OK -

I have played a number of games of Talisman in my life - at least second and third editions (I think I may have even played first) - and I do remember the game taking a while to play, which in my personal opinion was one of its primary appeals. I remember playing two and even three games in a single evening's worth of play.

(You probably can tell where I'm going with this . . .)

But since I have the new Revised Fourth Edition, I have yet to actually finish a game.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have been having a great time, and we have a couple of newbies with us - but it is still going after SIX HOURS (and three deaths, in last night's game).

The box says this game is usually played in less than two hours.

Granted, I was using all of the existing expansion sets (Dungeon, Highlands, Reaper, Frostmarch, & Sacred Pool), but that only adds to setup and shuffling **ALL OF THOSE CARDS**. <<grin>>

Why is this game taking so long?

I am interested in your insights.

Much Thanx -

Tiggy

Let me guess - you don't want to win the game? and wait until you have 15 craft and 15 str to go for the crown?

Now more seriously, if you have newbies and play using all the expansions than it may take quite a lot of time (too much information for them, they have to read all the cards while veteran players don't). Number of players is also a factor.

3-4 players game usually takes around 2 hours. 9 str (or 9 craft, 6 str) , 4 life, 2 fate char with a talisman can go for the crown already.

2 players game is done usually within 1 hour

3-player averages about 75 minutes. Ice Queen and Eagle King generally go 90 minutes (ish), but vanilla CoC ending with Ogre Chieftain has been won in about 30 minutes, Rogue won Hand of Doom in 35.

Well, if you don't continue when you loose all life, remaining player wins the the game.

If you continue starting with a new carachter, game can be endless. With or without expansion a game usually finish in an hour.

Hovewer if you can't win and can't loose, you can apply this funny rule:

"At the beginning of your turn roll 1 dice, with 4-5-6 you loose 1 life"

This way game speed up incredibily!

We played recently with 7 players and 4 hours later we had a winner.

Cash in's were at 5 points. Even with a few new and rookie players it went well.

Could have been faster if we didn't have so much distracting chat.

Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Thank you for your responses thus far.

In response to a few things:

First, even if we are playing with a couple of newbies, the game itself is simple enough to pick up – so reading the cards isn’t going to eat up that much time.

Second, we were playing with the Ice Queen ending – she does have 12 Strength and 12 Craft, so you do kinda wanna beef yourself up to face her after working your way through the Inner Region. We are also using all of the existing expansions, including the Grim Reaper rules.

Third: I have always played this game at a casual pace – with everyone genuinely enjoying the game and one another’s company. Trust me, in college, we were playing this game in and around game-friendly food & ended using ALL of the expansions – and still could get a couple of games in the course of a single evening with breathing room.

Fourth: I have considered lowering the cash-in value for trophies, but we didn’t have to make concessions in the rules when we played this before – and this was was with four and five players for EVERY GAME. I happen to enjoy the game rules as they stand, and am trying not to tweak too many “house rules” just to shorten the game.

Five: At this point, I cannot imagine a game taking less than an hour. How did you manage to win in half an hour, even with the Ogre Chieftain? You had to have been constantly rolling and moving, with no interaction between the players themselves.

Please advise?

Much thanx –

Tigonus

Tigonus said:

For me, interaction between players is in no way key to Talisman. Object (of any game) is to win, that's what I play for. If I can kill other people's characters during the game and then go on to win, much nicer way to win of course, but win is the bottom line.

As to how to win the OC:

"30 minutes into the game, he reaches the Treasure Chamber and uses 3 of his 4 Followers in the combat, giving him a total of Str 25 (6 for himself, +2 for Gauntlets, +8 for Ogre, + 5 for Gargoyle and +4 for Kobold Brute). He defeats the Lord of Darkness by 10, getting the Cloak of Feathers as his Treasure and exits at the Crown of Command. And he still has a Str 4 Follower left in case someone reaches the Crown."

Basically grab Monsters as Followers, if you meet a stronger Monster, use one of the Follower to help you kill it, take it as Follower. You can quickly turn Str 4 Follower into a Str 8 Follower in the Dungeon.

When I play with my girlfirend (she loves Talisman too), we always finish in 45 minutes or less. We are quick and cruel.

Last time my leprechaun killed her wizard! (She was a toad with 1 life point and I just rolled 6 in the same region....)

If you were playing with all the expansions of an earlier version of talisman. I cant imagine the 4th edition takes any longer than the old one. I only have the board expansions myself. The game goes quicker in my opinion if you go for the bird mount in highlands. I'm not sure what your players general stratagy is either. If you are going for extreme stats to make certain you can win the dice rolls, then yes the game will take longer. You shouldnt be going for more than 12 in a stat before you hit the endgame, also concentrating on hamstringing other players rather than making a strait shot for the endgame is another slowdown that will make the game take forever. Some PVP interaction is fun but unless your going for an all nighter players need to be focused on the goal, and go for it when it is comfotably possible, Not nessassarily a garenteed win. Hope this helps. Might also help to post more of what you and your players are doing for stratagies on how to get to the endgame, and how much player vs player interaction you'r getting.

Also I always get through to the end but never timed it, I used to play 3rd edition. Now I play 4th seems to take about the same amout of time as the old one. We dont use house rules.

Sometimes the games can be very short. Record is 15 minutes, 2 players. Highlander went straight for eagle boss, never had to go down the mountain due to lucky draws, got +2 str boost on the way, defeated eagle, got arnkel and ended the game with the hand of doom ending.

Gah, can't edit previous post. Just wanted to add that time that you need to finish the game is connected to how badly you want to win the game. If you want just to wander around, have an adventure and pump stats both up to 15 or more, then the game will take a lot of time.

Tigonus said:

It will eat up more than you think, especially when you factor in re-reading the more complicated cards a few times.

Tigonus said:

Using all the expansions will always make things take longer. There's more stuff to do, more stuff to learn, more stuff to choose from.

Tigonus said:

I played 2nd edition in university too. I remember sessions that literally ran for several days at a time with club members coming and going as their schedules allowed. I also remember games that finished within 2 hours, with all the 2e expansions. I don't own all the 4e expansions, but what I do own of the game looks strikingly similar to 2e, just with better art. As in, the basic rules are almost exactly the same. I have a very difficult time believing 4th edition takes a significantly longer amount of time to play than previous editions did based solely on the fact that it's the same game. Looking at most of the responses this thread is generating, it sounds like other people have the same experience.

This leads me to believe it you who have changed, not the game. Talisman is admittedly a game that can easily be played without anyone making serious progress towards victory, in fact that's one of the things I like about it - just wandering around and seeing what happens.

You asked for advice, so here's my advice:

1) Take out the "little box" expansions. The Reaper, the Frostmarch, etc. Those are the ones that seem to add the most in the way of new rules and complications. The big boxes on the other hand mostly seem to add new ways of getting to the crown and therefore hopefully accelerate the end game. Also, if the Ice Queen's high stats are really what's forcing you to buff your stats so much, then removing her should help you speed things up.

2) Focus on going for victory as soon as you can. Talk to everyone at the table to make sure that's what they want as well. If that doesn't speed things up I don't know what will.

3) Whatever you're doing to make your text so huge, stop it. It's annoying and it doesn't help get people on your side. It probably has somthing to do with the fact that you appear to be using IE4. You should really consider upgrading, there are a lot of security vulnerabilities that have been uncovered in the days since IE4 was current, and using it in today's cyberspace only leaves yourself open to attack.

4) If you absolutely can't stand 4th edition Talisman and are unwilling to make house rules to fix it, then sell your copy of 4th and go find an older edition to play. Nobody's putting a gun to your head and stopping you from playing the older edition just because a new one exists.

I would add that cards from frostmarch tend to make game slower. Most of them are low level enemies (slow leveling) and there are no cards that add str/craft directly. Cards from reaper do not make the game slower because they are more balanced. Haven't seen Sacred Pool cards, no polish edition yet

A bit off topic, but I saw the "never ends" differently. Indulge me for a moment... I had no idea that Talisman was still alive & well. I grew op playing the original with my Dad & little brother, and I knew they revised it years ago, but I truly thought the game was gone. It's a happy surprise that I stumbled into these forums. Thanks for "listening" and have fun.