grodog said:
I never played Talisman, what's the scoop on the game?
It's a light (and fun) fantasy adventure game. Each player is an adventurer trying to reach the Crown of Command in the middle of the board and impose their will on the kingdom. To do this, they must pass through the Valley of Fire, for which they need a Talisman.
Gameplay is pretty simple: a character has Strength (starting 2-4), Craft (2-4), 4 Lives and 1 Gold, and some special abilities. They also have an alignment: Good, Evil or Neutral. Each turn, a player rolls the die and moves that many spaces clockwise or anticlockwise around the board. Most squares have "Draw 1 Card" on them, in which case you draw one card from the Adventure Deck (which has Events, Monsters, Spirits, Strangers, Followers, Objects, Gold, Magic Objects and Places in it) and encounters that card. Cards might stay on the board, or do other things.
Other squares have preset encounters - e.g. you can Pray at the Temple; buy stuff in the City; or be healed in the Chapel.
The board is divided into three regions: Outer (where everyone starts), Middle, and Inner. The Inner region has a lot of challenges you must face (e.g. Crypt; Vampire's Tower, Maze; "Dice with Death) before reaching the Valley of Fire and the Crown of Command.
Combat is very simple: both sides roll one die and add it to their strength. Highest roll wins. Special abilities, spells and objects may modify that. Some players may attack each other in Psychic Combat (using Craft), and you always fight spirits with such. Other characters have special abilities - the Sorceress can beguile followers from characters she lands on; the Thief can steal an item from anyone. The Wizard always has one spell.
Example characters:
Troll - 6 Strength, 1 Craft: You do not have to roll the die in the Crags.
Warrior - 4 Strength, 3 Craft: You may roll 2 dice in combat and use the higher roll. You may use two (1-handed) weapons at the same time if you don't use a shield.
Wizard - 2 Strength, 5 Craft: You begin the game with 2 Spells. You always have at least 1 Spell. You may attack characters in Psychic Combat.
Prophetess - 2 Strength, 4 Craft: You always have 1 spell. You may look at the spells held by other players. When you draw adventure cards, you may discard (only) one to draw a new one.
Example adventure cards:
Dragon: Strength 7. The dragon will remain here until killed (yes, it attacks you unless you evade it).
Goblin: Strength 2
Magic Belt: You add 1 to your Strength while you have the Magic Belt.
Sword: You add 1 to your Strength when you use the Sword in Combat.
Wand: You always have one spell.
Poltergeist: A Poltergeist has attached itself to you! You must take it as a Follower. You do not roll the die for movement, instead only moving 1 square/turn. You discard the Poltergeist when you cross a river.
Game time is generally 1-2 hours.
I finally snagged an AH edition of Titan, and although I'm glad to hear that it's coming back into print, I hope that the publishers are crediting and paying Tramp and McAllister for the sales, somehow....
The rights for Titan are apparently very confused indeed; I'm amazed that Valley Games have got them. There'd be a tale there, I guess...
Wizards has said at some point that they don't actually have the rights to a lot of old AH games.
Cheers!
