I've been giving some thought to the discussion (nothing recent though) on activating Nether Realm cards during a game where the alt.endings are not in use.

There are 2 'revealed' alt endings that use Nether Realm cards and one 'hidden' - Surprise ending.

Nether Realm designer, Jon, suggested the use of the Runes spaces in the Middle Region as a possible way to draw Nether cards. There is a ring of "in-story" with this idea, because Runes/gates typically have been known to teleport unexpected things into a world (in sci-fi, fantasy, etc).

My own counter -suggestion was to use the Cursed Glade as a place where Nether cards are drawn, and I amended that to include Day/Night mechanics from Blood Moon. (draw a Nether at Night, Adventure during Day)

So I played recently, and surprizingly, or not, no one ever landed on the Cursed Glade, the rolls and any other possible movements did not take either of us there.

After some reflection I came up with a couple of ideas that may work for those inclined to spice up the menace in their game. (these cards are pretty strong, if you didn't know!).

"Cursed Glade of the Nether" - Set up: at the beginning of the game draw the top/random Nether card and place face down in the Cursed Glade. Use Day/Night mechanics or home-brew more to your taste.

During the game, whenever it is Night, a player cannot pass through the Cursed Glade, even if they have movement enough. They must stop in the Glade, and encounter the Nether card placed there. Whenever Night falls and there is no card (Adventure/Nether/etc) in the Glade, draw one Nether, again, and place face down.

I thought about a reward, simple or otherwise, if you defeat the Nether card (provided its an enemy), and reasoned that the Glade denies the use of magic/objects, so perhaps your reward is living. Perhaps you can continue your movement, but your turn ends when you stop (no other spaces, cards,e tc. encountered).

"Nether Realm Reaper" - Set up can be as above. Reaper must be used in the game. If you defeat or have a succesful encounter with the Nether card in the Glade, The Reaper immediately moves to your spot and you must roll on his chart. Possible caveat - no Fate allowed!

This can easily have another aspect: If you face the Reaper,(anywhere else, through normal game rules) and not liking the roll, pay a Fate, you do not re-roll, you draw the top/random card from the Nether and encounter it. If you win, you get back your Fate token.

Naturally each of these can play together too - for more fun - or FEAR!

My idea (as yet untried).

The first Adventure Card drawn after nightfall (including all expansions) must be pulled from the Nether Deck.

Could be fun watching players trying to avoid being the first one to draw a card.

Sounds like my co-player. She refuses to draw Dragon cards even, if she can avoid. She is already scared of the Nether Realm. I say "bring it!". I love the scarey challenges in the Nether deck.

When is the next plug-in update for strange eons?

To be honest, the easiest way to incorporate the Nether deck in a normal game of Talisman would be to just mix the cards up with the ordinary Adventure cards.

Yes, you would be able to tell when the next card is a more dangerous one, but that's the gamble! If you played like this I would forbid card-swapping shenanigans like the Orb of Knowledge, or the Sage's ability.

"The top card of the deck is a Nether card... Do you risk picking it up on the Ruins, or do you take the safe option and go to the Tavern instead?"

The card back hints at this use of them given they are "busting out" of the Adventure deck.

As this idea could work it would ruin the 3 alternative endings unless, you don't choose to use them.

That's what Oberon's post was about. Playing with the Nether deck without using the Endings.

Basically, Nether Realm cards are great, challenging, and one can home brew their own ways of including them, independent of the alt. endings.

When will strange eons incorporate city or nether cards?

Yesterday was a very snowy day in Toronto, so the boys and I decided to break out Talisman. This is our first game using the Nether Realms Deck.

Our House Rule states that the first Adventure card drawn after nightfall must come from the Nether Realms deck, and it worked really well. We were all trying various (and sometimes extreme) ways to avoid drawing the card, and then breathing easier once the card was encountered. It adds a bit more danger and excitement to the basic game.

Strong characters can potentially be seriously damaged or killed without warning, which does give all other players some hope that a runaway leader could be unexpected removed from the game. However, if that does happen, it could extend the length of the game.

As we've discussed Nether cards, I'm liking the various ways to bring them into a game without the Alt. endings.

The idea that first Adventure card, after night falls (must use Blood Moon mechanics) is highly appealing. It brings an edge of tension that I would favor. Perhaps my tweak (or I didn't notice when someone else mentioned this), but afterwards, Nether cards draw in "whatever" spot designated; Runes, Cursed Glade, etc.) only after night too.

I put 4 fate tokens into our dragon bag, where we keep and draw dragon scales. When one of them is drawn, the next card to be drawn, in any region, is a Nether Realm deck. The only exception is when drawing a dragon card from the current dragon king deck.

We will try a few games and eventually will increase or decrease the number of fate tokens in our dragon bag for game balance.

That's a good idea.

We also put a few fate tokens in our dragon bag, but when drawn, it just means the lucky player increases their fate.

You might want to create some incentive for actually drawing a Nether Card, be it by landing on Cursed Glade/Runes or drawing the first card at Night. Since people are likely to avoid them at all costs as it stands, perhaps dangling a carrot at the end of the big stick might help.

One idea would be you can trade in a Nether Enemy Trophy to replenish your Fate to its starting value, or just being able to trade the Nether Trophies in for a flat amount of extra Fate, say 3 or so. This might goad people into taking the risk.

my group really like the Nether Deck and I've also been thinking of ways to incorperate them into the game without the alt. endings. I like all the suggestions so far and have this to add to what sanityismyvanity said about dangling carrots

If you draw an Nether Deck Enemy and defeat it, you may trade the card in for a wish : Gain a Strength, Craft, Life, Fate, Spell, Gold or Teleport anyspace in outer or middle for next movement. This incentive would certainly get me battling my way through the Nether Deck!

I foound a nice way to incorporate the Nether Realms deck into a regular game.

Zekayzer's Big List of Houserules (Reaper, Frostmarch, Nether)

The list is quite elaborate and long, but here are the two main parts pertaining the Nether Realm cards (copy-pasted from my thread):

Nether Realms Expansion

Whenever you can draw an adventure card, you can choose to draw a card from the Nether Deck and encounter it.

If you successfully encounter the card, you can chose from one of these benefits:

• Force any other player of your choice to draw a card from the Nether Deck and encounter it immediately. (This player did not voluntarily draw a card from the Nether Realms deck and therefor does not get the benefits of defeating it)
• Upgrade one of your Runestone (from Bronze to Silver to Gold) or pick a new one (to a maximum of three Runestones)
• Move the Reaper to any space (and player) you want.

Enemies from this deck are never kept as trophies and put on the Nether Deck's discard pile.

(...many other rules...)

Valley of Fire and Plains of Peril

At the start of the game, place two cards from the Nether Deck facedown on each Valley of Fire and the Plains of Peril.

If a character fails to successfully encounter a card, his turn ends immediately and he must encounter the card again on his next turn unless he decides to turn back.

A character that has turned back ignores any Nether Cards on his return to the Plain of Peril, and does need to encounter the ones in the Plain of Peril. However, if he decides to advance into the inner region again, he immediately encounters them.

Once a card has been encountered successfully, draw a replacement card from the Nether Deck and place it facedown on the space to be encountered by the next character to land on that space.

These are not voluntarily drawn and therefor do not give you the benefits of successfully encountering a Nether Realm card.

These are not removed by the "cleaning" that happens in the inner region every round.

No other character can assist.

On the Fate tokens in a draw bag . . .

With the Woodlands new rule for Fate, you could change that; Dark Fate = Nether Realm encounter, Light Fate, a possible reward?

Hi Z,

I like the first idea better than the second, if only because (truth time:) we don't always get to the Inner Region in our games, LOL. A part of this is clear; in our 2 player games it takes a while to get leveled up enough to go there. But it does seem to have considerable menace working for it, which I enjoy... just need to head up earlier because, you know, sometimes you just want to keep collecting and hoarding stuff.

The first idea is pretty ruthless. I love it.

I read "nether realm"

All i could think of was... MORTAL KOMBAT!!!

I came up with another idear:

Outer Region: During the night, you have to draw Nether Realm Cards in the Fields.

Middle Region: Cursed Glade: You have to draw Nether Realm Cards here.

On the Fate tokens in a draw bag . . .

With the Woodlands new rule for Fate, you could change that; Dark Fate = Nether Realm encounter, Light Fate, a possible reward?

So many great ideas here. It's hard to decide which ones to play with. I was considering using Dark/Light Fate in the draw bag to force the Time card to flip to night side for dark fate or day side for light fate. What about this: if you draw dark during night, you have a Nether Realm encounter but if you draw light during day, you keep the fate token that you drew. This could be reversed for evil characters.