Completing Warlock Quests as a Toad

By Tangent, in Talisman Rules Questions

A pretty weird situation came up during the last time I was playing Talisman. We were playing with the main game plus the Reaper expansion, if it matters.

A friend had already received the warlock's quest to simply travel to the Cursed Glade (I think that's what it's called). He was one square away. I cast the Random spell on him, turning him into a toad.

The rules for the Warlock's Quests state that you must complete the quest as soon as possible. The rules for Toads state that toads cannot carry magic objects, and the Talisman cards are magic objects.

Since he was a toad, he could only move one space per turn, and he was only one space away from his Warlock's Quest objective. Much to his dismay, we decided that the rules governing Warlock Quests apply even if you're a toad, which meant that he had to move his one space to his objective space, be teleported back to the Warlock's Cave, only to be given a Talisman and be forced to immediately drop it because Toads can't carry magic objects. He also had to do all of this knowing that it wouldn't work.

Did we do this right? If there is no rule closely governing it, would you have done the same?

Tangent said:

A pretty weird situation came up during the last time I was playing Talisman. We were playing with the main game plus the Reaper expansion, if it matters.

A friend had already received the warlock's quest to simply travel to the Cursed Glade (I think that's what it's called). He was one square away. I cast the Random spell on him, turning him into a toad.

The rules for the Warlock's Quests state that you must complete the quest as soon as possible. The rules for Toads state that toads cannot carry magic objects, and the Talisman cards are magic objects.

Since he was a toad, he could only move one space per turn, and he was only one space away from his Warlock's Quest objective. Much to his dismay, we decided that the rules governing Warlock Quests apply even if you're a toad, which meant that he had to move his one space to his objective space, be teleported back to the Warlock's Cave, only to be given a Talisman and be forced to immediately it because Toads can't carry magic objects. He also had to do all of this knowing that it wouldn't work.

Did we do this right? If there is no rule closely governing it, would you have done the same?

I think there is a line between the must complete as soon as possible and it forcing your movement. If you get a "Discard Follower" and all you have is the Unicorn, poof, you have to do it. Same with "Discard Magic Object" and Ring as your only such item. If you get the "Cursed Glade" Quest, I don't think you're required to only move toward that space. So if you are at Hills in the Middle Region and roll a 3, normal options are Portal of Power, Chasm, Graveyard and Chapel, which IMO should still apply even with the CG Quest. If you enforce the must to include movement, then roll of 3 from Hills would give the player 1 choice, Chasm, as they would have to move toward the Cursed Glade, even though they will overshoot. To complicate things, let's say the Pathfinder is face-up at Portal of Power. That's a guaranteed landing in the Cursed Glade the following turn, but since would you still be forced to move toward the goal even though another route might actually get you there faster?

As for Toads and Quests, I'd say you did that part the way I would have. And in this instance, Toad, choice of Chasm (possible loss of life) and Cursed Glade, I would've popped to CG as well.

Well, we weren't (and usually don't) restrict individual movement rolls when on a Warlock Quest. There are too many ways to interpret which moves might get someone closer to completing the goal.

However, in this case, he was guaranteed to complete the quest with his next move (since the Toad must move only one space and he was adjacent to his goal space), even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to carry the reward for completion. So, my question isn't so much about whether or not the "Must complete Warlock's Quest as soon as possible" rule should dictate your movement. It's more of, if someone knows that they can't keep the reward from the quest (because they are a toad or for any other reason, really), must they still complete the quest as soon as possible?

Tangent said:

However, in this case, he was guaranteed to complete the quest with his next move (since the Toad must move only one space and he was adjacent to his goal space), even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to carry the reward for completion. So, my question isn't so much about whether or not the "Must complete Warlock's Quest as soon as possible" rule should dictate your movement. It's more of, if someone knows that they can't keep the reward from the quest (because they are a toad or for any other reason, really), must they still complete the quest as soon as possible?

I would say the completion of the Quest is the reward, getting the Talisman afterwards is just gravy gran_risa.gif . Gravy that you might not need (already drew a Talisman while doing your Quest) or that you can't carry (Toad). But yes, even if you can't keep the Talisman, you must complete it. Any other reason than Toad for not keeping the Talisman? Even if at full carrying load, you can ditch another Object instead.

Tangent said:

A pretty weird situation came up during the last time I was playing Talisman. We were playing with the main game plus the Reaper expansion, if it matters.

A friend had already received the warlock's quest to simply travel to the Cursed Glade (I think that's what it's called). He was one square away. I cast the Random spell on him, turning him into a toad.

The rules for the Warlock's Quests state that you must complete the quest as soon as possible. The rules for Toads state that toads cannot carry magic objects, and the Talisman cards are magic objects.

Since he was a toad, he could only move one space per turn, and he was only one space away from his Warlock's Quest objective. Much to his dismay, we decided that the rules governing Warlock Quests apply even if you're a toad, which meant that he had to move his one space to his objective space, be teleported back to the Warlock's Cave, only to be given a Talisman and be forced to immediately it because Toads can't carry magic objects. He also had to do all of this knowing that it wouldn't work.

Did we do this right? If there is no rule closely governing it, would you have done the same?

I think that i will did the same as you..

As soon as you land on the Cursed Glade, you are teleported back, and get a talisman, that you must ditch..

You can always pick it up later if you are normal again.

But it's a pretty rare situation..

Yeah, it IS a pretty rare situation. But I guess we didn't do too bad with the ruling. Is there an official Talisman errata/FAQ somewhere?

Tangent said:

Is there an official Talisman errata/FAQ somewhere?

Still in the works (so it is claimed), everyone is eagerly waiting I can tell you that.

Dam said:

Tangent said:

Is there an official Talisman errata/FAQ somewhere?

Still in the works (so it is claimed), everyone is eagerly waiting I can tell you that.

In May they promised the release of a Talisman FAQ along with the Dungeon Expansion. Let's hope we get it with Frostmarch. I don't like to appoint myself as Talisman guru in my gaming group, just because I follow discussion on the forums, but there was no other choice until today. I may get it wrong sometimes and it's better to have an official document as a reference.

The_Warlock said:

In May they promised the release of a Talisman FAQ along with the Dungeon Expansion. Let's hope we get it with Frostmarch. I don't like to appoint myself as Talisman guru in my gaming group, just because I follow discussion on the forums, but there was no other choice until today. I may get it wrong sometimes and it's better to have an official document as a reference.

It would be nice if we can print a Faq, so everybody can see, what the rules are..

I know what you mean, but i think it's good if someone in the group knows how to play the game, with no mistakes..

PS: mistakes can still happen.. lengua.gif

Velhart said:

The_Warlock said:

In May they promised the release of a Talisman FAQ along with the Dungeon Expansion. Let's hope we get it with Frostmarch. I don't like to appoint myself as Talisman guru in my gaming group, just because I follow discussion on the forums, but there was no other choice until today. I may get it wrong sometimes and it's better to have an official document as a reference.

It would be nice if we can print a Faq, so everybody can see, what the rules are..

I know what you mean, but i think it's good if someone in the group knows how to play the game, with no mistakes..

PS: mistakes can still happen.. lengua.gif

Yeah, they can. I wish other people could manage rules as I do, I will have a better time instead of giving final answers to everything. I don't like it.

I finished today's 8-hours 7-player Talisman Game. Biggest mistake was to a glass full of beer on my Talisman board, which is now completely ruined. I'm afraid I have to buy a new Board and Dungeon, perhaps even a new Reaper because cards drowned in liquid and are badly bent. Hate to say it, but I'm against any use of drinks around game tables, expecially in games that can last long like Talisman.

Besides this accident, game run pretty smooth, till end that was enormously delayed by a temporary stalemate that we decided to play till the end. This was caused by Swashbuckler with the Hunchback drawn because of Dark Denizens and Sage with Clockwork Owl wandering around the Castle and getting healed, and healed and healed.

I decided to sacrify my Assassin to grant victory to the Ghoul. He got my Book of Lore and started getting Spells. Shatter stopped the Sage and finally the Hag (last card of the Adventure deck!) stopped the Swashbuckler. But if I didn't made the effort to reach the Crown with no hope to beat the Ghoul, he won't have been able to win and we should have declared a stalemate (or play till 4 o'clock in the morning).

Must say that this wasn't my best Talisman game, I think I managed to build the weakest Assassin ever seen; 5 Str 5 Cft after 5 hours of play! Never lost a Turn, but never drawn so many bad cards like this time: Raiders, Whirlwind, Trapdoor, Craft Monsters, Objects I can't have... Talisman can be very frustrating sometimes.

The_Warlock said:

Velhart said:

The_Warlock said:

In May they promised the release of a Talisman FAQ along with the Dungeon Expansion. Let's hope we get it with Frostmarch. I don't like to appoint myself as Talisman guru in my gaming group, just because I follow discussion on the forums, but there was no other choice until today. I may get it wrong sometimes and it's better to have an official document as a reference.

It would be nice if we can print a Faq, so everybody can see, what the rules are..

I know what you mean, but i think it's good if someone in the group knows how to play the game, with no mistakes..

PS: mistakes can still happen.. lengua.gif

Yeah, they can. I wish other people could manage rules as I do, I will have a better time instead of giving final answers to everything. I don't like it.

I finished today's 8-hours 7-player Talisman Game. Biggest mistake was to a glass full of beer on my Talisman board, which is now completely ruined. I'm afraid I have to buy a new Board and Dungeon, perhaps even a new Reaper because cards drowned in liquid and are badly bent. Hate to say it, but I'm against any use of drinks around game tables, expecially in games that can last long like Talisman.

That's not so nice, that the beer falls on your talisman board sorpresa.gif

I think that your day was ruined, even if you have play the game further.

If it would be happen by me, then i will stop playing immediately.