I believe my cards are from v4, the final version. You can find them here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/104973/redjaks-automated-overlord-variant
There’s also a link to his thread talking about no longer working on his solo stuff for Descent and in that thread there’s a link to his Google drive where you can find all of the Descent stuff he’s developed.
I’ve been enjoying all the user created content adapting official missions from the small box expansions and enemy packs on Valkyrie. I love there’s such quality analog and digital official and unofficial solo content for Descent 2nd. It’s the most versatile game I think that I own my collection: it’s built for multiplayer but the solo options are super expansive and varied as well. For that reason and such quality mechanics, I rank it in my top 3 dungeon crawlers of all time.
I recall playing 2ed solo years ago with the official app. I think I liked it but..it’s an app. I assume those rules you’re using don’t require the app? How does it compare? I love the Runebound setting and would like to pull my Descent copy back out sometime for solo play.
I think I actually played Descent 1st ed the “proper” multiplayer way with the overlord ages ago and thought the whole thing was pretty awful. It’s like they were trying really hard to be the boardgame equivalent of D&D with a GM but in this case the DM/Overlord was actively trying to defeat you. I always thought it was such an amazing game full of potential but was hampered by the overlord nonsense.
This week I’m away from home on holiday. I had an afternoon free so played one of the compact games I had brought with me - The Siege of Shaddis Horne
Great fun, I probably got some of the rules wrong but it came down to the very last enemy, a gold golem, that I couldn’t eliminate before it attacked an already damaged location.
Ended up with 77pts if I calculated correctly. It was a solid 3 hours of game play or so, very impressive given the size of the tin!
I’ve been playing Space Cadets: Away Missions, which @Dungeondive had on one of his top 10 lists, and which I bought using credit at Noble Knight Games. (They are the best. I ordered a used copy well below MSRP, and when it arrived, the rule books smelled like cigarettes. I asked for an exchange, which they did immediately – and sent a mint (punched but unplayed) copy at no additional cost. They apologized and said the smelly one should never have gone out).
Back to the game… I learned how to play thanks to Tom Chick of Quarter to Threee, who put together this playlist. It is excellent. The game itself? Very good. And I can fit most of the scenarios along with two character cards on my dinky tray table:
Nothing ground breaking about this one and it’s a shame it never got expansions, but it is silly tactical fun. And the rule book is excellent, probably the best rule book I’ve seen, with plenty of play examples. It also comes with reference sheets and small cards for each enemy type that fully explains their AI and special powers. Recommended for the soloist!
If you can find the KS book, it has more missions in it
I agree though the game is pretty fun, if you want somewhat of a similar feel check out Galaxy Defenders which is pretty good or Zombicide Invader which is their SciFi version.
Yeah, multiplayer with the Overlord, at its heart, is very much competitive game. I think 2e fixed a lot of balance issues and especially tightened gameplay, allegedly making it more fun, but the way the game was originally designed is definitely competitive.
I never play it that btw. The official and unofficial digital app solo mode is the only way I’ll play.
Putting two unofficial itch.io digital adaptations of games that are in my top 20 board games of all time on people’s radars:
Gloom of Kilforth: https://mltdwn21.itch.io/gloom-of-kilforth-digital
This is a really quality adaptation, endorsed by the original designer, that translated the game really well to a digital version. It’s still a bit rough around the edges and an understanding of the rules helps but I think it works well and plays WAY faster than the analog version. I’ve always enjoyed Gloom of Kilforth (it’s probably a top 15-20 game for me) and I’m really enjoying this.
Marvel Champions:
https://irefrixs.itch.io/marvel-lcg
Again familiarity with the rules helps. This has every expansion available for it and getting to play a version that has zero set up, automates everything is pretty great. The cardboard version has been my most played game over the past two years. It’s a top five game for me, I love the short game length that provides an instantly robust thematic gameplay experience, the depth and especially the modularity are fantastic. This is a really well done unofficial adaptation.
Here are a few more illustrations I did for Ker Nethalas.
This is from today,
That’s great news! It’s such a unique and well designed game. There’s nothing else like it in my collection.
I have all content but I’m really happy for everyone who missed out on the kickstarter. This game deserves a bigger audience. I highly recommend picking up every expansion including the campfire dialogue deck. Each expansion adds a lot of interesting and unique ways to experience the game.
Mini Rogue, with Jason Glover’s games, are my favorite small box dungeon crawlers. I’ve been patiently waiting for the new Kickstarter delivery for the Council, the small deck expansion and a bunch of promo cards. The new stuff is so so good, especially the Mountain of Torment expansion. It basically is a deck of six different modular mini expansions that can be added in for very different experiences. I just played with two, one of which adds narrative encounter tests as you traverse floors giving cool emergent narrative and bumping difficulty slightly giving you a choice between two cards to encounter. The cursed jewelry is the other module I added in, giving you powerful artifacts that you have to pay upkeep to use. The included new dungeons with choice in what paths you take are so cool. As you can imagine, the new rules push for many more decisions. It’s an even better game now! So many characters, encounters and it’s now incredibly modular. To draw true roguelike parallels, if base Mini Rogue was the original “Rogue” pc game, the additional new stuff pushes it into “Nethack” territory…if you know, you know. I’m also 2/2 with the new material defeating OG’s remains so will definitely be implanting the more difficult modular additions (the occultist is a great, very strong new character). I’ll probably play with the automated overlord mode (I didn’t even mention, the player overlord modes looks very cool and expands the play options significantly) to take on some new challenges and variety.
Thanks for the post. I love Glover’s stuff so if Mini Rogue is in the same camp, I am interested.
But you need to drink better beer 
And I’m hyperventilating because of how close your setup is to the sink.
Ha! To be clear there is no michelob ultra in that cup. I’m drinking ‘Top Cutter’ from Bale Breaker (local PNW beer), a very solid IPA. We’re in a sublet at the moment while our condo is on the market and the beer glass situation is not great in the apartment. That cup was scrounged from a recent World Cup game we were lucky enough to attend. NO MICHELOB ULTRA WAS CONSUMED!
Mini Rogue is in the same camp for sure. You’re essentially always choosing between two locations to encounter, delving many floors. I’d say with expansions, Mini Rogue has more variety of encounters and a few more moving pieces. It feels more like a rogue-like to me than Glovers game.
Yeah, unfortunately there is no good game table space in this sublet that we’re in. Luckily Mini Rogue doesn’t take up too much space. I definitely had some anxiety and was checking to make sure I was dropping anything in the sink every few minutes!
Mini Rogue is fantastic! Maybe the best small-box dungeon crawl. It’s just so good, and with the new stuff there is more to enjoy. It’s so fast and easy to set up and play, and offers a good challenge and feels like a “real” rogue-like style dungeon crawl.
I missed all the Kickstarters for Mini Rogue so recently just bought the whole collection from the Nuts! Publishing website in France. It was about $100 + $15 for shipping which I thought was a pretty good deal for all the content. I’m in the US and the order took about 10 days to get here. Now for the not-so-fun part. About a month later I got an invoice from FedEx. I’m now on the hook for another $25 in customs fees…for $106 worth of product. I’m beyond tired of all this “Greatness.”
At least the game itself has been pretty fun, so far. Looking forward to digging in to some of the new expansion packs.
Traveling for work this week and decided this was a good time to finally crack open The Crows of Coppershell Bay.
I love that game. I’m always amazed by how much game is packed into the tin. FYI there are two new dungeon cards that the designer released. You can print them out from bgg in the file section.
