How to Play

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)

1-5 players 120-120 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

One player controls the evil overlord while up to four others play heroes exploring dungeons, ruins, and forests. Heroes complete story-driven quests to stop the overlord's schemes, battling monsters using a dice-pool combat system where character abilities and weapons determine attack strength. Victory depends on successfully thwarting the overlord's plot.

Published 2012

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Consult the Quest Guide

Select a quest and follow the specific setup instructions for board layout, monster placement, and special rules

Assemble the game board

Place map tiles according to the quest diagram, connecting them as specified

Select heroes

Each player chooses a hero sheet and takes the corresponding figure and Class deck

Equip starting items

Heroes receive starting equipment and skills as indicated by their chosen class

Place hero figures

Position hero figures on the map according to quest setup instructions

Overlord prepares deck

The overlord player constructs their deck from available Overlord cards

Place monsters

The overlord places monster figures on designated spaces per quest rules

Distribute tokens

Set out damage, fatigue, condition, and other required tokens near the play area

Prepare Search deck

Shuffle Search cards and place face down as a draw deck

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Heroes act first

During the hero phase, each hero takes a turn performing up to two actions

Move action

Spend movement points equal to Speed to traverse spaces; moving into difficult terrain costs additional movement

Attack action

Declare a target in range and line of sight, roll attack dice, and apply damage minus defense

Rest action

Recover fatigue equal to your hero's Stamina at the end of your turn

Search action

While adjacent to or on a search token, draw a Search card to gain items

Special actions

Use skill cards or other abilities that require an action to activate

Suffer fatigue for movement

Heroes may voluntarily suffer fatigue to gain extra movement points

Resolve timing conflicts

The current player decides the order when multiple abilities trigger simultaneously

Overlord activates monsters

During the overlord phase, each monster group activates once, performing up to two actions

Play Overlord cards

The overlord may play cards from hand when their triggering conditions are met

Apply conditions

Conditions like Poisoned, Stunned, or Weakened affect figures until removed or the effect ends

Check line of sight

Draw an imaginary line from corner to corner of spaces to determine if a target is visible

Winning

How to claim victory.

Complete quest objectives

Victory conditions are determined by the specific quest being played as detailed in the Quest Guide

Quest rules take precedence

Special victory conditions in the Quest Guide override standard rules, cards, and abilities

Track encounter progress

Many quests have multiple encounters with separate objectives for heroes and overlord

Campaign victory

In campaign play, track wins across multiple quests to determine the overall winner

Immediate victory

When a side fulfills their victory condition, the quest or encounter ends immediately

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.10

Session

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.11

Session

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)

Get Ready

On Your Turn

Winning

watch & Learn

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.10

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.11

MORE VIDEOS

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.12

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.13

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.14

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.15

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.16

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.7

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.8

The Shadow Rune Campaign – playthrough E.9

FULL rules

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