Hello.

I recently was given a copy of Talisman the Fourth edition board game. As the topic states, I happen to be totally blind.

I had a few ideas for making it possible for myself and some other friends, some of which are blind, to play this board game without having to see the board. The first challenge is figuring out the layout of the board, knowing what each space contains. The second challenge is taking each type of card and getting text renderings of the card information. I don't have a lot of sighted assistance at this time, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask some questions on this forum.

I was considering either possibly creating a Braille version of the Talisman board game, or dust off some of my computer programming skills and create a simple text-based version of the game. Of course, if it were going to be a simple text-based program, I would not be selling it or giving it out. I am not trying to break any copyrights here. Grin It would mainly be a good programming exercise, and a chance for a few friends to play the game without graphics. To my knowledge, nobody has ever created a text-based computer version of the game, but I could be wrong.

I think I would be able to perform OCR scans on each player and adventure card, although I haven't attempted this yet.

What I was wondering is if anyone on this forum has a text representation of the game board. In other words, if a player starts on a space and they roll a number, what does each board space contain?

I know that the game board has three regions, so I would need all spaces in all regions.

Lastly, I have a pdf copy of the rules, which reads pretty well with my screen reader program, so I am set there.

Hopefully this all makes sense. I figured I would ask in this forum before seeking other options.

Many many thanks for reading.

When you say a text representation of the board, do you mean a text file with each square numbered that you could cross reference.

So for example say allocating the Tavern a value of R1:1 (R1 being Region 1, or the outer region the 1 after colon being the square number) then each square clockwise from that being 2, 3, 4 etc with a description for each square and what to do?

And to take that further, the middle region being R2, with say the square you gert across from the Sentinal to be , for example R2:1?

If so , I'd be happy to help you out.

Hello.

Yes, that was indeed what I was looking for. Going around the board clockwise with outer region being r1, middle region being R2, etc, and knowing what each space has in it

Thanks for understanding what I was getting at, and thanks for any help.

Hello galphner,

As the board essentially is a 7 by 7 grid where each region comprise a layer around the middle square (the outer region being the largest and the inner region the smallest), I think that a spreadsheet probably would be the best way to show it. But I do not know how well that would be handled by the screen reader. Would you be able to read a Google Docs Spreadsheet if I where to create one or is a plain text document better?

Hello. I would be up for trying your google docs spreadsheet suggestion. It has been a while since I used google docs with a screen reader, but I am willing to work to see this through. I suppose if it doesn't read, I could always export the google docs spreadsheet to a .csv file and put it into Excel. I am willing to give it a try. grin

Here is the link to the document:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Asqs6S6tgwNadDBnTGdYQVQ5MkMyejhiNEVKRmh1V1E

I have divided the document into four sheets (if there is a problem with switching sheets I can divide it into several documents instead). The first one is a 7 by 7 grid of every space with the full description copied from the game board. The second sheet contains only the names of the spaces in the same grid arrangement. The third one contains a sorted first column with the names of the spaces and the description on the second column. The last sheet contains a list of every unique space sorted in the first column and in the second column the coordinates for that space according to sheet 1 and 2 (for example the Village would be A1 and City G7).

If there are any problems or you would prefer to have it in another way do not hesitate to ask. Have fun!

It is very awesome and inspiring to read about this. It even gives me a deeper appreciation for this game.

If the spreadsheet doesn't work out, let me know and I'll put the text document together for you.

Wow, this spreadsheet is awesome! I was able to read it in google docs, but I also exported it to Excel format, so I have the best of both worlds. Many thanks again. Now it is off to try and perform OCR on each adventure card. grin

Let everyone know how it goes.

Just another couple of hints. Some places have the same name, but they are different locations. Talisman board is a 3 concentric rings region:

Outer region, locations in clockwise order :

• village.
• fields.
• graveyard.
• woods.
• Sentinel, he permits you to enter in the middle region. It's connected with the hills of the middle region.
• hills.
• chapel.
• fields.
• crags.
• Plains.
• woods.
• fields.
• city.
• fields.
• hills.
• plains.
• woods.
• Plains.
• Tavern.

Middle region, locations in clockwise order:

• Portal of power, it permits to entern in the center region. It's connected to the plain of peril of the inner region.
• Black knight.
• Hidden valley.
• Hills, connected with the Sentilnel of the outer region.
• Runes.
• Chasm.
• Runes.
• Warlock's Cave.
• Desert.
• Oasis.
• Desert.
• Temple.
• Woods.
• Runes.
• Castle.

Inner region, in all this region you don't roll the die to move, move just one location per turn. Here is locations in clockwise order:

• Plain of Peril, connected with the portal of power.
• Mines.
• Vampire's Tower.
• Pits.
• Valley of Fire, connected with the Crown of command.
• Werewolf's den.
• Death
• Crypt

The crown of command is in the middle of the inner region, you can reach it only walking across the valley of fire.

You missed out the side between the Tavern & Village!

• Fields
• Ruins
• Plains
• Forest
• Fields

There you go.

Ell.

Wow! This is great! Thanks again to everyone for all the help.