Recently I had the pleasure of breaking out my copy of 1st edition Talisman and giving it a spin.

My opponent has played 4th edition - I have not - and he was interested to spot some of the changes on the cards that had been made between editions (he filled me in on the rule changes easily enough).

We thought the boards were identical but he did spot one change - in 4th edition you draw cards in the Oasis *and* lose a life, whereas in the older edition you just lose the life!

One card change he spotted was in the "trainer" or whatever he's called - the guy who'll increase your strength or craft for 3 gold. In older editions this is a one-shot choice whereas in the 4th edition he sticks around.

I wondered if there were any other changes made in the decks that might help the game be a little more strategic and a little less chaotic. Has anyone else noticed any? Or even made a list?

mattdp said:

And by Oasis you mean Desert I presume.

mattdp said:

My biggest : Raiders !!!

Used to take all your Objects and Gold, now just take Gold. Talk about getting hacked, maimed, neutered and quartered. Poor Raiders.

Dam said:

Wow gold and items that's pretty over powered....

Msrushing said:

No, that was the standard. R4th Raiders are an empty card (at least in 2nd ed, don't know about 3rd). Gold, pfft. Normal Raiders along with Hag were the comeback cards, along with Random Spell, they were the great equalisers. Fate nerfed Random, Raiders lost their bite, Hag remains.

In third edition, The raiders will also steal all your possessions and gold and stash them at the oasis

So.. only the 4th edition is changed...

Velhart said:

Only the R4th is changed, as BI 4th Raiders were the "real deal" still. Then again, BI 4th = 2nd edition pretty much, so...

Dam said:

oh, i thought that it was the same as 4 th revised edition...

So, the normal 4th eidtion from BI has the same text as 2th edition ?

Wow...

Velhart said:

Yeah, the Witch got easier as well, she used to be 1-3 bad, 4-6 good, now she is 1-2 bad, 3-6 good IIRC, too lazy to check.

Now that you mention it...

The third edition witch is also more difficult.

1=toad

2=lose one life

3= lose one object

the others are positive..