Hi there

Followers of the Facebook page for Talisman Island (see my sig for the link) will have noticed some news the other day with another little "contest" to win a pair of bonus cards for the Revised 4th Edition of Talisman (Doppelganger and Instructor).

All you have to do is share some information about the finishing stats of characters in your games of Talisman - Character Name, finishing Strength, Craft, Life and Fate, Objects, Followers and Spells. You can also add a little back story about how it all happened if you like.

For those that don't have Facebook, if you want to just make a post in this thread I might well pick a random post here on the forums to win a pair of cards! (Which means you might have a couple of shots at winning!)

I'll let it run until the weekend of the 28th April, when I will pick a couple of names who will get the booty! Simple stuff and it might make for an interesting read.

Thanks and have fun!

3-up game. Highlands, Dungeon & City + Reaper and Frostmarch : Hidden Alternative Endings

Troll (winner by default), Dwarf & Tinkerer

Endgame stats were:

Troll S 8, C 3, L 4, G 3, F 0

Dwarf S 3, C 6, L 0, G 2, F 0

Tinkerer S 5, C 4, L 4, G 3, F 0

Briefly, the Dwarf was the only char with Talismans and with a S 8 and L 3 made it through to Valley of Fire

Troll picked up a card (I don't remember it's name) that mean everyone lost all their Fate

then cast Random on the Dwarf who rolled a 2 to lose all his Strength (not that it made any difference apart from ending stats)

He then drew Hand of Doom as the alternative ending.

As there was no Fate left, there were no re-rolls

2 - Dwarf down to 2 lives

5 - Tinkerer selected to die

2 - Dwarf down to 1 life

2 - Dwarf dead

Troll won by default as the only character left.

Number of Players : 4 Game Length : 6.5 Hours Winner : Brian End Card: Battle Royale

Adam: Tavern Maid Paul: Vampiress Shawn: Cat Burglar/Doomsayer Brian: Alchemist

It was the first game with the new City Expansion and with the special ability of the new Tavern Maid character, Adam poured Brian enough drinks to send him to the poorhouse.

At the same time this forced him to seemingly forever miss his next go which pissed him off so much he wanted to go home after twenty minutes. He looked like a kid on Christmas

morning that awoke to find a lump of coal in his stocking.

Perhaps because he was the Vampiress and had a thing for the rarest of the rarest blood, Paul, it seemed, was in the mood for Skewered Unicorn. He began by stealing Brian’s

follower Unicorn and then his pet unicorn “Glitter” which - despite having a ‘my little pony-ish’ name - is one hell of a strong card to have. It certainly didn’t look like it was going

to be Brian’s day. But someone else was having even worse luck…

Shawn was able to have - not one but - TWO characters die on him! A rare feat it must be said and one which i doubt he could repeat but feel free to try next time?!

Toward the end, Adam was one die roll away from certain victory - he was about to head to the Crown of Command via the Dungeon’s back door. But the worm had turned and

Brian with his never ending supply of spells cast MISFORTUNE forcing Adam to roll a 1 and thus banishing him to the Crags instead of the center of the board.

Throughout the game Brian had an uncanny knack for rolling 3’s.

Similarly, Shawn could roll 1’s like there was no tomorrow.

Believe it or not, right at then end with the three remaining characters dueling it out with the Battle Royale, Paul could somehow consistently roll the combination 3 then a 6, the

ONLY combo that would give him even a chance at a win (much to Brian’s frustration and disbelief). Alas, it was still not enough to win but it was close.

In the end, Brian triumphed.

There must have been some magic in one of those potions i poured….

END STATS FOR ALCHEMIST - Strength 18, Craft 16, Life 4, Gold FAR TOO MUCH…..

CARD OF THE DAY : Flail

A new addition from the City Expansion that allows you an additional dice roll in combat thereby almost guaranteeing your victory. Paul and Shawn both had the opportunity to

experience this fantastic card. Since there are only two of these available, I sense there will be a race each game to get to the armory and be the first one to pick one up.

PLAYER OF THE DAY : Shawn

For his unyielding dedication to detail and fair play. Death and Werewolf are forever in his debt. From now on he will be known as ‘Honest Shawn’.

QUOTE OF THE DAY : “Thanks for the Cheese Steak”

Said by Adam immediately after killing the provider of said Cheese Steak. Brian was still in tears laughing over it more than 24 hours later.

DRINK OF THE DAY : Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale

It was the only beer that didn’t have any bottles left at game’s end. Not that anyone has anything against Strawberry Wheat Beer.

OTHER COMPLETELY NON-RELATED NEWS : Star Wars

Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill have ALL signed on to star in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VI film due for release in 2015!

Just finished a game of three players; Minstrel, Warrior and Troll. Only the main board and no expansion mechanics except the Thieves' Guild ending and adventure cards.

The early game consisted of trying to gather gold and objects in addition to strength and craft. When the Troll started heading for the crown everyone had gotten hold of a Talisman and a lot of gold. The minstrel was the only one that had gotten a mule, but had to try to get in from the outer region with very low stats. The Warrior tried to get in after the Troll but got unfortunate die rolls so he only had reached dice with death when the game ended.

The finishing stats for the Troll was:

Strength: 6+6, Craft: 1+2, Fate: 0, Gold: 7, Life: 4

Spells: Healing

Followers: Disciple of Darkness, Gnome, Prince, Torchbearer

Objects: Orb of Knowledge, Chalice of Shadow, Talisman, unused Self-Portrait

In addition he managed to collect the following from the other players:

2 Talismans, Fate Stealer, Holy Grail, Pharaoh's Crown, Shield, Axe, Ring, Runesword and 4 gold

To make things more interesting we houseruled so that he may not take any Talismans before other objects.

The Minstrel had the following stats:

Strength: 2+4, Craft: 4+0, Fate: 3, Gold: 7, Life: 4

1 point of craft trophies

The follower Theurgist of Light

And the Warrior had:

Strength: 4+5, Craft: 2+3, Fate: 0, Gold: 4, Life: 5

4 point of strength trophies

The follower Dark Theurgist

Last chance to post something. I will be choosing a winner tomorrow evening!

Just finished a two player game.

The Elf was the winner with the following finishing stats: Str 6, Crft 11, Fate 1, 2 Gold and 2 Lives left.

He was also carrying an Axe and the Solomon's Crown -and a Talisman of course- and he had the Hieromartyr and the Fiend Slayer as followers.

He casted the command spell on poor Knight (Str 11, Crft 8, Fate 0, Gold 1, Objects: Sword, Armour, Orb of Knowledge, Talisman, Followers : Guide and Mule )

Although the Knight was the first to gain a Talisman early in the game, his greed for a Quest Reward was what cost him his life. His quest was to kill a Dragon and the Elf killed the only dragon that was present at the board at this time (the dragon was on a Woods space, so it was easy for the Elf to find him and with a lucky roll of 6 he killed him on the first try). The Orb of Knoweledge helped the Knight, but a second dragon never appeared.

Hope i'm still on time for this.

Just finished a two-player game on the 2nd edition of Talisman. The Ranger was the winner with a strength of 8 and a craft of 7. Additional objects/followers that added strength/craft which he was carrying were: Sword (strength 1), Ring (strength 1, craft 1) and Maiden (craft 2). Also had 3 gold and 3 lives remaining.

My opponent started off with the Merchant and got really close to reaching the pits where fighting off any number of pit-fiends would be no problem as the Merchant's strength was +6 than the strength 4 of the fiends but unfortunately going into the Vampire's Tower with just 3 lives prooved to be a bit too risky as a roll of 5 meant that the Merchant was out of lives. The 2nd character of my opponent was the Necromancer who didn't live long as the outer region was already filled with strong enemies including the Chinese Dragon, a regular Dragon and a cave troll. The 3rd and final character of my opponent was the Barbarian who decided to take the risk and chase me (having merely raised his strength to 7 and a craft of 1) as i was on my way to the middle of the board (which by the way was being concealed by a mystery ending). The Ranger, after passing with ease through the mines (the map prooved a valuable object here), the Vampire's tower (lost just 1 life out of 4) and the Pits (which i had to face 4 fiends), reached the Crown of Command space while the Barbarian had just beaten Death on the dice and was ready to move on forward to the Werewolf's Den with just 1 life at hand!

The mystery ending revealed the Dragon King and a lucky die of 4 meant that the Dragon King of Strength 12 and Craft 12 had to attack all other opponents at my request. Poor Barbarian of Strength 7 (plus 1 of his sword) and a craft of 1 had no chance as he had to face the Dragon King in both physical and psychic combat. At least he died with honor

A lucky win for the Ranger!

Here's a photo of the game's ending

Well, the time has come to pick a winner for the bonus cards, and sheer detail (and a snigger or two) I am going to pick adjogi as the winner of this little "contest"! If you can contact me either through the forums or email through Talisman Island I will sort out getting your cards to you. I hope you enjoy them! Thanks to those who took the time to enter. Hopefully there will be more chances to pick up some bonus cards in the coming months.

Thanks Jon! Totally thrilled.

I demand a recount!

On a separate note, that picture of the 2nd edition board is making me feel all warm and cosy. I do still have 1st & 2nd editions.. perhaps I should use them next time…

That 2nd edition session in the photo took me back 20 years Nothing beats a nice trip down memory lane…