Hey guys! I'm actually new to this forum but I figured this would be the perfect place to get some questions answered! The thing about this game is that it almost has to be taken literally when it comes to cards. My friends and I are usually good about talking things out and coming up with house rules for it but there are a few that we can't seem to agree on. So, here goes!

1. Followers. Do Followers only give you their ability while you have them? For example, if I have the Unicorn (Add 1 to your Strength and 1 to your Craft) and I lose the Unicorn, do I also lose the Strength and Craft? Cause some cards specifically say when to add to Strength and Craft.

2. The Reaper. Does the Reaper work in the same way the Werewolf does? Meaning, if the Reaper rolls a 5 but encounters a character, does he stop or does he have to land on the character? Cause with the Werewolf, if it's night, he stops on a character he encounters regardless if he has moves left.

3. Expansions. Can Talisman be played with all expansions? I have The Highlands, The City, The Dungeon, The Dragon, The Bloodmoon, and The Reaper expansions and I plan on getting the others! Will I be able to play with all of them?

4. "Land here" cards. There are some cards that say when you land here the effect takes place. For example, The Marsh says "The Marsh will remain here for the rest of the game. Whenever you land here, if your Strength is less than 5 you must miss one turn." Does that take effect on the person who drew that card or is it when someone lands there the next time? Cause The Magic Stream says, "Place a total of four Strength here when revealed. You may drink at the Stream once per visit and increase your Strength by taking one Strength from the Stream. When all 4 have been taken, the Stream vanishes to the discard pile." So, techinally when that card is drawn, you're already visiting it and can take a Strength.

I realize these questions may have already been answered a thousand times and I apologize for that. I wouldn't say I'm new to this game as I have played it tons of times and absolutely loved it! But if I could get these questions answered that would be great!!

Thanks!

Hi,

1. The Followers themselves give You their abilities. If You have the Unicorn, You must remember that it increases Your attributes, but You do not gain any physical red and blue cones. Obviously, if You will lose the Unicorn, You don't have its effect anymore, so You cannot add 1 to S and C anymore.

2. I don't quite get what You ask there. If You roll "5" on the Reaper's chart, You move the Reaper to another character's space and he immediately must encounter the Reaper.

Unless You mean rolling "5" for his movement. In that case he does not stop when he enters a space with a character. So no, it is not like the Werewolf.

3. Theoretically You can. Practically the Dragon expansion is meant to be a separate campaign, so I don't think that playing it with other expansions that modify the general gameplay too much (like Blood Moon, maybe the Firelands too) is advisable. But the expansions that do not change the basic gameplay (all other) of course are fine.

4. You encounter all the Place cards You drew or "inherited" after another character. Basically You don't encounter cards only if they appear elsewhere (like the Ghost Enemy from the core board) or in the meantime You are teleported to another space (like the Imp Event from the core game), or lost a battle or combat against an Enemy. If nothing like that happens, You encounter all the cards on the space.

Hello FantasyNerd8, welcome to this forum.

The right place to ask questions about rules is the Talisman Rules Questions subforum. However, no need to open another thread this time, they might just move it later.

1. Followers. Do Followers only give you their ability while you have them? For example, if I have the Unicorn (Add 1 to your Strength and 1 to your Craft) and I lose the Unicorn, do I also lose the Strength and Craft? Cause some cards specifically say when to add to Strength and Craft.

This kind of cards (mostly Objects and Followers) say "add X to your Strength/Craft", not "gain X Strength/Craft", so the bonus is only given as long as you have the cards (or limited to specific game phases, such as bonuses in battle/psychic combat). You shouldn't take additional cones for Objects and Followers that increase your attributes.

2. The Reaper. Does the Reaper work in the same way the Werewolf does? Meaning, if the Reaper rolls a 5 but encounters a character, does he stop or does he have to land on the character? Cause with the Werewolf, if it's night, he stops on a character he encounters regardless if he has moves left.

The Werewolf has a special movement rule during the Night. The Reaper has no special rules, so he must land exactly on a space with a character to force him to roll on his chart.

3. Expansions. Can Talisman be played with all expansions? I have The Highlands, The City, The Dungeon, The Dragon, The Bloodmoon, and The Reaper expansions and I plan on getting the others! Will I be able to play with all of them?

Yes, you can play with all, some or none of the expansions. Check Nemomon's answer for some warnings about the Dragon.

4. "Land here" cards. There are some cards that say when you land here the effect takes place. For example, The Marsh says "The Marsh will remain here for the rest of the game. Whenever you land here, if your Strength is less than 5 you must miss one turn." Does that take effect on the person who drew that card or is it when someone lands there the next time? Cause The Magic Stream says, "Place a total of four Strength here when revealed. You may drink at the Stream once per visit and increase your Strength by taking one Strength from the Stream. When all 4 have been taken, the Stream vanishes to the discard pile." So, techinally when that card is drawn, you're already visiting it and can take a Strength.

Check Nemomon's answer. Magic Stream and such cards are often read like you should land there again to take a cone, but honestly I don't understand why. Check current FAQ 1.1, page 5 for a FAQ about this (Fountain of Wisdom).

At this time you can play all expansions, but as has already been warned, the Dragon expansion, while playable, has in itself, 2 boards, and you can only use 1 side, and it replaces part of the main board. Some have suggested you play it to the side as a separate board and not cover the inner region. There is much discussion on this forum and elsewhere about the Dragon expansion. And while it can be played with everything else, it can't ALL be played as there is more than 1 option in how to play it.

As for the magic pools/streams, years ago when I played 2nd edition having discovered the game, I made note to this odd wording and made a house rule the 1 person finding it could not drink it. However, this was wrong and we corrected it a few years ago. I would guess, that this is a "may" use, and not a "must" use, and that's why you place 4 tokens down, because you don't have to drink it, but you may.

Awesome! Thank you guys so much! This helped out a lot!

Welcome to the forum. The folks who replied are all resourceful people who know the rules inside out. They've answered my questions many times. I have been on a "Dragon roll" recently because of the amount I have been posting about this particular expansion, so since my friends already answered your rules questions well, here I go again...

The Dragon comes with a standard ending (which is explained by the rulebook) as well as three alternates, for a total of four endings. The standard ending uses all components supplied with The Dragon and the alternates use them in different ways. The components (board, cards, tokens) that you use from The Dragon expansion depend on the ending you play. Depending on the ending you play, you may end up leaving many of The Dragon components in the box.

As Doma said, there are numerous threads explaining how to integrate The Dragon expansion into every game using house rules. But here is how I think the endings work using regular rules:

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Standard Ending: Use everything! (Board, cards, tokens, all three Draconic Lord sheets.) Either Dragon Realm or Dragon Tower will work.

Domain of Dragons: Dragon Tower, cards, tokens, and one randomly drawn Draconic Lord sheet. (Dragon Realm incompatible.)

Dragon Slayers: All three Draconic Lord sheets and 5 of each scale. (Board and cards not used.)

Dragon King and all other Talisman Endings: Nothing...(All Dragon components not used except characters. )

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The Dragon Realm is only compatible with the standard ending because it requires dragon scales to be present on Draconic Lord cards, a mechanic only done in the standard ending. The Dragon Tower requires a Dragon King, which exists in the standard ending as well as the Domain of Dragons. However, the experience will be different. Ascending the Dragon Tower in the standard ending means you will be challenged by all three dragon decks because the Dragon King constantly changes; in the Domain of Dragons, in which there is only one Dragon King, you will only face one deck in the tower.

1. Followers. Do Followers only give you their ability while you have them? For example, if I have the Unicorn (Add 1 to your Strength and 1 to your Craft) and I lose the Unicorn, do I also lose the Strength and Craft? Cause some cards specifically say when to add to Strength and Craft.

This kind of cards (mostly Objects and Followers) say "add X to your Strength/Craft", not "gain X Strength/Craft", so the bonus is only given as long as you have the cards (or limited to specific game phases, such as bonuses in battle/psychic combat). You shouldn't take additional cones for Objects and Followers that increase your attributes.

I said this in another thread not long ago but I don't agree (or well agree might be a strong word but we play it otherwise). Take cones for your objects and followers but don't place them with your other stats, place it on the card that gives you the additional stat. I.e. place one strength cone on your sword card when you aquire it or 1 strength and 1 craft on the unicorn. Just make sure that you don't take another strength cone if you draw the runesword later on. Just move the one from the sword to the runesword to show that your currently using it. The weapon with the cone is the one you're currently using.

This makes it easier to count and it's easy to see that if you lose the sword, you lose the strength cone.

1. Followers. Do Followers only give you their ability while you have them? For example, if I have the Unicorn (Add 1 to your Strength and 1 to your Craft) and I lose the Unicorn, do I also lose the Strength and Craft? Cause some cards specifically say when to add to Strength and Craft.

This kind of cards (mostly Objects and Followers) say "add X to your Strength/Craft", not "gain X Strength/Craft", so the bonus is only given as long as you have the cards (or limited to specific game phases, such as bonuses in battle/psychic combat). You shouldn't take additional cones for Objects and Followers that increase your attributes.

I said this in another thread not long ago but I don't agree (or well agree might be a strong word but we play it otherwise). Take cones for your objects and followers but don't place them with your other stats, place it on the card that gives you the additional stat. I.e. place one strength cone on your sword card when you aquire it or 1 strength and 1 craft on the unicorn. Just make sure that you don't take another strength cone if you draw the runesword later on. Just move the one from the sword to the runesword to show that your currently using it. The weapon with the cone is the one you're currently using.

This makes it easier to count and it's easy to see that if you lose the sword, you lose the strength cone.

Except that the Talisman has a limited amount of cones, and playes with the limited resources rules. Read: You will put all the cones onto various object/follower cards, and when You will gain 1 Strength You won't be able to get it, because the pile will not have any spare cones left. Because all the cones are placed on the cards.

If one has troubles remembering how much points he gets, he eventually can keep cards that increase the strength in one place, and all other cards in another.

Though I keep cards normally and each time I must fight, I'm quickly looking at my cards to see how strong I really am. Same true is for my opponents - either they will ask me and I will answer them or they themselves will move their ass and come to me too see my cards.