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Following on from the competition to find a new NPC for the Revised 4th Edition of Talisman, there seems to be a little confusion over the version of Katie B’s winning Storm River Serpent entry that I mocked up for download.
The problem seems mostly down to the movement chart of Mamlambo, and I figured it would be worth a little follow-up article to attempt to explain the mechanics and reasons behind the movement choices.
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| The Movement Chart |
Katie’s original design called for a die roll once Mamlambo’s attention had been attracted, with various results depending on which “side” or “edge” of the board the altercation had taken place.
Given the amount of text required to explain this, and the small amount of space available on a single rules sheet and card I distilled the movement idea. This had a two-fold effect, firstly to make the mechanic simpler to execute (and explain!) and less likely to actually cause too much of a problem for characters. A Strength 10 creature assisting Enemies would be rather a daunting task early on in the game! Secondly it would tie in with a possible other NPC based on the Village Serpent from the board illustration.
As mentioned a third, unintended, effect seems to have happened though as there are players that are confused by the movement choices, so I really hope that this article helps out somewhat.
One thing that might be causing a particular issue might be that I had saved two lines of text (which believe me is a heck of a saving in design!) by changing the text for the middle two results from “…towards the Xxxx space” to “…to the Xxxx space”. I don’t believe this should have created a problem though, as the rules state that Mamlambo will stop if she comes across the commotion and attack the character involved, but your mileage may vary.
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| Mamlambo is at point A, rolls a 2 for movement and must travel towards the Village space. |
Mamlambo is at point B, rolls a 5 for movement and must travel towards the City space. |
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| Mamlambo is at point C, rolls a 4 for movement and must travel towards the City space. |
Mamlambo is at point D, rolls a 3 for movement and must travel towards the Village space. |
In the example scenarios above, a character is assumed to have drawn an Enemy card on either the Tavern Plains space, or the Sentinel space. Mamlambo has rolled for movement, and travels towards the indicated destination, but will stop in the space occupied by the character and attack if she passes that particular space.
In example A, she would stop at position 1 and attack the character there. If the character was at position 2 however, she would finish her move at the Village and the character would escape her wrath!
In example B, a character would be safe at position 1, but a character at position 2 will not be so fortunate.
Example C is unlucky for both characters, as Mamlambo would reach either of the positions on her way to the City space.
Finally, in example D, both characters would seem to have been visited by Lady Luck, as both positions would avoid the attention of the river goddess.
Does this help?
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| The Nin-in-Eilph Adventure Pack | Giant Swamp Adder |
So, what next? Well, as mentioned previously, there is another serpent in the Storm River that might cause questing adventurers some problems!
Coincidentally, the image chosen for the fearsome NPC was another from The Lord of the Rings Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games, this time by the talented Dmitry Prosvirnin.
The Village Serpent has more of a general “snake” vibe about it, so I think that this image is a great match for it.
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No’Pa No’Tu is a beast of legend that begins the game in the Storm River near to the Village space where it has been somehow changed by the magical energies of the Mystic who resides there.
Characters using Spells or other magics, should perhaps take a little more care…
Coming soon?