Talisman

[Blackthorn]

Has anyone here played this game? It seems to have a cult following and highly polarized opinions from fans who love the immersive theme and haters who detest the roll and move mechanic, randomness and long play time. The FFG 4th edition currently in print certainly looks nice and I like that the game play does not seem overly complicated.

[Sjeng]

never played it. I'll have to look it up.

[shy-design]

My board game crew likes to play it from time to time, and it certainly serves as a nice change of pace from heroquest but it still holds to the fantasy genre feel. I highly recommend it. Especially if you are the one who is constantly taking the Zargon/Morcar seat. (like me ) because everyone plays as a "hero" (there is no "GM"). It is up to you as the player with a fine balance of fate from the board spaces that determine the path of your character. I love big group games of Talisman (4 or more) where inevitable alliances are made early on... only too be broken like a knife in the back once everyone inches closer to the inner region. Needless to say it is a wonderful game to add to anyone's collection, especially if you enjoy Heroquest.

I play with the latest edition by the way. 4th edition. The miniatures are really pretty nice too... some I have even crossed over to use in my HQ campaigns b/c they are the same scale and offer some interesting character options that the HQ line lacks... like the Assassin, the Thief, the Minstrel,,, just to name a few.

[Blackthorn]

Thanks shy-design, that's just what I was hoping to hear.

[Patroclus]

Talisman is high recommended. One of the few fantasy games who keeps the perfume of the old days. It’s not that random as they usually say. Yes, of course if you roll the wrong score you may have lots of troubles, but you can make your choices to avoid things as to all games. For example, don’t go deeper if you are not satisfied with the score of your abilities, or what you going to buy with your money, or sometimes you may have to go back for some reason… When you watch others playing you will find yourself saying “well I wouldn’t do that”… So, in my opinion this is not random at all. Of course, it is totally different than HQ, but if you want to compare them the pleasure of playing HQ is unbeatable... So, I suggest you to not waste gaming nights if you can play HQ.

The good of Talisman, that HQ don’t have it, is that you can play it with people who know nothing else than monopoly. Even if they don’t play boardgames they can’t resist to play it. And finally one more plus, is that with only two players you can play the 100% of the gameplay. To be honest, I believe that with two players is a lot better than 3 or 4, because the game will last for too many hours.

[bruenor]

I used to play it back in it's 3rd ed days, good time, a little long winded sometimes, allow yourselves a full night and a bit if you have all the expansions.
Used to thoroughly enjoy it.

[Blackthorn]

I'm currently contacting members of boardgamegeek who may want to trade their copy of the FFG 4th edition for my barely used copy of Castle Ravenloft. I think Talisman will be more fun....Ravenloft was just painful.

[shy-design]

I'm currently contacting members of boardgamegeek who may want to trade their copy of the FFG 4th edition for my barely used copy of Castle Ravenloft. I think Talisman will be more fun....Ravenloft was just painful.

good call. and good luck.

[Blackthorn]

No luck on BGG so I went ahead and bought a copy. I played through a "solo" game just to get a feel for the rules play and I think this is going to be fun. I'll see if I can convince someone to play this weekend and report back.

[Blackthorn]

Hello, I haven't been here for a while mainly because I haven't been playing much HeroQuest, but my group did get together to play Talisman and we all agreed it was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed being an adventurer rather then Zargon. The rules were easy enough to learn and the turns flew by once we got the hang of it. I have to say everyone really enjoyed it when a fellow player got turned into a toad and the mad dash ensued to claim his loot. The game did last three, hours but no one felt that it dragged on too long. I don't think this will replace to HeroQuest with it's focus on teamwork and exploration, but it's a nice change of pace.