I don't know about any of you, but we hardly ever use the gold we accumulate in our games. It just doesn't seem all that useful overall...if you're able to land on a space that you can spend it in, it still seems like kind of a boring turn. The Alchemist character jazzes it up a bit, but does anyone have any thoughts about using gold more interactively between the characters; say by having a gambling option at the tavern, for example, or having some way of trading gold for potions using the Alchemist figurine as an NPC, if nobody else is playing him? What do you all think? I'm not saying gold is totally useless, just not a lot of fun creatively.

Maybe someone will come up with an alternative ending card.

Whomever acquires X amount of gold wins the game.

Something like this?

Well, part of the problem is getting to a space where gold can be spent. Another part is that not all Purchase cards are available through spaces. And Talisman has always had this problem... at least until a City expansion was released for whichever edition.

You might drop by TalismanIsland.com and have a look at the "Space Expanders" pack to see what a group of us collectively came up with to jazz up the Talisman land's economy... and other things.

Beyond that, and the AltEnd above, there isn't anything that can be done to make abundant gold worth the bother beside healing.

Hey, that's pretty cool. Some minor corrigenda: thrown = crown ; Kings = King's ; players = player's ; wil = will.

That actually does make it a bit more interesting. I'll check out the stuff at Talismanisland, too. Thanks!

Ending ...

The Chalice of Wonders

The Crown of Command has been replaced with the ever-flowing "Chalice of Wonders". On each of your turns you may choose one of the following three options:

Option 1) Drop 12 gold into the Chalice of Wonders ... You win the game!

Option 2) Pull 1 gold out of the Chalice of Wonders ... your turn ends.

Option 3) Drop 1 gold into the Chalice of Wonders and roll a die:

Results:

1) You are struck by a magical force, lose 1 life ... your turn ends.

2) Nothing happens ... your turn ends.

3) Your gold magically multiplies (gain 2 gold) ... your turn ends.

4) One players loses their choice of a life or a follower ... your turn ends.

5) One player loses 1 life ... your turn ends.

6) One player loses 2 life or two players lose 1 life each. ... your turn ends.

Someone turn this into a fancy ending with that cool template PLEASE???!!!

Sit tight, it is in the works.

Q: since the chalice isn't really producing wonders, and it is all about gold... what to you think of the title "Chalice of Avarice"... or even "Chalice of Midas"? The first seems better, since its more generic and not pulling any cultural mythos. But I'll give you whatever you want.

Before applying text, here is a quick demo of the illustration I assembled. The JPG is at medium to medium-high compression, and low compression will be used on the final card for better print quality. If it is unacceptable, I'll try to come up with something else. If there are notions for tweaks to it as is, I'll give that a try as well. Right-Click and Save/View to see the full 300ppi version.

I have to be on the road in the morning and will try to check in tomorrow evening pacific standard time.

That is such an awesome collaberation of peoples ideas in this thread. I love it and want to use it for sure.

Oh yea I love the "Midas" touch to the end game card. Stellar.

My version of the card as written above:

Although I feel JC is right, the name would probably work better along a gold influenced route and I also prefer his artwork

The following is my variation of the card with some mechanics tweaks to plug so loopholes and possibly winner resolution conflicts. It is complete with narrow overbleed areas and crop marks for clean flush edges when cut..

Malthule, you are free to use it, as is anyone else... or you may grab the one without text and apply text as you see fit. The graphic on mine was assembled with from multiple source images using Photoshop CS5, multiple plugins and effects, masking, layers, etc. The elements used ar 100% copyright free (to my knowledge), though the finished image is my own creation. Right-Click and Sve/View for the 300ppi version. Have fun with it.

For those familiar with the addition of AltEnd minis for a convenient random draw deck (see HERE ), here is a titled and untitled version of a mini for this card. The mini card back is available among others in the related topic found in the HomeBrew subforum. As always, Right-Click and Save/View for the print sized versions.

Awesome awesome awesome. Can't wait to try this ending.

wow, this is an amazing ending! great work!!

One more minor point I should have mentioned first. I DO NOT intend that my version of M.'s AltEnd be any form of official release. It will not be packaged with any set of my AltEnds for future release. It is a version I will offer to my own group, as I known their expectations. I shared it here so that (1) anyone else who wishes to try it as well can do so or (2) finds details of interest for consideration. And that's all, nothing more.

The blank forms of the cards are for M., and of course anyone else can use them to make a personalized variation. If there is to be an official version of card distributed anywhere else, say TalismanIsland.com, M. should be the one to determine its final content and make those arrangements.

I will leave these up for a few more days, and then they are going to disappear.

Made sure to save them all especially since they are now limited edition special releases.

Hmmm now I have to get them autographed to be even rarer. LOL.

Thanks to all the contributors of these cool endings.

Some discussion occurred between a couple of my crew lurking here, and they wanted to change our version of the card to more deeply reflect the Gold theme. Here is what was proposed after some discussion if anyone else is interested. We have not tested it as yet. In this variation, gold may be placed in the Chalice in any amount to build up to the required 12 value and all gold place in it remains in it no matter who gains the Chalice if it exchanges hands.

===================

The Crown of Command has been replaced with the golden “Chalice of Avarice.” After taking any and all personal actions, you may use the Chalice in one of the following ways, and then your turn ends:

1. Place any 1 Gold or Trinket with a Gold value into the Chalice (on this card). Any Trinket * counts for its full Gold value. Anything placed in the Chalice remains with the Chalice and cannot be removed by any means.
2. Discard 1 Object or Magic Object to gain 1 Gold.
3. Discard 1 Gold and roll a die:

1) You are struck by a magical force and lose 1 Gold; if you have no gold, lose 1 Life.
2) Nothing happens.
3) Your gold magically multiplies; gain 2 Gold.
4) Take 1 Gold from another character; if it has no Gold, it must lose 1 Life.
5) Take 1 Gold or Trinket * with a Gold Value from another character; if it has no Gold or Trinket, it must lose 1 Life.
6) Take 2 Gold or 1 Trinket * with a Gold Value from another character, or take 1 Gold from two characters; if they have no Gold or Trinket * with a Gold value, they must lose 1 Life each.

If at any time the Chalice holds 12 Gold total value in Gold and/or Trinkets , whoever holds the chalice and is alone on the Crown of Command wins the game. If only one character remains alive at any time, it wins the game whether it has the Chalice or not.

* Trinkets are part of the Highlands expansion. If you are not using that expansion, then ignore all options for Trinkets.

nice, this version is better than others IMO. nice idea and better importance of Gold.

Smart idea to incorporate the trinkets into it.

I've update the Chalice for the way our group will try it as a set ending... hopefully within the next two weeks. We already expect that should the Alchemist or Leprechaun be drawn for play they will probably get pounded a lot (they aren't very popular in my group anyway).

Wow ... I was away for a few days.

Awesome picture of my ending ... very well done!!! Sure I don't mind changing it to whatever sounds more "golden" I'm not picky.

"Chalice of Great Riches"

"Chalice of Midas"

"Chalice of Ruined Kings"(I kinda like the sound of this)

"Chalice of Avarice" (also good)

Etc ... Etc ... Etc ...

As far as dropping items or trinkets into the chalice (another awesome idea btw) I thought about that, I just wanted to make the ending as straight forward as possible to understand. In my design, you basically have the option of SPENDING a gold or GAINING a gold each turn. Saving gold up to 12 = automatic win. Or if you prefer a more aggressive path, you can spend a gold every turn to bring your enemies to their knees. All the while encouraging people to save gold throughout the game which I wanted to design the ending around in the first place based on the original posting of this thread.

I just hope it helps enhance other talisman groups enjoyment of the game. I crank out characters and endings for this game like there is no tomorrow for our play group. Enjoy!

Malthule

Hey, M. I see all of your points. Your approach will appeal to more groups than mine. My group likes an ending that can change hands to advantage and/or disadvantage for more than one reason in more than one way. The aim is the gold more than just killing each other off (we got bored with that 20 years ago). In fact, with the variation devised between myself and two of my group, your better chance is to get that gold value in there before the greed - the avarice - of others kicks in... rather than hold on to it for an all at once drop. But it is also a forced risk in doing so... we like those!

Imagine an adversary getting 10 gold into that chalice when you have only two gold and maybe a few objects (which can't be taken by the Chalice). Even if the Chalice holder gets all of your gold, chances are you've still got some objects. If you can get in there before that final 12th gold goes "plink", then. Then you whack that opponent, and take up the chalice. You finish the game based on someone else's efforts for the most part. It's a very risky gambit, but that's what gives it appeal... the chance of turning someone else's run for the endgame into you own victory. It's sweet!

Now consider the other players outside the CoC. What are they going to want the most to survive? GOLD! Sure they need lives as well, but in stealing a gold from each other, they increase they own survival by 2x (a gold to be taken, and therefore avoid losing a life). The poor sap you stole the gold from will likely be the next target if the chalice weilder is runing short on gold. That one will probably take the bait and risk discarding a gold in the hope getting 2 gold back, or rolling that 3,4,5. Then it use the option to take a gold from that other player you ripped off... and if took that other players last gold... OUCH, there goes one of its lives. You end up not only playing against the Chalice weilder, but also ALWAYS against all other players to the bitter end... trying to undo each other as much as or more than beat each other to the CoC.

And there are even more strategies and tactics inside of it than that (but not going to share the all for nothing ]

Still simple in structure, because its just about the gold - something besides Lives (taking them, that is). There's still the possibility to bump off a few characters who run out of gold, but... It keeps every player thinking they can still win (instead of just thinking about how to stay alive long enough to make a kill), down to that last of a coin into the chalice.

Talisman badly needs something besides the kill-all or the kill the "boss" endings... which are being abandoned by some groups... more and more taking to the KotHC instead. Those two overly predominant groupings of endings have gotten too tedious for me and mine. We still play them sometimes, but more often just call it a night with a KotHC rather than let things drag on or worse, have to finish with something really stupid like the Crown and Scepter.

THANK GOODNESS you gave us a foundation for one breath of fresh air! Not to mention all that stinkin' gold nobody can actually spend.

Hey, this thread is really taking off! Glad it sparked some imagination. I'm still thinking of making an NPC card (something like the Reaper) who can interact with characters on the board, and maybe even compete with them for either resources or the Crown...maybe the Alchemist figure would do, and allow for some interesting interactions to do with gold. It might even add a sense of urgency to the game (our games tend to be a little languid at first, with everybody just adventuring around and powering up...fun, but time consuming). I also totally agree with the lameness of "boss" endings. Aren't board games supposed to give people a break from video game mentality? Thanks to everyone who added their two gold.