I have finally got around to being happy with the "Upgrade" cards, I came up with during the early development of the Talisman plugin for Strange Eons and will be putting the Smithy online soon. It's just a card that allows you to enhance standard Weapons and Armour for a gold. Something cheap, useful and a bit of fun.

I'll post more when I've managed to get it all boxed off...

Hey that is kind of sweet. Is it going to be like a purchase deck?

Great in its simplicity... looking forward to see the whole set

Yes, it's just a simple deck a bit like the Stables, but you can upgrade the 5 basic Armour/Weapon cards for a gold or so. It's stand alone, so does not depend on any other expansion so you can use it however you see fit. It is simply a couple of Smithy Adventure cards and a couple of sets of Smithy Decks...

Well, it's now up on Talisman Island . I wouldn't get too excited about it, as it is rather simple, but it might work for you!

Thanks Jon,

Good job, they look very nice.

Gonna use them next game!

Jon... one thought...

Eventually someone will wonder or claim that the Weapon/Armour and the Enhancement are separate when losing an Object, one way or another. Both are labeled as an Object. Perhaps "Enhancement" cards could have such a designation in the midbar... or an additional note on the card could read.

"If you lose the [Armour/Weapon/Helmet/etc.], this Enhancement goes with it."

I know its sensibly obvious... but we all know players who try to work the wording to advantage... or to weasel out of losing anything. And simple or not, its something on which to spend all that gold flowing out of the Highlands.

Good job

The FAQ section made ROTFL

Just a question... doesn't the Gladiator become a TANK with an upgraded armor?

@JC - I tried to cover that in the Info card, but wanted to avoid adding text to the upgrade itself. I am sure people will try it on, but they should not be entertained!

@CW - I am sure the Gladiator would benefit greatly, so you had better make sure he doesn't get hold of an upgrade!

talismanisland said:

Ah ha! Well, a rules card is just as good for those who pay attention... and as to the rest, we can forget about them.

I like this a lot....I might change it a bit to have the Village Blacksmith able to do it. I was confused at first about the "right materials" that the smith would have to have available (I finally realised it means "if there are enough cards left"), but that made me think that it would be cool if the smith had to actually have some sort of raw material to do his thing - something that would make it harder than just paying a single gold to get the upgrade. Pay him a gold and deliver him another weapon, which he will hammer together with this one, and you will get the cumulative strength bonus (or upgrade your armour). If you end up with two swords, and you aren't the Warrior, you could meld them with this mechanic, and make the smithy a little more challenging to use. I guess there would have to be a limit, though...with more than two bits of armour you wouldn't be able to move, for example. (Maybe reduce your movement roll by 1?) It might also be cool if somehow there was a trade-off - or if you could lose the bonus somehow. What if the next time you lost a battle, you lost the bonus, but could collect another cast-off sword or armour and go back to the blacksmith, gold in hand?

I am glad you like the concept of The Smithy. You can of course use the cards as you wish and make up optional rules like you suggest.

Once you have fleshed them out, perhaps they could be included as an update to the expansion?

My mind is jumping to even grander ideas : a whole expanded corner for the Village! Is there a way I could see the .eon file for the smithy? I'm interested in tinkering a bit. Thanks very much I'm pleased that you think my ideas have the potential to be shared.

perfect cards, perfect ideas. Upgraded Armour is little too powerfull, but still very nice work.

how many "resources" for each item is originaly supposed by you to be in Smithy deck ? Just one or two copies of every Smithy upgrade ?

@ Zozimus

I like the general idea of making an upgrade a little more challenging to accomplish, but I see a problem therein... maybe. If two weapons are to be melded, for example, then how would you indicate that once accomplished? Is the second weapon kept as a marker, or is it discarded for an upgrade card. The latter seems best, as the former would remove objects from the game for others to access. Can you clarify a little for me? Did I miss something?

@Drakkkan - Thanks! You should have two copies of each upgrade.

@Zozimus - A bit difficult as the eon file would only work with my own version of the plugin. I am in the process of thinking about a fan card addition to the tool, but not sure when that will be. IN the mean time I can make any card you might need...

@JCHendee:

I was thinking that the two swords (etc.) could be exchanged for an "upgrade" card...as you say, this could let others gather swords for upgrades. At the Village Blacksmith's regular rates, that would cost a total of 5 gold for the upgraded sword: 2 gold per sword, plus a gold for the upgrade. (I'm always looking for a reason to make gold more usable; I even created a whole 'scenario' involving a Bottle Imp to try to deal with the general unusefulness of the element.) Armour would be much more expensive, but that's in keeping with how useful the increased benefits would be. I was really just brainstorming ideas; if I made them more concrete, I'd have to think more carefully about the wording and the balance.

@Talismanisland:

Thanks very much for the offer! I'll put something together and maybe you can tell me what you think. When I was a kid playing 2nd ed., we used to make expansions out of orange cardstock. I'm so pleased to see that other people obviously were doing the same thing all around the world, unbeknownst to us! Talisman has a lot of nostalgia value to me for those reasons, besides being fun to play today.

@Zozimus

Got it! Overall I've always thought armour was bit cheap. I can see a helmet at 1G, the shield at 2G is so-so, but that armour for 3 and 50% chance of save (especially with no chance of the armour breaking) is a bit under the mark. If both swords are turned in for the upgrade... and the upgrade card is all that is taken to mark the superior weapon, that's perfect. You get the better weapon, you really have to pay for it, and two objects go back into the system.

talismanisland said:

That would be amazing: I just posted a new version of the Village in this forum, and a description of what changes I would make to your great cards. Do you think you could whip me up some Smithy cards with the text that I have there? Here's the text again in case it's hard to find (apologies for doing this here, but I can't figure out how to email you separately....I'm not actually very tech-savvy, apparently...):

SWORD UPGRADE:

Add 2 to your strength in battle. If you lose a battle, your weapon is blunted: treat it like a normal sword until you visit the smithy again and pay him to sharpen it.

AXE UPGRADE:

Add 2 to your strength in battle. If you lose a battle, your weapon is blunted: treat it like a normal axe until you visit the smithy again and pay him to sharpen it. You may not use a blunted axe to build a raft.

HELMET UPGRADE:

If you are defeated in battle and just lost a life, roll 1 die. If you roll a 5 or a 6, the helmet protected you and you do not lose a life, though you still lost the battle. If you roll a 1, the helmet shatters and must be discarded.

SHIELD UPGRADE:

If you are defeated in battle and just lost a life, roll 1 die. If you roll a 4, 5, or 6, the shield protected you and you do not lose a life, though you still lost the battle. The shield is heavy and still counts as 2 objects toward your carrying limit.

ARMOUR UPGRADE:

If you are defeated in battle and just lost a life, roll 1 die. If you roll a 3,4, 5, or 6, the armour protected you and you do not lose a life, though you still lost the battle. The armour is very heavy and reduces your movement by 1 (to a minimum of 1) as long as you carry it. In addition, the riding horse will not carry you while you wear it.

So, I loved the idea of the Smithy that Jon New created but the randomness of the card was something I thought could be updated, especially when using all the expansions. I don't know about anyone else's adventures but we use all the expansions when we play a game and since the City expansion has been released I have not seen one person visit the Blacksmith in the Village space. The Village has kind of been lost...if someone has gold they are making a bee-line for the city to buy their wares.

Which is why..... the BlackSmith has not been able to afford his rent and has packed up and become a "Wandering Smithy" and an Expert Blacksmith has retired from the City and taken up shop in the Village. He doesn't really sell anything but is available for commission work, appraisals and upgrades!

Here is the new, Updated Village Space.

After a few brief e-mails with Jon he gave me permission to post this alternative concept to his original concept and steered me towards adding a Wandering Smithy stranger to the adventure deck that would work just like the Village smithy does now. I whipped one of those up in Strange Eons.

The idea here is to draw attentions back to the village when using all of the expansions. After a few games with our group this seems to be popular, especially with starting characters that already have weapons. Just print out the Smithy cards on Talisman Island and set them near the Village space.

Now, my photoshop skills are not the best so this is all I could do but let me know what you all think. Our group is really enjoying this spin on a great idea.

If you are NOT using all the expansions, and more importantly not using the City expansion, I would use Jon's original concept of adding the Smithy card to the Adventure deck.

The possibilities Bounty Hunter + Full Plate + Armor Upgrade + Anointed Robe = after losing a battle you have 5/6 chance to win. Only losing when rolling a 1.