the end of a figure’s movement, roll a yellow die. Based o n the rolled range, move the hero that many squares in the direction of the wind. If the figure hits a wall he takes 1 wound ignoring armor and will continue to suffer a wound each round he is against a wall. Figures larger than 1 square or those immune to Knockback are not affected.


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Lair of Horgrim Horgrim is a master ogre with 4 extra wounds per hero.

Waltzing death All monsters here have standard stats. The small hallways are not attached to the main room. Each round, rotate the room 90 degrees clockwise. In order to win, the heroes must defeat every master monster in the area, and exit via the glyph of transport in the hall with the wendigos. Flying figures may not fly over the rubble blocking the halls.


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Feedback If you want to contact me with suggestions, comments, etc. feel free to email me at [email protected].

Credits Game Design, Card Text / Dungeon design, Documentation: Mark Thomas Card Design, Some Card Text: Jack Reda Testers: Mark Thomas, James Russell, the BGG Community Descent: Journeys in the Dark is © Fantasy Flight Games Warhammer Quest is © Games Workshop Thanks to Shawn Riordan for making Tile System, an invaluable tool. Tile System, not Shawn.

Change log .84: fixed error in treasure chart, various rule clarifications, monster spawns re-ordered (melee always appear first), sequence of play quick reference .85: door cards added, door rules added. Swarm ability behavior change. Some potions dropped from treasure chart. Objective area rule clarifications. New objective area, Gust of Wind .86: sequence of play revised, with details added. Card changes: dungeon page 4 (new), event pages 1, 2, 3, 6, door page 2, objective page 1. Two new objective areas, Corpse Run and Waltzing Death. .87: fixed text omission on dungeon page 4, extra optional rule added .88: Power chart implemented, threat pool rules added. Knockback rule clarified. Corpse Run text revised. Event card spawn rules revised. Sequence of Play modified. New sequence of play example added. 1.0: Play Sequence clarified, FANTASTIC new card art by Jack Reda, as well as some new cards (door and event) by Jack Reda.


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Descent Quest Rules

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