Oberon here…

I would sell my own Mother for a piece… *any* piece…

of good gossip about the next expansion set of Talisman! Who is holding out?

Someone, somewhere, must know… something? Potential date? Corner-board? (I have a feeling it could be something else, again)

In the meantime, I have read over some of the rules and descriptions and realize in the first set it clearly indicates that the land of Talisman is surrounded or cornered by 4 different regions. So, I conclude that there will NOT be a set devoted to the City, unless it also has surrounding terrain.. Talisman, The Countryside, seems rather dull, though. Not sure we'll see Talisman The Ocean (or Sea, etc.)

But I think Talisman the Swamp, featuring marshy watery areas now seems more likely. Yes, I await the Toad King!

And of course Talisman the Forest, Woodlands or similar must be the other corner.

Yes, I'm keen to know as well! I even saw this post because I have a Google alert set up for any news about future expansions.

0beron said:

Hey, sorry to jump on your thread but do you play with all the expansions when you play, like the highlands, the Dungeon, reaper and blood moon, Dragon etc?

We just played a game sunday with the dragon and highlands, and the game took hours. How would you fit a game in a day with all those expansions.

Again sorry for jumping on your thread.

We play Reaper, Dungeon, Frostmarch, Highlands and Blood Moon all mixed up. Last game, 3-player as usual, around 75 minutes, at which point the Minstrel (starting 2/4) had Str 16 in battle (Str 10 outside battle), Craft 15 and the Sage (also 2/4) had Str 12, Craft 9. Only one not in contention was the Doomsayer who had replaced the Reapered Vampiress.

I hope they will reveal the new expansion at GenCon in August. I have a friend going and I'm hoping for a promo card or some talisman swag. That would be sweet.

As to play time, I play with 4-5 people and a game is usually 1.5-2 hours. When we throw in beers though, i've played 4 hour games, LOL

I don't mind the thread diverting… I have ways of bringing it back, but

YEAH! we play with all expansions. Now lately (and only 2 player games) we make some varience/house rules. For example, we mostly use the Dragon board, 'Realm' side, never Tower. But we mostly also place an alt ending on the CoC, anyway. And we sorta do this differently too. Mostly, pick the end "bosses" and have them be the alt ending. Once or twice we used the non-boss endings; Warlock's. Q, Lightbearers, etc.

We always draw dragon scales. My wife hates those encounter cards so tends to avoid going back to those spaces - even when she could draw the regular cards. Just funny that way. Though I have convinced her that some of the magic objects in the Dragon decks are fantastic.

We tend to cooperate which means we try not to attack or cast spells etc on each other. We also "banish" Death and The Werewolf, by moving them deeper into the Dungeon. This works against me, as I tend to explore the dungeon a lot more than her. Although most players say being a Lycanthrope is not a disadvantage; the opposite really, we both prefer staying 'normal' as it were.

We also draw our character from 7 that are shuffled and dealt. We go back and forth between preferring evil, good or neutral alignments.

As small expansions, Frostmarch and Sacred Pool don't create situations that change dynamics (Night/Day, excess scales on spaces/related) they seem to be the most problem-free or what have you.

In a future board expansion (see, I told you I would go back here) I am now thinking "Talisman, Land of Lakes" and have the board fit to the City corner space. No matter how you enter, the Sorn river flows through the various spaces, creating either small pools or lakes, water falls, lagoons, marshs, and yes, SWAMPS. Of course some spaces would be 'dry' spaces, but now you have a reason to have a Land/of/Lakes Adventure deck that includes, of course

the Toad King. But also more Water nymphs/elves. Alligator men - with Swords and evil Alligator Sorcerors!

My previous ideas of a Magical Citadel could fit into the landscape, perhaps. The Water Falls could have healing aspects. Zombie attacks in the swamps?

And so on.

*** I also have a new idea for something that I've talked about before. Although the previous 3rd edition did not have expansion boards that ran 'entirely' around the base board, there is no reason that we might not see this in the current edition. Why do I say that?

Well, they already worked against convention by creating the Dragon expansion before finishing the corner expansions. Perhaps they have ideas for this?

So lets say that this 'space' that could possibly be extra board is small enough that the space needed on each side of the length could come in one set. Probably just two separate boards that fold nicely in the middle. Here is what I envision:

Rather than add cards, tokens, etc. to these sets, perhaps the boards could be designed similar to the Inner region. Several dice/encounters that drive you towards a final square.

Purpose: Thematically either or both of these small boards could be the foray into other dimensions, without it being 'Timescape'. Ie; more supernatural, demonistic, Death related spheres.

There would be plenty of ideas or themes to draw from, but I suppose they should be rather different or have some different end-games, rewards or similar. Maybe, in a way, they are an extension of a Temple? In one, truly mighty weapons or magic objects could be found at the end or upon victory. In the other one, a new type of 'Follower' is found. The new followers either have new unusual powers or effects, or can also have extra strength and craft for battles.

Well, just a thought again, Oberon

Dam said:

Well now, we played last Sunday with 5 people, using the dragon expansion and the highlands and sacred pool. Purposely left out the blood moon to speed things up. Started around 1pm lasted until almost 11, with food breaks and such. I find the hardest part is attaining enough life to make it through the inner region. Anyway I think things will speed up when everyone starts to understand the game better.

mustardayonnaiz said:

Dragon probably adds its share of time, pulling out and chits and book-keeping whatnot?

Huh, enough life for the Inner Region? If taking the Craft path, unless you have no fodder Followers 4 is all you need, could go in with 1 Life if you have Guide/Prince/Princess/Riding Horse/etc, ton of useless crap ready to be fed to the Vamp. Str path is trickier, best advice would be to stock up on Fate for Dice with Death, that way you most likely won't need a lot of lives. Normally we hit the Inner Region when Str and/or Craft is up to snuff, only pausing to heal up if at 1 or 2 lives AND happen to land on a healing space along the way.