I really like the trails idea!

Since they are supposed to be forgotten places and hard to get to, cards like those really work (for me, at least). I'm also a fan of Strangers who drag you to different regions entirely. A Wood Nymph takes you deep into the Woodlands, a Goblin grabs you and drags you down into the Dungeon, etc.

If I remember correctly, there was a homebrew that had only four or five cards. Each was for the main Adventure deck, and each was a Stranger (or Event?) that carried you away to a different board.

I also like this path idea. Being moved out of the region now and again certainly makes a small region seems larger.

Two things I don't want to see from you thoughts is random purchase cards (since they are kept sorted) and moving to other regions than woodland, Highland or the main board. I don't think all expansions should be needed to play with the lost realms.

Don't forget that there are already 6 cards that can tip you out of the realms. We have to be careful that the effect doesn't become more trouble than it's worth though.

I like some of these Trail ideas, and regarding flavour text, I'm happy to leave it off if it means it fits on a large picture template.

Are we going to have a Relic placed on the Highlands side?

There are too few really to take any from the Highland side, but we can see how it all goes.

I've made some more mock up cards based on sanity's idea about Trails (which I rather liked) and I've managed to find some reasonable art for them.

I'll make a 'blog' post in a little while, but we are still in need of 3 Forge items and a few "bridge" cards.

We also need to finalise what the rewards will be at the Woodland side.

Okay. Just a quick update today, but it should help to see what's what -

http://www.talismanisland.com/?page_id=6915

Comments welcome!

Looking very nice! Liking how things are shaping up!

I was thinking of calling that negative follower I posted about earlier Fae Seeper. You can use the art for Regenerate Him since we're not using spells.

FAE SEEPER: Follower

You must take the Fae Seeper as a follower. You are reduced to your starting values in Strength, Craft, Life, Fate and Gold and cannot increase values until you win three consecutive battles and/or psychic combats without evading. All values will revert after discarding Fae Seeper.

I very much like the Sentinel card. I wonder: would it work to have it placed in the Highlands near the entrance to the Realm, and the Peacock Dragon be a Sentinel-like guard for the Woodlands side?
I know that it's been suggested as a follower and such, but the image of having two Sentinels guarding the Lost Realms is appealing, and occured to me while reading the Iron Sentinel's text.

I shall have some time tomorrow, I hope (maybe tonight) to ponder the Relics a bit.

Thank you so very much for crowd-sourcing!

@Quartzquiz

I like the idea, but it will need a little work, seeing as your Strength and Craft are the only values that will likely be reduced if that happens. If you were on 1 fate or life when you got her, it would be a bonus.

It would make it easier to use visiting someone like the Mystic to get rid of her too, as it's a bit less fiddly with having to record wins etc.

It'll also help get it on the large image template too!

I'll have to think about the image too, as it still implies healing to me.

@ElfPuddle

I chose the Valley of Fire because of the Fire/Forge/Magma link.

It might be a bit overkill to have both entrances guarded, especially as in order to trigger them you have to already be inside the realms.

I look forward to seeing some ideas for Forge cards!

I think having Strength and Craft being reduced to startling values and visiting the Faerie Ring to get rid of her will work!

Wow, you actually used most of my suggestions! Except you gave most of them cooler names, nice!

A few comments/suggestions going forward:

1) I like the idea of including "Raiders", but instead of recycling the existing ones, how about creating some new ones? Especially since Highland Raiders is very harsh, and assuming the Bridge spaces are draw 2 card spaces, they would pop up a bit too often I fear. Some suggestions:

Brumal Raiders

Event

The Brumal Raiders attack you and make off with 2 randomly chosen Objects. They stash them at the Glacier (place the cards there). Then move the Raiders to the discard pile.

Moirai Raiders

Event

The Moirai Raiders attack you and steal away your Fate. Place all of your Fate tokens on the Crossroads. The Raiders then spirit away to the discard pile.

I realize just placing Fate tokens onto a board space is perhaps not the best idea, but I can't think of a reason it couldn't be done. I'm just trying to maintain the "Raider" theme that what is stolen goes somewhere and can be claimed by a player.

2) I like the Iron Sentinel being placed somewhere, and following ElfPuddle's suggestion, perhaps place the Iron Sentinel on the Forge space and the Peacock Dragon on the Elder Village? If this is the case, make the Iron Sentinel Strength only and the Peacock Craft perhaps? My biggest issue with the Valley of Fire being the placement space as originally proposed is it would just make the lord of darkness/Arnkell/Cloak of Feathers all that much more appealing, which isn't really needed. I think I prefer the Forge and Elder Village, sometimes they are guarded, sometimes not.

3) Currently there is a lack of Objects to be found in the Bridge deck, and I still like my Compass of the Wilds idea. Here is a concept that should give it more appeal as an item both inside and outside the Lost Realms:

Compass of the Wilds

Object

Whenever you encounter a Place that requires you to roll a single die for the encounter, you may roll 2 dice and choose one of the results to use.

Basically it is the Rogue character ability, except for Trails, the Cave, Shrine, etc. Since it calls out "a single die", it wouldn't work with the Idol and the like.

4) @QQ: So the basic idea for the Fae Seeper is that you can only use your starting Strength and Craft Values while you have the Follower? That is pretty mean If that is the intent, there isn't any reason to prevent players from gaining more while they have it, they just couldn't use it anyway until they visit the Fairie Ring.

5) There still exists the dilemma that Forge deck items are inherently less powerful than Destinies, which leads me to think the Forge space and Elder Village spaces need to be treated differently. Here is my suggestion:

Forge

Draw 1 card at random from the Forge deck.

I feel that once you get to the Forge, you should just get something straight away. As the Forge deck is random as to what you get, and their one-shot nature, it should be a straightforward encounter.

Elder Village

The Fae Elders offer you a Destiny for a price.

Lightbound - Roll 2d6 and discard that amount in Craft Trophies to gain a Destiny

Darkbound - Roll 2d6 and discard that amount in Strength Trophies to gain a Destiny

Unbound and Fateless characters may lose 2 Lives to gain a Destiny

This method creates a cost to get the Destiny, one which a player may not have or be willing to give up. But I think as they are quite nice, the prices are reasonable.

Yeah, my point IS to be mean! If you're going to have cool stuff in a deck you have to add a little meanness to it. Jinx from Deep Realms isn't all that nice either, ya know!

@sanity

It's highly likely that the Raiders will be left out as it is with the need for some freebie Objects. I've just not got round to adding the compass (or whatever it ends up being), but will add it later.

I'm happy to have the Sentinels guard the Forge and Village, but will leave them as Str/Cft so that nobody is too disadvantaged. I'll not use the Peacock Dragon though, as it should be a Construct.

The Forge deck will be a free random choice as you suggest, then continue next turn to the Woods.

I'm not really feeling the trophy cost at the Village though and would think that fate is a better choice (though life for unbound etc is fine).

d6 fate should work well enough. Obviously fate rerolls would then impact any possible gain.

I imagine that if you roll too high and cannot afford the cost, your turn should end and your can roll again next turn or leave. Missing a turn or two is a reasonable penalty for keeping hold of some fate.

The next question I have is whether you just move onto the Woods space and encounter it, or if you roll the die for movement taking the Woods as the first space?

My original idea was that you could also gain your full complement of Spells at the Village instead of a Destiny. Is that still needed? Would people prefer that to a Destiny? I suppose it depends on the character.

Too bad there's not any artwork around for some sort of "Wood Sentinal" (An enchanted, animated tree or wooden sculpture of some sortof some sort) that you can battle with Craft...

I've updated the Sentinel idea on the blog page as it was still fresh enough.

http://www.talismanisland.com/?page_id=6915

You'll note the difference in attributes, but it's to counter the Dragons in the deck.

I've updated the Sentinel idea on the blog page as it was still fresh enough.

http://www.talismanisland.com/?page_id=6915

You'll note the difference in attributes, but it's to counter the Dragons in the deck.

Me like. A lot.

@Jon - The reason I opted for Trophies/Lives was I was trying to think of a cost structure that utilized the Fatebound rules. Having a simple 1d6 Fate cost is certainly doable, and it also has the appeal that it takes up less space on the board. I think having the option of "full complement of Spells or a Destiny" is fine, but I would leave it off if the space is getting too wordy. Or perhaps not have it as a choice at all:

Lightbound - Discard 1d6 Fate and/or Objects to gain a Destiny

Darkbound - Discard 1d6 Lives and/or Followers to gain a Destiny

Unbound/Fateless - Discard 1d6 Gold to gain your full complement of Spells

I just really want to have Fatebound effects play into it somehow

@QQ - I like the idea of some sort of " Oaken Forest Sentinel", works well for that side of the board.

I'm thinking the Peacock Dragon could be used in a couple of different ways. I could see it being a Stranger that offers to teleport you to any space in the Lost Realms, Highlands or Woodlands, similar to Pegasus. I prefer it to be a Stranger instead of an Event, so that you must defeat any Enemies first before getting a free ride.

Alternatively, as previously mentioned in this thread, it could be a Follower that grants you the Minotaur stampede ability, except maybe with Craft instead of Strength. Pretty strong ability though, should probably have some kind of downside. Maybe you must discard it if you have no Fate?

Some more Forge deck item ideas:

Rune Shield

Magic Object-Armour

If you are defeated in battle and just lost a life, roll 1 die. If you roll a 5 or 6, the Rune Shield protected you and you did not lose that life, though you still lost the battle. You may discard the Rune Shield if you lose your last Life as a result of a battle to heal all of your Lives and replenish all of your Fate.

Basically a combo Shield/conditional Phoenix Potion+.

Gambler's Coin

Magic Object-Trinket

"Fortune favors the bold..."

After completing your move to a draw card space, you may discard the Coin to draw an additional 1d6 Adventure cards.

Quite the gamble, might pay off, might not. Use it at the Hidden Valley for extra fun!

I love the Forest Sentinel artwork!

Having the two Sentinels guard the "end" places on the board feels right. Thank you!

I'm also a fan of having dark/light effects.

@Jon - What happens though if you don't defeat one of the Sentinels? Forced to leave via the Woods on the next turn, or given the option of re-encountering the space next turn? Or perhaps you must retreat back to the Bridge space?

@Jon - What happens though if you don't defeat one of the Sentinels? Forced to leave via the Woods on the next turn, or given the option of re-encountering the space next turn? Or perhaps you must retreat back to the Bridge space?

Thrown into a random Highlands/Woodlands space depending on the Sentinel faced? (Lightbound one space, darkbound another?)

Looking fantastic. This set is rocking along now. Love the Sentinels and the Trails.

An idea for Marasmus (or Scotch Bonnet.) I seem to recall that some people can't tell poisonous from non poisonous mushrooms. Marasmus gives you a mushroom to ingest.

MUSHROOM

A fae gives you a mysterious mushroom. You ingest it. Roll one die:

1) Lose two lives

2) Lose one life

3) No effect

4) Gain one life

5) Gain two lives

6) Replenish up to your life value

This can a follower or item you can save for later. It could also be an event which must be done as soon as you draw the card.

@Jon - What happens though if you don't defeat one of the Sentinels? Forced to leave via the Woods on the next turn, or given the option of re-encountering the space next turn? Or perhaps you must retreat back to the Bridge space?

I think it will just be like The Gauntlet from The Nether Realm, where you just stay there but cannot continue while it is there. You can either decide to try again next turn, or bug out to the Woods if you think you cannot make it. I think there is enough teleporting going on with the cards we already have

@QQ - I like the idea of her offering you a mushroom as it is much like the Chests in the game already. I think there should be a little twist there though and the 1 result should be "killed". (Mwuhahahaha)

Just to mention, that if I don't use or mention a suggested effect, it does not mean that it is a bad one! It's just either that I am not "feeling it" for this expansion, or that there might be a more fitting use.

Peacock dragon - follower

You may double your die roll for movement. The Peacock dragon ends your movement if you move into a space containing an enemy and attacks it. You may stampede adding your movement roll to the attack score. If you lose the battle the Peacock dragon flees two spaces back the way you came.

The text is long but perhaps someone can shorten it. I think discarding is a bit hard but this goes along with my original thinking around the Peacock dragon.

Otherwise I like your ideas. I've a thought or two I want to add. Hopefully I'll find time tonight to write themy down.

Can the sentinels be put on the spaces at the start of the game..? I think it would be nice to have some protection there from the start. And as the Highland is a walk in the park compared to the woodlands perhaps some trap or other from that direction would be nice as well.

@QQ - I like the idea of her offering you a mushroom as it is much like the Chests in the game already. I think there should be a little twist there though and the 1 result should be "killed". (Mwuhahahaha)

Just to mention, that if I don't use or mention a suggested effect, it does not mean that it is a bad one! It's just either that I am not "feeling it" for this expansion, or that there might be a more fitting use.

Heh. So sinister, so beautiful! Let's change the rolls to:

1: You are killed!

2: Lose two lives

3: Lose one life

4: Gain one life

5: Gain two lives

6: Replenish lives up to starting value.

Also, let's make it an Event so it must be done immediately after it is drawn.

I'm just having fun throwing ideas on the wall and seeing what sticks. If it fits, cool. If not, back to the drawing board!

As usual there's not enough toading going on... perhaps that can be number 2 on the mushroom chart..? Two lives and killed means the same thing often enough anyway.

I support sanity's view on fatebound effects. They should be used more and his suggestion for the elven village sounds fair. Although it must be clarified what happens if you can't pay the price.

I'm not sure you should be able to encounter the space again though. I think the instructions on the spaces should end with 'then move your character to the woods'.

I don't know if we've any good artwork ( or room for more cards at all) but I would like to have some counterpart to the forge follower for the elven village. Perhaps:

Elf token

Object - trinket.

You may discard the elf token when rolling at the elven village to remove 2 from the result (to a minimum of 1).

As for the forge cards I don't really feel the gamblers coin as something that would come from a dwarven forge. Perhaps it could be some like 'Ancient gold' instead. Worth 5 gold when shopping or able to trade for any card in the purchase deck when you're at the village or city.

As for the Peacock dragon suggestion it has to be ditched two spaces behind you (of course). You stay where you are.

I think that's it for now, or at least my head thinks so.

Good night for now.