I was deep into Talisman up until "The City". I had everything that came out for the 4th revised edition. We loved the game, the randomness, the chaos, the pure simple fun of running arounf trying to win the game.

Then When I bought The City I thought that it was getting too much for what it is. The expansion was great but setting up the game, choosing what we would play with and what not was getting too much like a chore and I ended up selling the game.

I bought into Relic instead and LOVE the game and i'll continue to buy what FFG releases for this title.

Now I see that Talisman is still getting love from FFG and the new small expansions are looking awesome.

So for an old player wanting to start again but don't want to have to play on the floor to enjoy it, what would you recommend buying as a one-shot semi-finale buy?

My thoughts:

- Reaper seem to be a must have

- The Bloodmoon

- The Nether Realm since it look cool

- Dungeon for the difficulty and theme

- Woodlands (never tried it but it could be a cool addition)

- Harbinger when it will come out

The "I'm not sure":

- Sacred Pool + Frostmarsh + Firelands?!!?

The "I don't think i'll buy again":

- The Highlands

- The City

The "I' sure I won't buy":

- The Dragon

- Deep Realms since I won't buy The City

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Generally with FFG products I recommend getting the first expansion released (eg Reaper). Then go in chronological order.

If you dive into later expansions, they may be for more "seasoned" players... Imagine if you got base plus Firelands.

But really it's a matter of taste... You can't go wrong with any of these great items...

I think all the expansions are worth purchasing. Even if You won't play them, You at least will get some interesting characters and/or Spells.

Plus, the Talisman is a game of imagination. If You don't like how the expansion looks like, You have all the rights to change it however You will want it to look. Sometimes it is even more fun to sit with the cards, and think how I would want to use them, during which events and what I would like to change in them than play a session of Talisman. If You will sit with the cards, You will learn them, and perhaps will come with some situations during which these cards will be played with the best efficacy. But that also matters if you actually can find a spare time to sit with the cards....

If you are afraid of the size, you can do what I did, use the 1st or 2nd edition board with the 4th edition rules. The boards are much smaller, and only about 4 changes which I wrote down on a paper.

If you did this you would have room for other board expansions.

I would suggest Highlands for gold for the city and for early leveling but you don't like City. You seem to not want any advice on big boards which I prefer so I won't give any, but to warn you there is a small expansion (Deep Realms) which connects 2 board expansions (City & Dungeon), and I like that a lot.

1st Expansion Reaper.

Reaper expansion if you want a small expansion and no board. The Reaper adds more basic Adventure cards and a cool NPC character that runs around.

Next, I recommend the Sacred Pool. As it gives not only great basic Adventure cards but also items from a stable deck you can purchase without having the city.

At this time, while it isn't out yet, I think the yet to be released expansion The Harbinger, seems to be awesome. I love the theme.

Next, I would recommend Frostmarch next as it also has a generic addition to the Adventure deck.

Next recommend the Nether realm. This is a new different kind of expansion and gives you a really cool alternate ending, Pandora's Box.

The rest I would get in this order:

Firelands: has some really cool effects. And can be very dangerous if you have few expanions to water it down.

Bloodmoon: A very Halloweenish type expansion. Very strong in theme. I like the theme but only in the fall. It also has a game changing effect of creating day/night. In the day players get a +1 in battle at night enemies get a +1. You also get a werewolf NPC and Lycanthropy effects. I use only about 1/3 of the expansion (I don't use +1/-1 nor Lycanthropy). Others like it, but there is a strong percentage who think its fiddly.

Reaper IS a must-have; Blood Moon is most certainly not. The Night and Day mechanic is fiddly, Lycanthropy is unbalanced, and I find the Firelands to be a much greater challenge while being just as strong as Blood Moon thematically. Of course whether you should get the Firelands depends on whether or not you WANT your Talisman game to be challenging.

Sacred Pool actually has a lot of good cards, not to mention introducing the interesting idea of Quest rewards and new Warlock cave tasks; I would get it if I were you.

The Nether Realm is VERY cool and I highly recommend it, though keep in mind it is only useful if you use either revealed or unrevealed alternate endings.

Dungeon for difficulty and theme, right on!

Woodlands, however, is honestly an even better corner expansion than the Dungeon! It contains great dangers, but equally great rewards, and most importantly it allows you to obtain a Destiny card! Each Destiny card provides a new and powerful way for you to use Fate, and they even pass on to your next character if the current one dies, thus making them an advantage for the rest of the game, no matter how many characters you go through! Oh, and the Woodland characters are terrific!

Harbinger looks awesome; I will definitely be getting it when it comes out.

I would recommend against getting Frostmarch; it's quite weak thematically, with less than half the cards relating to the theme, and most of the cards are redunant or not sufficiently interesting. I use only twenty cards from Frostmarch in my games, no more.

I concur with your decision to purchase neither the City nor the Highland. We do use the City, but with a number of alternate rules to keep it from unbalancing the game. Removing it altogether is probably the better solution.

I like the Deep Realm, but you can't use it without the City so there's no point in you buying it. Dragons I have not yet tried, but word of mouth is extremely negative.

Hope this helps!

If you feel like it, read up on some thought on the same subject in a previous thread
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/135511-rate-expansions-in-order-of-preference/?p=1459125

...

My thoughts:

- Reaper seem to be a must have

- The Bloodmoon

- The Nether Realm since it look cool

- Dungeon for the difficulty and theme

- Woodlands (never tried it but it could be a cool addition)

- Harbinger when it will come out

The "I'm not sure":

- Sacred Pool + Frostmarsh + Firelands?!!?

The "I don't think i'll buy again":

- The Highlands

- The City

The "I' sure I won't buy":

- The Dragon

- Deep Realms since I won't buy The City

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

I'm agree almost fully with you. I didn't like the city much either, too much gain and too little risk and the highlands is my least favorite corner of the other three.

I'd definitely recommend you to go get a copy of The Forest expansion though, if I'd buy everything from the start again this would probably be my first big box, the added fate mechanic is great!

I could get a lot of stuff for under 200 bucks shipped...but it'd be 200 bucks of cardboard and plastic that would only rot on my shelf No one seem to be interested in playing Talisman around me sadly...but some are willing to try Relic (which I already have with Nemesis).

So I think i'm gonna have to skip this game sadly...sucks

I would say nothing. If your new to Talisman then you'll have more than enough with just the base game for quite a long time. Then buy expansions in chronlogical order - or you can handle the small box and big box expansions separetly if you want. Both types in chronological order though.