Talisman - The Dragon Expansion

“Three Draconic Lords, beings of near infinite power and malevolence, have returned to the firelands. To claim the fabled Crown of Command. With them come the legions of evil dragons, harnessing the awesome powers of their dark masters. Now the land quakes beneath their oppressive rule, and the quest for the Crown is more terrifying and dangerous than ever before!”

The Dragon Expansion introduces a whole host of new mechanics including two new Inner Regions. Get ready for your Talisman experience to be taken to a whole new level as you prepare yourself to battle the Dragon Lords.



Discover the new Inner Regions: The Dragon Realm and The Dragon Tower. These new Inner Regions replace the encounters and victory objectives from the main game board. Before the game starts you can decide which side of the board you want to play with.

The Dragon Realm has a similar set up to the normal board but boasts a number of difficult challenges as the number of dragon scales increase. Within the Dragon Realm you do not roll the die, instead you move one space at a time, following the directions the board gives until you confront the Dragon King.

The Dragon Tower has a single path that leads to the Crown of Command, in which characters move along the spiralling staircase by drawing cards from the Dragon King’s Deck. When moving through the Dragon Tower you do not roll the die, instead you move one space per turn plus an additional space for each Enemy you kill.

These Inner Regions are not for the faint hearted as you must encounter almost every space. Make sure you’re prepared before crossing through the Portal of Power.

Draconic Lord Cards & Dragon Cards

The three Dragon Lords, Varthrax, Grilipus and Cadorus, have returned to the land of Talisman. Each Dragon has a special ability called Dragon Rage, as well as having a dedicated Dragon deck. Each Deck consists of 56 cards featuring new Events, Enemies, Strangers, Objects, Followers and Places. Dragon cards run the risk of a character encountering a stronger than normal enemy, but the rewards you may gain are also of greater value.

Dragon Tokens, Sleep Tokens & Crown Token

At the start of each of their turns, a player will draw a Dragon token at random. Dragon tokens are split into Special Effects and Dragon Scales.

Special Effects:

Dragon Strike: The player who draws the Dragon Strike token will draw two additional dragon tokens and resolve them in the order they are drawn.

Dragon Slumber: The character who draws the Dragon Slumber token places a sleep token on a Dragon of their choice on the board in any region. If there are no Dragons on the board the token may be placed on any enemy on the board.

Dragon Rage: Dragon Rage is encountered when a player draws a Dragon Rage token on their turn. The effects differ depending on which Dragon is currently King:

• Varthraxl requires you to discard 1 Follower. If you do not have any followers you will lose a life.
  
• Grilipus requires you to discard 1 Spell. If you do not have any Spells you will lose a life.
  
• Cadorus requires you to discard 1 Object. If you do not have any Objects you will lose a life.

These tokens are always discarded after their effects have been resolved.

Dragon Scales:
The effects of dragon scales vary depending on whether they’re placed on a Draconic Lord, the game board, or taken by a character.

When a dragon scale is first drawn it is placed onto the matching Draconic Lord Card, once a dragon lord has had 3 scales placed on it, that Dragon becomes the Dragon King. When a Dragon becomes the King, one of its Tokens is placed onto the Space the character that drew the token is on. The other two tokens are discarded. Play continues as such and the Dragon King will change frequently.

Dragon Scales can be claimed by characters if they defeat an enemy dragon. Claiming dragon scales offers characters two powerful effects:
If a character encounters an Enemy or Draconic Lord, each dragon scale the character has that matches his opponent adds one point to his attack score.
If a character is about to suffer Dragon Rage they may discard one dragon token that matched the Dragon Lords to cancel the effects.

Once a player reaches the Crown of Command, the Dragon King cannot change. The first one to defeat the Dragon king wins.

Dragon Slayers

Varthrax, Grilipus, and Cadorus are swarming the Crown of Command. With 5 lives each it’ll be a long but valiant battle to slay the three dragons and claim the Crown. If a character loses in combat against a Dragon Lord they’ll suffer losing a life and the Dragon Rage of the dragon they were attacking. Once all the Dragons are defeated, the player with the most tokens which show they defeated a Draconic Lord wins.

Dragon King

The King is never someone you should challenge. Facing the Dragon King isn’t easy, once you’ve reached his lair, you’ll need to roll a die at the beginning of your turn to determine your fate.

1-2) discard a Talisman Card. If you don’t have a Talisman Card you lose a life instead.
3-4) Moving Clockwise around the board, all characters must attack the Dragon King using Strength or Craft.
5-6) Attack the Dragon King using Strength or Craft. If you have a Stand-off you are defeated.

The character who removed the Kings last life wins, but if the Dragon King is left alone on the Crown of Command, he heals all his lives.

Domain of Dragons

At the start of the game one Draconic Lord Card will be drawn at random and placed faceup on the Crown of command. This will be the Dragon King for the game. Although the king won’t change, the other Dragons will do his bidding to stop you reaching him for the final battle.

• If a player draws an enemy with Strength the player must place a Varthrax card on top of the Adventure Card deck.
  
• If a player draws an enemy with Craft the player must place a Gilipus card on top of the Adventure Card deck.
  
• If a player draws an Object the player must place a Codorus card on top of the Adventure Card deck.
  
• Whenever a character kills an Enemy from a Dragon Card they may claim the matching dragon scale.
  
• Whenever a Character is instructed to draw a dragon token they suffer the King’s Dragon Rage instead.
  
• The Character who removes the Dragon King’s last life wins.

Challenge for the Crown

The journey to the Dragon King is a long and difficult one. You must reach the Crown of Command as per the normal rules, but when you arrive there you are teleported to the Dragon Tower. Your final assent to confront the Dragon King start here. Vanquish him and win the game.

Confront the Dragon King

Attack the Dragon King head on in a battle to the death! As you enter the Crown of Command choose to attack the Dragon King through Strength or Craft and attack immediately. If you survive, take one of the lives from the Dragon King and attack him again. If you have a stand-off or you’re defeated your turn ends. You’ll lose a life and suffer the effects of the Dragon King’s Dragon Rage.
Your next turn sees you attack the King again until either you or he loses all lives.

Dragon Rider

Dragon Riders have a close and unique bond with their dragons. This bond allows them to gain advantages as they travel through the land of Talisman. When playing as the Dragon Rider:

• Whenever you engage a Dragon in battle or psychic combat, add 3 to your attack roll.
  
• If you defeat a Dragon you may capture it and take it as a Follower instead of a Trophy. You may only have one captured Dragon at a time. While you have a captured Dragon you gain the following benefits:
  
• After you roll the die for your move, you may add up to 3 to the score.
  
• You may roll two dice in battle and psychic combat and use the higher attack roll to determine your attack score.

Fire Wizard

As the Dragons reached the land of Talisman, the Fire Wizard focused his training into fire magic, to counter the Dragons’ attacks. This lead him to create an immensely powerful Pyroblast ability and withstand the most powerful of dragon attacks. When playing as the Fire Wizard:

• At the start of your turn you may gain 1 Spell if your Craft allows.
  
• You may hurl a Pyroblast whenever you are about to engage in battle with a character or creature. Roll one die and add your Craft. If the score is higher than the characters Strength, they must lose one life. If the score is higher than the creature’s Strength, it is killed. Enemies killed may not be taken as trophies. If the score is equal to or lower than the character or Creatures Strength, the Pyroblast has no effect and the battle is resolved normally expect you may not roll a die for your attack roll.
  
• You are not affected by dragons breath attacks.

Conjurer

As the land fills up with snarling dragons, traveling has become more treacherous than ever before. The Conjurer is able to manipulate the cards on the board and avoid encountering a dragon before she’s ready for battle! When playing as the Conjurer:

• You begin the game with 1 Spell and you always have at least 1 Spell.
  
• You may conjure whenever you encounter a space with instructions to draw more than one adventure card. If the space does not already any adventure cards you may move a faceup Adventure Card in the same region to your space.

Dragon Hunter

As the land has become tormented by Varthrax, Grilipus, and Cadorus, the Dragon Hunter has taken it upon himself to hone his hunting skills to hunt dragons. No Dragon is safe from him or his trusty Axe. When playing as the Dragon Hunter:

• You begin the game with an Axe.
  
• Instead of rolling a die for movement you may move to the closest Dragon on another space in your Region.
  
• Whenever you engage an Enemy in battle, you may make a deathblow. Roll two dice and add them together to determine your attack roll. If you make a deathblow and roll doubles you are automatically defeated regardless of your attack.

Minotaur

The sounds of battle have brought the Minotaur out of his maze. He powerfully charges down his foes and leaves ruin in his wake! When playing as the Minotaur:

• Whenever you are about to engage in battle during your turn you may stampede and add the result of your movement die to your Strength until the end of the battle.
  
• You may not use any armour.

Dragon Priestess

Unlike the other adventures, the Dragon Priestess saw the pure power and abilities of the Dragon Kings and their subjects. Since their arrival, she has devoted her life to these majestic creatures. When playing as the Dragon Priestess:

• You begin the game with 2 Spells.
  
• Whenever you encounter a Cultist, you may take it as a Follower instead of attacking it.
  
• After rolling the die when praying you may use all, none, or some of your followers to perform a ritual. Each follower is used in the ritual adds 1 to your score.
  
• Whenever your encounter a Dragon, you may offer a sacrifice instead of attacking. Discard one of your Followers, Objects of Spells and roll two dice to pray with the same results as the temple.
  
• You are not affected by Dragon Rage.

• 138 Dragon Cards
  
• New Inner Region Board
  
• Dragon Tokens
  
• 6 Characters
  
• 5 Alternative Endings

“Can you reach the Crown of Command and vanquish the Dragon King?”