Revisiting Talisman 4th ed

Talisman 4th Ed (Black Industries)

Talisman is now into its 5th ed. It has new art and rule changes to speed up the game.

I've sold my Revised 4th ed some years ago. I put up the non-Revised ed for sale too. Someone made an offer, but when I took it out to check, I decided to keep it. This is the last modern take on Talisman 2nd ed, and it is beautiful.

Talisman will always mean 2nd ed to me. Talisman is very random and can take four hours or longer. Nowadays, games are 45 to 90 mins. I've always thought how to speed the game up.

The three biggest issues are movement (unable to land on desired space), leveling up (increasing stats) and catastrophic events (resetting progress). Let's fix a few other issues at the same time too.

Movement

If you move to +/- 1 space away from a corner space, if that space does not have an Enemy encounter, you may move to the corner space instead. If you are one space away from a corner space, you may move there instead of making a normal move.

Lives are used as movement modifiers, except for the last life. You start with 8 lives. You may add or subtract from your move. Any number may be used in the outer region. Only one may be used in the middle region. None may be used in the inner region.

One movement modifier may also be used to make a 'super move' of 7 spaces in the outer region. You may not make a super move if you have a mule (or horse-n-cart).

Movement modifiers may not be used to reach Magic Stream, Fountain of Wisdom and Pool of Life.

Leveling up

Enemy strengh is XP. You only need the same XP as your base strength to level up your strength. This rule is very common and it makes leveling up much faster. Leveling up this way applies to strength only.

There are very few ways to gain craft in the base game. If you lose a life to non-combat non-thirst board/card encounter or to a Spirit enemy, roll a die. If you roll above your craft, you gain a craft.

For Marsh (strength) and Maze (craft), if you lose a turn, you gain the stat if you roll above your stat.

Catastrophic Events

Toad. This is the most catastrophic of all. You lose all objects / followers, have 1 strength / craft and move one space for 3 turns. It definitely needs to be nerfed. New rule: you skip all encounters. You drop (not discard) one gold, life, object or follower per turn. Movement modifiers may be used.

Cursed by Hag. You lose all followers except for her and Poltergeist. It is not too bad, except you need to visit the Village to get rid of her. New rule: you retain two followers (excluding this and Poltergeist). You may leave (not discard) her at the other three corner spaces — laying a landmine for other players! If Cursed by Hag is at a corner space, it must be encountered before the board.

Poltergeist. Limited to one space per turn. This is the least harmful. The problem is that it can take many turns to cross a source of water. New rule: movement modifiers may be used. You may drop a gold, object or follower (including Cursed by Hag and excluding itself) to move normally in a turn.

Raiders. All objects and golds are moved to Oasis. This is very damaging. New rule: roll 1D6 for each object, stolen if 1 - 2. Roll 1D6 for golds stolen.

Home ground

When you reach your starting space, you may choose between: two golds, one life, or gain a stat by trading in 3 cards (objects / followers) — the last one is a common house rule.

(You are at your starting space at the start of the game, so you may choose a benefit right away. Bonus: you may choose a stat without trade-in.)

The starting space then moves to a random space opposite the board (use a marker to mark it). When you reach it, it goes back to your original starting space.

Craft

Craft is not that useful in the base game. Let's make it intelligence and charm as well. You may only have as many spells and followers (in total) as your non-combat non-transient craft. High strength characters have starting advantage. This will incentivize them to increase their craft.

If craft drops, existing spells and followers remain, but new ones may not be acquired.

Gold

You start the game with 3 golds.

Objects

You may carry objects up to your non-combat non-transient strength. It makes sense that stronger characters are able to carry more. One one-handed weapon and armour are excluded from this count. Objects that can move on their own, such as Mule, are excluded as well.

If strength drops, existing objects remain, but new ones may not be acquired.

Enemy encounters

You may skip a non-spirit enemy board/card encounter by dropping a gold.

The Adventure

Rod of Ruin. Cause targeted player to lose two stats. New rule: a player may only lose one stat.

Expansion Set

Whirlwind. 67% chance of losing objects. Reduce to 33%. 1 = blow to 1D6 space away, alternate clock and anti-clockwise. 2 = discard, 3 - 6 = safe