Descent with no Overlord?

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/827621/descent-with-no-overlord/page/3 I've been lurking on this thread for a while now. My wife isn't into competitive games so I was inspired to draft my own rules for a player-less Overlord. I apologize in advance that this is a bit lengthy. It has yet to be playtested and feedback is very much appreciated. Thanks! OVERVIEW OF AUTONOMOUS OVERLORD Instead of one player assuming the full time role of the Overlord, all Overlord cards, monster activations, and actions are completed using the following variant. When referring to the Overlord in these rules, assume that any player controlling a hero may complete these steps on behalf of the autonomous Overlord. Unless stated otherwise, the Overlord still follows all official rules. OVERLORD SETUP Choose Monsters: Refer to the Quest Guide for monster group options for the chosen encounter. The Monster cards of the appropriate Act are laid out on the table from left to right in the order they are listed in the guide (i.e., Lieutenants, required groups, open groups). This is the activation order of the monsters. In the case of more than one open group in an encounter, randomly determine their activation order. Perform Quest Setup: Any player can refer to the Setup section and follow the instructions listed. T his includes placing monster figures, objective tokens, search tokens, and villager tokens as indicated on the quest map. When placing a monster group on a directed tile, place all of the monsters of that group on the centermost spaces of the tile. The master monster of the group is placed as close to the front and center of the group as possible. Create Overlord Deck: Shuffle the Overlords 15 Overlord cards to create the Overlord deck. Refer to the Overlord Deck Upgrading section below for more details. Draw Overlord Cards: The Overlord draws a number of Overlord cards equal to the number of heroes into its hand. The Overlords hand is always visible to all players with the cards laid out on the table from left to right. For consistency, the leftmost card that is not exhausted is always considered the first card. PLAYING OVERLORD CARDS With the exception of exhausted cards (see below), the Overlord cards are always played in order from left to right. Exhausting Overlord Cards: No more than one Overlord card of the same phase (i.e., at the start of your turn) can be played in the same round. If a card in the Overlords hand is to be played at the same phase as a card that was previously played this round, instead of playing that card you must exhaust it. Cards exhausted in this way are ignored and cannot be played for the rest of the current round. In the Overlords hand, the next card in order that is not exhausted is then considered to be the first card. All players must ensure that each Overlord card is played appropriately and is not needlessly wasted in favor of the heroes. Overlord cards rewarded during the quest (i.e., for knocking out a hero) are placed at the far right side of the Overlords hand. If the first card in the Overlords hand states at the start of your turn or after your roll dice, play this card at first opportunity, and then discard it. If the first card in the Overlords hand states play on a monster, when activating a monster, when moving a monster or when a monster attacks, immediately play this card at first opportunity on the first Monster able to utilize that card (following monster activation order, see above), and then discard it. If the first card in the Overlords hand can only be played on a hero during his/her turn, immediately place this Overlord card next to the heros card (the hero is chosen randomly, as long as the target is valid). That card is immediately played once that chosen hero successfully accomplishes the triggering effect. Then discard the card. Any number of Overlord cards can be played during the Overlords turn, so long as the Overlord card exhaustion rules are obeyed.

OVERLORD TURN The autonomous Overlords turn commences after all hero players have completed their turns. 1. Start of Turn Refresh the Overlords exhausted cards. Effects affecting the Overlord that last until the start of your next turn ends. One Overlord card is drawn and placed with the other cards in the Overlords hand. Then, shuffle a ll cards in the Overlords hand and lay them out on the table in order from left to right. If the Overlord deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile and place them face down, creating a new deck. Play Overlord cards as appropriate, obeying Overlord card exhaustion rules (see above). 2. Activate monsters Activate each of the monster groups, one at a time, in the order dictated by the encounter. Within a monster group, activate the monsters closest to a hero first, one at a time, until all monsters in that group have been activated. All monsters within a group must be activated before the next group can be activated. Play Overlord cards as appropriate, obeying Overlord card exhaustion rules (see above). 3. Perform Actions An activated Monster performs two actions per turn if able and must perform these actions in any order and combination that most efficiently completes an Overlord objective or attacks a hero (in that order of priority). As usual, a monster may not attack twice. Unless noted otherwise, an action must be resolved before the monster performs its next action. Play Overlord cards as appropriate, obeying Overlord card exhaustion rules (see above). MOVE: Monsters must obey terrain rules, but follow the path that most efficiently uses that monsters movement. The first priority of any monster is to move up to its Speed and complete an objective. If unable to complete an objective within its allowable movement, monsters will instead move in order to attack a hero in accordance to whether it can make a melee attack or ranged attack (see Melee Monsters and Ranged Monsters below). Monsters will interrupt movement with another action and then complete the movement after the other action is resolved if able, unless that additional movement would unnecessarily place the monster adjacent to or in line of sight of a hero. If a monster, after its first movement action, cannot complete an objective or attack a hero, it will move again if able. Monsters will use movement-based abilities (i.e., fly) in the most efficient manner possible. Melee Monsters: When attacking, these monsters will always take the shortest route to the closest hero in an attempt to move adjacent to that hero. If the closest space is already occupied it will attempt to get as close as it can to that hero. If this monster starts its turn on a space adjacent to a hero, it will only be allowed to move if that adjacent hero is first knocked out. If two or more heroes are an equal distance from a monster, that monster will move toward the hero with the most damage or fatigue tokens on its card (in that order). Ranged Monsters: When attacking, these monsters only move towards the heroes if they do not have any heroes within their line of sight and they are not already within 4 spaces of a hero. If a ranged monster cannot see any heroes, it will use as much of its movement as necessary to move along the shortest route toward the closest hero. As soon as the monster can see a hero, and it is within 4 spaces of that hero, it stops moving. Large Monsters: Large monsters will move in the most efficient manner possible, placing the figure after movement so that its base occupies the spaces that are most advantageous to the monster in order to complete an objective, attack a hero, block movement of the heroes or provide maximum movement opportunity of the monster (in that order). ATTACK:

 If a monster cannot complete an objective, it will attempt to attack one hero if able. If a monster can attack more than one hero, it will attack the hero with the most damage or fatigue tokens on its card (in that order). Ranged monsters will attempt to be within 4 squares of a hero before attacking that hero. If a ranged monster cannot meet this criteria (i.e., because it is out of movement) it will still attempt to attack anyway so long that a hero is within line of sight. Monsters will use attack-based abilities and surges in the most efficient manner possible. When in doubt, use the monsters abilities/surges in the order that they are listed on their Monster card. MONSTER ACTION: Some monsters have unique Monster actions listed on their Monster card. Monsters will utilize these actions in the most efficient manner possible in order to complete an objective, attack a hero or inhibit a hero (in that order). OPEN OR CLOSE A DOOR: A monster can open or close one adjacent door. Monsters will utilize this action in the most efficient manner possible in order to complete an objective or prevent a hero from moving or attacking through a doorway. SPECIAL: Different cards or quests may provide monsters with unique actions to perform. Monsters will utilize these actions in the most efficient manner possible in order to complete an objective, attack a hero or inhibit a hero (in that order). 4. End of round Reinforce any monsters (choosing the Master Monster first of each group) as applicable. Place these reinforcements on the centermost spaces of the directed tile and as close to the heroes as possible. OVERLORD DECK UPGRADING At the beginning of the campaign, randomly choose one upgradable Overlord class (for simplicity, it is recommended that you not choose any trap-heavy classes). Shuffle these class cards with the Universal class cards together to build the purchase deck for the Overlord cards. Experience points are spent on new Overlord cards as usual, but after each quest the Overlord will only be allowed to choose from five cards drawn randomly from the purchase deck. The Overlord will attempt to purchase any lower level cards first from the five cards drawn before purchasing any higher level cards. The Overlord will never have more than 15 cards in its deck at the start of a quest. If, after purchasing new class cards, the Overlord has more than 15 cards in its deck, randomly discard a number of Basic cards so that exactly 15 cards remain in the deck.

- Gaius P.S. The automated monster movement and attack rules are rooted from Mice & Mystics. Comments: if this the solo version then I think it`s fine. But when you have many players you could introduce this: At the start of Overlord turn draw 2 cards( any cards from all Overlord deck). Activate and do objective of all cards. If it`s require to do special act like "activate card when hero reach his stamina limit or something..." leave the card next to your hero face down. So it means that only you know what is there and only you activate card when it`s possible. By activating: 0 card you will get 2 gold 1 card - 5 gold 2 card - 7 gold 3 card - 10 gold And that gold stays only with players`s hero who played Overlord.