For those not familiar with this new fan card format and its use, they are a way to temprorarily, permanently, or even randomly alter game board spaces for a little spice and variation of play. Space Expanders allow adding or changing options on a space or altering the entire space itself without messing up those beautiful Talisman boards. If you want to know more about them, go to TalismanIsland.com and download the first Space Expanders package. Some offer nice and badly needed options for spending all that gold, like Jon New's "Horse Trader." The original package was an effort by multiple contributors who hang out here at the forums (or lurkers I hear from behind the scenes). Documentation is included with suggestions for use.

SE cards are not widely used, but even for the devoted core game advocates, they can be fun to try once in a while. I now invite others to contribute to a second package as well in the spirit of the first package. There's no timetable for completion, if we ever get there, as I have other projects I'm still working on. I figure if and when a dozen or so are settled, a package can be created for download. Here's how things should work.

Create a new post containing the following:

1. Create a complete write-up of title, space affected, and card text exactly as it would appear on a card as seen in examples.
2. Be sure to mention if it is for a particular expansion's board, just so everyone is clear.
3. If the card does not show clearly whether it is an additional option, option replacement, or full instruction replacement for a space, please tell us so.
4. Follow up with any explanation needed as to the cards purpose an inspiration, so others understand anything "behind the scenes" pertinent for understanding.
5. Give a little time for others to critique and offer suggestions.
6. Once you feel the card is settled, with or without changes, I can assist with formatting and even help with an illustration.

For starters, the following post shows a few cards (some seen in other topics) that my group and a couple others are testing out or using irregularly. Feel free to offer suggestions on these if you wish, though a couple have already gone through two or three revisions based on play-testing. All graphics are at 300ppi resolution regardless of reduced display size; right-click and View/Save to see them at full size.

My group has never been happy with the trampoline effect of the VoF, when you simply bounce back if (somehow) you landed on it without a Talisman. Honestly, that's almost impossible, but if it ever did happen, we wanted a VoF that really was worthy of needing that Talisman. Though it would be rare to land on it without a Talisman, we could see rare tactics where it could be put to use in CvC.

The illustration was slapped together quickly, and I'm not entirely satisfied with it

My group (and others) are not crazy about backdoors into the CoC. Shortcuts bypassing the Inner Region are fine with us, but we dislike neutering the game's central focus - a Talisman.

This card came about (after several revisions) as a compromise allowing the possibility to shortcut the Inner Region but still require that one prime magic object the game was built for. If you read it and compare it with the Passage of Fire, you'll see a connection as well that could be an occasional disaster for a character trying to rashly shortcut a game. As additional compensation for the loss of automatically reaching the CoC, we added a little something extra on a result of 9+ for any character able to give the Lord of Darkness a real sound thrashing.

It may still need some wording tweaks. And to be honest, if the character loses that final battle, we've never made sense of what it ends up the Crags... immediately able to step into the Highlands for losing. We don't care for such realm crossovers, and feel each one should be a challenge to get to as well as get through. But I decided to wait and see what others think.

Note by the icon that this card is intended for use with the Dungeon (obviously). I'm still not completely settled on positioning of expansion icons for this alternative card form. Suggestions are welcome for that as well, but icons should maintain the size seen, which roughly makes icons on standard cards to indicate a "required" expansion for the card's use.

This one's a bit off the beaten path for standard players. Long ago, my group and others never stopped shaking their heads at the old Cave card. One somehow found treasure there when nothing was present that could have amassed it, and we didn't buy the common excuse that maybe the "owner" just wasn't home. If that were the case, then why not get a gold coin or two for victory?

The problem was that any alternative micro "adventure" for a monster AND treasure needed a little more variation and surprise in the results BUT had to be fairly simple and quick to execute. What you see here mimicks certain "Place - Challenge" cards coming In the Balance 2.0, which went through many experimental (sub)variations. Some appealed highly to groups like mine but were hated by others. Some were just a disasterous failure overall. The mechanics structure you see here has turned out to be a compromise that fan card players like or at least find acceptable.

Again, note the icon for having the Highlands expansion, though the detail of this particular icon is hard to keep clear in reduced size.