# Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Shadow of Nerekhall

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Shadow of Nerekhall is a board game for 2–5 players. It plays in 90 minutes and is meant for ages 14 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 5. It is rated 8 out of 10 by 3 Ludoya reviewers.

- **Players:** 2–5 (best with 5)
- **Playing time:** 90 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 14+
- **Complexity:** 3.3 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2014
- **Categories:** Fantasy, Expansion for Base-game, Fighting, Miniatures, Adventure
- **Mechanics:** Hand Management, Action Points, Pick-up and Deliver, Dice Rolling, Modular Board, Grid Movement
- **Ludoya rating:** 8 out of 10, from 3 reviews
- **Owned by:** 22 Ludoya players

**Designers:** Justin Kemppainen

**Artists:** Henning Ludvigsen

**Publishers:** Fantasy Flight Games

## Rules questions

### Can I move or attack across elevation lines?

Elevation lines block movement, so a figure cannot move across them, but they do not block line of sight; melee attacks across an elevation line force the target to add one extra black defense die unless the attack has the Reach keyword, and figures with Fly ignore elevation for movement (p.4).

### Do portcullises block line of sight or attacks, or do they just act like doors?

Portcullises block movement like doors but do not block line of sight, attacks, or counting spaces (spaces separated by a portcullis are adjacent); a figure can open or close a portcullis by taking an open/close door action (p.4).

### What do hazard spaces do—are they just lava?

Hazard spaces follow the same rules as lava spaces: any effect or ability that applies to lava spaces applies to hazard spaces and vice versa (p.5).

### How does the overlord choose and reveal Influence effects in the campaign?

During setup the overlord secretly chooses the quest’s influence token (or shuffles tokens and places one facedown), keeps unused tokens facedown, and only reveals the chosen token to resolve its influence effect when the quest instructs him to do so (p.6).

### When can the overlord play a Corrupt Citizen card and what happens if the changeling is defeated?

The overlord may play a Corrupt Citizen card only when a master changeling is present (played when the master is placed) and the card grants additional effects to that master; if the master changeling survives the encounter the card returns to the overlord’s play area, but if the master changeling is defeated the Corrupt Citizen card is removed from the campaign (p.6).

### What happens to the Bard’s song tokens if the Bard gets knocked out, and do they reset between encounters?

Song tokens remain on Class cards while the Bard is knocked out but their matching song effects are inactive while he is knocked out, and at the end of an encounter the Bard returns all song tokens to his supply (p.4).

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/descent-journeys-in-the-dark-second-edition-shadow-of-nerekhall)
- [Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) – Shadow of Nerekhall in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/descent-journeys-in-the-dark-second-edition-shadow-of-nerekhall)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/149915)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-24. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._