Just lost another LONG post with notes... and this time it kicked and logged me out completely. SIGH. I'm sorry Dth, I just don't have the strength right now to recreate my continuing review of the expansion at this time. Lost everthing related to the board, the Overlords and a few scant magical items.

Sorry... and I'm really sick of this!

dth said:

Definitely remove "Weapons" since they have no usefulness in either capture or taming. I'm uncertain about Followers; I'd allow ones for Strength, but not ones for Battle.

dth said:

Just have to kill it. The "Possesion" would state the power of the possessed follower, and there's no way to recover it.

I've done 7 of the 8 new Inner Region cards...now I need to rest

dth said:

Some of it seems a bit confusing. The "any modifiers or abilities" should state "that the Follower has now apply to itself and not you."

And the option about defeat should be dependant upon the attribute used. The roll to vanquish the Spirit itself (and save any remaining Followers) should only occur if the "possessed" one was defeated with CRAFT! How else would the adventurer actually be engaging the Spirit itself?

And finally "if you have no more followers, the dark spirit can no longer assault you; move on to the Valley of Fire on your next Turn."

Wonderfully nasty card... and can you tell I have a liking for Craft based characters?

Now some recovery of my lost last post. In part of that, I was looking at the board's space "titles" and wondering about some alternatives... something to give it more ambiance and avoid term repetition. I did a little quick research concerning caves, caverns, karsts, and spelunking. Here's some notions I came up with. The ones I liked best are in bold. The definitions aren't always to the point, as I was also looking to your images for inspiration

Cavern Entrance

• Twilight Zone: the part of a cave near the entrance where light penetrates but does not receive direct sunlight
• Threshold: part of a cave near the entrance where surface climatic conditions rapidly degrade into cave climatic conditions. Not identical with twilight zone.

Crystal Cavern

• Crystal Pool(s): a cave pool with little or no overflow, containing well-formed crystals.
• Shimmering Pool(s)
• Ghostlight Pool(s)
• Opalescent Pool(s)
• Vauclussian Spring: a spring rising up a deep, steeply-inclined, water-filled passage into a small surface pool.

Cavern Tunnel

• Passage
• Squeeze(way) / Crawl(way): An opening in a cave only passable with effort because of its small dimensions.
• Through Cave / Throughway: a cave which may be followed from entrance to exit along a stream course or along a passage which formerly carried a stream.
• Tube: A cave passage of smooth surface, and elliptical or nearly circular in cross-section.
• Conduit: an underground stream course completely filled with water and under hydrostatic pressure, or a circular or elliptical passage inferred to have been such a stream course though is now empty.

Cavern Temple

• Lost / Subterranean / Abandoned / Forgotten / Fallen / Sunken Temple

Waterfall Cavern

• Plunge Pool: A swirlhole, generally of large size, occurring at the foot of a waterfall or rapid, on the surface or underground.
• Dire / Luminescent / Phosphorescent ... Falls / Grot / Grotto
• Cascade (plus adjective(s))
• Cataract (plus adjective(s))

Desolate Cavern

• This one actually works as is, since by definition a cavern is "an underground chamber often of large size" or "a very large chamber within a cave." But since the enter board is called the Cavern, anything inside of it might be labeled otherwise.
• (Black) Karst — an irregular limestone region with sinkholes, disappearing streams, underground streams, and caves (in order words, a part of an underground system that may contain any number of sub-systems of spaces and passages.
• Dark Zone: part of a cave which daylight does not reach.
• Dead / Dry Cave: a cave without streams or drips of water.
• Necrokarst (see Dead Cave)

Submerged Cavern (but not really submerged)

• Subterranean / Luminescent / Phosphorescent / Sunken / Gloom(y) / Glowing Lake
• Lake: in caving, a body of standing water in a cave, but used for what would be called a pond or pool on the surface.

Final Cavern

• Shaft: A vertical cavity roughly equal in horizontal dimensions but much deeper than broad. Wider than a chimney.
• Chimney: a vertical or nearly vertical opening in a cave, narrow enough to be climbed by chimneying.
• Exit, egress, issue, outlet, escape,
• Dome: a vertical shaft in a cave as viewed from the bottom; formed by water dripping or flowing straight down through vertical cracks.
• Aven: An underground vertical shaft leading upward from a cave passage or cave chamber, which often connects with other passages or shafts above and may be the underground entry point for recharge waters from a sinkhole, streamsink or swallet.

Adjectives and Nouns of interest

underground = concealed, hidden, secreted, subterranean, sunken

cave = cavern, grot, grotto; abyss, chasm, gulf, hollow; pit, shaft, well; burrow, covert, den, hole

dark = darkened, darkish, darkling, darksome, dim, dimmed, dusky, gloomy, murky, obscure, somber

dank = dank; clammy; humid, muggy; dripping, drenched, sodden

JCHendee said:

That's brilliant! Wow. That's WAY more thought put in to the titles of the cavern spaces but that is very, very cool.

Ok - I've just completed a massive update.

GAUNTLET

• 6 Guardians converted to new template
• 16 Inner Region cards converted to new template with revamped effects
• 8 new Craft critters
• PDF rules
• Updated Cavern board

WILDLANDS

• 2 new Guardians (Giant King and Fey Queen)
• 16 Inner Region cards converted to new template with revamped effects
• 8 new Craft critters
• PDF rules

I'll get them Mr Talismanisland for uploading soon enough.

It all looks interesting, especially the alternative inner region.

I have been toying with the idea of making a board where you can slip in your own versions of spaces and that would be a

perfect example of when to use it. Not that I have the time to make such a thing though...

I like the artwork, is it your own ?

Updated posting at Talisman Island and at my own website (see sig file)!

New Craft critters for both expansions and improved/additional Inner Region Cards!

Thanks to Jon at Talisman Island!

Having now played a number of games with the Cavern, I need to clarify a few things and offer some suggestions:

1. When travelling through the Cavern Gauntlet, when you land on a space, draw a cavern card and encounter it. On your next turn, you move onward.

2. When you get to the last space, on your next turn, you may either:

2.1 Leave the Cavern
2.2 Leave the Cavern and collect a Talisman
2.3 If you have a Talisman, move on to the Plain of Peril

If you choose option 2.1 or 2.2, you appear where the Cavern Entrance is situated (it may have moved!) and then roll for movement as normal. You do not encounter the space you appear in.

Just thought I'd let you know that I have enjoyed "The Gauntlet" and "Wildlands" expansions you developed. I took me awhile to do all the copying, pasting, stretching, shrinking, more cutting, more pasting, etc. that goes along with downloads; It's been worth it. I've been playing Talisman off and on since 1988 but have recently been using some quicker house rules to speed things up for 4 or more players. It took me awhile to find some 4x4 photo sleeves for the inner region cards; Mayday Games and Adorama.com answered every card sleeve issue I had (4x4, 4x5, and 2 1/2 x 1 5/8). The only real issue I had was finding good spell card backs. I looked through other peoples creations to find all the card backs I needed. The way you packed your pictures for download at Talisman Island made it much easier to copy and paste for a playable expansion. Microsoft Paint and Word, along with a Hewlet Packard 5650 color printer was all I had to use...well, scissors too...

Thanks Dorion,

- Thumbs Up from Eleven Talisman fans in Vancouver, WA.