Odd ending--Xykon house rule?

[Edgehopper]

When we played, our take was that the rule puts Xykon at the front of the stack when he shows up, to be followed by a bunch of other monsters. Then, when you defeat Xykon, all those other monsters disappear. This seems kind of odd, especially the way you'd expect a big boss battle to work (you have to go through the minions before having a final showdown with the boss.)

So, while we didn't have time to try this rule out, we'll be changing the rule for future games to give Xykon the same special quality as the Demon Roaches in that he moves immediately to the bottom of the pile, the idea being that it really does make Xykon the final battle.

[Fujin]

You played it correctly.

While you CAN do that as a house rule, the end result will be that Xykon is much weaker when you get to him (he is designed to be supported by all the goblins and undead, and with him having horde, a lot of them will come WITH him into battle). It is better to fight a strong Xykon as the final fight than a weak one, IMO.

[Kaertos]

The first time we played the OOTS game, we made this mistake. It was about 3:30 in the morning and we were all very tired. Somehow, as owner of the game and ultimate arbiter of the rules, I got it in my head that Xykon was the last monster in any room he was in.

Thus, Roy great cleavaged his way through about 8 monsters before getting to a hopelessly outclassed Xykon. The roll of the dice was a formality only.

I guess that this is my only complaint about the game. Somehow it seems like the game is perfect until Xykon. At least in my group, once we figured out the rule correctly (with a little help from these here forums) everyone was very careful not to play anything that would help Xykon. Again, he was a very easy kill, certainly easier that most of the Linear Guild earlier in the game.

[Edgehopper]

That makes sense--I think part of the problem in our game was that we forgot the part of the Xykon Special rule that says that other monsters disappear when Xykon is killed. So, he dropped loot in a room that was too full of monsters to pick up, which seemed a little odd.

[The Giant]

Xykon should be at the front of the pack, yes. Otherwise, his Support abilities are meaningless and he's an easy kill.

Ideally, experienced players will balance their desire to kill Xykon with their desire to not have someone else kill Xykon and play some supporting cards but not ONLY supporting cards.

If the disappearing monsters bother you, remember that in the OOTS comic, the goblins surrender as soon as Xykon explodes, because no one was paying them. (Belkar cut them down anyway, but still.)

[InaVegt]

If the disappearing monsters bother you, remember that in the OOTS comic, the goblins surrender as soon as Xykon explodes, because no one was paying them. (Belkar cut them down anyway, but still.)Somthing similar happens in LotR:TRotK when the ring is destroyed (All the bad guys start fighting with eachother, almost completely ignoring the good guys) so it makes even more sense when you think about it that way.