GW's Talisman: anyone played

[mistergone]

Still, I have many fond memories of all-night Talisman games in my wasted youth.

My friend, a youth filled with all-night Talisman games was not wasted. Oh man... to bask in those simpler days. What is it called when one pines for days gone by, gazing wistfully back over the good old times, and blinking dismayed and depressed at the grim present? Is it called old age?

 

[Grand_Director]

I have a question. Could I use the older expansions with this new edition that has come out? Will the rules be compatible?

 

[War Golem]

My gaming group played the new edition last night. I used to play it a lot back in the 80's, but had forgotten a lot about it... just remembered that it was a super-fun boardgame cross between D&D and Paranoia, and a lot of fun.

The game is long! We played with 6 players and it took nearly four hours to finish. The game is very variable; I'm sure it could have gone faster depending on who picks up which cards. Most of the "broken" cards mentioned so far are still in the game, but the two problematic characters people mentioned (Troll, Prophetess) are gone.

We did spend a fair bit of time trying to interpret rules, as the written rules that come with the game are very brief, but this just seemed par for the course for a gaming group - there's at least a few rules interpretations discussions every time we game. Maybe non-gamers trying to play Talisman would find it more frustrating in this regard?

Anyway, it is pricey (that's GW), but worth grabbing if you can. It made an excellent off-night activity for our group.

Cheers,

 

[kengar]

Anyway, it is pricey (that's GW), but worth grabbing if you can. It made an excellent off-night activity for our group.

Cheers,

People have mentioned $75 or so for the game. Is that for the old edition on ebay? The new boxes I saw were priced about $35 iirc.

 

[Sir Draconion]

I have the new game and it has some different rules
when you tally up the monster str to 7 to get +1 str
is now handeled with plastic cits that you gain for str or craft monsters and can be spent for a str, craft, gold or life at a 7 for 1 ratio
swrods, sheilds, helmets and armor all break if you roll a 1 when you use it
there are not as many dragons mayby two in the whole game
some more powerful items have a one time use
and the tower is handled with cards
wich might be changed with future expantions
i think this is a one time thing for GW limeted release
so if you dont have one get one now
a great game
but it could use the expansions from the earlier
1st and 2nd ed sets

 

[Broken Fang]

A friend picked up the new one...and it was $75 here as well. It played just like the old one and I would think you could use the old expansions fine. I heard from our local GW rep that they would not be re-releasing the expansions.

But the best new card game is Lunch Money! It's $20 and with two packs you can play with eight. Nothing like going to town on your buddies in the playground! If you haven't played you really have to...almost ever Friday night after playing 40K, Lunch Money hits the table and we play for hours.

 

[ced1106]

EnWorld loves it, RPGnet hates it. Go figure.

I'd put DungeonQuest, Advanced HeroQuest, HeroQuest, and possibly Warhammer Quest before Talisman, but those games are OOP too! :/


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[Gizzard]

I had a lot of fun playing Talisman back in the 80's, so I'm not totally slamming this game. But after many many sessions our group gave up on it because the critical problems people have already mentioned in this thread:

1) The game is in no way balanced. Some things are insanely strong, some things are pathetically weak. Other things just haven't been thought through clearly, like the following:

2) The game can go on forever. Literally. We once had a player ask how he would go about leaving the Crown of Command since he just wasn't doing anything useful up there. Other players were running amok on the main game board with the Evil Life Drinking Sword and Fountains of Life. They were adding to their already insane power, while the Crown player's 50/50 chance of taking one life every turn from them was not doing much. How does this game ever end in that situation?

We had all the expansions, which I suppose is a testament to how much we enjoyed the game for a while. Even if you are enjoying Talisman, I do not recommend the expansions, except the first one. They add a lot more chaotic, unbalanced things to the game which only detract from the basic fun part - which is running around the board in circles slaying monsters and collecting treasures.

I'm not sure what all is in the new $75 GW edition, though it looks like it has miniatures and other fun extras. I would almost guarantee that you can get $75 worth of fun out of the game over the course of three months, then you will become so frustrated that you will never play it again. Do with as you will this advice. ;-)

 

[EarthsShadow]

I have fond memories of this game, and I still have my 2nd edition copy with all expansions but one (missing City, gotta get it). Sure some things are unbalanced, but we didn't care at all.

We did establish some rules of our own while playing it towards the end, the main one was you had to pick the direction you walked before rolling and once you rolled you were stuck with it. Plus, we usually just had it that the first person to get the crown won because by then we were pretty tired.

Lots of fun, won't pay 75.00 for the new one unless its on a discount rack. If you have never played it before, pick it up cuz its just fun.

 

[Tratyn Runewind]

Hi again,

Posted by mistergone:
What is it called when one pines for days gone by, gazing wistfully back over the good old times, and blinking dismayed and depressed at the grim present? Is it called old age?

It is but the fond nostalgia of a gamer past the wet-behind-the-ears stage...

Posted by Gizzard:
The game can go on forever. Literally. We once had a player ask how he would go about leaving the Crown of Command since he just wasn't doing anything useful up there. Other players were running amok on the main game board with the Evil Life Drinking Sword and Fountains of Life. They were adding to their already insane power, while the Crown player's 50/50 chance of taking one life every turn from them was not doing much. How does this game ever end in that situation?

Yes, that does bring back the memories. People flipping up the Crown from among the random ending cards, and everyone else hoarding their healing or running for the Timescape while gaining power. A similar thing is when someone rushes for the center in hope of a quick win against uber-powerful opponents, only to draw the Belt of Hercules and still not be powerful enough to kill them. The usual end I've seen in these situations is for one of the more powerful characters to get a Talisman, cruise up to the Inner Region, and kill the unworthy holder and take the Crown for himself. Or to simply hunt down and kill other players one by one, since respawns stop after someone reaches the Crown space. And as far as I recall, you can simply leave the Crown space back out through the Inner Region, the same way you came into it. We've considered a house rule that forbade healing and life gain while the Crown space was occupied, but results were mixed.

Anyway, since we have people here who have seen the new version, I'd like to ask how many of my old favorite characters are in it. That would be the Conjurer, the Sprite, and the Wizard from among the major spellcasters, and the Knight, the Monk, the Swashbuckler, and the Warrior from among the fighter-types. I suspect Wizard, Knight, Monk, and Warrior are highly likely, but I do wonder more about the others.

And pretty much all Sir Draconion's info is news to me - trading in Craft critter kills, trading in for things other than Strength, and breaking weapons and armor. Any other comparisons between the current and the 2nd Editions by those who have played both would also be welcome.

So, anyone got the 411 for me here?