I haven't been stateside in four years, but I will be sure to bring my copy of Talisman and combine it with a few new expansions I ordered. I have never actually played talisman with other people before (never had the opportunity to) and look forward to playing with friends and family over the winter vacation. I am also using it as an opportunity to try out the new expansions I have not played before. Here is what I will be working with:

- Base set, with all cards

- Reaper Expansion

- Blood Moon expansion

- Dragon Expansion

- Firelands Expansion

- Harbinger Expansion

- Sacred Pool Expansion

Yes, I know that you may be thinking I am a sadist, but to be fair, I will make sure to brief everybody about the probable high mortality rate that may ensue. But these expansions are so interesting! I don't know if I would ever be able to leave any out.

If you are introducing the game to beginners you might want to leave out a few expansions in the beginning.

Talisman plus Reaper is more than enough to get the ball rolling.

You can then add in or swap out expansions however you like.

I agree,

I think introducing the dragon, blood moon, firelands and harbinger is a bit much for beginners. Individually, those have the most changes to the game and can create for an overwhelming experience. I'm especially against the Harbinger since you do not have any additional boards in the mix - it will most likely be a blood bath for all.

The reaper and sacred pool are good choices. I'd also have no problem introducing the dungeon or highlands into the mix too. As a learning experience, it'd be nice to have another region to deal with.

Fot beginners I would say just base game or as Talismanisland says: base + reaper. Then add, or rather change, between games. At least replace expansion cards but you can leave all other things (quests and quest rewards, reaper box etc).

But as the others suggested - don't add everything at once or you'll see your friends turning from the game sooner than you can make them see the charm of it.

Somebody has to be the square here.....

I would say, it depends.

Gauge the group that want to play:

1. Young kids and people entirely new to the boardgaming concept I think everyone is spot on with the main set and one or two small expansions: Reaper and Sacred Pool.

2. Experienced gamers I may introduce The main boardgame + firelands. Obviously you need to evaluate whether they are in for some carnage but the people I played with when we used firelands thought it was great.

3. Casual gamers I would probably introduce Reaper, Sacred pool and one corner board like Dungeon for variety.

4. True nerd types that enjoy complexity and epic adventures and have no plans for the day...go with the dragon, reaper and sacred pool.

I would probably leave harbinger out for now because it is a wild animal that can easily scare people off. Hell I love it, but it scares me off since it can be sooo nasty. I would also recommend not using the reaper and Blood Moon together. Actually with the Time mechanic I would probably leave blood moon out all together when there will be new people playing.

I just read an interesting article related to this, or at least how to introduce board-gaming in general. It's very short if you want to check it out.

http://geekandsundry.com/how-to-talk-to-non-gamers-about-games/

To be honest they focus a bit more on non-gamers but it has quite a few good points.

Dragon is a very difficult expansion to introduce to non-Talisman people. I would leave it out.

Every time we introduce a new player to this game, we always just start with the Base game because there is a steep learning curve; even once you think you understand the game mechanics as a new player, I've seen almost every new player that joined our gaming group *not* go for the Crown of Command whenever we've all reached a certain level of power and someone makes a dash for it. Why not? You explain the rules to them several times, yet they never go for it the first play-through because they don't fully grasp how the game works yet. Introducing extra mechanics early on might confuse new players to no end. My vote would be the base board with any house rules your group might have and that'd be enough for now. The next game, I'd introduce expansions.