i would like to know if you really play the original rules with the full game on the table.

how far are houserules going ?

is it just the die roll of 1 that cant be modified by fate or is it runebound - like combat and trade system with dexterity as 3rd attribute ?

do you still run the quickest way up to the crown or do you force the players to kill all three bosses from highland, dungeon and woodland ?

how quick do you level up or how slowly, gettting xp trophies only for equal or higher enemies, not for lowers.

do you build charismatic cards into the storyline like the unicorn, prince and princess, the hermit and the holy grail ? Are you roleplaying Talisman a bit ?

For me the special worth of Talisman is the full small Fantasy world on the table with hundreds of diffferent encounters.

I'm not a very creative player.

I just play rules as written for everything.

But, I always start a group with the base game, then introduce one expansion at a time.

Most people I would guess play normal rules except with the Dragon expansion, which they use variants.

As for my group, they have played wrongly or with some 2nd edition rules and refuse to update them. For example they allow the monk and warhorse to count all craft. They also play that if a space sends you to another space, even when you lost a battle, that you continue play. But only small rule changes like this for us.

But since those who love Talisman and are pretty hardcore gamers come here, I think you will get a larger percentage here with variant play compared to the overall public.

I even play Dragon as written. Its actually not bad! Pretty strategic.

We play all expansions as written, except Dragon . We took that out completely, however, we do use alot of the Dragon Decks cards in our Adventure deck and this works extremely well. No issue at all. We simply didn't put any that specifically refer to the Dragon King in there.

We also add custom cards periodically...but that's another story entirely!

Drawing dragon tokens every turn makes Talisman a chore and hardly any fun!

Drawing dragon tokens every turn makes Talisman a chore and hardly any fun!

It can be tedious reaching into the bag every turn, and also not random enough.

One solution is to keep the dragon tokens separate. Then, in Excel, I have a list consisting of the word "Varthrax" 40 times, then "Cadorus" 40 times, then "Grilipus" 40 times, then "Slumber" 8 times, etc.I put that list into here http://www.random.org/lists/ which randomizes the list for me. I print out the page and bring a black sheet of paper to cover it. Then when someone has to draw a dragon token, I just pull the black page down one line and read what token is to be drawn, then take it from the pile. It's much faster and more random.

Another solution is to divide the 140 dragon tokens evenly by the number of players. Give each player a bag of tokens (preferably an opaque bag), and then give each bag one good shake before the game starts. Tell players to reach in and taken the first token their hand touches. You'll be surprised at the amount of time saved by eliminating all players reaching for the same bag and by asking players not to mix the tokens around each time one is drawn.

These are the changes I have made to the Dragon Rulebook, which now more closely matches the other rules and rulebooks in the game, whilst retaining the overall feel of the Dragon Expansion!

Page 2 - Expansion Overview

The Dragon is an epic level expansion, forcing the characters to confront fearsome dragons and deadly challenges throughout the game. A player must draw a dragon token whenever an Enemy is drawn which commonly results in placing a dragon scale on one of the Draconic Lords.

Page 6 - Drawing Dragon Tokens

Whenever a character draws one or more Enemies during his turn, before he encounters any cards, he must draw one dragon token at random from the pool and resolve its effect.

Page 11 - Claiming Dragon Scales

Important: Characters may only have a maximum of three dragon scales per Draconic Lord at any time.

Page 12 - Entering the Inner Region

Important: A character cannot enter the Dragon Tower unless he has a Talisman!

Page 13 - Ascending the Dragon Tower

The die is not rolled for movement in the Dragon Tower. Instead, a character moves one space forward in the direction indicated by the arrow on the space. A character draws the number of cards from the Dragon King’s deck instructed by his space and encounters them.

Important: A character must draw a Dragon Card when he first enters the Dragon Tower.

Encountering Dragon Cards in the Dragon Tower follows all of the normal rules (cards must be resolved in order of their encounter number, Enemies with the same encounter number add their Strength and Craft together, etc.), except creatures cannot be affected by any Spell, nor may they be evaded. Characters may use dragon scales as normal. If a character is defeated or is instructed to miss his turn, he may not encounter any of the remaining cards on the space.

After a character has finished resolving the Dragon Cards he encounters, his turn immediately ends. On his next turn, he moves one space forward towards the Crown of Command, plus one additional space for each Enemy he killed during his previous turn. If a character is defeated on a stairway, he must move one space back towards the Plain of Peril.

Page 14 - Example of Moving in the Dragon Tower

The Dragon Hunter ends his move on the Plain of Peril. The space instructs him to draw 1 card which will determine whether he moves any additional spaces next turn. Varthrax is the Dragon King, so the Dragon Hunter must draw 1 Varthrax Card from the top of the deck and encounter it.

The Dragon Hunter encounters a Fire Drake and kills it, so he takes the Fire Drake as a trophy and he will move an additional space next turn.

If the Dragon Hunter had not defeated the Fire Drake, it would have been discarded at the end of the turn and the Dragon Hunter would only move one space next turn.

Page 15 - Domain of Dragons

Whenever the Domain of Dragons Alternative Ending Card mentions the words “Enemy”, “Object”, or “dragon token”, it means when a character kills, draws, or is instructed to draw one or more of these cards or tokens.

Page 16 - Drawing Cards in the Dragon Tower

When characters in the Dragon Tower are instructed to draw cards, they always draw Dragon Cards rather than Adventure Cards. This requirement is true even when, for example, cards and special abilities specifically instruct the player to draw one or more “Adventure Cards”.

When a card is encountered in the Dragon Tower and has instructions or effects that refers to Adventure Cards, it affects Dragon Cards instead.

Example: The Sacrificial Stone instructs a character to draw 1 Adventure Card. If the Sacrificial Stone is encountered in the Outer or Middle Region, the character must draw from the base game’s Adventure deck. However, if the Sacrificial Stone is encountered in the Dragon Tower, the character must draw from the Dragon King’s deck instead of the Adventure deck.

Page 16 - Special Abilities Involving Dragon Cards

Special abilities and effects that apply to Adventure Cards behave differently when characters are in the Dragon Tower rather than the Outer or Middle Regions. When used within the Dragon Tower, these special abilities and effects apply to cards from the Dragon King’s deck instead.

Example: The Prophetess’s special ability states that whenever she draws Adventure Cards, she may discard one card of her choice and draw one more card to replace it. While the Prophetess is in the Outer or Middle Region, her ability applies to cards from the Adventure deck. However, while she is in the Dragon Tower, her ability applies to cards from the Dragon King’s deck instead.

Page 16 - Killed Characters (replaces Missing Turns)

If any character is killed during the game, all of his dragon scales are discarded and removed from play.

Page 16 - Draconic Retribution (replaces Challenge for the Crown)

This variant replaces the way that dragon tokens are drawn. Whenever a character defeats one or more Enemies during his turn, before he encounters any other cards that turn, he must draw one dragon token at random from the pool and resolve its effect (any dragon scale on the space may be claimed by a character before he draws the dragon token). This reduces the number of dragon tokens that are drawn by characters during the game.

Page 17 - Dragon Spawn

After the game setup is complete, the character who begins the game reveals a random dragon token from the pool until a dragon scale is drawn; any Dragon Strike, Dragon Rage, or Dragon Slumber tokens that are drawn are kept faceup next to the pool. The character rolls a die and places the dragon scale that many spaces away counterclockwise from his start space following the normal rules for placing a dragon scale.

Each character continues the process of drawing a dragon token and placing the dragon scale counterclockwise from his start space until six dragon scales have been placed on the board; if any space already has a dragon scale, it is placed in the next space counterclockwise that does not already have a dragon scale. Any Dragon Strike, Dragon Rage, or Dragon Slumber tokens that were drawn are then returned to the pool facedown and randomised. After these steps have been resolved, the game is ready to begin.

Page 17 - Dragon Bolster

This variant increases the Dragon King’s Strength and Craft. Whenever a character attacks the Dragon King, each dragon scale on every Draconic Lord Card increases the Dragon King’s Strength and Craft by 1 point.

Page 20 - Drawing Dragon Tokens

Whenever a character draws one or more Enemies during his turn, before he encounters any cards, he must draw one dragon token from the pool at random and resolve its effect (see “Drawing Dragon Tokens” on page 6).

This is how we play with the Dragon Expansion!

Ell.

Drawing dragon tokens every turn makes Talisman a chore and hardly any fun!

It can be tedious reaching into the bag every turn, and also not random enough.

So, we actually keep the dragon tokens separate (40V, 40C, 40G, 8 Slumber, 6 Strike, 6 Rage).

Then, in Excel, I have a list consisting of the word "Varthrax" 40 times, then "Cadorus" 40 times, then "Grilipus" 40 times, then "Slumber" 8 times, etc.

I put that list into here:

http://www.random.org/lists/

Which randomizes the list for me. I print out the page and bring a black sheet of paper to cover it. Then when someone has to draw a dragon token, I just pull the black page down one line and read what token is to be drawn, then take it from the pile. It's much faster and more random!

but then players know what counter is coming?

We hardly ever play with Dragons just having the Endings in the pool is good enough. When we play we draw a random cards from a deck I made to choose the sets we play with this is done after character selection the deck makes it totally random what rules, sets are going to be played with..

Funny Enough I call the deck "The Start Game Deck" haha simple enough.

I can find the stuff for it if anyone wants it, its somewhere around here .