Hi,

I already started this topic some time ago on the BGG forums: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1935417/new-timescape

But I will post it here as well:

Hey, guys,
for all of you, who are craving for new Talisman expansions, I am putting together a new one..
It's called The Timescape, I wasn't very creative It's nothing like the old Timescape, though.

It will consist of the following:
4 different and smaller corner boards
48 Timescape cards

18 Cultist cards

3 new Characters
2 new Alternate endings
1 NPC sheet

Here's just a taste of what's to come:

About the NPC in this expansion:

It is the NPC called the Old Wizard. That is the guy, who created the Crown of Command. There is some lore in the rules which explains his motives:

After countless aeons, he is back! The Old Wizard, the same man who forged the mighty Crown of Command decided he cannot trust the fate of the world into hands of mere mortals who spend their precious little time fighting each other, greedy in their hearts, with no obvious desire to rule his old kingdom with wisdom. It is time he took matters into his own hands and reinstated his reign.
He has travelled places unimaginable, he has escaped the Horrible black void and walked the world when The Old Gods ruled it before him. He has seen the future of man. He now has all the knowledge he needs to restore his power and come back into the world of Talisman. All he needs is a body of an unlucky adventurer. Then he will reach out for adventurers he will deem worthy and they will help him rule once more. Their own lust for power will be their undoing…

So, bitter and with a bad mood overall, he waits for a character that dies. Until then he spends the game waiting on his sheet, just like the Harbinger. But when a death occurs, you move the Old Wizard to the space where the character died. Unlike the Grim Reaper or the Werewolf, he does not encounter the characters, they encounter him. And they must do so or may do so. It depends on whether the Wizard deems them worthy. When a character moves to the Old Wizard´s space, he must end his movement there. But if the character doesn´t have any Strength or Craft counters, they may encounter the Wizard or make any other possible encounter. The Wizard doesn´t care about them, they are too weak. But that is good for them. The characters, who have any counters, must encounter the Wizard. What happens next, you can read on the Wizard´s sheet:

Well, the forum will not allow me another picture, so I will just explain. When you flip this card, there is an ending called Old Wizard. The NPC teleports to the Crown of Command and starts shooting the Command spell, who dies, dies for good and the Old Wizard can be defeated with combined effort of all characters battling him on the Crown of Command.

Nice! I look forward to seeing more as you develop the cards!

What do you have in mind for the smaller corner boards?

The four new regions will be apocalyptic versions of the current four corner regions. Any or all of them can be used instead of the standard regions from the start, if you choose so before the game starts. They suit thematically the Cataclysm expansion. Or you change the standard corner regions into these new regions by encountering the Old Wizard NPC.

There is some lore, too:

The Catacombs (replaces the Dungeon)

After the world started falling apart, many people from the outside world and the City decided to take shelter in the Dungeon. Most of them died during that time , yet some survived and started a colony of a few that grew over the centuries into a nest of infection and full of inhabitants of unnerving visage who guard their home relentlessly . As the outside world shattered so did most of the Dungeon which is now a maze of tunnels and dead ends. But there are darker places still… Rumour has it, the infamous treasure chamber still guards its secrets somewhere deep in the Catacombs where no living man dares tread for its depths are swarmed by the creatures of the past who slept the apocalypse through and if not disturbed they might just sleep forever...

The Ruins of Ash-Ahk’Laa (replaces the City)

Long ago, the City fell, it had been even before the Earth itself split open, only the rumours about the coming Apocalypse changed the peaceful inhabitants into madmen. Those who had not escaped the city or had not died during the subsequent riots became members of the strangest cults that spread out during the years. Over the following decades these cults slowly merged into one that worshipped an entity called Ash-Ahk’Laa. It has all been forgotten though and what was left of the City now lies in ruins. Only the bravest venture forth as there are still many obscure cults hidden inside and they are alerted any time an adventurer nears the ruins. But they do it anyway for many riches are thought to be hidden under the excavation sites spread around the ruins. And underneath them something even more ancient is buried. Revealed when the Earth opened it lies somewhere deep under an old gorge that only those of stern demeanour will climb down.

The Storm Lake (replaces the Highlands)

The Great mountain s fell. The peaks hidden in clouds now rest under the infinite surface of a lake that swallowed them when the Storm River escaped its banks. The same river whose name has already been forgotten gave name to this new lake. Conquerable only with a boat it still guards many a treasure. In the cent re of the lake lies the Lost City, half sunk, it is now home of those that evaded the fall. But the lake stretches even farther. Corrupt by the presence of the nearby Cursed Glade it gave birth to many creatures of the deep. Over the long years some of them are said to have grown enormously. Some tales tell about a battle between the ruler of the mountain s and a monster from the depths which prevailed . These tales mention a peak so high that even after the mountains were levelled, it still rises to unimaginable heights.

The Woodlands Region is replaced by the Nightmare Arboreum, which I have not created a lore for, yet:)

Is there any way to remove Fate from the Old Wizard before he flips?

I surely do like the templates You have used ;).

8 hours ago, Reedstilt said:

Is there any way to remove Fate from the Old Wizard before he flips?

Sure, there are several ways. But the easiest way is to spend his fate on his movement. See, when the Old Wizard is on the board and a character rolls a 6 for his move, he may spend 1 fate from the Wizard´s sheet to move him 1 space in any direction (even across the River). After having playtested a lot, I have found this to be a funny way to alter the game by moving the Wizard as an obstacle. Because players usually try to avoid him, as they have two choices, either lose all Strength and Craft or die:) Dark Binding sure comes in handy;)

1 hour ago, Nemomon said:

I surely do like the templates You have used ;).

Templates?

Well, what is the Timescape and how to enter it?

The Timescape is another Region that is somewhat solitary and it is created as the game progresses.

You see, if you play with the Timescape expansion, there are some ways to draw Timescape cards, though scarce.
The best way to draw a Timescape card is to enter certain spaces in the new Altered Regions, which you can play with from the start or create them with the Old Wizard´s help. Say, you finally enter the last space in the Ruins of Ash-Ahk´Laa Region, which used to be the City Region. It is a space called Ritual Grounds and apart from other stuff you can do here you have the option to lose all Strength and Craft to draw a Timescape card.

So, you draw a Timescape card and you might draw something like this:

https://ibb.co/n1jz8H

Good for you! You keep this Object which there are plenty of in the Timescape deck

But you might also draw a card like this one:

https://ibb.co/dFGCTH

This is a Timescape space card. When you draw such a card, you put it next to the board close to other Timescape space cards and on your next turn, you may enter the Timescape by moving to that space..

It is that easy. Well, it´s not that easy and that is the point. Most of the Timescape cards are quite powerful objects or cards that hinder other players´ advance. By losing all Craft and Strength to draw such a card, you really have to be motivated. Just like you are when your character´s killed and all the other players are already quite ahead.

It is not the only way to enter the Timescape, though. Running through the Spell deck, you may stumble upon this card:

https://ibb.co/b3dsTH

..or you could be the Wizard´s Apprentice character, or use other ways to do that. Perhaps using the Wizard´s Will cards..
But more on that later..

Altered Regions
Ok, something about the new corner regions. They are called altered as they are created by the Old Wizard who alters space and time to grow stronger. As most of his power still lies in the Timescape he needs heroes who will serve him and change the scenery of the land of Talisman.
So, by doing his bidding, you may simply replace any standard corner region with his altered alternative.
These altered Regions are partially fused with other dimensions, so you can enter the Timescape through them.

There are also different rules for the Altered Regions. As long as your turn starts in such a region, your movement is halved (rounded up). That means, if you are using a Horse, you roll 6 and 3 for movement, you may only move 5 spaces in an Altered Region. Also, the old 2nd edition Dungeon movement rule is back. Unless a card or a space instructs or allows otherwise, you may only move forward in these regions. That means, once you are in, you are stuck inside until you reach the end.

As I have already finished the Dungeon replacement it is time to show it. No, I did not draw it. It was so time consuming, I would need a year to finish all of the four new regions.

Ok, behold the Catacombs:

https://ibb.co/hY3Ba7

13 hours ago, Cru4n said:

No, I did not draw it. It was so time consuming, I would need a year to finish all of the four new regions.

Looks like it was time well spent though. I looked at the image before reading the whole post and thought for a moment that you might have made it completely from scratch. The spaces all flow really well into one another another, while still looking very distinct. Great work!

Though I do have to wonder if drawing a Timescape Card is worth losing all my Strength and Craft. I don't know why anyone would pick that option, especially when I can just grab a Treasure instead.

3 hours ago, Reedstilt said:

Looks like it was time well spent though. I looked at the image before reading the whole post and thought for a moment that you might have made it completely from scratch. The spaces all flow really well into one another another, while still looking very distinct. Great work!

Though I do have to wonder if drawing a Timescape Card is worth losing all my Strength and Craft. I don't know why anyone would pick that option, especially when I can just grab a Treasure instead.

Thank you:-)

And good point with the treasure chamber! Exactly, why would anyone lose all Strength and Craft? Because this option of drawing Timescape cards is meant mainly for characters who have none or little Strength or Craft. For characters who died, thus summoned the Old Wizard, and their only option of being at least a bit competible is to alter a corner region or put it into play by doing the Old Wizard´ s bidding, get to the end and draw a Timescape card. Most of the Timescape cards are super powerful objects or followers or spaces that let you alter the game somehow to at least slow down other players´ progress. I just wanted the game to be fun even for players whose character dies mid-game and they suddenly become more or less hopeless. Characters who are ahead won´ t want to draw Timescape cards by losing all their hard earned Strength and Craft.

That said, there are other ways of entering the Timescape or drawing a Timescape card without losing all your Strength and Craft, meant for some really determined players.

Do you still draw normal Dungeon cards while exploring the Catacombs?

7 hours ago, Reedstilt said:

Do you still draw normal Dungeon cards while exploring the Catacombs?

Yeah, with the exception of the Necropolis space, where you draw cards from any adventure discard pile. In all the new corner boards, you still draw the relevant cards. Even though the City replacement is a bit different, it comes with its own Cultist deck, as its apocalyptic version is swarmed by cultists.

Just finished another board. This time it is the Ruins of Ash-Ahk'Laa which replaces the City Region. It is overgrown ruins of the City swarming with cultists. So, have a look.

https://ibb.co/ecbejn

My production speed is enormous:) Yet, I have managed to to create another of the Altered Regions. It is the Storm Lake, which was created when the Highlands were swallowed by Storm River during the Cataclysm.

https://ibb.co/dV2g5o

That is great work on those corner boards!

Oh, thanks a lot!

As of now, the last one is almost finished. It is the Nightmare Arboretum, replacing the Woodland.

Then, it´ ll be just some finishing touches, but so far, the Timescape looks like this:

4 new corner boards

21 power seals tokens

1 npc sheet

4 new characters

2 new endings

52 Timescape cards

21 Cultist cards

6 Agent cards

6 Dark Gifts cards

2 new Adventure cards

2 new Spells

2 new Treasure cards

1 Dungeon, City, Highland and Woodland card

And that´ s about it:)

Yeah, so it took a bit more time that I had anticipated, but the last region is finished, so the work is almost over..

It is the Nightmare Arboretum, a region that replaces the Woodlands, if you want it to, or you are forced by the Realm of the Fae space in the Timescape.

There are some slight changes, you still use the Path cards here, but unlike in the Woodlands, you draw them randomly, you do not choose one.

This board interacts somewhat with the Werewolf figure. If you do not have one, you can still replace the text of the last space, the Den of Darkness, with the text next to the space.

But enough talk, here it is:

https://ibb.co/nBPsrU

Hi! It looks very promising

I have a question : what happens to the characters and adventure cards present in a corner board when it is replaced by the old-wizard version?

Hi, thanks:)

I am working on the rulebook at the moment so hopefully I will upload it soon.

But, the cards on the corner boards being replaced are discarded and all characters and NPCs return to their starting spaces or to their NPC sheets in case of the Harbinger and the Old Wizard.

Okay, here are the rules for my new Timescape. It is not fancy looking, just plain text:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bh1m-lmdLE3KxLrTgN4egYMOrOWtfTiE/view?usp=sharing

I kindly ask you to read through them and let me know if there is something that does not make sense or the grammar is wrong.

Thanks a lot!

The expansion is almost finished. Just some minor finishing touches, that would take a few days if I had the time:) I hope it will be done by Christmas, which would make it exactly a year I would be working on it:)

Here's the fancy looking Timescape rules for your viewing pleasure:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LDC6MIuNel1ZIFd_okh6K3yQpSZfqaGd

And it is done. The Timescape is available for download on Talisman Island!

https://www.talismanisland.com/resources/expansions/revised-4th-edition/

Very special thanks to Jon New. He has been very helpful during the creation process and uploaded the expansion to his amazing website.

I'm a bit confused on how the Void King works. When you defeat his Arms or Head, do you take the Realm card as your trophy or the random additional card you draw the the start of your next turn?