I recently played with the Woodlands for the first time and was struck partly by how many strangers are in its deck but mostly by the unspecific text on many of them. Half of the 14 strangers clearly state whether they remain or get discarded after the encounter, another three (Oberon, Titania and Toad King) are clearly discarded in one of two outcomes but are less clear in the other outcome, whereas the remaining four strangers give no instructions.

I checked all strangers in all other expansion adventure decks (couldn't be asked to go through the main adventure deck: that thing is huge now) and virtually every one clearly states what to do with the card post-encounter. Usually, strangers are discarded once they have been encountered.

Since there are no instructions on the Woodland strangers, we were forced to let them remain in play, which meant the forest was soon rather crowded with strangers (well, at least it felt that way with some five or six of them waiting for attention at any given time). So, if anyone happens to know what to do with all these cards, I'd love to find out.

Hi there Borealian and welcome to the ffg forums

When no instructions are given for the rolled outcome or at all the Stranger stays on the space.

I do agree that it might seam a bit confusing when the text on the majority Strangers indicate whether they stay or go.
I had a quick look through the Woodlands-deck and found at least one good example of why it might not have been written.

Baba Yaga

Stranger
A n old woman reveals herself
as Baba Yaga, the most wicked of
all witches. Roll 1 die to see what
curse she lays on you. Add 1 to
the result for each fate you have:

1) You are killed

2-3) Become a Toad for 3 turns
4) Kill 1 of your Followers
5) Discard 1 of your Objects
6) Lose 1 life
7) Lose 1 Spell

8+) Lose 1 fate

On this card there's so much text that "She will remain here for the rest of the game" just won't fit.

Strangers that are only discarded on a certain roll (usually the highest...) etc have been around for a long time. I dare promise that the mechanic is that they are supposed to stick around until someone hits the highest roll.

The general rule, which is written nowhere but learned after a long card analysis, is that Strangers remain on board for the rest of the game, unless a specific discard condition is met. Cards that are usually discarded after encounter are Events, but this is not true in all instances.

Stranger cards have either the instruction "will remain here for the rest of the game" or they don't use it but give a specific discard condition. Baba Yaga, Toad King and Wise Willow don't have any of those instructions; Toad King and Wise Willow use some flavour text that suggest they are dwelling in the space ( welcomes you to his kingdom / resides here ), but Baba Yaga doesn't. It is very likely that she's meant to stay as well, like the Witch from the base set.

The new cards use a variety of effects and maybe the designers don't want to wasts a line to give instructions that might be obvious after so many expansions. However, Talisman players are all about the words, and a vague or missing instruction usually means that a question will be asked. For my experience, I think those 3 Strangers are meant to stay "for the rest of the game".

On this card there's so much text that "She will remain here for the rest of the game" just won't fit.

Strangers that are only discarded on a certain roll (usually the highest...) etc have been around for a long time. I dare promise that the mechanic is that they are supposed to stick around until someone hits the highest roll.

Thanks for the reply. Baba Yaga is actually the card that made me suspect all the strangers should remain in play, since it seems to be a copy of the more ordinary Witch or Cauldron Crone, both of which state that they remain on the board. In part, I suspect I was mostly upset that one of my opponents played as the Conjurer and managed to visit the Wise Willow on nearly every move since he miraculously landed on empty spaces. This way, meeting with destiny was a perpetual cakewalk for him. Let's just say he treated himself to the free buffé to everyone else's great dismay.

The new cards use a variety of effects and maybe the designers don't want to wasts a line to give instructions that might be obvious after so many expansions. However, Talisman players are all about the words, and a vague or missing instruction usually means that a question will be asked. For my experience, I think those 3 Strangers are meant to stay "for the rest of the game".

Thank you. I am slowly trying to come to terms with the occasional vagueness in Talisman.