whats the average play time of this game?

I've heard some people say the game takes 6hours or more. But that's for a group that really likes to just gather equipment and goof around.

I've also heard people call this a quick game.

About how long does this game take for your group? and if it's a looong game do you goof around a lot and level up a ton? If it's a quick game do you not goof around at all and do you take risks and just rush the center and hope for the best?

TheKingOfBlades said:

3-player Talisman, approached as a race game, 75 minutes on average. Basic rule of thumb, main stat 9+ and Talisman -> go for the win.

We're more leisurely, possibly leaning to enjoying the adventure more than focusing on the win. Our time frame generally runs a base of 30 minutes plus 20+ minutes per player. If we're goofing around or socializing, maybe a bit more, and that does often happen. The type of endgame (AltEnd, etc.) can sometimes have a small to moderate effect upon game time as well. We mostly play a King of Hill, Conditional, ending vs any AtlEnd anymore, so my time estimates do not include consideration of AltEnds.

1 hour per player. So a 5 player game would last 5 hours (minimum).
Earlier games we probably did to much "leveling" before going for the win. And later games we've used 4 Warlock's Quests for each player before gaining a Talisman.

Draii said:

Ooo, now that's a real "magical quest" approach. I like it! But I think an hour per players is a bit much, even for me.

Keep in mind I said it is quick in a message to you King. I guess it does eat a lot of time. However I have that much fun with it that the time is irrelevant.

Just buy it, man. I can't believe people are asking if they should buy a game that is one of the first of this genre and the inspiration for all others like it. Shoot Talisman is epic. It is the only game I play for fun and not to win (though I do try).

multiplayer can get dirty especially when alot of spells are involved. my experience has shown me that 4-5 player games can easily run 5+ hours because of someone having the opportunity to screw someone else over and drag it out even longer. example: counterspell from the weakest character when the strongest is using psionic blast to reach th CoC from the dungeon.

Eagle King went down today in 50 minutes. Like the Ice Queen, you need around Str or Craft 15 in combat to take him out. What was odd that there were in fact two characters with a shot of winning right at the end. With the Rogue in the Valley of Fire, the Valkyrie was forced to move to the Treasure Chamber and challenge the Lord of Darkness. Valkyrie has Str 19 in battle at this point ("only" raw Str of 12). She uses the Elixir of Rage, fails. No biggie, she still has a 7-point advantage, so needs to roll one higher than LoD. Except the Rogue casts Weakness on the Valkyrie, dropping her advantage to 4. As the final insult, the Valkyrie rolls a 6, LoD rolls a 5, meaning no Weakness or Elixir of Rage works, Valkyrie beats LoD by 8, exits at the Crown of Command and kills off the Eagle King. But instead, the Rogue moves to the Crown of Command and with Str 18 in battle, Eagle King's Str 12 means he can't beat her.

Curator said:

Oh I wasn't asking this question in response to your email. I was asking because I talked to someone who told me that talisman takes his group 6 or more hours to complete and that wouldn't work for me. I usually play with my brother and cousin or just my girlfriend or sometimes all four of us will play a game.

But when I play with my brother and cousin we only have about 3 hours to play a game so any more then that and we would never finish a game. When I play with the gf I probably wouldn't want it to go anymore then 3 hours either maybe 4 depending on what we have to do that day.

Yeah and I think I will just go ahead and buy it. I've gone back and forth on this game quite a few times. Weighing the pros and cons (I think I've read the rule book about 3 times now). I don't think the seesaw of thought will ever go away until I just go ahead and buy the game. I'm sure it will be a winner. I just hope that its not so awesome that It takes over all my free time and I don't want to play any of my other board games.

There are several ways of shortening the game.

Some are suggested in the rules, and there is no problem to make your own rules to shorten it.

A couple of times we have ended the game by setting a time limit (15 more minutes, then all face Lord of Darkness, the winner is the one reaching closest to the CoC after the battle), or instant battle royale.

The game tends to take alot of time when playing because one want to explore all regions, find the best objects, and have alot of strength and craft to feel safe when approaching the CoC. But you can skip all that, and go for a daring dash against the CoC as soon as you've found a Talisman.

i think this is a great game especially when you play with the same group of people. the drastic differences of how the game plays out makes each replay enjoyable. its more noticeable when you play with 4+ players and start using some of the characters that are more suited for multiplayer like the thief or merchant. nothing like remembering the last game when the thief stole your talisman...

If you want a quicker game explain the goal of the game and how exactly to achieve that goal to new players.

The whole goal of the game is to run around trying to get your stats up high enough to roll 2 and then followed by 3 dice and rolling that number or under. If you do that AND have a talisman (which is at most a secondary goal, not the primary) you'll have a good chance of winning.

If one person is doing this and the other players are simply wandering aroud having 'fun' they may or may not win (chances are they won't but luck plays a factor in the game)

Yes luck plays a big factor in this but once you get the stats up and you see a chance to gain +1 Craft but if there is also a chance to loose +1 craft or turn into a toad that chance might not be worth the +1 if it means losing it.

So really you run around looking for Pools of Wisdom and other means

If all players are doing this, the game will or should be around an hour and a half to two hours, as some 'wandering' is necessary.

That is why I think the best player character to win is the Dwarf. He can more easily bypass the 2 and 3 dice rolls rolls (ie roll 2d6 to get past the Portal of Power and then 3d6 to pass either way down the Inner Region of the game.

Or else gain (by lucky, hook, or crook) the Gnome. That is if your sole goal is to win and win quick.

But the game really is about fun too and wandering, collecting stuff, fighting, etc. is fun but at some point you kick it into high gear and attempt to get the talisman and get your stats to 9+, unless your dwarf.

My other favorite character is the Lephrechan as I can teleport as I seem to roll a lot of 6's some games (other games I suck) and when I do and there are cool things around the region I can pop into the Pool of Wisdom and snag a craft or go to the Temple and pray.

If I play otherwise I like characters like the Merchant as i like to buy stuff and I don't always play to win, but rather to have fun and make it difficult for others to win (ie use my abilities to land on them, fight them, and take their stuff). I might not win but I'm going to make you really work for your win. Then you can thank me for making it seem like a real accomplishment when you do win. And congrats goes to you! Which is why characters like the Thief and Assassin are cool to play when i'm in that mood.

TheKingOfBlades said:

Foreshadow said:

Foreshadow said:

Hey, don't you go knockin' on the Merchant ! According to my stats (after 116 plays), Merchant ranks among the upper-mid tier characters, with people like Dark Cultist, Dwarf and Elf. Merchant has a 5-12 win-loss in 17 apperances. No character currently has more than 7 wins (Gypsy, Sage and Troll have 7 each, but Gypsy is #1 due only 6 losses compared to 10 for the other two).

how in the heck( yeah, heck) do you guys keep track of these stats? the dwarf is hands down the best character to win the game quickly. i was playing 2v2 and won with the dwarf in less than 25 turns. i dont think another character could do that without all of the stars and moons alingning. i have seen some funny situations with both the elf and leprechaun that are off topic but noteworthy. the elf has the ability to teleport from woods to woods and have seen various stat pools appear on multiple woods leading to very quick advancement for the elf. regarding the leprechaun, he has the ability to gain 3 gold when landing on any woods space and when the academy is in play this ability pretty much leads to a stat point every that little green munchkin lands on the woods. i saw someone use the temporal vortex spell and 18 gold at the academy. result: plus 6 to craft and no turns lost. not sure if the spell should cover more than one turn lost but the move was so smooth who could argue? my point is sure there are rules suggestion regarding speeding up the game but the once players get familiar with certain characters and cards the game can end suprising quickly without warhorsing or psionicing blasting your way through the dungeon.

Don't know about others, but here's a link to my thread on BGG:

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/402911/my-talisman-statistics

First post explains most of the stuff. Probably update next week, once all Highland characters get to 5 appearances each.

With the Highlands, a game takes us about 12 hours for a game (we talk a LOT) split up in 4 hour sessions. Basically, at wrap up time, every player gets a baggie. Dump all the stuff from their characters in said baggie. Write down the 1 or 2 things special about the character “The Genie has toadify, *I* have counterspell”.

Have a baggie per region and dump the respective cards in. Take 2 min to write down order (we do clockwise from Chapel, say) “Skip x2, Gob, Skip, Pool 2G, Skip x3, Mule, Skip…” Ditto with Dungeon, and now, with Highland.

And voila. Means a 5-10 min prep time at end of a session, but that’s how we do long multi-day games. (Dam look away please, heh). Our characters are usually ST/CR 18+ by the time we are bothered to go for the inner region. We like the trip WAY more than the endgame.

But that’s just us…

Well, as I'm from another group that likes the journey more than the destination, I can see your point... but 12 hours, THR?! Boy, I thought me and mine were long-wind at 4+ hours.

In all fairness it’s “coffee table Talisman”. Roll some dice. Chat about the latest movie/tv show. Move the figurines. Talk about politics. Get whapped on the head when the wife reminds you “You can’t talk politics when we’re trying to have fun”. Pick some cards. Complain about work. Refill the Black Russians / Screwdrivers / Bailey’s Irish Cream (on side tables, of course, nothing liquid comes near the board).

Plus, the home rule of “At 18+/18+ ST/CR you HAVE to try to end the game” came up when we ran out of cones one night, and noticed someone has to end the game. (Our board game “rush to the center” person quit, so only the slow-pokes are left).

I’d guess… 25-30% play, 5-10% carouse and drink, 40-70% chat. If we were focused, in all honesty, even waiting for the 18/18, it’d be a 4-5 hour-ish game.

AH, okay, I definitely know what you mean now. And we've been down that road too where sometimes the game doesn't even get finished... and generally we don't care because it was still a good evening.

Ooops... I think we kinda hijacked Dam's topic.

JCHendee said:

Hey, this isn't my thread, ramble on .

Updated my thread on BGG, each HL character has now gotten 5 appearances, some thoughts on them in there. Rogue went 5-0 in those 5 games , but I'm still hating Alchemist the most. Alchemist "only" managed 3-2, but there was only one play of the default Crown of Command in the mix for all the HL characters. Hand of Doom, while adding some tension to the ending, doesn't really provide any end-game. Three times HoD was used, game lasted for: 4 rounds, immediate end and 3 rounds after the first char made it to the Crown. No 1s rolled either so far.

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/402911/my-talisman-statistics

i have a hard time trusting/believing anyone that plays this game to finish and is sober enough to record their stats. its the lazy persons rpg. noone has to be dm and it doesn't matter who shows or doesn't because you can still play and have a great time. games run longer than they should in my opinion. perhaps a rule change where once somone comples the dungeon/highland or enters the middle region all enemies are +2. +4 once someone enters the inner. my house favorite: no rolling for the CoC. everyone loses a life. really speeds it up ; ).

punk666 said:

Guess the sober part comes naturally, not being a drinker . And Talisman isn't by far the only game I keep stats for. Actually, there probably isn't a game I play that I don't keep some kind of stats for (win-loss vs each GOO in Arkham Horror, w-l for each deck in the LCGs, w-l for individual and pairs in Middle-Earth Quest, etc.).

punk666 said:

Or for the time-challenged. None of the R4th games have gone 2.5 hours for me, never had RPG sessions (when I played those) that were anywhere that short. Of course, Talisman preceded RPGs for me, timeline was probably: Talisman - RPG - Talisman.