Wisp in the Vale is a four-player asymmetrical “path-puzzler”, inspired by the folklore of the Will o’ the Wisp. The game utilizes the Larklamp tabletop game system. Game boards made of shadows are cast from patterns cut into the lantern’s removable side-panels.
In Wisp in the Vale, three players are villagers attempting to make their way safely home across a vale just after sunset. Unfortunately for them, this particular vale is haunted by a malevolent spirit know as a Will o’ the Wisp, who is played by the fourth player. The wisp wields a ghostly lantern used to lure the living off their paths and into the treachery of darkness. Both spirit and the living have the power to cast charms or glamours which affects the movement and state of all the other players on the board.
If the villagers all reach their homes safely, then they have won the game – but if they should not, then the wisp has won the game by luring them into the shadows.