Weekly Trash - Talisman

Aarontu wrote:
Chaotic, crazy, fantasy-themed, random insanity! May not be perfectly balanced, but it's a bunch of silly adventuring fun. This new edition looks really nice, with the cool gold coins, awesome board and card art, and little plastic pieces for stats (they aren't very readable, so I'm just using all of them for '1'). Great for casual gamers who like fantasy stuff (though it can run kind of long if you don't use any time-saving variants).

The 4th edition is nearly identical to the 2nd edition in gameplay, which isn't a bad thing. It's not mentally taxing, doesn't have downtime, is heavy on theme, feels like an adventure, and is an endless source of dramatic situations that can cause feelings in players all over the emotional spectrum.

The old expansions were good (for the most part). The extra card expansions and the dungeon were great for variety. The city and timescape kind of took away from the cutthroatness and player interaction, which I didn't like.

At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much choice or opportunity for strategy (just roll a die, move that many, draw a card and do what it says), but there's a bit more decision making than people give it credit for. You feel like you are both choosing your own adventure and simply going along with the story. Still, there isn't *a lot* of strategy here, and this is a nice game to play when you want some light fun after a long day, or when you're with a bunch of friends and want to play something light, fun, thematic, and cutthroat.



Weekly Trash is a series of discussion threads in the F:AT forums. Each week a comment from the recommendations database is highlighted here. Don't be shy about posting further comments, questions, answers, funny stories, pictures, "this game sucks", or anything else related to the game.

I'm very much looking forward to the FFG release of the new edition and upgrade pack. From the photo of the upgrade pack, it looks like they added something to the game called "fate tokens" and another stat to character cards (possibly 'fate'?). I wonder how it's going to change things.

I think the upgrade pack looks pretty awesome. I've already arranged a trade for a reasonably priced copy of Talisman 4th edition and I'll likely take the upgrade plunge. There may be better adventure games on the market today, but somehow it doesn't feel "right" not owning a proper copy of Talisman. A lot of games today wouldn't exist without it.

I have second and 4th edition but somehow Prophecy always seems to trump Talisman. Talisman has got the nostalgia thing and nothing is better than chanting "TOAD,TOAD,TOAD" and then having the player roll a 1. but the gameplay is pretty basic and can grind horribly. The skill system and balancing cards make Prophecy make it what Talisman *Should* be. I'm afriad to admit that I have have new master now and his name is

PROPHECY

Steve"prophet"Avery

I have whatever version came out about 6 months ago (or so), is this upgrade pack going to make it so that it will be compatible with new FFG editions or will I have to buy another copy of the game?

Anyways, I like this one although the end game is a bit longish for what it is. That part seems to grind especially if you are one of the poor saps that has no chance of catching up.

The solicitation that I saw for it in Previews/Game Trade listed it @ $19.95. However, people who have dealt with Diamond/Alliance in the past will probably agree that the solicited price isn't always the final price.

That mess called "The City"

Haha, yeah. I never liked the city. Cool idea, having a city that's more than just a different version of the village space. It just didn't turn out very well.

The only house rule I play with in 4th edition is that you can choose to end your movement on the city or village when passing over them, but ONLY if you are getting healed at the doctor, buying stuff at the blacksmith, or seeing the mystic because you have the hag. Almost all of the frustration caused by the "roll-n-move" part of the game is because someone wants to heal, buy something at the village, or get rid of the hag, and this variant alleviates un-fun frustration without affecting the rest of the game. It's actually pretty rarely used at all.