There are many features who invalidate Talisman, my favourite board game, and make it too "dull" and uncontrollable.

I tried to fix these problems for years, so my playgroup and me could enjoy it without "dead times" or excessive bad luck... now I want to share and know your thoughts about the result:

1. Frog - when you're turned into a Frog you can't carry Objects anymore, having Followers or Spell cards; furthermore you lose automatically every Battle or Psychic Combat. If you steps on space occupied by a Character during your Movement Phase, he must discard an Armour or lose 1 Life. Return to normal after completing 3 turns.

[CONTEXT: when a player get turned into a Frog should be laughable, but in facts it's just annoying and frustrating with nothing to laugh about. The original rule just make you lose every progress and bored for 3 long turns, so I imagined the player get turned into a Monster Frog who's still negative, but meanwhile he become a real "pariah" who can chase and damage his opponents.

I find that way is absolutely funnier, because it puts the player into a negative state but ACTIVE anyhow.]

2. Fate - when you roll a die, you can discard a Light Fate token to add 1 to final result. When an opponent roll a die, you can discard a Dark Fate token to subtract 1 to final result (to a minimum of "1"). In any case, no roll can be modified by more then 1 Light Fate or 1 Dark Fate.

[CONTEXT: Fate is a very unpleasunt feature, who helps to stem extremely bad luck (like rolling 1 to Reaper or Enchantress), but results uncontrollable itself (you can still roll double 1). Translated in game terms, it means that Characters with much Fate can't make a great advantage of it compared to the ones with low Fate value... just think about the advantage about 1 or 2 more Lives, and you will understand how Fate is really poor.

Turning Fate token into a +1 bonus is the most impactful change, because solve so many problems like the gap between "Good" alignment and "Evil" alignment (honestly, do you prefer gaining Fates or Lives?), or the worst criticism moved to Talisman: this game is completely uncontrollable and it's not so important how good you are, if the dice didn't helps you. With my house rule, Fate is super-strong because can avoid an unexpected death by the Reaper or 3 frustrating turns as a Frog.

This way, Fate become a prominent resource to manage, just like Lives or Spells, aside from polishing the bad luck... you can still rolls 1 and be slaughtered by the lowest Goblin, but for the first time in Talisman's history you're going to have partial CONTROL on the game.]

3. Time Card - subtract 1 (to a minimum of 1) to Spirit's attack rolls during Day; add 1 to Spirit's attacck rolls during Night.

[CONTEXT: simple and clean, the Time Card effects only the Spirit. I found the original rule meaningless, because delivers bonus or malus without any principle, so it was just confusing. Now effects only a single type of Enemy, the Spirits, and I think it's more consistent with the lore... ghosts should be powerful at night but less frightening if ecountered by day.]

4. Lycanthropy - until the Time Card is on the Night side, you can't carry Objects anymore, having Followers or Spell cards; furthermore add 2 to your attack rolls during a Battle or Psychic Combat. If you steps on space occupied by a Character during your Movement Phase, you must stop there and fight him in Battle: if you defeat him, he must lose a Life (no other rewards) then roll on the Werewolf card's chart.

[CONTEXT: the original Lycanthropy is merely a buff. No recoil, no risks, it just helps the player and brings up the Werewolf as it's less scary then the Reaper. My house rule turns Lycanthropy into a real issue to deal with, because every Nightfall you're going to lose most of your advantages, and it's very similiar to my "Monster Frog" concept because turns players into a pariah who hunts down their opponents during Night, just like real werewolves.]

With these changes I tried to preserve the original Talisman feeling, without twisting the basics too much, but I think it really needs to be more "competitive" and consistent with many features (just like Time Card, Lycanthropy and Fate tokens, who don't accomplish their tasks in my opinion).

1. How would you identify problems with the toad? (not frog ) What players hate about this mechanic?

2. It's a good addition, adds some control to otherwise very random game.

3. I like it. I might use a variant of this that says that at night Spirits, Demons, and Undead get +2 in combat. I use houserule that at day enemies aren't weaker but instead players can modifiy movement by +1 or -1. Very useful and not broken.

We found the "toad mechanic" definitely boring, because the main issue in Talisman is waiting passively your turn (especially if you are more then 3 players), and being turned into a Toad means you're going to lose too much time while others are having fun.

That's why everytime someone in my playgroup get turned into a Toad feels as he/she get turned away from the game itself. My variant tries to change the feeling about "toadification", so the players still lose their progress if toadified BUT they're not out of the game: givin' them the chance to damage other players just change their goals until the toadification expires, and that's funnier then just sit and watch at other players enjoying the game

Before the modified Fate rule, Toad was the main reason why nobody in my playgroup visited the Enchantress further then early turns.

The change about the Time Card is just "folkloric", because the only issue with that is the total absence of any justification, so I tried to "polish" it and prevent my friends to be confused (I think it's very important that players feel as they move through a coherent setting), and in fact a +1/-1 when you fight Spirits is definitely not a game changer... as I said, nothing more then folkloric

How about having your new uber toad being able to cross the storm river at any point, that would fit thematically as an amphibian. Has this ever been considered or house ruled by other players.

1. Why an armour?

2. Very interesting

3. I'll probably use in my games!

4. Too frustrating. I think lycanthropy is a big malus because you cannot have a normal reward, there is no need to "toadifing" it. If a lycanthrope in CoC fights in PVP, he loses the game for sure. I think lycanthropy is 55% bad and 45% good, you can even DIE if you draw the wrong card.