I will soon be playing Talisman (newest edition of course), and I'm considering two possible house rules in my games. My players will agree to them only if I can assure them they have been well tought out. So I decided to ask the wise and experienced folks over FFG boards their opinion on the subject.

The two rules are (and they are unrelated to each other):

1. When a player rolls for movement, he may move that exact result (just like with normal rules), one space more, or one space less. In any event, he cannot move more than 6 spaces, and less than 1.

Reasoning: This is to speed up gameplay somewhat, as there will be much less moving around a single space to land on it. It will also increase the chance of characters meeting - pvp will be more common which I also like.

2. The Reaper doesn't move on a roll of 1 (or was it 6?). Instead, whenever a player loses life (one or more), he may move the reaper from 1 to 6 spaces in any direction (no roll). If he lands the Reaper on another character, normal rules apply. He may also land the Reaper on a Enemy. In this case the enemy is destroyed.

Reasoning: I played with the Reaper few times, and it was absolutely disappointing. The reaper moved scarcily, and only once encountered a character. With this rule he will move less often, but his every move will have more impact on the game overall. Ability to kill monsters is an added feature for tactical choice and for players that don't like pvp.

Bludgeon said:

If everyone gets to do it, and agrees before hand, I don't see anything wrong here as a variation. I have different take on it called the Forced March, but it has some risks of use and doesn't nerf the purely random movement. The only potential problem I see is when an item or follower allows a mod to movement (other than multiple dice). A +1 to movement as a option could then be also used with your rule if the total movement was 6 or less.

Example: The Elf rolls a 2; by the house rule it can move a 1, 2, or 3. If it has a +1 movement modifier card, it can now move 1, 2, 3, or 4. It is almost guarenteed to be able to reach a Woods space in the Outer Region. No more waiting to hit the Woods to blink from one to the next turn after turn. Odds are, it will hit a Woods space in 1 or 2 turns and its specially ability becomes twice as potent. Even without the modifier, its going to hit the Woods (by calcuated probability) in 4 or less turns, usually 3 at the most.

There are many characters who have more than a safety at certain spaces; they have spaces where they gain and active advantage. You movement structure would empower some of those above others, changing any (tentative) balance between at least the base set of characters.

I'm not saying don't do it; just be aware of that factor.

Bludgeon said:

I don't use the Reaper, because the initial testing combined with it being a big random cannon that players take godly control over, left me and my whole group disgusted. But there is another twist you could try that was actually brought up by someone else. Instead of a roll that puts it under the control of a player, that roll simply ...

1. actives it to come after the character who made the bad roll, or
2. moves it automatically toward the nearest character; if two are equally close, roll die to determine which one.

Either way it moves as per normal, and if its roll is equal to or more than necessary, it stops short and the targeted player encounters it.

Personally, the Reaper is little more than big distraction from playing the actual game... if and when it activates.