Preview Paths and Destinies in Talisman: The Woodland
originally published 5 September 2014
At last you reach the heart of the Woodland, an eerie and unsettling expanse of dry earth, decaying stumps, and scorched trees. Far beyond, you glimpse a forest filled with sunlight – the forest you left when you entered this strange and haunted realm. You run towards those fields, only to find your path suddenly blocked by a crowned faerie clothed in black robes and spiderwebs, terrifying and beautiful. “Foolish mortal,” she hisses. “Did you think you could escape without meeting your destiny?”
Journey through a treacherous and enchanted forest in The Woodland, an expansion for Talisman Revised 4th Edition. In the realm of the Fae, you will encounter capricious faeries, powerful relics, talking animals, and shifting trees. You may be randomly transported across the region by mists, turned into a toad, or blessed by the faeries’ queen.
In today’s preview, we will explore the Path Cards and Destiny Cards introduced in this expansion. The routes through the Woodland are winding and changeable, but whoever follows a path to its end gains a destiny to guide the rest of their journey.
The Chosen Path
Upon entering the Woodland, you must choose a Path from one of three laid out before you. Paths give your character abilities and limitations that last as long as you remain in the Woodland. They also determine what happens when you reach the Meeting with Destiny space at the Woodland’s center.
A Path can provide both advantages and disadvantages. The Warrior’s Path offers extra strength during battle, but requires you to fight the nightmarish Queen Mab in psychic combat in order to gain a Destiny. The Secret Path allows you to evade creatures with a Strength or Craft higher than five, but an unknown Enemy awaits you at the Meeting with Destiny space. The risky Path of Folly forces you to subtract one from every die result, which may benefit you or cause you serious harm. Either way, it promises you a Destiny if you manage to survive your tumultuous journey.
The Woodland is an unpredictable place and may force you to suddenly change your Path. If you encounter a Faerie Trod, you must discard your Path and choose another. At the Crossroads, a roll of the dice determines whether you switch Paths or continue on your current one. No matter which Path you choose to take, no matter what happens to you along it, they all lead towards a meeting with destiny.
Fate and Destiny
If you follow your Path to its end and overcome whatever challenge awaits you in the heart of the Woodland, you earn a Destiny that will shape your journey through Talisman. Destiny is a powerful force that transcends even death. If a character is killed, any Destinies that character possessed are passed on to the next character which that player takes up. And while you can choose your path, you cannot choose your destiny.
Your destiny is inextricable from your fate, and all destinies increase your fate value by one. As our second preview mentioned, The Woodland introduces a difference between light and dark fate: spend light fate to reroll a die that you rolled, dark fate to force another player to reroll a die. Destinies are also light and dark. Light destinies allow you to easily replenish light fate and focus on strengthening your character. Dark ones keep you supplied with dark fate and encourage you to hinder and harm others.
If your destiny is The Enlightened, a light destiny, you can replenish one light fate whenever a character casts a Spell. In turn, you can spend a light fate in order to draw a spell, so that your fate is inextricably linked to the mystic arts. The Wealthy turns your light fate into gold, and gives you light fate whenever another characters gains gold. With The Immortal, the lives of your character and others are tied to your dark fate: when others heal or gain a life, you are rewarded with a dark fate that you may then spend to prevent your own loss of life. The Dreaded allows you to replenish dark fate whenever you win in combat, and use it to take other characters’ lives.
The ability to transform fate into gold, Spells, lives, or even Strength and Craft constitutes a remarkable advantage. A destiny could mean the difference between victory and defeat in combat, between receiving a talisman and missing your chance, or between acquiring the Crown of Command and languishing in the outer region of the realm.
Take the Path To Destiny
Your journey through the Woodland may be perilous and meandering, but if you can survive the faeries’ whims, you will gain the unique and wondrous Destiny that awaits you at the wood’s end. Are you prepared to follow your Path into the innermost depths of the Woodland towards Destiny?
Learn more on the Talisman minisite, and look for Talisman: The Woodland at your local retailer soon!