“I have known the sorceress Triss Merigold for a long time, for she is one of Geralt’s closest friends. The young, pretty, talented, auburn-haired mage from Maribor hardly reminded me of the giggling flapper of years past. Her knowledge, abilities, and loyalty had brought her far.”    –The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The world of The Witcher lies before you in The Witcher Adventure Game! In every game, you become a hero of the Northern Kingdoms, eager to complete quests and claim renown. Only by gaining more victory points than any other hero can you secure an everlasting place in the history of the Continent.

In past previews, we explored your journeys through the realm, the quests you strive to complete, and the monsters that stand in your way. We also posted the rules for The Witcher Adventure Game on the support page, alongside a video overview of the game. Most recently, we turned our attention to the heroes that you can play over the course of the game, such as Geralt of Rivia and Dandelion, the bard.

Today, we turn our attention to the two remaining heroes that you can play in The Witcher Adventure Game: the cunning sorceress, Triss Merigold, and Yarpen Zigrin, a doughty dwarven warrior.

Steeped in Magic

Triss Merigold offers a play style different from any other hero’s. Her skills as a sorceress grant her magical abilities far beyond mortal knowledge, and because of this, Triss is the only hero who draws quest cards from the blue, or magic, quest deck. Triss’s skill with magic is also reflected by the fact that she can spend three blue leads to create a blue proof. Although Triss’s magical prowess makes her deadly when forced to fight, she prefers to avoid combat as a solution to problems, and she must spend seven red leads to make a single red proof.

Triss’s Spells offer some of the most powerful effects in the game, but casting a Spell requires both time and preparation. Each of her Spell development cards enter the game with one common marker, but by choosing Triss’s hero-specific Prepare action, you can place another common marker on a Spell development card, allowing you to use it more than once. Triss Merigold’s hero die also shows her magical power, with a total of four ritual results. Ritual results are crucial for battling ethereal monsters, but they’re also useful for triggering some of Triss’s more potent Spells, as we’ll see below.

Master of Spells

The Spells at Triss’s disposal allow her to journey safely through the realm, vanquishing or avoiding foes. The Crow’s Shroud Spell, for example, allows you to spend a common marker from it to ignore all obstacles in your region, enabling you to escape the depredations of monsters. The Hailstorm Spell, on the other hand, allows you to spend a ritual result and a common marker from the card to produce two swords and two shields in the midst of battle, giving Triss the tools to vanquish monsters that stand in her way. Triss’s Spells even give her knowledge of the future. By casting Divination, you can spend a common marker from the card to look at the top two cards of any deck. Then, you can place one of those cards on the bottom of the deck and replace the other on the top, giving you the chance to alter the future for yourself or another hero as you see fit.

The Spells that Triss uses are only limited by the amount of common markers on them. The Prepare action is one way to replenish these markers, but Triss also has cards that make her Spells much more efficient. The Magic Tome allows you to place an additional common marker on a chosen Spell card when you perform the Prepare action, making this action more effective long-term. The Lodge Ring offers your Spells similar longevity. This card enters play with three common markers on it, and whenever you spend a common marker from one of your Spells, you can remove a marker from the Lodge Ring to place a new marker on the Spell.

Ancient Armor, Stout Companions

Triss Merigold’s magic invites her to play the game in a completely unique way, and in a similar manner, Yarpen Zigrin carves out his own distinct niche in the game. In fact, Yarpen possesses a number of distinct differences from other players. Every other hero in the game has a variable exchange rate for proof, offering them one kind of proof for three leads, another for five leads, and the final type of proof for seven leads. Yarpen, on the other hand, always exchanges five leads for the matching proof. In addition, he can take quests from either the red combat deck or the purple diplomacy deck, allowing him to choose his quests with much more freedom than other heroes.

In battle with ferocious monsters, this dwarven warrior can also take advantage of his armor to prevent wounds. Whenever Yarpen would suffer a wound, rather than placing it over an action, he may place it on one of the armor spaces to the left of the action spaces on his hero sheet. By using Yarpen’s armor to absorb blows, he can keep using his actions much longer than other heroes. Yarpen Zigrin’s hero die gives him a similar advantage in battles. More than any other hero die, this die offers a massive amount of shields, keeping Yarpen safe from harm.

While Yarpen’s armor safeguards him in battle, the hero-specific action on Yarpen’s hero sheet offers him a great amount of tactical flexibility on his adventures. When you choose the Command action, you may use two of Yarpen’s companion cards, triggering special abilities as Yarpen calls upon the aid of his allies. Yannick Brass allows you to spend a lead to receive a lead of a different color, Xavier Moran offers you gold, Regan Dahlberg moves a monster or a foul fate away from your region, and Paulie Dahlberg places a common marker on up to two of your development cards, which we’ll see below.

Of Dwarven Make

Yarpen’s development cards feature a host of dwarven-made Armor, Weapons, and Items that he can use to gain an advantage during his adventures. Dwarven Chainmail can make the difference between crippling wounds and surviving a battle unscathed: by spending a common marker from this card, you can prevent a wound that you would otherwise suffer. The Mahakaman Battle Hammer can be used in battle to produce a sword or two shields, and by spending a common marker from Temerian Dagger, you can reroll all blank results on your battle dice.

Other development cards in Yarpen’s deck give him tools for gaining victory outside of battles. Dwarven Banner allows you to spend a common marker from the card to use a third companion when you choose the Command action, maximizing the benefits you gain from each command. Dwarven Chronicles, on the other hand, gives you the tools to claim extra victory points! By spending a common marker from this card when you complete a main quest, you can gain an extra victory point for each completed side quest and support quest on the quest card.

Choose Your Hero

No matter which hero you play in your adventures through the Continent, you’ll find a unique game experience. Whether you slay monsters with Geralt, work magic with Triss Merigold, weave songs with Dandelion, or call on your companions with Yarpen Zigrin, you can enter a world of adventure with The Witcher Adventure Game.

The Witcher Adventure Game will soon be available at your local retailer!