Rochester Gamers Community

Another month gone, another classic game to describe. This month the members of RGC have nominated Talisman as their featured game and, true to my word, I’ve prepared a write up.

This game is one that is near and dear to me. My brother and I received this for Christmas one year growing up. I can’t tell you what year it was but I can tell you that it was the second edition of the game, before any of the expansions to that edition had been printed. If I had to guess I’d say my copy is about 18-20 years old, and looks every bit of it.

Recently, Games Workshop has released the 4th edition of the game. It is a virtual reprint of the 2nd edition, with a few minor rules improvements and a few extra ways to turn you opponents into a toad. More on that later.

Each player starts by selecting a character at random from the stack, or at least that is what the rules say to do. Most of the time house rules that allow for a choice between 2 characters are used. This allows you to have at least some choice in how you go about achieving the goal of gaining control of the crown of command and ruling the realm.

Each character has a rating for strength and craft, representing their physical strength and fighting ability and their wits and mental ability respectively. Most monsters and animals (and other players) are fought using strength, while craft controls your ability to fight spirits and cast spells.

As you roll and move (not the greatest moving mechanic ever, but you can at least choose direction) you can encounter either adventure cards or other players. If you encounter the space you land on, you don’t encounter the player in that space if there is one. Conversely, if you encounter the player in the space you land on, you can’t encounter the space itself.

The adventure card deck holds many different types of encounters. Events can occur which happen to you alone or to all players, monsters or spirits may be fought, strangers who may help or hinder you can take up residence, you may find an object, magical or not, or a follower to take with you, or a strange place to explore.

Throughout the game you must balance your need to become more powerful with your need to beat your opponents to the end. When do you leave the relatively lower threat of the outer region for the higher risk, higher reward middle region? Your goal lies at the center of the inner region, so you must eventually push on, but there is no reaching your ultimate goal without a talisman to protect you, so you must obtain one before proceeding.

There are many different spaces on the board that you can encounter along with those that let you draw cards. You could visit an enchantress, alchemist, or doctor in the city, a mystic, market, or healer in the village. You could pray at the temple or chapel, or try to invoke the spirits in the graveyard, if you’re evil. There are deserts and black knights to be feared and maidens to be rescued. Classic fantasy at its finest.

The game doesn’t have a real good mechanism for ensuring that things move forward and so it can get bogged down as each player tries to gain more power. This can result in a long game, but the players themselves have to keep one another honest. Eventually someone will make a run for the end, and if successful, the game typically ends in short order. There are also rules for shorter play included, and I’d recommend considering those if time is short.

I promised you more information on the toads. Nearly anytime you encounter a magician in the game, there is a chance a player can be turned into a toad for three turns. This can set back even the strongest player, and can be a perfect time to attempt to take a life or two from a player. Each player begins with 4 lives, and has to start over if they lose them all. This explains the value of the healers and doctors in the game.

Combat is simple enough. You tally up all your bonuses from items, followers, and your own score. The enemy has its respective rating in either strength or craft. You roll a 6 sided die for yourself, the opponent to your left rolls one for the monster. You both add your die rolls to your totals, then the highest total wins. In case of a draw, there is no winner or loser. If you lose, you lose one life, unless you’re protected by armor or magic. If you win, you gain valuable experience.

Advancement is done through defeating monsters and spirits. Once you’ve defeated 7 points worth of enemies you can trade them in for another point of the respective attribute. There are also items and followers that can advance these abilities, but if you lose them you also lose their abilities as well. The same goes for followers who make you stronger or wiser.

All in all I’d highly recommend this game to anyone looking to play in a world of classic fantasy through a board game mechanic. My personal, slightly biased rating would have to be about 9/10. I can’t wait until my next play.