Whisperwood Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Game Setup
  • Build the Whisperwood Board
  • Board Setup
  • Player Setup
  • Selecting Familiars and Enchantments
  • Tokens, Bag, and Starting Bonuses
• General Concepts
  • Tokens
  • Terminology
  • Victory Points
• Gameplay
  • Round Structure
  • Draw Phase
  • Prepare Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Resting
  • Recover Phase
• Whisperwood Board
  • Locations
  • Actions
• Spell Descriptions
  • Stride
  • Advanced Stride
  • Soar
  • Advanced Soar
  • Flow
  • Advanced Flow
  • Convoke
  • Advanced Convoke
  • Transmute
  • Advanced Transmute
  • Restore
  • Advanced Restore
  • Inscribe
• Familiars, Fae, and Wildlife
  • Familiars
  • Fae
  • Wildlife
• Paths
• Ending the Game and Scoring
• Whisperwood Appendix
  • Familiars
  • Fae
  • Golems
  • Endgame Enchantments

Components

Action Tokens

• 30 Earth Element Tokens
• 30 Air Element Tokens
• 30 Water Element Tokens
• 30 Magic Element Tokens
• 8 Familiar Tokens
• 30 Ember Tokens
• 30 Moonglow Tokens
• 30 Potion Tokens
• 32 Fae Tokens
• 16 Bear Tokens
• 16 Otter Tokens
• 16 Owl Tokens
• 60 Corruption/Harmony Tokens (2-sided)

Other Tokens

• 40 Earth Restorations (10 per player color)
• 40 Water Restorations (10 per player color)
• 40 Magic Restorations (10 per player color)
• 40 Air Restorations (10 per player color)
• 36 Victory Point Stars of 1 Value
• 12 Victory Point Stars of 5 Value
• 16 Victory Point Stars of 20 Value
• 8 Barrier Tokens (2 per player)
• 26 Rune Site Tokens

Other

• 1 Round Marker
• 1 Scoring Pad

Miniatures, Meeples, Figures

• 1 First Player Marker
• 4 Golems (air, earth, water, and magic)
• 10 Owl Meeples
• 10 Bear Meeples
• 10 Otter Meeples

Tiles and Boards

• 12 Corrupted Borders
• 1 Druid's Defiance Special Location Tile
• 24 Standard Location Tiles
• 1 Round Track
• 3 Path Boards (Air, Earth, and Water)

Cards

• 32 Fae Cards
• 8 Familiar Cards (Air, Earth, Water, Magic)
• 16 Golem Cards
• 12 Wildlife Cards (4 Bear, 4 Otter, 4 Owl)
• 43 Enchantment Cards
• 4 Reference Cards

Player Components

• 4 Token Bags (1 per player)
• 12 Player Markers (3 per player)
• 4 Endgame Enchantment Mats
• 36 Spell Tiles (9 per player)
• 4 Spent Pools (1 per player)
• 36 Golem Tokens (9 per player color)
• 4 Player Boards (1 per player)
• 4 Casting Boards (1 per player)
• 4 Druid Meeples (1 per player)
• 24 Rune Markers (6 per player)

Setup

Game Setup

1. Determine First Player: Give a reference card to each player. Give the first player marker to the player who receives the highest numbered reference card.

Build the Whisperwood Board

A. Place the Druid's Defiance special location tile in the middle of the table, face up. This legendary location is the only part of Whisperwood free of corruption.

B. Sort the 24 standard location tiles. Make a stack of all tiles that depict icons matching the player count for this game. For a 2-player game, you will use the 12 tiles labeled 2+. For 3-player, use the 2+ tiles and the 3+ tiles. For a 4-player game, use all 24 location tiles. Shuffle the stack and return the unused tiles to the game box.

C. Beginning with the first player, players take turns drawing a location tile from the stack and adding it to Whisperwood, rotating it as needed, and placing it adjacent to existing tiles. Tiles depict three types of terrain: earth, water, and air. Only water terrain impacts tile placement. Each placement must adhere to the following rules in order of priority:

a. If possible, a location tile depicting water must be placed adjacent to an existing tile that also depicts water in a manner that creates a continuous body of water.

b. Each location tile must be placed adjacent to as many existing tiles as possible. This rule does not supersede the previous rule regarding water.

c. The placement of tiles is limited to the available space on the table. If a tile cannot be placed due to space limitations, find another space where it will fit, using the same priorities.

Board Setup

1. Rune Sites: Sort the 26 rune site tokens, and separate the ones that depict the player count for this game. Shuffle them in a pile face down and return the rest to the game box. Without looking at them, place 1 rune site token face down on each rune space in Whisperwood. Then flip them over so that all rune site tokens are face up.
2. Corrupted Locations: Rune site tokens determine whether a location is corrupt or not. Place a corrupted border around each location tile that contains at least 1 rune site token depicting a small light purple dot.
3. Golems: Place each golem on the location depicting its icon.
4. Wildlife: Place 1 bear meeple, 1 otter meeple, and 1 owl meeple on the Druid's Defiance. Place 1 bear meeple in the same location as the earth golem, 1 otter meeple in the same location as the water golem, and 1 owl meeple in the same location as the air golem.
5. Paths: Arrange the 3 path boards beside Whisperwood. Place 2 bear meeples on each bear icon on the earth path, 2 otter meeples on each otter icon on the water path, and 2 owl meeples on each icon on the air path. When finished, there will be a total of 8 wildlife meeples on each path.
6. Wildlife and Fae: Arrange stacks of wildlife and fae cards on the table, with each stack containing only cards of the same type. Place their corresponding tokens nearby.
7. Round Track: Put the round marker on the first space of the round track.
8. General Supply: Make accessible supplies of victory point stars, corruption/harmony tokens, potions, and core action tokens: earth, water, air, magic, moonglow, and ember tokens. Whenever tokens or victory points are gained they are taken from this general supply.

Player Setup

1. Player Boards: Select a druid casting board and take all the components in your player color. Arrange your casting board, player board, and spent pool on the table.
2. Endgame Enchantments: Take 1 endgame enchantment mat and insert it into the top of your player board. Place each of your 6 rune markers on the matching rune icon.
3. Golem Cards: Take 4 golem cards, 1 for each golem in the game and put them beside your player board.
4. Barrier Tokens: Cover the 2 indicated spaces on your casting board with your 2 barrier tokens.
5. Spell Tiles: Arrange your spell tiles on your player board face up, with the advanced side of the tile face down.
6. Other Components: Arrange your 40 restoration tokens, 9 golem tokens, and token bag beside your player board.
7. Druid Meeple: Place your druid meeple in Whisperwood on the Druid's Defiance starting location.
8. Paths: Take your 3 player markers and place them on the first space of each path.
9. Starting Victory Points: Take 10 VP worth of stars and place them in your scoring pile.
10. Starting Corruption: Take 1 corruption token from the supply and place it on the Whisper spell's corruption slot (with the corruption side of the token visible).

Selecting Familiars and Enchantments

This section describes two sets of procedures for determining which familiars and enchantment cards players will use in the game. The first method is a simplified procedure for the first time you play, which can be used in any game, but is especially useful when playing with new players. The second method involves a card draft, and benefits from prior experience in Whisperwood.

First Game

Find the 4 basic familiar cards. Each is associated with one of the four elements in the game: Cinder (magic), Ollie (earth), Sal (water), and Tango (air). Give 1 of these cards at random to each player, along with the familiar token that matches the card. Next, find the 6 enchantment cards in the deck that go with each familiar being played, indicated by the icons of their corresponding elements. Give these sets of cards to the appropriate players. Shuffle the enchantment deck. Each player takes the familiar token that matches their card and places it on their casting board in a draw slot. For example, give the six enchantment cards with the earth icon to the player who has Ollie.

Subsequent Games

Deal each player 2 familiar cards at random. Look at them, but set them aside for now.

Draft Enchantment Cards

Shuffle the enchantment deck, and deal each player 7 cards. In secret, each player looks at their hand of cards and selects 2 cards to keep. Then, all players pass the remaining cards to the player on their left. This process is repeated until each player has selected 6 cards to form their hand, and 1 unselected card. Begin a discard pile with the cards that were not selected.

Each player selects 1 of the 2 familiar cards to keep, and returns the other to the game box. Each player takes the familiar token that matches their card and places it on their casting board in a draw slot.

Tokens, Bag, and Starting Bonuses

The back of your familiar card depicts your starting bonuses, primarily action tokens. One of these is your familiar token, already in a draw slot on your casting board. The rest of the bonuses typically consist of the 4 elemental tokens: 1 earth, 1 water, 1 air, and 1 magic, as well as 2-3 additional bonuses. Take any depicted action tokens (other than your familiar) or corruption tokens and place them in your spent pool.

If your familiar card depicts any harmony tokens as starting bonuses, place them in your harmony area on your casting board with the harmony side visible. Resolve any other bonuses depicted on the back of the familiar card, such as upgrading spells, then place your familiar card face up beside your player board.

Check the tokens in your spent pool to see if they are correct, and then take all of them and put them in your bag. You are ready to play!

General Concepts

Tokens

Druids use nature's power to cast spells that allow them to transcend their normal abilities, such as soaring through the air or healing a tainted pond.

Action tokens drawn from a bag represent your ability and skill to use elemental and magical power to cast spells and use special abilities.

Tokens are component limited. If an effect would cause you to gain a specific token and none remain in the supply, you do not gain a token.

Action Tokens

Core action tokens: earth, air, water, magic, ember, and moonglow tokens.

Potions: Potions are wild action tokens. They can be used in place of any core token when preparing actions. Potions do not count as any other specific type of token for the purposes of special effects or scoring, and cannot be used on familiar, fae, or wildlife cards. At the end of the game, potions are worth 1 VP each.

Special Action Tokens: Familiars, fae, and wildlife tokens are action tokens that can be used to perform special actions on specific cards, but can also be used in place of core tokens that match their elemental type (earth, water, air, or magic).

Corruption/Harmony

These two-sided tokens are not action tokens, but will still be placed with your action tokens in your spent pool, and will find their way into your bag. When in play, place the token so that the correct side is showing face up, depending on whether the token represents corruption or harmony. When such a token is in your bag or spent pool, or in a corruption slot on your board, it is always considered to be corruption. When harmony is gained from the supply, or when corruption is purified to become harmony, the token is placed in your harmony area so that the harmony side of the token is visible.

Other Tokens

Other tokens exist in the game, such as rune site tokens and golem tokens, but none of these other types of tokens are used for the functions of bag building and preparing actions. When the terms "token" or "tokens" are used alone in the rules or in card text, they refer to the tokens that can be placed into your bag - action tokens and corruption/harmony tokens.

Terminology

• Token Bag: where action tokens and corruption are shuffled and drawn from.
• Spent Pool: an area where tokens are placed when spent or gained.
• Spell: an action on your player board which requires spending and/or releasing tokens.
• Advanced Spell: the upgraded form of a spell.
• Action: one or more effects that are performed on a turn using assigned tokens. Actions include the spells on your player board. Actions also appear on familiar, fae, and wildlife cards.
• Draw Slot: a space on your casting board where you place action tokens that have been drawn from your bag.
• Action Slot: a space where an action token is assigned during the Prepare Phase.
• Corruption Slot: a space where a corruption token may be placed when drawn from your bag.
• Spend: the act of using a token to perform an action, and moving it to your spent pool.
• Release: to return a token back to the supply.
• Gain: to take a new token from the supply and add it to your spent pool.
• Unbind: Select an action token from your bag, spent pool, or any slot, and return it to the general supply to gain 2 VP. Unbind may not be used on corruption tokens.

Victory Points

Victory points (VP) are a measure of your success, and are derived from a variety of sources during the game, as well as at the end. Whenever VP is gained during the game, take VP stars from the supply and add them to your scoring pile. Whenever you lose VP during the game, return VP stars from your scoring pile to the supply. VP can never drop below zero. VP is shown in two forms, immediate VP and endgame VP. When you see endgame VP (marked with the endgame icon), the VP are not totaled until the end of the game.

Gameplay

Round Structure

A game of Whisperwood is played over 7 rounds. Players begin each round by simultaneously drawing tokens from their bags to fill draw slots on their casting board, and then assigning their drawn tokens to various actions depicted on their player board and cards. Once preparation is complete, players take turns performing one action at a time until all players have rested. Upon completion of the seventh round, victory points are tabulated and the player with the most points is declared the winner.

Each round consists of the following phases:

1. Draw Phase (simultaneous)
2. Prepare Phase (mostly simultaneous)
3. Action Phase (in turn order)
4. Recover Phase

Draw Phase

Druids draw power from the natural world they are sworn to protect.

Each round begins with all players drawing tokens from their bag simultaneously. At any time, you may look in your bag to see what tokens are there, but you may not look in the bags of your opponents.

Drawing Tokens

First, before drawing from your bag, you may choose to draw from action tokens that remain on actions from a previous round. Any action token on your player board or on any of your cards may be moved to an available draw slot on your casting board. This is not required, tokens can remain on actions from a previous round, but cannot be moved directly to another action.

1. Draw tokens from your bag, one at a time.
2. If you go to draw a token and none remain in your bag, take all of the tokens in your spent pool, and put them into your bag.
3. If the token drawn is an action token, place it on an available draw slot on your casting board.
4. If the token is corruption, you must immediately move it to an available corruption slot on any of your spells or cards. Corruption never remains in your draw slots. Be sure that it is placed so that the corruption side of the token is face up. If you have no remaining corruption slots, return the token to the general supply, and lose 2 victory points, if possible.
5. Continue drawing until your last draw slot is full, or until you have no tokens remaining in your bag and spent pool.

Drawing Corruption Example

Tormin draws an earth token and places it in a draw slot on his casting board. He then draws an air, moonglow, and ember token, and places each, one at a time on his casting board. Then, he draws a corruption token. He must place this token in any available corruption slot. He chooses to place it in the slot on his transmute spell. Tormin then draws another token, a magic token, and places it on his casting board.

Prepare Phase

Using the power they have drawn, druids prepare the spells they will cast to travel and aid the forest and its denizens.

Players simultaneously plan their actions by taking tokens from their casting board and assigning them to the action slots on their spells and cards.

In order for an action to be performed during the Action Phase, each of its action slots must be filled by a token of the depicted type. Tokens that do not match a slot may not be assigned to that slot. Many actions require only a single token, but others require 2 or 3 tokens. An action with all of its token slots filled is said to be "fully prepared."

Some action slots can be filled with any action token, and some actions require different combinations of tokens depending on the specific action being performed (see the Whisper and Restore spells).

Fae, familiar, and wildlife tokens can be used to perform spells on your player board, depending on the elemental type of the token. For example, a bear, earth fae, or earth familiar token can be assigned to the Stride spell.

During the Prepare Phase only, you may rearrange the action tokens you drew this round as you consider which ones you will perform. Tokens that remained on actions from previous rounds, however, may not be rearranged.

You may assign a token to an action without fully preparing it. There might be many reasons for doing so. Sometimes circumstances may change during the round that would allow the action to become fully prepared. For example, a spell might be upgraded to become an advanced spell with a decreased cost.

You cannot assign a token that does not match an action slot in anticipation of upgrading it to an advanced spell that has more flexible inputs (e.g. you may not place a water token on the basic version of Call Wildlife).

You also have the option to leave tokens in action slots and/or in the draw slots of your casting board for subsequent rounds.

Finishing Preparations

All players prepare simultaneously and openly, however, you may wait to finish your preparation until after those ahead of you in turn order. When you have finished, announce that you are ready. You are not locked into your plan, however, until all players agree to move on to the Action Phase. You may continue to make adjustments until then.

Preparing Example

Burble has drawn 2 moonglow, 1 earth, 1 magic, and 1 ember token. They assign the ember token to the spell Call Wildlife. They assign the earth token to Stride and the magic token to Inscribe. An air token remained on the Inscribe spell from a previous round, so they assign a moonglow token to fully prepare Inscribe. Not knowing what to do with the final moonglow token, Burble assigns it to the Whisper spell, anticipating its need for a future round.

Action Phase

The ability to manipulate the natural world through spells is what a druid must master. Devotion to protecting nature with these abilities is what defines a druid.

Starting with the first player, and proceeding clockwise, each player takes a turn performing 1 fully prepared action until all players have rested.

To perform an action, the action must be fully prepared, that is, with all of its action slots filled with the correct tokens.

Mistakes: At any time, if it is determined that an action token was assigned incorrectly to a slot that cannot accept it, move that token to one of the draw slots on your casting board. If the mistake is instead an unusable combination of tokens, such as for Restore or Whisper, at least 1 of the incorrect tokens must be moved to the casting board. Any tokens moved in this manner are available for the next round.

Performing an Action

Choose any action on your player board or cards that is fully prepared.

1. Pay the Cost: First, the tokens assigned to the action must be spent and/or released, depending on the type of slot they occupy. Remove the tokens from the action slots and place them in your spent pool. If a token must be released (depicting an X on the action slot), return it to the general supply.
2. Resolving Effects: Once the cost has been paid, resolve each effect from left to right.

Left to Right Rule: Actions are resolved from left to right. No part of the action may be skipped, and if an effect cannot be resolved, the action is halted, and the rest of the effects to the right cannot be performed.

Left to Right Rule Example: Heatherdrift is in the same location as Peat, the Earth golem. She chooses to cast the Whisper spell. She spends the assigned earth token and places it in her spent pool, and releases an ember token, returning it to the supply. She places 1 of her golem tokens on one of Peat's golem powers, then moves Peat to a different location. She realizes that she has already placed all of her earth restorations, so she is unable to resolve the next effect. As a result, she also cannot advance on the Earth Path, so her turn is over.

Simultaneous Effects: Some enchantments and golem powers have special effects that trigger when certain conditions are met. Occasionally, multiple effects might be triggered at the same time. When this occurs on your turn, resolve these simultaneous effects in any order.

Resting

Instead of performing an action, you may rest. Once you have rested, you may no longer perform actions for the remainder of the round. A player that has no more fully prepared actions must choose to rest.

If you are the first player to rest in the current round, even if it is the final round, take the first player marker. If there is another round, you will be the first player.

Once all players have rested, the round is over. Proceed to the Recover Phase.

Recover Phase

Move the round marker to the next space on the round track. If there are no remaining spaces to move the marker to, the game is over. Proceed to endgame scoring.

At the end of the 2nd and 4th rounds, the round marker passes a barrier icon. At that time, each druid becomes more powerful! Remove 1 barrier token from your druid's staff. You have 1 more draw slot for the rest of the game.

Whisperwood Board

The forest of Whisperwood consists of location tiles. Each location has 1 or more types of terrain corresponding to the three material elements: earth, water and air. Some locations also contain special markings for setup to indicate the starting positions for golems. Druids begin on the special Druid's Defiance starting tile.

Coexisting: Any number of druids, golems, and wildlife may occupy the same location. These game pieces do not interfere with placement or movement.

Movement on the board: Druids, wildlife, and golems will be moved around Whisperwood frequently. Note that whenever movement is called for, the game piece may not be moved in a manner that results in it remaining in the same location. In other words, you cannot move away and come back to the same location.

Locations

Features on Location Tiles

1. Rune Site: This is a space where a rune site token is placed during setup. Most locations have only 1 site, but some tiles may have more. During the game, rune markers are placed on these spaces.
2. Restoration Spot: This is a space that can receive a restoration token during the game. Each restoration spot indicates the type(s) of restorations that may be placed there, and each may contain only 1 restoration.
3. Dark Restoration Spot: When a player places a restoration on this spot, they gain corruption.
4. Wild Restoration Spot: Any type of restoration may be placed here. Players are restricted to using only wild spots that match their player color.
5. Corrupted Border: During setup, rune site tokens determine the placement of corrupted borders. When the movement of a druid, golem or wildlife ends in a location with a corrupted border, corruption is gained.

Actions

The actions on your player board are spells, and all of them except Whisper can be upgraded to become advanced spells. Each upgradeable spell is associated with a specific element.

• Soar, Inscribe, and Purify are air spells.
• Stride, Convoke, and Restore are earth spells.
• Flow, Transmute, and Call Wildlife are water spells.

Familiar, fae, and wildlife cards also have actions. These actions cannot be upgraded, and may only be performed using the specific tokens that match the card.

Upgrading Spells

Upgrade icons are depicted on paths, various enchantment cards, and elsewhere. Some upgrade icons depict a specific element, and others allow you to choose any upgrade. When you upgrade, choose a spell of a type matching the upgrade icon, and flip the spell tile so that the advanced side is face up. The newly upgraded advanced spell is available for use on any subsequent turn.

If you upgrade a spell with tokens on it (including corruption), those tokens remain on the spell after it is upgraded, if possible. Any tokens for which there is no slot on the advanced version of the spell are moved to your spent pool. Upgrading a spell may cause it to become fully prepared with fewer tokens than were required before.

Spell Descriptions

Each spell consists of one or more effects that are resolved from left to right. No depicted effects may be skipped (see Action Phase). Many spells have corruption slots that contain additional effects. The effects depicted inside the corruption slots may only be used if there is no corruption present at the time the effect should be resolved.

Stride

Slot: earth

Action: Move your druid from its location to any adjacent location. Ignore terrain.

Advanced Stride

Slot: earth

Action: Move your druid from its location to a different location up to 2 spaces away. Ignore terrain.

Corruption Slot: Purify (see the Cleanse action).

Soar

Slot: air

Action: Your druid must begin in a location that has air terrain. Move to any other location that has air terrain.

Advanced Soar

Slot: air

Action: If your druid is in a location that has air terrain, you may move to any other location. Or, if your druid is in a location that does not have air terrain, you may move to any location that has air terrain.

Corruption Slot: Draw 1 enchantment card.

Flow

Slot: water

Action: Your druid must begin in a location that has water terrain. Move up to 3 locations away along an unbroken body of water. You may not finish your movement in the location where you began.

Advanced Flow

Slot: water

Action: Unchanged from Flow.

Corruption Slot: Gain 1 harmony or unbind (see the Cleanse action).

Convoke

Slots: earth and water

Action: Move your druid to any other location that contains 1 or more golems.

Advanced Convoke

Slot: earth or water

Action: Unchanged from Convoke.

Corruption Slot: Gain 2 VP.

Transmute

Slots: any token and release any token

Action: Gain 2 core action tokens of any kind from the supply. They do not need to be the same kind of token. Place the gained tokens in your spent pool.

Corruption Slot: Take 1 of the newly gained tokens and assign it to an appropriate action slot. You may not assign the token to Transmute.

Advanced Transmute

Slot: release any token

Action: Unchanged from Transmute.

Restore

Slots: blank and blank (tokens required depend on the type of restoration)

Action: Place 1 restoration in an available spot in the location of your druid. Each spot depicts the type(s) of restorations that may be placed there, and each may contain only 1 restoration. The type of restoration you place is determined by the combination of tokens assigned. Magic restorations may be placed on any kind of spot. Only the following combinations of tokens are permitted, and each corresponds to a specific type of restoration:

Assigned Tokens	Restoration
Water and Moonglow	Water
Earth and Ember	Earth
Air and Moonglow	Air
Magic and Ember	Magic

Corruption Slot: Advance on the path corresponding to the type of restoration you placed. If you placed a magic restoration, advance on a path corresponding to a type depicted in the restoration spot being restored.

Advanced Restore

Slot: blank

Advanced Restore is different in the following ways:

Assigned Tokens	Restoration
Water	Water
Earth	Earth
Air	Air
Magic	Magic

Inscribe

Slots: air, magic, and release moonglow

Action: This action has several steps, and can only be performed if your druid is in a location that contains at least 1 rune site token.

1. Take 1 rune site token from your druid's location and place it beside your player board. If the token depicts an effect, resolve the effect, otherwise, keep the token for endgame scoring.
2. If no corrupted rune site tokens remain in the location, remove the corrupted border from the location. Note: you do not gain corruption from removing a corrupted rune site or corrupted border.
3. Select 1 of your rune markers, and put it in the site where the token was.
4. Choose your enchantment. You may choose the endgame scoring enchantment described in the space of your newly placed rune marker, or you may choose an enchantment card from your hand.
5. If you choose a card from your hand, put it face up over the endgame enchantment. If the card you play is an Immediate enchantment, immediately resolve the depicted effects, one at a time, in any order.

Advanced Inscribe

Slots: air and release moonglow

Action: Unchanged from Inscribe.

Cleanse

Slot: magic

Action: Unbind 1 token, or purify 1 corruption.

• Unbind: Select an action token from your bag, spent pool, or any slot, and return it to the general supply to gain 2 VP. Unbind may not be used on corruption tokens.
• Purify: Take 1 corruption token from your player board, flip it over to become harmony, and place it in your harmony area. You may not purify corruption from your bag or spent pool.

Advanced Cleanse

Slot: magic

Action: Unbind 1 action token, or purify 1 corruption.

Corruption Slot: Choose again to either purify or unbind.

Call Wildlife

Slot: ember

Action: Choose 1 wildlife in any location other than the location of your druid. Move it to your druid's location. If the location has a corrupted border, gain 1 corruption. Place 1 restoration of a type corresponding to the type of wildlife moved. There must be an available restoration spot that can accept the restoration.

Advanced Call Wildlife

Slot: water or ember

Advanced Call Wildlife is different in that it allows a choice of 2 different tokens, and allows you to advance on a path.

Corruption Slot: Advance on the path corresponding to the type of restoration you placed.

Wildlife	Restoration
Bear	Earth
Otter	Water
Owl	Air

Whisper

Slots: blank and release blank (tokens required depend on the type of golem)

Action: This action has strict requirements and multiple effects. To Whisper to a golem, your druid must be in the same location as the golem. In addition, the combination of tokens assigned must match the type of golem.

Assigned Tokens	Golem Type
Water and Moonglow	Water
Earth and Ember	Earth
Air and Moonglow	Air
Magic and Ember	Magic

1. Take 1 of your golem tokens and use it to mark 1 available power on the golem's card. The power is now in effect.
2. You may choose to forgo the power instead, by covering it with the token and turning it face down to the side depicting 3 VP. A golem card may not have more than 3 golem tokens on it. As with other actions, according to the left to right rule, if you cannot place a golem token on the golem, no additional steps of this action may be resolved.
3. Move the golem from your location to any other location. If the new location has a corrupted border, gain 1 corruption.
4. Place 1 restoration in the new location of a type corresponding to the golem. Magic restorations may be placed on any kind of spot. It must be placed in a restoration spot that can accept it.

Corruption Slot: Advance on the path corresponding to the type of restoration you placed. If you placed a magic restoration, advance on a path corresponding to a type depicted in the restoration spot being restored.

Familiars, Fae, and Wildlife

Druids create strong bonds with creatures, with some particularly clever ones becoming familiars who advise and help the druids to serve nature.

Fae creatures are visitors from another magical realm that have made their home in Whisperwood. Druids must purify the twisted magical essence of this realm, corruption, and return it to the fae as harmony to gain their trust and assistance.

You begin the game with a familiar card and a unique familiar token. Fae can be acquired as a result of rewards from paths, enchantment cards, and other sources. You may assign familiar, fae, wildlife tokens to the actions on their specific cards, or to other actions as if they were elemental tokens matching their type (earth, water, air, or magic).

Familiars

Each familiar is unique, with a unique token, a special action, and a set of starting bonuses.

Fae

There are 4 copies of each fae. During the game, you may only have 1 copy of a fae card, so there are enough for each player to have 1 of each. Fae uniquely have powers that make use of harmony.

Summoning Fae: When you gain the card for a fae, you also gain its corresponding token. Normally when you gain a token of any kind, it is placed in your spent pool, but with a fae token, you have the option to summon it immediately. To do so, release 1 harmony. Directly assign the fae token to the slot on the fae card. It is now fully complete and ready to be used on a subsequent turn.

Fae Actions: Each fae card depicts 2 actions: a primary action and a secondary action. These actions are resolved similarly to a druid's spells, with a notable difference. First, you must perform the fae's primary action, resolving its effects entirely. Then, you have the option to release the depicted amount of harmony to perform the fae's secondary action. Note that using harmony to perform the secondary action of a fae is entirely voluntary, unlike the effects on other actions that must be resolved if possible.

Wildlife

As the druids restore the forest, the owls, otters, and bears find their way back, returning to the trees, ponds and clearings. They show their appreciation by assisting the druids with their tasks.

Like fae, there are 4 copies of each wildlife card: bear, otter, and owl, respectively. Wildlife tokens are gained as a result of reaching marked spaces on the paths. The first time you gain a new type of wildlife token, also gain the matching wildlife card. You are limited to 1 card of each type. As the game progresses, it is entirely possible for you to get more than 1 wildlife token of the same type. Wildlife tokens appear as frequent rewards on the 3 paths.

Like fae and familiars, the actions on wildlife cards can only be activated by the specific wildlife tokens associated with them. Likewise, wildlife tokens may be used as their corresponding element and assigned to spells on your player board.

When you release a wildlife token, keep the wildlife card. As the game progresses, you may be able to gain more tokens to use with the card.

Each wildlife card has 2 actions you may perform, but each requires its own assigned token. During the Prepare Phase, you may assign tokens to either or both of the actions on a wildlife card, assuming you have sufficient wildlife tokens.

• The first action on each wildlife card is the "Call" action. This is similar to the upgraded version of the spell Call Wildlife, but specific to a single type of wildlife. You can use the actions to Call an Owl, Call a Bear, or Call an Otter, specifically. Move the wildlife from another location to your location, place the depicted restoration, and advance on the corresponding path.
• The second action on each wildlife card is the scoring action. To perform this action, you must release the wildlife token. Based on the arrangement of wildlife on the board, you will score immediate VP, and then you move 1 wildlife from any location to your den, for endgame VP.

Below are detailed descriptions for how each type of wildlife scores:

• Bears want to live alone, but like having their friends nearby. Score 1 VP for each location tile with exactly 1 bear that is adjacent to tiles containing any other bears. A tile with 1 bear but no adjacent bears does not score. A tile with 2 or more bears also does not score. After scoring, move a bear from any location on the board to your den.
• Otters play in groups. Score 2 VP for each location that contains 2 or more otters, up to a maximum of 8 VP. After scoring, move an otter from any location on the board to your den.
• Owls form vast parliaments spanning the forest. Score VP based on the number of owls in the largest cluster covering contiguously adjacent location tiles. A largest cluster of 2-3 owls will score 3 VP, 4-6 owls will score 5 VP, and 7 or more owls will score 7 VP. After scoring, move an owl from any location on the board to your den.

Paths

The earth, water, and air paths offer great rewards. Advancement along the paths can be triggered by a variety of game effects, but primarily result from restoration actions.

As you advance your marker along a path, generally from left to right, you must follow permissible routes, as indicated. When your marker enters a space on the path, you are required to perform each depicted effect, if possible. Player markers on paths do not block or interfere with other players' markers in any way.

Discovering Wildlife

When your marker moves past wildlife meeples adjacent to the path, take 1 of them and move it to Whisperwood. Place the newly discovered wildlife in the same location as your druid, or any adjacent location. Placing this new wildlife does not cause you to gain corruption when you place it in a location with a corrupted border.

Restoration Value

As you advance on the paths, your restorations become more valuable based on icons above the paths. See endgame scoring.

Effects on Path Spaces

• Upgrade: Flip 1 of your spells to become an advanced spell.
• Fae: Select and gain a fae card and matching token of the depicted type that you do not already have. You may summon the fae token immediately by releasing 1 harmony.
• Golem Power: Take 1 of your golem tokens and use it to mark 1 available power on any of your golem cards. You may activate the power by placing the token face up, or turn the token face down so that the 3 VP side is visible.
• Water or Moonglow: Gain and immediately assign a water or moonglow token on a spell.
• Any Path Advancement: Choose any of your path markers and advance it once.
• Wildlife Token (Bear, Otter, Owl): Gain the token for the wildlife associated with the given path. Air path: owl. Earth path: bear. Water path: otter. Also gain the matching card if you do not yet have one.
• Purify: Take 1 corruption token from your player board, flip it over to become harmony, and place it in your harmony area.
• Harmony: Take 1 harmony from the supply and put it in your harmony area.
• Purify/Harmony: You may purify corruption or gain 1 harmony from the supply.
• Token: Gain the depicted token. Moonglow, Ember, or Potion.
• 2 Enchantment Cards: Draw 2 enchantment cards from the deck.

Ending the Game and Scoring

The game ends when the last round is finished. Tabulate the following to determine your final score:

• VP Stars: These are the points you earned during the game.
• Rune Site Tokens: Total your site tokens showing point values.
• Endgame Enchantments: Determine the value of each endgame enchantment that was activated by inscribing its matching rune. If you played an enchantment card over an endgame enchantment, it does not score.
• Golem Tokens: Score 3 VP for each golem token displaying 3 VP.
• Golems Scoring Powers: Gain VP for the scoring power of each golem you completed with three golem tokens.
• Advanced Spells: Score 2 VP for each of your advanced spells.
• Wildlife in Den: Score based on the number of wildlife in your den: 2/5/9/14/20 for 1/2/3/4/5+ wildlife.
• Potions: Score 1 point for each of your potion tokens on your player board, spent pool or in your token bag.
• Corruption: Subtract 2 VP for each corruption on your player board. You are not penalized for corruption in your bag and spent pool.
• Restorations: Determine the value for each of your restoration types by looking at the position of your player markers on the paths. For magic restorations, total each of the +1 VP/magic restoration icons you reached or surpassed on all paths.

Restoration Scoring Example

Broadleaf has placed 5 water restorations, and all 10 of his magic restorations. He reached the 10th space on the Water Path, far enough for each water restoration to be worth 3 points each; which scores him 15 points total for water.

Due to advancements on multiple paths, Broadleaf has reached the +1 to magic 4 times, twice on the Earth Path and twice on the Water Path. Each of his magic restorations is worth 4 points, for a total of 40 points.

Broadleaf receives a total of 55 victory points for restorations (5 water x 3 = 15 VP; 10 magic x 4 = 40 VP).

The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most restorations placed wins. If still tied, the tied player first in player order wins.

Whisperwood Appendix

Familiars

Air Familiars

• Tango: Place 1 air restoration in the location occupied by your druid. Advance your marker 1 space on the air path.
• Paddle: Move your druid to the location occupied by the air golem. Advance your marker 1 space on the air path.

Earth Familiars

• Ollie: Place 1 earth restoration in the location occupied by your druid. Advance your marker 1 space on the earth path.
• Astra: Move to any location that does contain any wildlife. Advance 1 space on a single path of your choice that matches the terrain of the location.

Water Familiars

• Sal: Place 1 water restoration in the location occupied by your druid. Advance your marker 1 space on the water path.
• Ren: Place 1 water restoration in any location that is connected by water to the location occupied by your druid. If you gain corruption by placing this restoration, you may purify it immediately.

Magic Familiars

• Cinder: Place 1 magic restoration in the location occupied by your druid. Advance your marker 1 space on a path that matches the spot you restored.
• Serene: Place 1 magic restoration in the location occupied by your druid. Advance 1 space on each path that matches any restorations there. Ignore magic restorations for this determination. This action benefits from any players' restorations, not just your own. Do not advance more than once on each path.

Fae

Air Fae

• Quickling:
  • Primary Action: Place 1 restoration of any kind in the location occupied by your druid.
  • Secondary Action (release 2 harmony): Place 1 air restoration in any location on the board that does not contain a druid. Or, instead, advance on the air path.
  • Transcription note: the printed Quickling secondary action repeats the label "Secondary Action" twice; it is shown once here.
• Wilwisp:
  • Primary Action: Reveal 5 enchantment cards from the deck and keep 1. Discard the rest.
  • Secondary Action (release 3 harmony): Play and discard an immediate enchantment card to gain the rewards.

Earth Fae

• BurrowPig:
  • Primary Action: Move your druid to any location that has earth terrain.
  • Secondary Action (release 2 harmony): Advance your marker 1 space on the earth path.
• Sappling:
  • Primary Action: Place 1 restoration of any kind in the location occupied by your druid.
  • Secondary Action (release 2 harmony): Place 1 restoration of any kind in the location occupied by your druid, or any adjacent location.

Water Fae

• Glimmerglide:
  • Primary Action: Unbind 0, 1, or 2 action tokens (not corruption).
  • Secondary Action (release 3 harmony): Choose any fully prepared spell on your player board, and perform its action without spending or releasing the tokens.
• Wisperwog:
  • Primary Action: Advance your lowest path marker 1 space. If tied, you choose.
  • Secondary Action (release 3 harmony): Advance 1 more space on the same path.

Magic Fae

• Aetherdrake:
  • Primary Action: Advance your marker 1 space on any path.
  • Secondary Action (release 4 harmony): Gain the rewards from space on one of the other 2 paths, at the same position as the path marker you moved.
• Lunehare:
  • Primary Action: Purify 1 corruption from your token bag or spent pool.
  • Secondary Action (release 1 harmony): Use the primary action of any fae in the game, including this one.

Golems

Air Golem: Breeze

1. When you gain a wildlife token, you may spend 1 harmony to assign to an action its card.
2. Before drawing from your bag, you may draw air type tokens from your spent pool. You may not choose potions.
3. When you soar, you may place a 1 restoration of any kind in the location where you land.

Endgame Scoring (if complete): 4 VP per rune you have placed.

Earth Golem: Peat

1. You may call wildlife to locations adjacent to your druid. This power applies to the Call Wildlife spell, but also to the wildlife card actions that enable you to call an owl, call a bear, or call an otter. Using this power, your call wildlife actions can allow you to place restorations in adjacent locations.
2. When you end a figure's movement in a corrupted location, you may purify. This applies to whenever you move your druid, a golem, or wildlife into a location with a corrupted border. You still gain corruption into your spent pool, but you may purify 1 corruption on your player board.
3. You may use ember and moonglow tokens interchangeably. You may assign a moonglow to the Call Wildlife action, for example, instead of an ember.

Endgame Scoring (if complete): 8 VP for each advanced earth spell you have.

Water Golem: River

1. When you rest, you may purify 1 corruption or gain 1 harmony.
2. After you place a water restoration on the board, regardless of how, you may move your druid to an adjacent location.
3. You may use moonglow and water tokens interchangeably. For example, you may place a water token on Inscribe instead of a moonglow token.

Endgame Scoring (if complete): 3 VP per empty corruption slot on your player board. This includes empty corruption slots on your enchantments.

Magic Golem: Dazzle

1. Immediately gain 1 fae of any kind or upgrade 1 spell of any kind.
2. When you place a golem token, you may place it on any golem. For example, when you Whisper to the water golem, you could choose to place the token on the air golem instead.
3. When you use the spell Call Wildlife or the call owl, call bear, and call otter actions on wildlife cards, you may have them place 1 magic restoration instead of the type they normally would place. The spot where you place the magic restoration must match the wildlife. For example, calling an owl would allow you to place a magic restoration only on an air spot.

Endgame Scoring (if complete): 6 VP for each of your golems that has at least 1 golem token on it.

Endgame Enchantments

Each endgame enchantment defines a scoring rule, and has a unique rune icon that matches a specific rune marker. The position of that rune marker on the board, and the proximity of other components determine how it scores at the end of the game. Most endgame enchantments score based on adjacency.

Enchantment 5: You receive 2 VP at the end of the game for each location connected to this rune where you have any restorations. In order for a location to be considered connected, it must fulfill the criteria by containing 1 or more of your restoration tokens. The location where this rune was inscribed must also contain 1 or more of your restorations in order for it to be connected to the other locations.