I have been playing Talisman revised 4th edition regularly for a year now and I have all the expansions. I quickly got bored with the alternate endings that came with the expansions. I do like having to fight something at the end, but usually by the time you get to the crown of command, your strength or craft are so high, you don’t even have to roll to beat the Eagle King or the Ice Queen. I am sending out a challenge to all Talisman fans to come up with new endings ideas. Post your ideas here and who knows; maybe the makers of talisman will use some of these ideas for their next expansion. I created some new endings and made little cards with cool pictures to go along with them. It has made Talisman like a whole new game with new endings. Please post your ideas for new endings on this thread. I would love to hear your ideas so I can use them when I play.

Here are some of the new endings I came up with that you can use:

Master Assassin
Strength: 15 Craft: 15 Life: 4
If the Master Assassin rolls a 6 on a battle or combat roll, he automatically wins the round regardless of what you roll. Damage from the Master Assassin cannot be blocked by armor. If you lose a life in a round of battle or combat to the Master Assassin, you are poisoned and will lose one life at the beginning of your next turn before you engage in battle.

Doppelganger Lord
Strength: * Craft: * Life: 4
The Doppelganger Lord has an equal amount of strength and craft you your character including bonuses from any objects or followers, but not including bonuses from any spells or one time use objects. The Doppelganger Lord has a crystal shield that will block damage from battle or combat with a roll of 5 or 6.

Arch Angel
Strength: 12 Craft: 12 Life: 4
At the start of the Arch Angel’s turn, roll a dice. If you roll a 6, the Arch Angel gains 1 life. When you fight the Arch Angel, you must use your craft if it’s lower than your strength, or your strength if it’s lower than your craft. The Arch Angel has a Magic Shield and will prevent the loss of life from Battle or combat with a roll of 5 or 6

Great Lich
Strength: 15 Craft: 15 Life: 4
At the start the Great Lich’s turn, the Great Lich draws the top spell on the spell deck and casts it on you or on itself (whichever is most beneficial to the Great Lich). If the spell is one that doesn’t affect you or the Great Lich, discard it and draw another one. If there are any questions about how a spell should be used, all other players not in the crown of command get to vote on how the spell is used.

Vampire Lord
Strength: 12 Craft: 12 Life: 4
If the Vampire lord, rolls a 6 for its attack roll in battle or combat it will automatically hit. Armor cannot be used to prevent the loss of life from battle or combat. If that Vampire lord successfully talk a life from you, it gains one life and it also steals one of your strength or craft counters (whichever you are fighting the Vampire Lord with)

The Holy Grail
You are in a room with many challises and you must find the Holy Grail to gain eternal life and the glory of victory. You must roll two dice and get a pair to find the Holy Grail and win the game. If you don’t roll a pair, you lose one life. Armor cannot prevent this loss of life. You cannot use fate to reroll when attempting to roll a pair. If you roll a pair, you have chosen wisely and you win the game.

Those are my new endings. Post on this thread and let me know what you come up with

I like the idea of The Holy Grail. Maybe we try it in the near future.

The Doppelganger Lord looks like one of my Alternative Endings.

Download: http://www.talismanisland.com/expansions.htm

We like to play with Alternative Endings but i think some of your Endings are overpowered for our Talisman games. It's often hard enough to win against a Strength 12 and/or Craft 12 Ending. We also like new ideas for an Ending, not only battle or psychic combat, e.g. Timetravelling, Magic Lightning, King's Battle, The Dragon King, Horrible Black Void, and The Crystal Orb.

Me and mine are with Azoic. We already have enough "end-boss" endings, mostly ones I (re)created / updated from common ones, and then produced some matching ones that flipped some of the mechanics. Though we don't play alt-endings much anymore, as they really don't add anything to the game as a whole, we like alt-ends that force characters to really be prepared. Or ones that are more scenario oriented, and thereby affect gameplay rather than just the ending. Warlock Quests is the only commercial example of the difference between an alt-end and a scenario.

Your End-Bosses seem fine otherwise, and I think most players would like them, though I agree with Azoic on the issue of overkill. My least favorite is the Holy Grail, as there is already enough randomness in the game. Endings that make building up a Character to achieve the CoC pointless might be amusing once or twice, but they grow annoying very quickly.

Rolling doubles on two dice is a 16.7% chance. If a character has four Lives and achieves the CoC, and then is not encountered by another player to complicate matters, it has 4 turns to make that roll. By compound cascade probabiliity, its chance of making that roll before death is 26.5%. And I don't see what it has to do with the Holy Grail concept; some other theme might be better. The H.G. has been used in many ways for AltEnds already.

For balance we could us a strength only end boss, but I'm sure we'll get one soon. Otherwise I agree we don't want to stack th endings with too many combats - mid level characters need the temptation to go early. I like the frequency of boss endings between 1/4 and 1/3 - which is where it's been since the online freebies.

Among the other endings, I'd like to see a sustained presence of command spell endings, for that classic feel. They should (mostly) be stronger than CoC, but weaker than C&S, eg:

• Crown & Ring - players may not heal (but may gain) life. At the start of every players turn cast the command spell (as in C&S), but you must roll (as in CoC).
• Crown & Sash - also players may not heal life, but otherwise reversed. The command spell always hits, but only on your turns.
• Crown & Throne - at the start of your next turn, cast he command spell to kill all other players and win he game.

I like Holy grail, but would personally just roll for a six on one die (same odds as doubles) and allow fate.

JCHendee said:

Check your math - I get just under 52% 1 - (5/6) ^ 4 . Not bad if you allow fate I think. This doesn't make building up pointless, it punishes you for going up without abundant life and fate.

Hmmm... I may have mixed in compound probabilities in the wrong way amid the cascading sequence. Good catch, C.H.!

• The 1st roll as a base 16.7% chance.
• The 2nd roll only occurs if the 1st roll fails, thereby the 2nd roll will only occur 83.3% of the time.
• The 3rd roll only occurs if the 1st & 2nd fail, and so on...

16.7 + (16.7 x 0.8333) + ((16.7 x 0.8333) x 0.8333) + (((16.7 x 0.8333) x 0.8333) x 0.8333) = 51.88%

However, this is only valid if the one who achieves the CoC has 4 Lives for 4 rolls after passing through the Inner Region (discounting realm board "back doors"). Not likely. If less Lives, the odds drop.

3 Lives: 42.2%

2 Lives: 30.6%

1 Life: 16.7%

This also discounts other players attempting to whittle down the leader's Lives. Still not worth playing. A straight up fight for the Crown (in some way) is still preferable.

Thanks for your input everyone. Remember, that the endings and bosses that you use can always be adjusted to whatever you want. You can make up your own rules. If you use the bosses i created in the orginal post in this thread but lower the strength/craft, go for it. If you want to use the Holy Grail idea and change it to just rolling a 6 or be able to use Fate to reroll, go for it. i created the Holy Grail to make it harder for the first person that gets super strong and gets into the CoC first. sometimes everyone dies when we use the Holy Grail but that is kind of funny anyways lol.

When i play, we just vote on if we want to make any changes. We usually play with a lot of people so we use 5 points of trophies to gain a stregth or craft to make the game go faster.

I would love to hear more ideas for new endings. i know there are some on the talisman island website bit its kind of hard to look stuff up on that website.

Keep the ideas coming.

Available 4E/4ER AltEnds...

via TalismanIsland.com Expansions Page.

• Skaven Swarm (1) by Voidsign
• The Timescape v3 (4) by Azoic, expansion dependant(?)
• The Dragonland v3 (4) by Azoic, expansion dependant(?)
• The Adventure v3 (2) by Azoic
• Alternative Endings v3 (16) by Azoic
• Temple & Gold v3 (2) by Akuma, expansion dependant(?)

via BoardGameGeek.com Talisman 4E/4ER File Page

• Crown of Command Alternative Ending Card (1) by Game Geekl
• Danse Macabre (1) by Game Geek

via FantasticDiversions.blogspot.com F.D. Downloads Page

• 2Ex4E Alternative Endings (13) by JC

That's about all I know of that are still in open circulation. AltEnds are the least produced cards among fan creators, as there's only so much one can do with the last 1%-5% of a game. It quickly becomes reinventing the wheel over and over. I'd prefer to see some psuedo scenarios, like Warlock Quests but a bit more, but I've been stumped for awhile myself on trying to rig any that would work well. There's just not enough control in the game for completing goals midgame, and dumb luck for doing so gets frustrating... even for Warlock Quests.

klaatu barada nikto...Threadomancy!!!

I've had some thoughts about Alternate Endings, and it seems logical to put them here rather than start a new thread. There is a quest, a brawl, some spite, and a bit of silliness. Enjoy.

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Shattered Crown
As you reach for the Crown it shatters right in front of you, scattering its pieces all over the land. You pick up the last remaining piece before setting off to find the others.

Take the Fragment of your choice. Roll 2d6 for each of the remaining 5 Fragments to place them on the board, if there is already a Fragment on that space then reroll.

2 Graveyard 5 Temple 8 Warlock's Cave 11 Crags
3 Forest 6 Castle 9 Cursed Glade 12 Chapel
4 City 7 Oasis 10 Village

You are then Teleported to the Portal of Power square, but do not encounter that Space. Take an extra turn after this one.

* You can not use or gain the benefit of any Fragments if you do not also possess a Talisman, although you may still carry them.

* Fragments do not count against your Object limit.

* If you have at least one Fragment and a Talisman at the beginning of your turn, you may attempt to cast a Command spell. Roll 1d6 and add that to the number of Fragments you are carrying.

2 Implosion: You are killed. Drop all Fragments on the space you are on. All of your other Objects and Followers are destroyed (discarded).
3 Uncontrolled Burst: You lose one Life.
4 - 5 No effect.
6 Feedback: You and one other character of your choice each lose one life.
7 - 8 Minor success: One character of your choice loses one Life.
9 Major success: All other characters lose one Life.
10 Mastery: All other characters are killed.

Fragment Object Cards (keep in the box until needed):

Shattered Crown Fragment: Instead of rolling for movement, you may cross the Storm River as if you had a raft. If you roll a 6 for movement you may instead teleport to any other space in the same region. Counts as 2 Fragments when attempting to cast a Command spell.

Strength Gem Fragment: +1 to Strength Value. In battle you may roll an extra die and then remove a die of your choice.

Craft Gem Fragment: +1 to Craft Value. When attacking another character you may use Psychic Combat if you choose. In psychic combat you may roll an extra die and then remove a die of your choice.

Fate Sigil Fragment: Between the start of this turn and the start of your next turn you may reroll one die roll; this may be done even if the die had already been rerolled by fate or if it was a die roll that fate could not affect. At the start of your turn you may choose to lose that turn to replenish up to your full fate value.

Life Gem Fragment: Between the start of this turn and the start of your next turn you may prevent one loss of life to any player, creature or follower; except a loss caused by the Command spell. At the start of your turn you may choose to lose that turn to heal to your life value.

Gold Sigil Fragment: You may pay the gold cost of any Adventure Card or board space as if you had the required amount of Gold in possession. If you land on the Village or the City you may take one card of your choice from the Purchase or Stable deck.

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The Red Mist

A strange red mist has covered the land, inciting rage in all who feel its effects.

* The Inner Region is locked and sealed. Any Characters in the Inner Region at any time are immediately teleported to the Portal of Power. The Portal of Power can not be opened by any means.

* All Characters lose any restrictions regarding attacking other Characters.

* If on your move you pass through a Space occupied by another character you must stop in that Space.

* If you end your move in a Space occupied by another Character you must attack that Character.

* If you defeat another Character in Battle or Psychic Combat, you must take a Life from that Character, rather than any other reward.

* Each Talisman gives +2 to Battle, and +2 to Psychic Combat.

**********************************************************

Teleport Trap

The immense power put out by the Crown has started warping reality around it. Unpredictable things happen to those who attempt to teleport in its presence.

If you entered the Crown of Command through the Valley of Fire you will suffer no adverse effects. Encounter the Crown as normal per the base rulebook.

If you were moved to the Crown of Command from any other Space you lose 2 Lives and instead appear in the City.

* The energy field extends out to cover the entire Inner Region. Any effect resulting in a Character being moved to any space in the Inner Region, other than the Crown of Command, will result in that Character losing 1 Life and will instead appear at the Warlock’s Cave. Movement caused by the Crypt or the Mines is excluded from this effect.

********************************************************************

The Great Race

A Trickster Spirit has claimed the Crown of Command, and refuses to release it without being entertained first. To the fastest goes the Crown.

You get an extra turn immediately following this one. Move all Characters to the Graveyard, no characters encounter that square.

* Teleport effects no longer work, including being moved to the Warlock’s Cave after completing a Quest.

* Due to magical restrictions placed by the Spirit, Characters can only move counterclockwise.

* The Sentinel will not stop any Character from crossing the bridge to the Middle

* If a Character defeats another Character in Battle or Psychic Combat; they may choose to make the losing Character miss their next turn, rather than take the normal reward.

* Each Talisman gives up to +1 to the movement die roll.

* First Character to make it to the Cursed Glade wins the Crown and the game. It does not have to be on an exact roll.

******************************************************************

Reality Shift

A blinding flash of light splits the sky. When your vision clears something doesn’t feel right, but you can’t quite remember what it is.

Deal a new Character card to each player. Swap the new Character cards out with the old ones, but do not change anything else. Move all Characters to their new start space. Ditch any Objects or Followers not allowed by alignment. Place a new Alternative Ending card on the Crown of Command.

I am not normally impressed by fan creations as my standards are pretty high, but you have seriously given this thought and I like it. Now get to sorting out the graphics for the ending cards!

Ell.

I agree! These are getting closer to the kind of "scenario" shifts I would like to see more of!

I'm not into more AltEnds, as they are the last smallest part of a game. BUT I must admit that if I were, Daefaroth has presented some pretty unique ones the like of which I haven't seen in 20 years. These should capture many people's interest and should be put into card format for immediate sharing.

With the exception of Reality Shift. Yes, fans of the HBV might like it, but its just going to annoy most. Still, it should be a card too for those who will like it.

Shattered Crown is the most interesting... hmm, might even break down my resistance and try that one. It'll need some interesting cards to distinguish each of those crown pieces.

ADDENDUM: Perhaps the places for finding a fragment could just be places to draw from a small deck of fragment cards. It would require less rolling and setup of cards on the board. Just a notion.

It sounds like I'll need to go download Strange Eons and start playing around with it. My big problem will be that I don't have an artistic bone in my body. Any suggestions of where I could find (preferably public domain) art that would be suitable?

@JCHendee: I'll have to think about setting up a place to draw Fragments from, but I like the idea of them being scattered all over the board. Perhaps I should add yet another card into the mix. The thought of all players converging on a single location is appealing.

Crater
Place

Draw a random Fragment from the Fragment Deck, then roll a d6 and place the Crater in the named Space.
1 Forest 2 Chasm 3 Oasis 4 Castle 5 Hidden Valley 6 Crags
Discard Crater when the last Fragment is claimed, if it would be discarded otherwise roll for a new location instead.

I'm starting to be concerned that the Shattered Crown is going to be pretty text intensive to fit on cards... Well, not going to know until I play with it.

Hey D., my idea was to keep the original locations you were going to use as a random placement roll for fragments... but to simply use those locations for people to race to the nearest one and draw a fragment card. Not sure that's better or worse, but would save a (tiny) bit of time in the setup.

Since (I assume) this is a random draw AltEnd, by the time a game has run its course to the final moments, shaving off setup time can be a benefit. If it's something that is chosen as an AltEnd before play begins (and of course it could be both), then setup is expected and less of a distraction.

Another way to go is to create 11 fragment cards with an appropriate back. Only 5 (or 6?) are real and the others would be "Nothing Found". Each time a character reaches a draw location, it draws, and so. Then again, maybe that's just more fussy that your original setup.

I don't think random placement of a single access point would appeal much. Remember this is the end of the game, and most Talisman players want things quickly over with. They would likely prefer a superficial and simple approach to a scavenger hunt rather than another race to a second ultimate desitantion. The only advantage therein is that characters will (possibly) end up more in reach of each for the implied battle royale on the run. But with the right components built first to your own preference, there are multiple alternative implementations you could suggest in you instructions for others to try as well.

ADDENDUM: I don't really think it will be text intensive as a whole. And some of your descriptions for fragment powers can be edited for compression without losing anything.

That's some nice ideas, especially the Shattered Crown. However, placing them would require quite a bit of them, considering you have to roll for each one, and quite likely have to reroll once or twice.

Why don't you instead provide slightly more fragments, and slightly less spots the cards land on. Then you can simply say: "Take the fragment of your choice. Then shuffle the others and place them facedown at ..., ..., ... and ...." There's no randomness involved, but being able to land on those locations is already random. You could easily split the Shattered Crown in two. Adding a Spell Sigil also shouldn't be that hard. "At the start of your turn, if your Spell Sigil Fragment does not contain a Spell, place a Spell on it. This spell does not count towards your Spells. You may cast the Spell as if you hold it." (Similar to the Genie, so to say, but 1/turn instead of 3 in total.

As for the great race, why not have the characters start at the Chapel, and only allow them to go Clockwise. The Portal of Power sounds like a more appropriate finish than the Cursed Glade.

For Reality Shift, do you intend to use counters to represent a character's total strength/craft, or only the strength/craft gained during the game? The revised edition tells you to only use counters for the strength/craft gained, while the original edition tells you to use counters for the total strength/craft (and the revision set doesn't tell you to do it otherwise, as it's not essential to the game).