Talisman 4th Edition

[Melba Toast]

Can somebody help me out.

I just purchased Talisman Revised 4th Edition from FFG. I used to play the old Games Workshop edition in the 80s. And I played the Black Industries 4th edition a few times.

But...

Something doesn't feel -right- about the FFG revision. It's not just the fate points, which I don't really have a problem with. It's that the game feels like it's been neutered. It just seemed really really easy... and I have to say, Talisman has never felt easy to me in all the years I've played it, including the times I played the BI version.

I just finished a game, and the thing that seemed most odd was that I hardly ever had to fight any monsters... The number of monsters in the deck seemed really low. I had acquired a Talisman, a Unicorn, a Mercenary, a sword, armour, a sheild and several bonuses to my strength and craft before I drew my first monster. And then the monsters I drew were all cakewalks... an Ape with a 3 strength? A specter with a 5? Wimps! Having acquired the armour, I almost never took damage.

And yet, I wasn't even winning. The other player was way out ahead because she evaded the sentinel with a spell and was raking up the goods in the middle region.

The other thing was, without Monsters to fight, I was kind of bored. I couldn't level up, so I was trapped in the outer circle where I had no challenges. How are you even supposed to level up in the game if there aren't any monsters in the deck? I just counted 25 out of the deck of 104. Less than 1/4 of the deck. Is that right?

So... what's the deal... did FFG subtly rip the guts out of this game to make it faster? Cause I've never had a more uneventful game of Talisman.

I should note that the other player ran the prophetess, and when she encountered the Demon (Strength, or was it Craft, 10) she promptly eliminated it from the deck with her special power. She might have done this for other powerful monsters as well.

Also... I could be wrong... but I thought I remembered rolling 2D6 for combat in the BI edition. I'm wrong a lot.

 

[MerricB]

Can somebody help me out.

I just purchased Talisman Revised 4th Edition from FFG. I used to play the old Games Workshop edition in the 80s. And I played the Black Industries 4th edition a few times.

But...

Something doesn't feel -right- about the FFG revision. It's not just the fate points, which I don't really have a problem with. It's that the game feels like it's been neutered. It just seemed really really easy... and I have to say, Talisman has never felt easy to me in all the years I've played it, including the times I played the BI version.

So... what's the deal... did FFG subtly rip the guts out of this game to make it faster? Cause I've never had a more uneventful game of Talisman.

Also... I could be wrong... but I thought I remembered rolling 2D6 for combat in the BI edition. I'm wrong a lot.

You're wrong.

First, as to combat: Every character except the Warrior uses 1d6 for combat. If you played the Warrior in the BI edition, you roll 2d6 and take the higher roll.

Second, on to the deck composition: The 1st, 2nd and 4th (BI) editions of Talisman have exactly the same decks. The 4th (FFG) edition of Talisman took out five "Bag of Gold" cards and replaced them with two Lemures (Craft 1), two Shadows (Craft 2) and one Wraith (Craft 5). So, it actually has more monsters than the BI version!

A few other changes:
Ogre went from strength 4 to strength 5
Raiders now only steals gold, not objects and gold.
Serpent is now an Animal, not a Monster

Honestly, I think you just got a very lucky start to the game, along with the Prophetess getting rid of a lot of monsters.

And yes, there aren't really that many monsters in the deck. It's always been that way. What sometimes happens is that they don't get killed and so pile up on the board. At least the Dragons do... unless you have a Warrior or Troll who is hunting them down.

A couple of notes:
The Mercenary, along with the Gnome, is one of the two best cards in the game. Both of those followers are worth 3 points of Strength/Craft in the endgame.

The Temple is the most reliable square on the board for increasing your Strength and Craft - it is almost a 1 in 3 chance you will roll a 6 or a 7 on two dice there. (The Monk and the Priest get that up to about 45%!) So, if you're not drawing monsters, buy an Axe from the village, make a raft in the woods, and travel up to the Middle Region.

I normally find that drawing lots of magic objects and followers is the way you win the game, not by fighting monsters... although the Troll can win that way fairly easily.

Cheers!

 

[werewolves of london]

Talisman links

Someone on this thread I believe was asking for expansion of talisman on the web or where to find them. I'm sorry if I don't know who, had to reregister for enworld, guess it had been too long and couldn't remember username or password lol. But here are two, the first is for more older additions of talisman, though it could work with 4th if one did alittle finangling. The second has more 4th edition expansions. Note these are both large websites and contain a wealth of information.

Talisman
Talisman Island: Expansions: Index

I love older and newer talisman and have played quite alot of the expansions after doing much armtwisting. I have a group that whines about expansions but at the same time whines about game is too short and powerful-need better friends lol.

Enjoy!

 

[MerricB]

We played a 6-player game of Talisman on the weekend, using the BI 4th ed set, the FFG Upgrade pack, Reaper Expansion and the Dungeon.

Eventually the Amazon, who had braved the Dungeon for most of the game, came out on top and ruled the world.

However, before then...
...the Prophetess was met by Death and the Prophetess rolled a 1. Not wanting to die, she used fate to reroll. She rolled another 1. The Prophetess left the game, all her lives gone.
...the Gypsy spent a lot of time in the library in the Dungeon, reading. (Gaining spells and extra turns). Eventually she left to be killed by an Ogre in the dungeon entrance. Book learning is no substitute for real experience!
...the Elf went to the Crags, and got lost, missing a turn. Just before his next turn, Death went to visit him there, and challenged him for a game a chess - making him miss another turn!

The game played pretty smoothly, all-in-all. 6 players, over in two hours. I was impressed.

Cheers!

 

[Tenniel]

Some high craft character on **u-Tube has made an awesome custom 3D tabletop Talisman board. It looks pretty amazing.

I grew up on 2e, but think balance and playability was lost in the waves of expansions. While I am not a fan of 3e's more cartoonish artwork and use of photographs for character portraits, I think it plays better than 2e. I also like 3e's more definative ending.

Have not played later editions, though the art does look good.

Would really like to see a console port, that would make for good beer and prezel fun. There is an unofficial fan-made PC version with lots of quirky modifications, artworkz scanned in from the 2e version and really retro interface.

 

[Zaukrie]

I finally opened the game, after owning the FFG version for about a year! Looks great. Hope to get the family playing soon.

That 3D version is cool, I might need to do that....

 

[Shade]

The next expansion was announced at GenCon:

Talisman: The Frostmarch Expansion
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/54475

4 new characters, 3 new alternate ending cards, 84 adventure cards, 24 warlock quest cards, 20 spell cards.

New Characters: Leprechaun, Warlock, Ogre Chieftain, Necromancer

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I've played a couple of games recently with my brother and his kids, and something is really bugging me about the game.

It's too random.

In both games, I've marched around the board, tried to fight things, tried to visit places I can get powered up, and so on, and both times I've come more-or-less last whilst other players merrily pick up items, followers and power and go on and win the game.

I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, per se, I've just been unlucky. But the game has been pretty joy-less - it's just not fun if the dice and cards don't go your way.

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

I'd suggest this is a good board game, but not such a good game for gamers.

 

[MerricB]

That's pretty much the basic flaw of Talisman. It's a random game.

Where it works for me (where Runebound does not) is that there is a lot of variety in the cards, it promotes character interaction, and the turns don't take long.

It's not without strategy, but it's of a basic sort. The Temple is massively important, as it's about a 1/3 chance of gaining a stat increase. Otherwise, drawing lots of cards is good, as is hanging around the Fountain of Wisdom or Magic Stream once they come up.

Cheers!