Hi All,

Title says it all really. I have the base game and the reaper expansion, which I love. I don't use the the reaper himself though.

However, I'm not really looking for a major expansion (I feel the base board is long enough) - just more adventure and spell cards, and characters - to keep it fresh!

I was tempted by Blood Moon, which seems to be a firm favourite after the Reaper on here. However, if I took out all the cards referring to the day/night mechanic, and the werewolf mechanic, what would I be left with?

People don't seem to like Frostmarch all that much - but it seems like I would get the largest amount of cards that don't add a new mechanic with this expansion (again, I'd leave out the Frost Queen).

Would love to get your thoughts on whether I should go for Frostmarch, Blood Moon or Sacred Pool (I wouldn't use the Warlock quest cards). If there is a mini pack which has a miniature size consistent with the base game (I know some are smaller) - that could sway me too.

Thanks!

VD

Hello VD,

The Blood Moon is the best small expansion at this moment.

But if you don´t like the mechanic, then you should look for another expansion. My advise is to try it:)

The Sacred Pool has the neutral cards, and alignment based adventure cards. It's pretty good. And the quest rewards of course.

My last choice would be the frostmarch expansion.

I'd recommend getting The Sacred Pool and Frostmarch together for the variety of spells, adventure cards and characters. They don't add any distracting new mechanics.

Having the full complement of Warlock Quests and Quest Rewards enriches the gameplay, without cluttering the game in any way.

Our favorite expansion is the Dragon,(but not at the expense of the small expansions, as they form the backbone of variance). The Dragon needs houserules to be playable without upkeep, though.

Von Djangos said:

Having said that, and this won't really support your general goal, I find the Dragon cards in that expansion to be some of the coolest on all grounds; enemies, strangers, objects/magic objects, etc. etc.

Per your style you could ignore the Dragon Lords, new board and that stuff.

To me, the various mechanics, especially day/night add as much to the game as some of those adventure cards.

Good luck in your choices, I'd bet on Blood Moon per your style, its not a big board and you can delete the day/night stuff - still lots of cool cards there too.

Thanks for the reccomendations so far - please keep them coming!

I should explain why I don't like to complicate the game further with new rules and systems. I like to often play with new friends, many of whom have never played a boardgame beyond Monopoly in their life. Sad, I know. But Talisman is a great gateway drug. I love the simplicity of it, and so do new players who drop in. So I love to keep it fresh with new items, spells, strangers and characters - but don't like to add extra considerations like Warlock's quests, Day/Night cycles or Reapers and Frostqueens trigged by certain die roles. I'm still explaining item/spell limits, encounter orders and how to win the sodding game here people

Also, I dont have oodles of time after work or on the weekend. I can't often dig in for an extended 6 hour/ all day gaming session. 3-4 is usually the limit. Hence why I don't want to splash out on the larger expansions (plus the extra price tag.) So it really is a question of Frostmarch vs Sacred Pool vs Blood Moon.

Any word on erratic minature sixes in these expansions? Blood Moon looks consistent, while Frostmarch looks well iffy. Sacred Pool's characters seem to be warped perspective wise because two are mounted!

Von Djangos said:

The Warlock quests, Day and Night, or the Reaper rules, are not really complicated.

It seems that all three expansions has something that you will not use..

Then it's all about the adventure and spell cards. Then you should choose for Sacred Pool

The thing to consider here is that the Day/Night cycle actually dominates the game as it triggers off events, and there are plenty of cards that use this mechanic in Blood Moon. That said, there are just as many that don't, but overall, the Blood Moon expansion is not as novice-friendly as the rest.

The new mechanics in the other expansions only come in the form of a few supplementary decks that are used from time to time, and are quite intuitive and are easily integrated into the base game. The Day/Night cycle in Blood Moon is more distracting as it requires book-keeping of the various Lunar events and their effects.

Blood Moon is interesting overall, but not as integrative as the other small expansions.

I've mixed in the Blood Moon expansion again. It's refreshing to see many of these cards once more. . My least favorite thing about Blood Moon though are the Day/Night followers and objects.They sometimes require a level of book keeping that feels out of place in Talisman.

When you have many Objects, it can be hard to remember, for instance, that this particular one gives +3 to Psychic Combat during the Night…

Another vote for Bloodmoon!

Great mini expansion that, like Reaper, add some interaction with "NPC". The Werewolf is really cool, great new cards too. Worth every penny!

I vote for Frostmarch.

Good balance of Adventure cards and Spells.

I would recommend the Sacred Pool, as it doesn't change too many rules, but still adds great additions such as Quest Rewards, which create a whole new, compelling reason to complete Warlock Quests. The Stables deck is alright too. The adventure cards and spell cards are good, and I like the characters, even though they're not the best of the bunch.

Also, you can always leave out things like the Reaper, and the Frost Queen is but an Alternative Ending. I'm not certain about the Werewolf, though.

Here are my reasons why I don't hold the other expansions in the same high regard:

Sacred Pool: I think that this expansion is a bit unnecessary in the way that it adds a lot of adventure cards in advantage for neutral characters, wich they totally doesn't need. Why? Because the neutral characters are already the best characters of all alignments. They can cary all alignment-specific objects and followers and they can use both the Chapell and Graveyard. The good thing with being good or evil in the basegame was all the other cards like the Fairy or Phantom who only could be encountered by a specific alignment. Either if you where good or evil. But now in Sacred Pool neutral alignment characters get those cards to, which I think is a bit to much for a already really good alignment.

Blood Moon: The Wherewolf is a poor mans Reaper. The Lychantrophy mecanic is weird. It's more beneficial to be a lychan than it being a "curse".

These are the "bad things" with those expansions. I don't think they are crappy or anything. Most of the stuff in both of them are good and I enjoy them. I just don't see any really bad things in either Reaper or The Frostmarch. They are both good expansions with good content.

If combined with a well-sized deck, or one with the other expansions mixed in, the neutral alignment benefit cards from the Sacred Pool aren't a big deal and add a new element to the game. I think both the Reaper and the Werewolf are a little boring unless, of course, you add house rules (which if you want to play with them, you should).

Frostmarch was relatively boring, but to be fair it did have the most well-balanced cards.

I think Sacred Pool would be a solid investment. The Quest and Quest Rewards aspect are really fun, the new cards excellent, and the characters fun. Blood Moon is a great time but can very quickly kill off characters, not something ideal when trying to impress new players. Frostmarch is fun and well-themed but I definitiely like the options of the quest rewards and some of the items enemeies etc from sacred Pool better.

Nidhögg said:

I agree with this. The Werewolf is a wuss in comparison to the Grim Reaper. I would suggest fixing this by making the result of 1 on the table kill the character when he/she is a lycanthrope. That would also have the benefit of making Lycanthropy more of a curse.

As far as which expansion the OP should get, I would suggest the Sacred Pool, for the same reasons that other posters have explained (the Quest Rewards, spells, alignment theme, etc). It is, in fact, probably my favourite small expansion by a small margin, because of the Quest Rewards. They really do give an enormous incentive to seek out the Warlock's Cave, and they also make Warlock's Quests not completely redundant for most characters (exceptions: the Alchemist and Merchant) after they have acquired a Taliman.

Lycanthropy is as much a curse as it is a blessing. The added nocturnal bonuses come at the expense of not being able to claim a reward after defeating a character in PVP, which can be quite a detractor depending on the character you play with.

Becoming a werewolf basically deactivates most character-encountering and combat reward abilities during the night(Thief, Merchant, Ghoul, Sorceress, Dark Cultist, etc). and the generic "take an Object instead of a life" from a defeated player for all characters. Lycanthropy is also hard to cure(short of becoming a Toad or discarding the Wolfbane)

Rolling 2-4 on the Werewolf's chart generally has negative consequences, and rolling a 1 is a sweetened pill of sorts.

Tiggurix said:

How does that work exactly? Lycs add +1 to their roll on the WW chart, so they'll not be getting a 1 result on it.

Dam said:

Oh? There's nothing about that on the Lycanthropy card. But in any case, it's a houserule, so I might as well ignore that rule as well.

Tiggurix said:

It's on the Werewolf chart. Of course you may ignore it, since you're adopting a house rule.