Subject: Re: Talisman (2nd Ed): Can it be fixed? From: Trevor_Dewey@acml.com (Trevor Dewey) Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 22:59:38 -0400 Message-ID: In article <5pfe7q$sp7@samba.rahul.net>, John David Galt wrote: >Your experience is the opposite of mine. Indeed, most of the changes >from 2nd to 3rd edition were the elimination of alternate ways to win (i.e. >you could no longer get to the Crown from the Dungeon or from a Timescape >card), thus making it more boring. Oh I agree. 3rd edition was simply lowsy. Ugly board, ugly artwork (As someone has mentioned the number of skulls on the third edition board is something of a trivia question: 82 I think). Only slightly cleaned up mechanics and characters. An awful game, all around and the expansions did little or nothing to enhance the game. > >Most games I've played, you find one or two people trying each of these >strategies, all sometimes viable depending on your start: [Various options listed] Yet at some point when a player appears to be leading, or is clearly in the lead. It is best for all the other players to work together to bring that particular player down. Doing othewise will simply hand that player the game. >I'll grant your point that this game is mostly luck, but OTOH it does a good >job of making it hard for everyone to gang up on you. I disagree. Its fairly easy to beat up on the leading player (assuming say four or more players. Certainly, I'd agree if its a two-three player game using all the boards it can be difficult to catch up to the other guy :->) As long as players move with that intent. The problems with Talisman, in no particular order are: the random game engine, the wild variations in starting character power and the complete lack of hidden information. Most of these have been mentioned at greater or lesser length here and elsewhere so I won't go into details. IMHO it is the lack of hidden information that leads straight to the long hell of "beat up on the leader" and is the central problem in finding a fix for the game. I like the game but like most people tire of it easily due to the lack of strategy and lack of suspense. Cheers, Trevor -- "I don't trust a man who doesn't laugh".