This is not a home-brew (yet) and maybe should have been posted in the generic forum, but here it is.

Alot of times when playing Talisman, someone gets real powerful, the other player don't have a chance to take him/her down, and this player even assault the other characters whenever they get anything that might help them get better themselves. In short: It's nearly impossible to turn the tide once one gets really powerful.

Therefore I'd like a new character like the reaper in a upcomming "small" expansion. Some kind of character that walk on the boards like the reaper, but maybe on "6" or by some other means. This could be anything from "The royal guards", "Inquisitors", "Protectors of the Crown of Command", "Ancient dragon" or whatever.
This character should auto-aim for the character that has the highest strength/craft and/or a talisman or some other method to rate which one is in the lead. maybe each player put a token on the one they want to "sink". When this character manages to capture the most powerful that player will lose one strength/craft/talisman/all spells/magic object or be inprisoned far from the portals of power or something.

In short, it should be a bit scary to be most powerful and therefor a visible candidate to reach the crown of command.

Thoughts?

I can see it being a bit hard to qualify who is the strongest character but I like the idea. We're cooking with 3 NPC's now ( Ice Queen, Toad King, Reaper ) and we have our hands pretty full with that, and they activate on certain rolls. This one sounds like he's 'always on' which might cause fatigue, would it be better if he had a trigger?

Two characters can take out any character ingame at the moment with the right stuff (baring only one object and 3 or 4 spells that will protect them) thats really good at taking out nearly anyone ingame.

I do not think any new stuff needs to be added.

In fact its better now to try and take a weaker character the strong ones just get taken down. Just as well when you think about it

Inkblob: A trigger may work. But I'd would want it to be a threat. The Reaper usually stand still most of out games even though he too is "always on". But some other means to activate this character might work atleast as good.

Uvatha: How do you mean that two players can take on another more powerful player? They still have to fight him one-on-one, where he will be the winner. Or am I missing something. Yes, some spells will help alot, unless the more powerful player have more/better spells, the amulet or something.

Better to take on the weaker characters? Yes, it's easier, and the powerful player can keep "leveling" and take what he wants since noone dares to fight him.

The real problem underlying this all is that characters (not players) had not real options to go after another lead character. And the players have very little control over their character's movement to do so. And so, players start resorting to tactics outside their characters (such as using the repear) or somewhat outside the game (using spells to through at other players to affect their characters... yes, the players use the spells, not the characters).

Adding another "always on" NPC that is rigged to always go after the strongest character won't work. It means that everytime someome gets ahead it will be knock down... every character will get knocked down eventually. I'm not a fan of the faster-faster attitude toward most games, but that approach will ultimately slow the game way down. Don't go there if you're concerned about game speed.

Good point about speed of the game.

But it's possible to use that as a motor for both the "whom to hunt" and "fasten the game".

The main problem (whit the people I've played with at least) is that the most powerful player won't try to win the game, because he/she has to good a time "leveling" and being the king of the board. This dragging out the game, stomping on any other players who might be a competition if not stopped, thus halting the game. More for the powerful, less for the weak.
But if a trigger is set that this "hunter" goes after characters that are powerful enough to make a balanced passage through the inner region (when strength or craft has reached a certain level, and a talisman is accuired (sp?)) Hopefully the most powerful player will either go for the win (and win or die trying) or be hunted down and let the other players get a chance.

I suppose that might be useful... but it sounds to me like you have a problem with a player, and not the game. You don't change a game for everyone just to deal with one player. Not sensible.

There are games like Talisman where people simply enjoy the adventure vs others who just want to crunch the numbers for a win. I prefer the former over the latter, but both types exist in my extended players group. And all of use would eject the player you are talking about... or never invite him/her back again. That's a much simpler solution.

Or... when everyone else sees wants going on, you all just say "you win, game over." There's nothing a bully dislikes more than having no one to pick on.

Draii said:

With the right spells and effects that is. Misfortune is my fave.

Yeah I've had the same troube with a player myself. Just wants to win no matter what. Normally this would be ok but he whines on when he thinks he is loosing. And this spoils the game for everyone.

Thanks for clarifying =)

I don't feel it's about just one player, It happens alot with different players in this game. But anyhow, I see it more like a way to use something negative and create something positive for the game. But ofcourse, it's not everyones cup of tea. Just wanted to brainstorm about this idea, maybe someone likes it. Depending on the balance of the game when all expansions seems to have been released I might house-rule something, but right now I'll try to play the game as intended.

I really like the idea of something like this implemented. Another idea, that would somewhat achieve the same goal, is to instead of nerfing the strongest character, make the weakest character his equal.