The siren-song of the ocean lures you away from familiar shores. Fabulous treasures await those who can brave the pirates and deadly sea serpents that hunt in these waters. Beneath the waves, the merlings frolic and resent your intrusion into their seas. But even they fear the darkness of the abyss and the things that whisper in it...

Talisman: The Isles introduces a new Region to the board. This can be used in one of two ways. First, it can be used as an alternative to the Dungeon and placed against the main board in the same fashion. Alternatively, it may be used alongside the Dungeon, but this requires some extra space to place one of these two boards away from the Main Board. In either case, passage from the Outer Region to the Isles is made through the seaside Tavern.

The Isles will feature 140 Isles Adventure cards, plus a handful of new cards for the main Adventure deck. There will be 4 new Characters and at least 2 new Endings. Plus new items to purchase, new Spells to cast, and more!

I'd like to thank Earl Wynn on this one. His Shimmering Isles expansion is a major inspiration for this and you'll see some similar cards and concepts in this one.

Now, onto some previews. Keep in mind that everything is still work in progress, though I am hoping to have this released by the end of the year.

First up, here's a small portion of the Isles board.

Movement within the Isles works differently than it does elsewhere. A character rolls their movement die, and moves along one of three Trade Routes accordingly. I'm still deciding on exactly which colors will go with which routes, but in practice it'll be something like 1-2) Black, 3-4) Red, 5-6) Green. If a character can roll more than one die for their movement, they must then choose one and use that one to determine which route they travel along. In this particular image, one thing that needs to be changed is the 7+ effect of the Maelstrom, to prevent the opponent from *always* moving you onto the Desert Island. Fortunately, if you do end up on the Desert Island, a Water Bottle or similar item will protect you there as it would in the regular Desert.

Next, here are two of the characters you can play as with the Isles:

And finally, a small sample of the Isles Adventure cards. All 140 cards are currently done, though they need a second pass once I pin down a few additional mechanics that still need tweaking.

A quick note on the two new mechanics mentioned in these cards:

• Shipwrecked characters are stranded their current space in the Isles. They gain a special status card indicating this and instructing them on how to proceed.
• When a card is drowned it is placed into the Isles discard pile, even if it would go to another deck's discard pile normally. Characters cannot retrieve any cards from the Isles discard pile unless the effect explicitly allows them to take a drowned card. For example, if a character encounters the Astral Spirit from the Cataclysm expansion, they could not take a Stranger from the Isles discard pile because the Astral Spirit does not rescue drowned Strangers.

I'll also be making a few add-ons to this. There will be some bonus cards for my Hearth & Harvest and my Bardic Inspiration expansions, so you can find Properties and Bardic Auras while exploring the Isles as well as you can in the other Regions. More importantly, there will also be a Four Corners of the World: The Isles expansion released soon after the main release. If you're using my other FCotW sets, this will keep the Isles on par with the other Regions. While the card lists for the main deck, Hearth & Harvest, and Bardic Inspiration are pretty much locked in right now, the FCotW set still has quite a bit of room. So if you've got any suggestions for adventure cards, I'd love to hear them.

Nice! This triggers the Timescapesque nostalgia feeling from the 2nd Ed in me, but I like this theme way better 😀

Looking forward to this one, Reedstilt!

I like the idea. Also Shimmering Isles. Looking forward. Will there be a different board if it'll not be used as a corner board?

'Maritime' flavour is something that I have always been attracted to. Since 3rd Ed. Isle of Poseidon by Steve Bailey. So I am really excited about this expansion. The only bad thing about it that I can see is that it replaces The Dungeon corner. The Dungeon is my favourite. To work around it having a separated Isles board nearby the main table looks like the solution, but for me a bad compromise. I don't want to extend playing surface anywhere else. This is the reason why my playing group doesn't use the last two expansions (Deep and The Realms of Legend). This extra free space between corner boards is simply too precious for us.

Another solution I see is to change the rules in a way that either of the two boards could be used, but not both at the same time. So first character with a desire and sufficient die roll for movement could enter either the Dungeon or the Isles and thus set the available expansion to be used by all others until there's no one left on the particular board. Later in the game, any character may reenter the same or the other board. This way only 4 boards would be in play in any moment, but 5 would be potentially available. All faceup adventure cards would be left on the board while the board would not be in play. Of course, I think this rule could be used as a house rule. I don't think there's a need to change any component.

I don't know why you decided to replace specifically the Dungeon. Maybe it would be possible to replace any corner board with the Isles.

Have you thought about allowing another entrance to the Isles through The Wharf in The City?

Have you thought about similar mechanism as the weather effects in 3rd Ed. Isle of Poseidon http://talisman.edwebb.net/expansions/expansion-330.html ? I love the idea where artwork of the board isn't just there for nice impression but also to interact with the gameplay. (Similar to the Serpent expansion of 4th Ed.)

On 10/26/2020 at 2:57 PM, player1592559 said:

Another solution I see is to change the rules in a way that either of the two boards could be used, but not both at the same time. So first character with a desire and sufficient die roll for movement could enter either the Dungeon or the Isles and thus set the available expansion to be used by all others until there's no one left on the particular board. Later in the game, any character may reenter the same or the other board. This way only 4 boards would be in play in any moment, but 5 would be potentially available. All faceup adventure cards would be left on the board while the board would not be in play. Of course, I think this rule could be used as a house rule. I don't think there's a need to change any component.

I'm using a similar solution for another Talisman project I'm working on, so it could definitely work here.

You should also be able to swap it out with the Highlands (and probably the other two, if you needed). But I chose the Dungeon because I liked having the Port connect to the Tavern.

On 10/26/2020 at 2:57 PM, player1592559 said:

Have you thought about similar mechanism as the weather effects in 3rd Ed. Isle of Poseidon

I really wanted to do something with weather, but it would have resulted in me needing to re-print cards like the Storm in the Adventure Deck and the Electrical Storm in the Highland deck to mark them as Weather Events. One of the Characters is a weather-oriented magic-user and it would have been nice to have an easy way to reference any thematically appropriate Events he could interact with. Instead, his abilities interact with Events more generally, and he doesn't have to worry about the Maelstrom.

Movement through the Isles is a fickle thing. Without a ship of your own, you're at the mercy of the shipping schedules set by other captains. Luckily shipwrights are hard at work producing vessels for you to purchase while in port. As a basic benefit, all ships allow you to adjust your movement rolls in the Isles by 1; the winds and tides still prevent you from going wherever you want on a whim. Each type of ship also gives you a specific benefit, comparable to the horses and mules found on the mainland:

Ships are all Properties, which follow the same rules as the Properties in my Hearth & Harvest expansion, so check that one out for more details on how Properties work. Speaking of H&H, if you're using that expansion, there will also be new Properties for use in the Isles too. These include Fisheries, Lighthouses, and a Shipyard of your own.

I spent this morning tweaking the map a bit. The biggest change is that the azure blue swiggles that had been the Reef placeholder is now a proper coral reef.

There is one map issue that I'd like to get some opinions on. At the moment, there are three Port spaces, located in the inner corners that would be adjacent to the main board. These are identical with the exception of slight name variation to distinguish them. At any of these Ports, you can Visit One of the following:

• DOCKMASTER: Load crates and gain 1 gold
• HARBORMASTER: Spend 1 gold to move to another Port and end your turn
• SHIPYARD: Buy a Ship from the Shipyard
• MARKET: Compass (1g), Water bottle (1g), Cutlass (2g), Sextant (2g), Spyglass (2g)

But now I'm wondering I should only have 1 Port and turn the other two spaces into something else, and if so, what that might be. Any suggestions?

It's hard for me to imagine the situation. Are all three ports accessible from the main board and you have changes the rules of entering the board? How crucial is any of the four option for continuation of the journey in the Isles?

DOCKMASTER

Simply getting one gold at the Dockmaster is to my opinion very 'strong' option. To my knowledge (maybe I'm wrong) there's no other space, where a characters would be able to get gold right away. Getting gold is actually for me one of the hardest things to do in Talisman. My general plan is usually: 1st get gold, 2nd get water bottle, 3rd get to Middle Region. If I would have that kind of option to get gold at the beginning of the play, I would head straight to the port. There are some characters which have dedicated special abilities that allow them easier access to gold. I don't like to play them, but my impression is they are generally OP. (Or maybe not.) Having three spaces where one could get gold straight away could maybe unbalance the gameplay at least for those characters, and also for many adventure cards which give gold to character. Are ships so expensive and therefore the introduction of the Dockmaster which gives you gold without even skipping the round? (Usually in Talisman when characters is offered a job to get gold she has to skip one turn.)

HARBORMASTER

How important it is to move from port to port? You've mentioned, that Isles aren't easy to navigate, I guess the controlled movement is harder in comparison to other corner boards, where movement rules are straightforward. So being able to better control your movement by spending gold to compensate for shipping schedules, winds and tides would be an integral part of movement around the Isles. This maybe requires Harbormaster to be present in all three ports. On the other hand, if moving from port to port doesn't mean any considerable benefit, spending one gold and one turn this way isn't very inviting.

SHIPYARD

Does the wording 'Buy a ship from the Shipyard' refer to a deck of cards or to another space with the name 'Shipyard'. If it is the latter, than three ports with the same option to would maybe decrease the value of the Shipyard space.

MARKET

I like the idea of having specialized objects which are handy in the Isles, although I usually encounter a lot of weapons from many sources and have them in abundant number. But it doesn't hurt to have one more available. I am reserved about the water bottle however, for the similar reason as for the Dockmaster. I consider water bottle to be a very important strategic object and I am not sure if I wish to have it available straight from the board. But, like I've mentioned, this is just my preferred tactical approach. Maybe for other playing styles acquiring a water bottle isn't so important.

------------------------------------------

Now I would like to contribute my thought to your question. If there's no apparent reason for having identical spaces, then I wouldn't vote for it. However, keeping the key word 'port' in their names could be useful if there's a reference to a port on some of the adventure cards. (And from what you've posted I can see there is.) My initial answer was simple: denizens. And after some more consideration I didn't come up with anything else. Building a limited deck of dedicated denizens (isles only) would provide for the right amount of randomness. ... And address some of the issues I've mentioned above as well. (If they are indeed issues for anybody else.) This way, not all options would be available immediately, but all would become available in time, if the isles would be visited frequently. At the same time players would have different spaces to visit, with some common options.

Another thought, not directly connected with above mentioned: There is no place to sell all the stones (trinkets) from the Highland adventure deck when Cataclysm main board is used. Unless somebody draws an Alkimist denizen early in the game, of course. Maybe, the Isles expansion, considering it's flavor, could compensate for that. Let's say some kind of jewelry maker or trader is introduced, who is willing to give money for the stones. Of course, on the cards it is clearly written they have to be sold at the alkimist...

Just another thought. I see the font on the board is different from other texts in Talisman. I like the font but maybe it wouldn't fit in.

Thrilled to see the work on the Isles progressing. Thanks for keeping me excited, Reedstilt.

I've definitely taken your advice on the Dockmaster, as I've had other people recommend the same thing.

The Shipyard is a deck, rather than a space. I can tinker with the language to make that more clear.

I'm liking the idea for Denizen encounters, though I'm not sure about a separate Isles-specific Denizen deck. I think instead, I might lean toward adding a few new Denizens to the deck, but having set-up rules that you take out three Denizens (let's say a Trader, a Shipwright, and a Jeweler) and one at random on each of the three Ports. The Trader fills the role of the Market, the Shipwright takes over the Shipyard, and the Jeweler can do the Alchemist-analogue job you were talking about. This is handy for the Isles as well since there are a variety of Pearls that need to be traded at the the Alchemist for gold as well.

In other Isles news, I haven't made much progress this month. Work has a been a bit crazy with a new Covid surge, and what little I have been able to do has mostly been trying to figure out exactly how Pirate Quests will work. The batch I original made focused too much on sailing upriver and attacking locations around the main board and I'm not sure I like that. I'd prefer if the Pirate Quests were mainly focused on sailing around the Isles. One issue with this though is that the Isles Region, as it stands now, is mostly generic Island, Archipelago, and Reef spaces. The unique spaces are the 3 Ports, the Pirate Cove, the Maelstrom, the Shrine of the Deep Father, Lemuria, the Desert Island, and the Island Paradise. If I wanted quests to focus on specific locations within the Isles, I've got a few options that I see at the moment. Any comments or suggestions on this front?

• Give the Islands and Archipelagos unique names. This is something Earl Wynn did with his Shimmering Isles board. I didn't want to have uniquely named spaces without some game mechanic reason to back up why its unique, which is why I opted for the generic "Island" and "Archipelago" initially. But the Pirate Quests to attack "Tortoise Island" or "Figtree Island" might justify unique names like that. Quests to attack these specific islands would be in additional to quests to attack specific Ports and other targets around the Isles.
• Make use of the iconography on the board. The Targets of your Pirate Quests become the ships and sea monsters scattered long the shipping lines. Right now they're just decorative. But I could include an image of the ships on your Pirate Quest card, and requiring you to sail along that Trade Route to intercept the target fleet.
• In the Isles Adventure deck at the moment I have two Places of note here: the Pirate Ship and the Royal Flagship. These move around the Isles, collecting Outlaw and Law enemies respectively as they go. I've been considering turning them into NPCs, like the Werewolf or the Grim Reaper. If I go that way, I could have them be targets of Pirate Quests. If I do this though, I'd probably want to include a few more NPC ships sailing the waters, but that might get overly crowded.
• I could do some combination of these options, I suppose.

And finally, I've got a question for everyone. Which of these do you prefer:

Image wise, I definitely prefer the right one.

I'm still struggling a bit with the Pirate Quests. Right now they're working like this. There currently are a mix of "Attack [Space]" and "Attack [Feature]" cards. "Features" are iconography of the map - right now this includes things like a Elven merchant fleet - which requires you travel along a specific route to encounter. When you complete a quest, you usually gain a Piracy Token and roll for your reward. The reward table is listed on the Pirate Cove space, and you can also roll this by defeating the pirates there if you don't want to join them. The table is currently: 1-3) Gain the result in gold, 4-5) Gain 1 Strength or Craft, 6) Gain a Treasure

For each Piracy token you have, you gain 1 extra gold whenever you roll on the table and Law and Fae enemies add 1 to their attack scores against you. At the moment, it's difficult to get rid of Piracy tokens once you have them. I'm thinking of giving the character the ability to use them in pvp combat. Perhaps discard 1 to gain a bonus on your attack roll equal to your remaining tokens.

I am very excited about this expansion, so I have been pondering heavily during my way to work this morning.

For start, it has to be mentioned that, in Talisman, I am not a big lover of getting things by going somewhere or bringing something somewhere, not to mention assembling stuff. I think Talisman is simply too much luck based. So please consider my writing as a very subjective one.

I like the mechanics which increases quest reward for having a number of Piracy tokens. On the other hand, I can't salute to just another quest option in a quest game. If it's on a scale that contends with Warlock quests and Wanted posters, or any of the home brewed replacements for them (like J.C. Hendee's Tasks or Bludgeon's Wanted posters - which my group is currently using), you'll have to arrange for a tempting award or make Piracy quests easier to complete ('easier' = lower average of turns to complete them) than the other two. Consequently, my opinion is that Piracy tokens would have to be very attractive commodity and one of the reasons for characters to be motivated to enter The Isles. In my case, it's just a theme which is attractive enough and also my adventure spirit plays a role. But for many players it'll have to be something more. Reward options which you've mentioned, not considering Piracy tokens, are not so much better than Warlock quest rewards. They are known in advance, and with a bit of bad luck you would only get one Gold. On the other hand, there are ways to get treasure elsewhere without using Lucky charm. I like Warlock quest rewards much more. I like the uncertainty in drawing cards instead of rolling a die. Maybe you can at least allow for one of the options in Pirate Cove space to be drawing Warlock quest reward cards. They come in ridiculously great number.

About Piracy tokens. First, way to get rid of Piracy tokens would have to be a tempting one. Actually it would have to be something more close to the wording 'spending' them. Second, it would have to be applicable all over Talisman, not only in The Isles. Third, it would have to be universal for all playing styles. Some groups for example don't prefer player vs. player encounters. In my group, we have a house rule not to attack each other. So, first thing to come to my mind is something connected with Fate. Maybe tokens could be used to force even Creatures to roll again. Or tokens could be used to add or subtract 1 to any dice roll made by usage of Fate. I don't consider these to be best possible ideas, but maybe I can help you get to the right (your) idea. Maybe it would be easier for you to achieve this by answering to two questions, which you probably have already asked yourself.

In Talisman each kind of tokens represents something in physical or abstract way, like Gold coins representing money, Charges representing units of energy that make things work, Fate representing fate. So first question is, what are Piracy tokens representing? If something from material world, like treasure, are they supposed to be carried? If something abstract, do they affect alignment or fatebound effects? (I always like to think about how a new mechanics interacts with the existing one(s)). Second question is, what are you trying to achieve with them? If they increase attack roll for Fae and Law and considering the fact that any group of players not using your Lawless realm would be confronting those Enemies in numbers only in The Isles, I would assume that you are trying to prevent characters from staying too much time in The Isles region. If this isn't an intention, there has to be one for giving them negative effect despite the fact that they are acquired as a quest reward. If you just want to make players get rid of them (or their negative effect), in this circumstances they would only need to exit The Isles. (And keep the tokens as souvenir.)

I really admire the overall balance of the four official corner regions. Each has its own role regarding the different characters or playing styles it attracts, or the game phase in which it becomes interesting. The Isles has to find its own place under the sun. In this context, replacing Dungeon would signify something else than replacing Highlands. In this 'philosophy', Piracy tokens would have to play their minor or major role. If one is about to change the overall balance between corner regions, it has to be for a reason.

These are my thoughts. Please, consider them just as my humble opinion. Not every Talisman player thinks the same way, or likes the same things about Talisman. This is why it is such a great game. I hope at least I gave you some ideas or feedback. And motivated you to press on. I deeply respect every minute you invest into this project.

Yes, I had it on my mind, but forgot to mention. One can encounter a number of Fae enemies in Woodlands as well.

On 12/9/2020 at 5:14 PM, player1592559 said:

I am very excited about this expansion, so I have been pondering heavily during my way to work this morning.

And you've given me a lot to think about too. Much appreciated!

On 12/9/2020 at 5:14 PM, player1592559 said:

The Isles has to find its own place under the sun. In this context, replacing Dungeon would signify something else than replacing Highlands.

Let's start here. One reason I chose for the Isles to replace the Dungeon is because of the theme of Treasure-hunting. This allows me to utilize the Dungeon's Treasure deck for a new purpose. There will be 2-3 different ways to acquire Treasures, with Piracy being one of those options. You can also make sacrifices and pray to the Deep Father, and (probably) do something at Merling-city of Lemuria (which is another work-in-progress aspect of the board right now). The isles is also about exploration. You don't just rush to the end of the board, defeat the boss and leave. You have shorter paths to possible Treasure, but you aren't guaranteed to find them the first place you look. You can also use the tools of the explorer - the compass, the sextant, etc. - to assist you in navigating the Region.

Replacing the Dungeon also makes its so the Pirate character (who starts at the Tavern) can immediately go into the Isles on their first turn.

On 12/9/2020 at 5:14 PM, player1592559 said:

So first question is, what are Piracy tokens representing?

Piracy Tokens represent your reputation as a pirate -- how much other pirates respect you (giving you a bigger share of the reward) and now infamous you are among non-pirates (making Law and Fae enemies fight harder against you). As an alternative to gaining +1 Gold when you complete a Piracy quest, I may make the tokens give you +1 on your reward roll. That way you're more likely to get that Treasure, if you've done a couple jobs for the pirates first.

They're also there a balancing factor. Each piracy quest becomes more challenging as you accumulate more Piracy tokens, since Law and Fae enemies are common in the Isles, where you need to be to complete those quests. Once your return to the mainland, your piracy reputation doesn't matter as much so you're mostly safe there (Lawless Realm not withstanding). Other than a possible Ending where you need to get to the Crown with # of Piracy tokens, they probably won't have much effect outside of the Isles, unless they do get a notable discard function to start losing them.

On 12/9/2020 at 5:14 PM, player1592559 said:

it would have to be universal for all playing styles. Some groups for example don't prefer player vs. player encounters. In my group, we have a house rule not to attack each other.

You're right here. My group also isn't a huge fun of player-versus-players fights. So making the tokens also work against Enemies could be useful. In this case, it could represent calling in some favors from your pirate crew to assist in a fight, after which you lose some standing with them (discarding the token). This is an abstraction of course, and can be used regardless of where the character is - not just in the Isles.

On 12/9/2020 at 5:14 PM, player1592559 said:

I like the uncertainty in drawing cards instead of rolling a die. Maybe you can at least allow for one of the options in Pirate Cove space to be drawing Warlock quest reward cards.

I always use the Random Treasure rule so if you do get a treasure it'll be a random one (I'll have to include that in the rules for the Isles as the default, since I always forget that the Dungeon's default is that you get to pick your Treasure). Warlock Quest Rewards are an option, but I'm trying to avoid too many cross-expansion interactions with this. The Isles is designed with the idea that you have only the base game and possible the Dungeon for the original Treasure cards. There will be some new Treasure cards included in the Isles too so you don't absolutely need the Dungeon to use the Isles. I'll also be adding in 10 or so new Denizens so you won't need Cataclysm to make use of the Denizen draw at the Ports.

I'll be doing a FCotW addition for the Isles, which is where things like Warlock Quest Rewards and Lawless Realm interactions will be added.

@Reedstilt How do you manage to upload so many images to this forum. I'm capped at like 97kb total for all posts/replies. That amounted to 2 screenshots.

P.S I'm really liking this expansion, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

On 12/14/2020 at 6:25 AM, Rodfather2212 said:

@Reedstilt How do you manage to upload so many images to this forum. I'm capped at like 97kb total for all posts/replies. That amounted to 2 screenshots.

I don't upload the images directly to the site. They're image links from imgur. The forum here just auto-displays them rather than keeping them as links to be clicked on.

And I'm happy to hear you're excited! I'm a bit behind schedule on it, but after tomorrow I've got 11 straight days off work with no where to go, so hopefully I'll actually make some decent progress on some of the last bits here.

It's interesting to hear that the expansion is about exploration and not about rushing to the end to beat the boss or meet your destiny. It's totally 'down my alley'. I was just intending to ask you what would be the overall story of the expansion of isles. I like to see other three corner board (other than City) as mini 'Talisman games', in which one travels until she/he reaches the final space and win (the region). I think the way of the Woodland is a nice improvement by allowing the characters to (to some extent) decide about what they are after in the region, which doesn't necessarily mean to fight the boss. But the Woodland is still laid down in a linear way. So from what I understand, The Isles represents another step toward non-linear questing and replacing racing with exploring, completing the quests and getting treasures replacing the mechanics of Trails in Woodland. I salute to anything that tends to go in that direction. I never liked to see Talisman as a race, although it usually (actually always) becomes one at a certain phase. Maybe to avert that even more, it is already time for somebody to come up with an alternative ending which doesn't force characters to rush through inner region to the CoC. An ending based only on exploration would be a refreshment, but would contradict the main idea of the game. Maybe it would be too bold. Even for the most daring pirate. 😜

If Pirate or Privateer character (or any character) will be able to enter the region immediately, I see it as an easy early game region, similar to Highland. I never travel into Dungeon until my character has gained some might, but again, it could just be me. But I am sure Dungeon is a difficult region because it provides a backdoor to win the game. If Isles will be what I suspect and understand, apart from the intriguing theme, they will compete in popularity with Highland in straightforwardness of getting easy money, Objects and Trophies. Regarding Gold, Highland is imo really easy to beat. So there is a danger of Isles causing Highland to become even less popular. But, since this is only my chain of thoughts, it could be that other players have a completely different affections, experience and opinion about overall balance of the regions. I'm sure some more opinions would be necessary to confirm or disregard my concern.

And if the Isles would be played alone with no other corner regions, this isn't a question at all. I just can't imagine reason why a group would do that. If the group is into exploration, why not adding other corner boards? We actually seldom encounter the last space. (Woodland being an exception because Paths are so great.) It is totally normal that somebody enters a region just for fun and then retreats from it soon after. On the other hand, if the group is into race, why exploring the Isles at all? Are they so permissive in rapid character growth? And I can't imagine how making components of the homemade expansion would be cheaper than buying the commercial one. So it would not be for the money either.

I hope I am not too harsh. I wish you success in next 11 days. Without pressure of course. First thing is to relax and enjoy deserved rest. Have a beautiful Christmas! To all who reads this.

15 hours ago, player1592559 said:

Maybe to avert that even more, it is already time for somebody to come up with an alternative ending which doesn't force characters to rush through inner region to the CoC. An ending based only on exploration would be a refreshment, but would contradict the main idea of the game. Maybe it would be too bold. Even for the most daring pirate.

I've got a few Alternate Endings from other expansions that play around with this a bit, but still usually make use of the Crown space as a way of triggering the end game. There's an Atlantean ending that usually requires some teamwork between people in the Atlantis region and people in the Inner Region to finish properly, otherwise you risk hitting the "Everyone Loses" conditions. I've got another based on Loudo's Holy Chalice ending that determines the winner based on whoever has the most "Holy" Objects when someone reaches the Crown of Command. So while someone can definitely race to the end of the game, while they're in the Inner Region, other characters can be trying to find more "Holy" objects that they missed and win the game that way.

There may be something similar in the Isles where the winner is determined by who has the most Treasure, rather than who gets to the Crown first.

15 hours ago, player1592559 said:

If Pirate or Privateer character (or any character) will be able to enter the region immediately, I see it as an easy early game region, similar to Highland.

It is fairly comparable to the Highland, at least early on. Of the 130-140 cards, 56 are Enemies. Of those Enemies, there are only 6 with Strength/Craft of 7 or higher, plus two with Strength/Craft of ?, which can become rather strong late in the game. Of course a lot of the lower level cards can become stronger if you let too many of them build up on the board. There are a lot of "This Enemy gains +1 attack score for..." sort of effects in this deck. The various pirates are stronger the more Outlaws on the board; the Marines hunting the pirates also get stronger for each Law enemy around. The Merlings also like to team up with other Fae, and occasionally Animals. Sharks are stronger the more lives you've already lost, so be extra cautious around them if you're wounded. And if you've done a lot of Piracy quests, the Law and Fae enemies will also become stronger against you. So unlike the Highland, the Isles can become a more challenging Region as the game progresses.

15 hours ago, player1592559 said:

I never travel into Dungeon until my character has gained some might, but again, it could just be me.

You're not alone. The Dungeon is usually my last stop before heading toward the Inner Region. The Highland or the City are the first Corners I'll go to. The Highland is great to collect some gems to sell to the Alchemist for gold to spend in the City.

15 hours ago, player1592559 said:

So there is a danger of Isles causing Highland to become even less popular. But, since this is only my chain of thoughts, it could be that other players have a completely different affections, experience and opinion about overall balance of the regions. I'm sure some more opinions would be necessary to confirm or disregard my concern.

You might have a point there, though in addition to the Isles become more dangerous overtime, you're also far more likely to get hit with a Cursed Object of Follower here, which could give some players cause to be concerned about the area. Many of the Magic Object and Followers associated with the Deep Father are Cursed, but luckily you can return them to his Shrine to increase your odds of getting Treasure there. Or you can use their dark power for yourself and suffer the consequences. Hmm... now that I think about it. One of them, the Deep Familiar, is one you'll definitely want to either get rid of as soon as possible or hold onto as long as possible. It absorbs any Strength or Craft you lose and adds it to your own, but also causes you to lose Strength or Craft whenever you lose a life. If its storing a couple points of Strength and Craft for you already, you might not be so eager to get rid of the thing.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

As a special gift, I thought I'd show off the full map as it currently stands. Feel free to offer any suggestions.

It's a big image, so you'll probably have to open it in a separate window to really see all the details.

If anyone has ideas for thematic Denizens, I'm open to suggestions. I'm in the process of writing some up and I'd like to have at least 12-15 new Denizens. One thing that many of the Denizens have in common here is that they'll frequently move between the Ports after being encountered. Since you basically have a 1:3 chance of returning to a Port you just left in 2 turns, I didn't want the Denizens to be lingering there too much. Currently I have these Denizens:

• Jeweler: Buys Trinkets for gold as if at the Alchemist (this takes care of any Pearls you may find), but also sells Trinkets in discard piles for 3g (might raise this to 4g to account for the Diamond and the Abyssal Pearl, both of which give you 4g)
• Shipwright: Allows you to buy Ships from the Shipyard deck
• Trader: Allows you to buy relevant items from the Purchase deck
• Pirate Recruiter: Secondary way to gain Piracy Quests. If you don't take one, she steals from you and moves on. You may also sell your Piracy Tokens here, ditching your crew for some gold
• Captain: He can ferry you locations around the Isles for 1-3g.
• Mermaid: On a bad roll, she drowns your Followers or causes you to lose a turn; on a good roll she rescues drowned Followers and Objects for you
• Treasure Hunter: Moves between the Isles, Outer, and Middle Regions; you may pay her 3g to acquire a face-up Object in that Region.
• Fisherman: Similar to the Farmer Denizen (bad roll, he attacks or causes you to lose a turn; good roll he heals you or gives you his boat).
• Naval Surgeon: Heals up to your life value for 1g each; if you have no Piracy Tokens, you may heal 1 life for free.

• Navigator or Meteorologist: Allows you to decide which route you move along next turn, or helps you reach specific destination in the Isles
• Drowned God Worshipper: ... or any other man of the faith, to utilise the praying action
• Harlot or Bawdy House Lady: ... she cheers you up in some way, I'm too decent to suggest in more detail
• Fishmonger or Fishwife: gives you gold (or something) for any trophy that looks like fish
• Marine Biologist: does something with drowned stuff, maybe sells them

Hi ... i'll just leave this here:

http://forum.magiaimiecz.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=7464

You can download in first post or here:

http://magiaimiecz.eu/projects-archive/3871/ - Endless Sea

Also there are some expansions to this expansion:

http://magiaimiecz.eu/projects-archive/talisman-morskie-przygody/ - Sea adventures

http://magiaimiecz.eu/projects-archive/talisman-lad-na-horyzoncie/ - Land on the horizon

Board:

Happy New Year, everyone!

I would share some additional progress, but I've unfortunately lost the flashdrive that has all my Talisman work on it!

Hopefully it's just sitting at the print-shops lost-and-found since I took it there Wednesday. If so, I won't find out until tomorrow since they're closed today. If it's not and I can't find it anywhere else, I at least still have images for the bulk of the Isles cards saved elsewhere and would just need to recreate some of their Strange Eons files to fix some of the typos still on those older drafts. After that, there's still a lot of card work that will need to be recreated, so that'll be... fun, I guess...

Not the best start of the year. I'm sorry to hear that. Happy new year to you too.

Great News! The print shop did have my flashdrive! Now I just have normal delays instead of "redoing everything from scratch" delays.

Here's how the Piracy Quests as currently looking. There are two types. The more straight forward ones are the ones that require you to go to a specific space on the board, like one of the Ports and fight some defenders there. The other type requires you to travel along a specific trade route; once you do, you can choose to encounter the designated creature instead of the space as normal. In this case, the Quest will mention a nearby space on the board to help you find which trade route you need to travel along. Most, but not all, Piracy Quests give you a Piracy Token when you complete them. The Royal Fleet doesn't care much if you scallywags kill some sea serpents for them.