Talisman (board game)
Talisman: The Magical Quest Game is a fantasy-themed adventure board game for two to six players, originally designed and produced by Games Workshop. From 2008 to 2017 Fantasy Flight Games produced Talisman under license from Games Workshop.
The game was first released in 1983 and has gone through several revisions, the currently available version as of 2019 being the revised fourth edition of 2008.
History
The game was created by Robert Harris who thought it up for the amusement of himself and his friends. In its original inception, the game's objective was to become prefect of a boys' school. Changing the theme to fantasy, he found a publisher in the form of Games Workshop and agreed a contract for royalties. The game was renamed "Talisman" and it was shown at Games Day 1983.The second edition of Talisman was nearly identical to the first edition, the differences between the two being purely cosmetic. The 1st edition's black and white deck cards were replaced with coloured versions in the 2nd edition. Early runs had a colour version of the folding board of the 1st edition, but this was later replaced with a 4-piece board which fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. The box art was also changed from the pen and ink drawing of the original to the painting that appeared on the second edition, which enjoyed a much longer print run. The third edition, in contrast, made numerous changes to the artistic design and mechanics of the game.
First and second edition
The object of the game is to be the last surviving character. The easiest way to kill your competitors is to progress through a series of regions and reach the Crown of Command. The game contains three regions: the Outer Region, the Middle Region and the Inner Region. Players start in the Outer Region and try to progress inward. The Inner Region contains the Crown of Command, the central board position. To reach the Crown of Command, players must pass through the Valley of Fire. Only characters possessing a talisman may enter the Valley of Fire, hence the name of the game.Each player selects a character, or "hero", at random at the beginning of the game. Each character has different special abilities and a set location in which to begin. Each character has several attributes: Life, Gold, Strength and Craft. Each character begins with four lives and one bag of gold. Strength and Craft are used for two different kinds of combat: physical combat and psychic combat. One of the main goals of the game is to build up a character so it is strong enough to venture inward, eventually to the Crown of Command. Once at the Crown, a character can cast the Command Spell causing opponents to lose one life each time it is successfully cast.
Game play consists of players rolling a die and moving about the regions. At each location in the regions, the board indicates what takes place. Some locations have set events or encounters, some are random. Many locations indicate to draw a number of Adventure cards. These cards contain numerous events. Some indicate the character has met an enemy who must be fought, some indicate that the character has found an object or magic object or received a bag of gold, etc. All these events help build up the character. One of the features of the game is that many of the cards remain on the square after being drawn.
Building up the character is one of the game's main activities. This can involve gaining followers, increasing in Strength and Craft, gaining and casting spells, gaining lives, obtaining gold and acquiring objects and magic objects. One magic object a character must eventually possess is a talisman, which allows the character to pass through the Valley of Fire.
Expansions
Throughout its history, Games Workshop released several expansions for the game, each of which added new spells, adventure cards, and heroes. The first, Talisman Expansion Set, was released in 1986, and was followed by Talisman The Adventure which gave rules clarifications, alternate endings, character sheets, and additional slotted bases for up to 12 players.The third expansion set, Talisman Dungeon, was released in 1987 and added a second "dungeon" board to the game which is placed alongside the main Talisman game board. Periodically throughout play, players may encounter entrances to the dungeon. The dungeon is laid out in a spiral pattern, leading to the Treasure Chamber in the centre. Many items are not allowed in the dungeon, such as Horses and any Warhorses. Also, some spells and character abilities are nullified or altered within the dungeon. Players move through the dungeon and its traps and creatures to reach the fabulous treasure at the center. After reaching the Treasure Chamber, players are transported back to the main board. Where they are transported to on the board depends on a roll on the player's next turn. There is an option to play Dungeon without the main game board. In this variation, characters start at the entrance to the dungeon. They then race to the center, the first one arriving declared winner. Unlike the normal game, characters cannot encounter one another in this variation.
Talisman Timescape was released in 1988 and adds a section which consists of futuristic regions where the player may get transported due to various events or encounters. Characters may enter the Timescape by encountering a Warp Gate, stumbling upon the Horrible Black Void, or by visiting special people such as the Enchantress or the Warlock. The "Timescape" is a linked chain of different dimensions. Characters cannot encounter each other while in the Timescape – they have been teleported to an entire different reality, not an area as on the main board. Many events and encounters do not take place in the Timescape, nor do most movement bonuses work. The player is drawn from area to area by a force inexplicable and incomprehensible to them. In practice, players roll a die and consult the table to see where they are drawn to next. Only the Warp Belt allows the player to control where he will teleport to next. The timescape can only be traversed in a clockwise manner. As players are drawn along "warp lines" from one area to the next, players cannot back up or accomplish movement in the normal manner. The characters and situations were loosely based on the Warhammer 40,000 science fiction setting.
The next expansion, Talisman City, was released in 1989, and replaces the city space in the Outer Region on the Talisman board with a "city" board. Within the new city region there are more places to visit and additional items to purchase. The city "has standards to maintain" and does not harbour moneyless people, hence characters must always have at least one gold with them at all times. If a character should ever lose all their gold, a warrant for their arrest will be issued; if the Patrol or Watch ever encounter that character, they will be arrested and taken prisoner. In addition, fighting is not tolerated and earn any participants a warrant.
The final expansion, Talisman Dragons, was released in 1993 and added dragon-related cards and heroes. Each expansion added new locations/regions, characters and Adventure cards to the game. Some added new spells, objects and magic objects. Some even allowed characters the opportunity to bypass the Valley of Fire and be transported directly to the Inner Region or the Crown of Command.
Reception
Andy Blakeman reviewed Talisman for Imagine magazine, and stated that "Obviously, this is a luck game, and the amount of luck required is sometimes very frustrating. However. quite an epic fantasy atmosphere builds up around the game, and it plays efficiently and cleanly. If you like fantasy boardgames, then this is quite a good example."In the April 1984 edition of White Dwarf, Alan Paull liked the high quality of the game components, but thought that games went on for far too long, and winning seemed to be a matter of luck. Paull gave the game an below average rating of 6 out of 10, concluding, "Talisman is not a bad game. If it was shorter, it would make an enjoyable family game."
In the March-April 1985 edition of The Space Gamer, Matthew Costello commented that "This is an ideal fantasy game for your non-gaming friends or relatives. There's enough familiar 'boardgame' here so that they'll be comfortable, but Talisman adds subtle and challenging elements from the FRP world."
In the December 1993 edition of Dragon, Allen Varney considered Talisman a classic, calling it "a nutty romp that calls for lots of luck, a laid-back attitude, and tolerance for getting turned into a toad. You won’t believe how often this game toadifies you."
Talisman was chosen for inclusion in the 2007 book . Shane Lacy Hensley commented that the very name of Talisman "conjures a smile – if not a nerdish giggle – from most thirty-something gamers as they recall countless high school and college days playing this simple and addictive game."
Reviews
- Different Worlds #44
- Casus Belli #34
Third Edition
The First and Second editions used cards to represent the characters in the game. The cards were placed on plastic bases and moved about the board as the game was played. The Third Edition did away with the stand-up character cards and instead included plastic miniatures. It removed many characters from the Second Edition and added new ones which tied the world of Talisman more closely to the Warhammer Fantasy settings games.
Third Edition also added an additional character attribute, Experience, not unlike a role-playing game to help the character develop their powers. By defeating enemies, the characters accrue experience points. The experience they gain is equal to the defeated enemies' craft or strength. These experience points can then be redeemed for gold, strength, craft or life at the cost of seven experience points for one. The earlier editions used a similar, but more limited feature which applied to strength.
Expansions
Three expansions were released and some extra characters were printed through White Dwarf magazine. Each of the expansions used "realm dice" which made movement slower in the realms. The realms were normally accessible from only one square on the main board.The first expansion, City of Adventure, was released in 1994 added two boards: the City board and a Forest realm.
Dungeon of Doom was released later in 1994 and added 2 additional game boards: a "Dungeon realm" and a "Mountain realm" which fit around the 2 corners of the original board not used by the City of Adventure expansion. It was based loosely on the expansion Talisman Dungeon for the Second Edition. At the end of the Mountain realm and Dungeon realms there were valuable treasures; reaching and defeating the Eagle King of the mountain realm entitled the player to move to any square on the board including the causeway that connected the Wizards Tower to the middle board.
The 1995 expansion pack, Dragon's Tower added a playing board, a card tower surmounted by a dragon model, extra rules, a realm die and four additional characters. Two extra characters were printed in White Dwarf to coincide with its release. The Dragon Tower replaced the normal endgame of entering the center square. Movement through the tower is slower and used its own deck of adventure cards. The encounters met in traversing the dragons tower can either impede the adventurer or give them an edge when finally meeting the dragon itself.
Fourth Edition
On January 8, 2007, Black Industries announced the launch of a new edition of Talisman, which was released on the confirmed release date of October 5, 2007. This new edition is based around the Second Edition, incorporating some rule revisions from the Third, as well as a larger six-piece board. The game board is about 30% larger than the Second Edition board and has an art treatment in-line with contemporary fantasy role-playing games from Games Workshop.The game comes with 14 playable characters: Priest, Monk, Prophetess, Minstrel, Elf, Wizard, Sorceress, Assassin, Ghoul, Warrior, Thief, Druid, Dwarf, and Troll.
At the GAMA Trade Show, it was announced that there would be expansions, but no details were provided at that time.
A few copies of the fourth edition were sold at the Games Day 2007 on September 23, 2007. Numerous images of the pre-production version of the game were posted on Board Game Geek before its general release on October 5, 2007.
Revised Fourth Edition
On 28 January 2008 Black Industries announced that they would no longer be publishing board games, including Talisman. On 22 February 2008, Fantasy Flight Games announced that they would be taking over the license for Talisman, continuing to produce the 4th edition and its expansions. Fantasy Flight Games published the Talisman Revised 4th Edition on 17 December 2008, as well as an upgrade pack with updated cards and miniatures for people who bought the original 4th edition.Expansions
Through 2016, Fantasy Flight produced numerous expansions to Talisman. Most came with new characters and one or more new endings for the game.| Name | Release Date | New Characters | Alternative Endings | New Cards | Other |
| The Reaper | December 2008 | Sage, Dark Cultist, Merchant, and Knight | none | 90 Adventure cards, 26 new Spell cards, 12 Warlock Quest cards | Two optional game mechanics: additional Warlock quests and the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is a non-playable character and adds even more random elements to the game. |
| The Dungeon | May 2009 | Gladiator, Amazon, Swashbuckler, Gypsy, and Philosopher | none | A new deck of 128 cards called Dungeon cards. 10 Adventure Cards, 20 Spell Cards, 10 Treasure Cards | Includes a new region, an L-shaped piece connected to one corner of the board. |
| The Frostmarch | October 2009 | Leprechaun, Necromancer, Ogre Chieftain, and Warlock | Crown and Sceptre, Ice Queen and Warlock Quests | 84 Adventure cards, 20 Spell cards, 24 Warlock Quest cards | none |
| The Highland | May 2010 | Alchemist, Valkyrie, Highlander, Vampiress, Rogue, and Sprite | Battle Royale, The Eagle King, and Hand of Doom | 142 Highland cards, 10 Spell cards, 12 Adventure cards, 4 Relic cards | A new L-shaped corner board for heroes to explore. |
| The Sacred Pool | October 2010 | Magus, Cleric, Chivalric Knight, and Dread Knight | Demon Lord, Judgement Day and Sacred Pool | 72 new Adventure cards, 16 new Spell cards, 24 Quest Reward cards, 12 Stables cards, 4 Neutral Alignment cards | none |
| The Dragon | September 2011 | Dragon Hunter, Dragon Priestess, Dragon Rider, Minotaur, Fire Wizard, and Conjurer | Wrath of the Dragon King, Challenge for the Crown, Dragon Spawn | 168 Dragon cards, 3 Draconic Lord cards | A dual-sided Inner Region board. |
| The Blood Moon | May 2012 | Grave Robber, Vampire Hunter, and Doomsayer | Blood Moon Werewolf, Horrible Black Void, Lightbearers | 111 new Adventure cards, 10 new Spell cards, 1 Time card, 6 Lycanthrope cards | A non-playable Werewolf character. |
| The City | January 2013 | Spy, Tinkerer, Cat Burglar, Tavern Maid, Bounty Hunter, and Elementalist | 3 new Alternative Endings | A new deck of City-themed cards, 18 Wanted Poster cards, various new purchase cards | A new region board occupying the corner adjacent to the City. |
| The Nether Realm | February 2014, print on demand | A new Nether deck of advanced Adventure cards to be used with the alternative endings | 3 alternative endings | 36 Nether cards | The first print on demand expansion for Talisman. |
| The Firelands | February 2014 | Dervish, Nomad, Jin Blooded and Warlord | 3 new Alternative Ending | 81 new Adventure cards, 19 new Spell cards, 19 Terrain cards | A set of Fireland tokens that are added to the game with a new "burn" mechanic as well as new Terrain cards that can terraform game board spaces. |
| The Woodland | September 2014 | Totem Warrior, Scout, Spider Queen, Leywalker, and Ancient Oak | 3 alternative endings | 103 Woodland cards, 10 Adventure cards, 20 Path cards, 14 Destiny cards, 5 Spell cards | A new region is added to the game alongside the new Destiny cards that add to a character's already existing abilities and new Path cards that players pick up when entering the Woodlands and shape their path to their destiny. It also adds and expands upon the concept of Fate, separating the existing Fate tokens into light and dark sides that greatly change how Fate factors into the game. |
| The Deep Realm | Mid January 2015, print on demand | none | none | 2 realm cards, 20 Tunnel Cards and 20 Bridge Cards | Requires the Dungeon and City expansions, and allows for travel between the two realms. The two realm cards serve as bridgeways between the two boards |
| The Harbinger | June 2015 | Celestial, Possessed, and Ascendant Divine | 2 new Alternative Endings | 75 Harbinger cards, 10 Spell cards, 10 Terrain cards, 32 Omen cards | Focuses on the new titular and non-playable character of the Harbinger, and the seven Omens that can bring about the end of the world. |
| The Cataclysm | 2016 | Black Knight, Scavenger, Mutant, Arcane Scion, and Barbarian | 4 Alternative Endings | 47 Adventure cards, 10 Spell cards, 6 Warlock cards, 6 Talisman cards, 24 Purchase cards, 10 Terrain, 40 Denizen cards, 24 Remnant cards | A new main board that replaces the original main board. |
Video game versions
A version of the game for the ZX Spectrum computer was released in 1985.In 2007, Capcom announced plans to release a version of Talisman for the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft Windows platforms. This product was originally to coincide with the release of the Fourth Edition of the board game, but on October 12, 2008, Capcom's Senior Director of Strategic Planning announced the cessation of development, due to a "misfire" and the costs of transferring the project to new developers. He stated that the rights to Talisman had reverted to Games Workshop.
On November 15, 2012, Nomad Games Ltd released Talisman Prologue, a single-player video game version of Talisman.
On February 12, 2014 a multiplayer version of the game called Talisman Digital Edition was released on Steam, and later ported to Android and iOS mobile devices.
Legacy
There are several active communities for the game on the Internet and many individuals have produced their own versions of the game, featuring custom expansions complete with custom Adventure cards, characters and objects.Random Games attempted to convert Talisman into a Microsoft Windows video game. However, they lost support from their publisher and could not find another before they went out of business.
An unofficial Talisman video game was released in July 2008 but has since been taken down after Games Workshop asserted its intellectual property rights.
In 2012, Fantasy Flight Games announced Relic, a board game using Talisman system and set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe, available in early 2013.
International editions
Talisman was translated into several languages: Finnish, French, German, Italian, Czech, Slovak, Hebrew, Swedish, Polish, and Hungarian. All save the Polish were only translations of the original game.Hebrew Edition
The Hebrew edition was published by Meytzuv in Israel. It was published in both 1st and 2nd edition.Years after Meytzuv went bankrupt, the game was republished by Lemada and is still played by many fans in Israel. During the Champions' Hall 2nd convention – ChampsCon 2006.
In 2015, Monkey Time, the distributor of Fantasy Flight Games in Israel, translated the 4th revised edition of the game and will publish it instead of the 2nd edition still in the stores in Israel.
Polish Edition
The Polish edition, published in 1989 by BPiRF Sfera company as Magia i Miecz was based on 1st edition rules, and was the only edition with new artwork for all cards. All 2nd Edition expansions were translated, although some were bundled together. Furthermore, the Polish edition had one additional expansion, Jaskinia, with a new board, cards and heroes. The Cave had some tough monsters and only very advanced heroes could think of going inside.When Sfera lost the Talisman license from Games Workshop, they published a clone of the game: Magiczny Miecz. The main board was changed, the heroes and cards were different, and the terminology was changed. The Magic Sword had all new graphics which wasn't received very well as compared to Talisman. Magic Sword also had one more board, Krypta upiorów, with some innovations. Magic Sword wasn't very well received by Talisman fans, although it appealed to many new players. Later, a second edition of this game, with improved graphics, was released.
Original 4th Edition was translated and published in Poland under a name: Talisman. Magia i Miecz, owing to popularity of the Magia i Miecz in 1990s.