I just picked up Frostmarch, and seeing some of the alternate win conditions makes me wonder what your experiences have been with some of the alternate win conditions.

Are some more fun than others? Are there some that aren't worth playing?

I guess the alternate endings are listed here: http://www.talismanwiki.com/Category%3AAlternative_Ending_Card

Our group likes the Nether Realm, particularly Pandora's Box.

While I think all Alternative Endings are fun, you can't go wrong with an expansion focused purely on Alternative Endings (The Nether Realm). It's great, in my opinion.

Nothing beats winning by seeing the other guy draw Horrible Black Void . Pandora's Box is solid, Hand of Doom is also up there, it's touch and go proper randomness in Talisman style.

There are several categories of Alternative Endings. Besides Hidden and Revealed, which are officially introduced in the expansions, you can make the following subdivision:

1) Boss Endings

Ice Queen

Eagle King

Demon Lord

Dragon King

Dragon Slayers

Blood Moon Werewolf

War of Seasons

2) Objective Endings

Warlock Quests

Sacred Pool

Lightbearers (co-op)

Assassins' Guild

Merchants' Guild

The Hunt

A Hero Rises

Wanderlust

3) Endgame Variants

Crown and Sceptre

Danse Macabre (bonus)

Battle Royale

Hand of Doom

Judgement Day

Thieves' Guild

The Gauntlet

Pandora's Box

Crown of Flame

Spreading Flames

Judged by Fate

4) Exceptions

Domain of Dragons (actually this is an alternative way to use the Dragon Expansion)

Horrible Black Void (not an ending, but a new beginning for all but one player)

It's easier to talk about them using these categories.

Boss Endings are the less interesting ones, because if you play them revealed they will make the game longer, because characters require higher stats to beat the bosses, and the final combat is rarely interesting but a cakewalk instead; if played hidden, they will take the first player by surprise, possibly killing him, then they will just play like in the revealed version. I don't like these endings so I don't use them most of the time, except War of Seasons because it's the only attempt to create an unpredictable boss fight.

Objective Endings are always revealed, because you need to know the special victory requirements from the start. They always change the feel of the game because players tend to focus on their new tasks. PvP can't do very much to stop others from fulfilling the objectives, except reaching the Crown of course. I enjoy these alternative Talisman games from time to time, with A Hero Rises and The Hunt being the most played ones around here. Lightbearers co-op variant is weird and not really playable IMHO; I have tried it once and then put it aside.

Endgame Variants only replace the final part of the game and are better played as Hidden Variants, even though some can be Revealed as well. Except for Crown and Sceptre, which is a faster and duller version of the standard Crown of Command, they often make up for a fresh endgame. My personal favourites are Firelands' Endings Crown of Flame and Spreading Flames, but also Highland's Battle Royale and Hand of Doom are quite nice.

Great categorization Warlock

Boss Endings are the less interesting ones, because if you play them revealed they will make the game longer, because characters require higher stats to beat the bosses, and the final combat is rarely interesting but a cakewalk instead; if played hidden, they will take the first player by surprise, possibly killing him, then they will just play like in the revealed version. I don't like these endings so I don't use them most of the time, except War of Seasons because it's the only attempt to create an unpredictable boss fight.

Using a boss as a hidden ending only catches the first player offguard if nobody knows what the endings are. If you know the chance of it being in the mix, you can prep for the possibility of getting a boss ending. Knowing a boss is possible but chancing it, well, that's on the player IMO, took a gamble and lost, nothing new in Talisman that . My view being that caught by surprise means you didn't have the slightest clue about what you might face.

While it's only a 1/6 chance with the six endings we use, most of the time people prep for a combat stat of 15 or so before hitting the Crown, just in case you do get the Ice Queen (prefer her over Eagle King or Werewolf). Of course, 15 doesn't mean raw stat of 15, especially not these days with Warhorse and Flail available to buy (hell, vanilla stats Wizard would be 2d6+7 with those two, in a pinch could defeat those Str 12 bosses).

Using a boss as a hidden ending only catches the first player offguard if nobody knows what the endings are. If you know the chance of it being in the mix, you can prep for the possibility of getting a boss ending.

Having a Strength 12+ in battle or Craft 12+ in psychic combat prepares you for most boss endings. If you want to go the extra mile, you can prioritize Craft in case you pull Demon Lord. Having these stats also prepares you for endings involving character showdowns, mainly Battle Royale. It's also good to have a Talisman in case you pull Battle Royale or Dragon King.

The rest of the hidden endings you can't really prepare for, I think, so it's just "boss prep" that you might need.

We usually play the hidden endgame variant. I remember one game, I was playing with my wife and nephew. My nephew is highly competitive when playing games, and it was one of those games where luck happened to be on both of our sides. We had both accumulated massive amounts of strength and craft, and my nephew was going through the inner region, while I was in the dungeon. I could see the excited look of anticipation on his face as he just knew he was going to win Then, in one turn, I got to the end of the Dungeon and battled the dungeon boss (Warlord or whoever he is). I beat him by so much that I was immediately teleported to the Crown of Command. My nephew's face, by this time, looked very concerned I flipped the alternate ending card and it was the one that said if you're the first to the Crown of Command, you win the game!

The cool part was that my nephew's amazement at how I won totally won out over his cut-throat competitiveness and he thought that was the greatest thing he'd ever seen He still talks about it.

For my group we really do love the crown of command. BUT since playing The Hunt alt ending from the Netherdeck all we want to do is play this ending! We even have the condition of killing 4 Netherdeck enemies with any alt endings now, because we LOVE the Netherdeck!!!! When else can 6 strong characters get killed in the space of 5minutes from a tiny little creature?!?!?