Hi there

Today I posted a small interview that John Goodenough (Talisman Revised 4th Edition designer) agreed to do for Talisman Island. It covers some interesting ground regarding the revision and the reasons behind some of the changes, including those being discussed on these forums.

http://www.talismanisland.com/interview_johng.htm

I hope you enjoy it!

Cheers for now
Jon

By the way - If you'd like the chance to pose your own question to the man behind the Revised 4th Edition of Talisman then here's what you need to know.

John Goodenough has agreed to carry out a follow up feature to the interview in the form of a "20 Questions" article, and this time the questions will be from forum users!

What you need to do is simply post the question you would like to have answered in this thread and I will forward the 20 most interesting onto John for inclusion in the article on Talisman Island!

There are a few ground rules which will have to be kept to, namely -

All questions must be asked via this thread. The only exception to this will be if people wish to remain anonymous (for whatever reason) and want to email the question directly to me and I will post it in this thread. Please do not try to email John directly as anyone doing so will not have that question answered.

If you wish to email me then please do so at this address -

There will be no names used in the article, but the thread will be linked back to if people want to see how the mind of a Talisman fan REALLY works!

Before you pose your question it would be an idea to have read through all of the articles so far on the Talisman minisite and the interview on Talisman Island to see if it hasn't already been covered. It wouldn't hurt to have a look through the rulebook either.

Questions can be about Talisman, game design in general or virtually anything. A good example would be about fate - How fate works has been covered in a couple of articles, but you could perhaps ask about how fate values are calculated for characters.... just an idea. Try to make your question as interesting as possible - questions about John's favourite colour are not likely to be asked, but if we only get 19 questions posted then I might just have to use it!

Questions must be asked by the end of Sunday 13th of January. I know we are dealing with a lot of time zones here, so I will take the timestamp from the forum post. Anything posted later will not be considered, so if you are emailing a question to me, make sure I have it in plenty of time so that I can post it to the thread.

Great interview!

I noticed the Bull enemy from your Lost Files when I thumbed through the Reaper cards. "Raging Bull" has a nice ring to it.

John remarked on how the plastic insert was designed to accomodate future expansions. The Reaper seems to fit in fine, but the slots for Adventure cards are already nearly full. Does this mean new expansions will have far fewer Adventure cards than The Reaper?

How did you get involved with Talisman? Which version did you start out playing? How would you compare the new edition to the other versions?

Will fate become more powerful in expansions? What will the light and dark sides of the fate token be used for?

Are old expansions like Timescape and Dragons going to be reprinted? And what expansion is your favourite?

Oh, and what is your favourite colour?

how big will the go with promo or giveaways like gencon?

will threr exclusive figures or only card like the promo cards?

and how manny figure are planed at the end 50-100? or is the main job done and only a few heroes comes with the expansions.

that leads to will the a hero expansion?

thx

Talisman has a deeply devoted fan base, many of whom add to the game with their own creations. As the one most intimately familiar with the revised 4th edition's internal design, what advice could you give them? Are there special considerations some might not have considered in maintaining game balance and playability?

1. how did you take over talisman from games workshop

2. what other talisman games are you working on and is the online talisman coming out again

3. when are you doing another promo card

4. what is the next expansion and when is it coming out...the expansion after the reaper

5. are you going to use any of gary chalk artwork ever

Will future expansions add an additional board?

When playing what is the card that you hate to draw? Love to get? Just plain think is hilarious when it comes out of the deck?

A great interview with an insight into the mind fo the new "guru" of Talisman design.

My question is in relation to the possibility of home-made expansions or card sets.

1. The BI version of Talisman had various card sets created and posted to TalismanIsland for download and printing. I found that I had difficulty in getting the correct card stock and size for printing to compare with the original cards.

Will FFG or Talisman Island be releasing details of the actual detail of the the card stock, pixel size of cards and fonts etc. so that any home made material that is produced will be as close as possible to the actual revised edition cards produced by FFG ?

TalismanIsland had various additional character, adventure and spell cards available by download, that featured the card back design and then the fronts of the cards in the download. I always found it difficult to print these in a way that reflected the actual cards in the game without manipulation.

In my opinion, if it were easier once the card sets had been downloaded, that once the correct card stock was known and files were just ready to print fronts and backs, these would run alongside the great "official" expansions released by FFG and add to the experience of playing Talisman.

questions continued from previous post

6. your favorite expansion

7. your favorite character

8. your favorite card

9. your favorite game that is not talisman

I play games with my wife and 2 kids, ages 13 and 7, and our favorite games are Talisman, Runebound, and Warcraft: the board game, in that order. Although this is a Talisman forum, my question is in regards to Runebound.

In Runebound, it is hard to keep my kids attention on the game because the individual turn seem to take to long. We are incorporating the Inheritance rule from Talisman, because my wife always dies and loses everything, and I'm trying to incorporate the battle mechanic from Warcraft to speed up the turns. I understand that it may take several turns to kill an enemy with 1 battle per turn instead of several.

Any suggestions?

In fact, FFG’s third Talisman expansion alone will feature more “Toadarific” encounters than all of the 2nd Edition expansions combined!

What can we expect in the future for Talisman?

The Reaper expansion is the first expansion and should be available. The expansion after that introduces new characters, cards, and even more surprises. We will be running a special teaser promotion here at Talisman Island so stay tuned for more info.

I was wondering if we can get more information regarding at least the next two expansion, he mentioned the 3rd is a Toad based theme?

1. The name of the expensions?
2. Due release dates?
3. Main idea around expension?
4. Broad's included?

He also mentioned about placing cards in the inner region. I'm idea I like too.

1. Will FFG be making an alternate ending cards or such for the ending instead of the commend spell?
2. Inner Region cards: Will FFG be making cards for all the squares in the region, if not, which ones are you thinking of making them for?

What suggestions would you have on people who want to design and make full games to market? What would be some first steps? How would you be able to become part of a organisation such as FFG in game making, rather than being compitition? How did you get involved?

Will FFG ever release a print kit and guide to printing the mini's?

Will FFG ever release a strategy guide for talisman (including detailed background information on characters, additional artwork, history of the game, detailed information about broad squares, etc..)?

Or create an accessory kit for talisman with the above both, plus maybe with a CD with wallpapers, screensavers etc..., maybe A4 artwork or bigger. I think you get the idea. Something players can buy that will share more of the talisman story, compaired to another expansion.

Received via email:

"Through all the versions of Talisman, the characters seem to have been built haphazardly, based on history, lore, myth, and fiction. Does FFG's version of Talisman address the lopsided character abilities and stats? "

Received via email:

"Graveyard (for Evil characters) can replenish Fate Points for free. Why then, if they would want to Pray, after rolling 5, they gain 1FP instead of 1 Life? Same for Chapel? Shouldn't Evil characters (or Good characters at Chapel) be able to gain 1 Life - which they may gain it for free - (1 FP for Good), if we want to make that two spaces opposite to other one? Don't forget, there is only very few other cards/places, where FP can be replenished, while regenerating Life is rather easy (Village, City, Castle). For me, those places should give at 5 on a dice that one thing, what opposite Alignment can get for free. Also, while Evil characters can replenish their FP for free, they also can use Runic Sword, so their both parametrs can be "full", Good Characters have only Holy Grail (which is nothing for Runic Sword) and Holy Lance (but for now there is only 4 Dragons, so it also will be not well used as Runic Sword), so they fairy cannot replenish their Fate as Evil can heal their Life."

Received via email:

"Talisman is a game made rather for short challanges, however lots of people play it many hours. During such a long games, after a hour, they're defeating Dragons or Demons even without rolling a dice. Does FFG is planning to make an expansion, something like "Epic Level Expansion Set", which will contain harder enemies and other cards, so they will be difficult also for a mighty heroes (strenghth / craft something like 15)? If a destiny for a given character is losing a Life, it will lose it, regardless if it will fight against a Boar (S:1) or against a Dragon King (S: 16 for example). Even Polish version of Dragon King - The Beast - in Magiczny Miecz (Magical Sword) had Strength 16 not 12."

Received via email:

"One of new things in a Talisman 4th Revised Edition are Fate Points. But for now there is a lack of cards or other effects which are using them. Upgrade Pack (or normal "Starter") has exactly 2 cards related to Fate Points, 2 spaces and 14 Characters. Reaper bring us additional 4 Characters and 5 cards. Don't you think, it's rather small amount of "things" related to it so far? Yes, later maybe it will be increased by new cards &c, maybe even "Fate Expansion" (just like "Dragons" fr 2nd Ed.) but for now it's rather Small. For example there is three cards which should be changed - Phantom, Enchanter and Fairy. They're giving possibility to choose one of all things, what given Character may choose (I cannot imagine, what next given character would want) except for 1FP. From those cards looks like Fate Points aren't one of Character's parameters (like Strength, Craft, Life or Gold) but rahther "something". I asume, You didn't included them because of black Fate Points or because of another reasons? Are You plan adding new parameters in a future (for example new "money" type) or not?"

Received via email:

"Are there any plans to introduce a campaign option for Talisman? Turn the boardgame into an RPG of any sort?"

"With expansions, will we see new boards like what we saw with the 2nd and 3rd editions of the game?"

"Is there any interest in creating a card-based Talisman ala "The Sorcerer's Cave" or "Mystic Wood"?"

"What are the chances that characters/classes/races from FFG's other franchises will make it to Talisman?"

Received via email:

"Looking at checklist of Reaper expansion, we can say, 75% of it's cards are from Talisman 2nd Edition and its expansions. Some of them are reprinted promo cards from White Dwarf (except for Bolster). How looks possibility to release new versions of old and well known expansions? Many of old Talisman fans would want to see new versions of "Timescape", "Dungeon" or "City". Also, since there is a lack of Dragons for Holy Lance, not bad idea would be releasing "Dragons" expansion as well. New Talisman players would be happy too, since they don't know old expansions, so they would had a chance to see them and play them. As an addition for this question, since almost all promo cards from White Dwarf no. 72 were reprinted, is that mean other promo cards from White Dwarfno. 115 or from Heraut Citadel (for example Toad King would be a great card according to Your words: I n fact, FFG’s third Talisman expansion alone will feature more “Toadarific” encounters than all of the 2nd Edition expansions combined! ) will be released too? What about Polish "Magia i Miecz" (Magic and Sword) and their expansions? Practically it belong to "Talisman family", so its only one expansion never released outside of Poland - "Jaskinia" (The Cave) should be included. I'm sure, plenty of old Talisman players would want finally look at it and play it. Just for their knowledge, how it was looking and what it was introduced. In some weird ways, "Krypta Upiorów" (Crypt of Wraiths) belong to "Talisman Family" too; it was an expansion to "Magiczny Miecz" (Magical Sword) - plagiarism of Talisman, which for it's many players was better than all Talisman expansions combined. Maybe would be good include it in (for example) "Talisman History Expansion Set"? Yes, it would have higher price than even Talisman itself, but for many players would be worth to buy it. I'm sure about that, at least for that two "only-Poland" expansions."

Received via email:

"Hi. I would like to know, why international Talisman expansions must be released half year later than in Great Britain? Would be possible to make one release date for all of countries, so if Reaper was released before Christmas, even Pole or Russian will be able to play it in Christmas as well? Also, if we're talking about expansions, I would like to know too, is international partners would be able to make their own expansions like for 2nd Ed. early BPiRF Sfera did (I mean Jaskinia - The Cave)? Or they're limited only to that, what FFG will release and when will release? Also, if they would not be able to make their own expansions, are they still able to make an Official Contests (for example make an Enemy Card) for promoting and supporting sales in their countries and officially release winner entries? Many players would want their art appear as an official part of a game, so that also would have good influence for sales."