Talisman

Not constrained to the confines of a dungeon, Talisman: The Magical Quest Game offered players an entire fantasy world on a single game board. Published in 1983 by Games Workshop, the Talisman world contained three regions, with the game's difficulty generally increasing as players neared the center of the board. Players would have to meet certain requirements with their characters before moving from the Outer region to the Middle and Inner regions. Each region contained wilderness spaces such as Woods, Fields, Crags and Deserts. Landmarks such as the Tavern, the Temple and the Graveyard could harm or reward players depending on the player's attributes and the roll of the die.

Players would select one of many different character classes and venture around the game board in search of items, treasure and followers, which would boost certain abilities. Characters fought combat against creatures (or each other) using Strength or Craft, each of which could be increased in many ways, such as visiting the village mystic or finding a magic fountain. When a player felt tough enough, they could challenge the Sentinel to try to move up to the Middle region, where the character might take on two or three enemies at once. Only the most powerful characters could force their way into the Inner region, where one bad roll of the dice would send them back to the outer regions.

Eventually, one player would gain the Crown of Command at the center of the Inner Region. A talisman was required to possess the Crown and use its deathly abilities. A player with the Crown of Command would be able to cause other players to lose one life per turn. This would quickly end the game unless another player was able to penetrate the Inner region and attack the player with the Crown. The game was won when only one player was left standing.

Talisman has gone through several updates and expansions. The first edition game was the most basic, with no additional areas to explore beyond the main game board. Later expansions increased the number of characters dramatically, and added new monsters, treasures and other encounters to the card deck. With the expansion sets, certain board spaces were developed into their own game boards, such as the City and the Dungeon. Entering one of those spaces would offer a whole new area to explore, with each providing its own benefits. For instance, upon exiting the Dungeon, if a player rolled a six (on a d6), they could instantly teleport to the Inner Region. This could lead to some very quick games, ending in under an hour. The average game of Talisman seemed to take about 3 hours to play, with games sometimes lasting six hours or more.

Later expansions also added more cards to the Crown of Command space, providing a variety of outcomes, which could be beneficial or harmful. Many players bought all of the expansion sets, and then chose which ones they liked using in their games. Thus, the Talisman experience was nearly as customizable as a person wanted to make it. The original rules did not come close to addressing all of the questions and vague areas within the game system. The expansion sets included clarified rules regarding frequently asked questions.

Much of the allure of Talisman was due to the large number of character possibilities a player could have. Characters included everything from the Warrior to the Merchant to the Prophetess, each with unique, powerful abilities. When playing Talisman, a player felt like they were going on a great adventure, a feeling which not many other board games have been able to capture.

An unofficial PC version of Talisman: The Magical Quest Game has been developed by Tim Smith. Major differences between his version and the board game include being able to choose your own character at the start, being able to move either way at the beginning of any turn, and 8-sided dice used for certain aspects of combat and other die rolls (such as the Mines in the Inner Region). The latter difference means that you will want to bump up your character's Strength and Craft score to pretty high levels before attempting the Inner Region.