Now got all but three expansions and facing two issues.

First is storage:

At the mo, I've got the core game box to hold the main board, character figures and cards (including the toads), strength, fate, craft and life counters, gold, dice, purchase cards, Talisman cards, alignment cards and adventure cards.

I'm using the Reaper box for the Reaper figure and card, spell cards and Warlock quest cards.

I'm using the Frostmarch box for alternate ending cards.

I'm using the Dungeon and Highland boxes for their respective board pieces, "drawing" cards and reward cards.

I hve the Sacred Pool whose contents need to be mingled in with the others but may use this for the stables and quest reward cards.

I'm starting to run out of space in the core game box for adventure cards.

Second is shuffling:

I have a large amount of adventure cards with more to be added but finding it hard to shuffle all in one go.

I've split them into seperate piles but concerned may end up with cards I've used before (even though I put cards that were put into play at the bottom of their respective piles).

Any suggestions/ideas?

Also, out of curiosity, are there any events in the game that require all six dice (most I've had to roll so far are 3 for the Mines and Crypt)?

My current storage setup (with all expansions) is as follows:

One large box hosts two expansion boards and all adventure cards.

One large box hosts the other two expansion boards and all adventure like decks (board and dragon cards).

One large box has the filler piece flipped upside down and hosts all figures except NPCs and toads.

The dragon tokens are in a bag outside the boxes (bag from Carcassonne).

All other components are located in the main game box.

I might actually not be able to fit all large cards in the main box and will maybe move some of them to a small box.

It is not sustainable to have the adventure cards in the main box, it is better to store the smaller decks there in my opinion.

When i shuffle i usually put the cards in different piles one by one and then "randomly" pick them up and add to the deck, repeating a few times.

If I do not feel like doing that i can spread them out on a flat (and smooth) surface and mix them up (they will not all be oriented the same though).

On smaller decks I use random.org to randomly pick an order to place the cards in.

When you dice with death you use 3 dice for death and 3 dice for yourself and compare the result.

Thanks for the info.

Here's how I've sorted my items so far:

In the core game box are:

The main board

Main rulebook

All strength, craft, life and fate counters

All gold

All six dice

All character cards

All alternate ending cards in a bag

The toad and Reaper cards in a bag

All Warlock Quest cards

All spell cards

Purchase deck

Talisman cards

Good/Evil cards

In the Dungeon box are:

The Dungeon and Highland regions

All adventure cards

Dungeon and Highland rulebooks

In the Highland box are:

All characters in a bag

The toads in a bag

The Reaper in a bag

The Dungeon and Highland cards, and their respective reward cards, in seperate bags

Rule sheets for the Reaper and Frostmarch

(Inner cardboard has been flipped)

Yet to use the Sacred Pool expansion and I plan to put the Quest Rewards and Stables cards in the core game box, and everything else in their respective boxes.

Still need to purchase the remaining three expansions, and apply similar principles to their contents.

With all the Talisman expansions, and an extra copy of the main board for extra tokens, my storage method is as follows:

All the boards in the main Talisman box, along with all Rulebooks.

All sets of cards in set-specific zip-lock plastic bags and stored in the Dungeon box.

All tokens, including Dragon tokens in a fishing lure box, including dice.

All miniatures (which i have been lovingly painting) in their own separate plastic display box, affixed in place with blu-tac.

Wife's suggestions that it might all be a bit much filed away under "I see your point, does this mean we can buy another bookcase?"

As for shuffling… I now find i can play epic games of Talisman and not even see cards from expansion sets in the whole play, there is just that many of them. I am actually thinking of 'customising' sets of cards to give the expansions some room to breathe… For example: Core set, The Reaper, and the Blood Moon cards in order to have Night and Day really mean something… however moving the Reaper and the Werewolf around did become a bit of a chore…

So less cards, less shuffling… maybe.

I made a couple of stands to help

I find it hard to believe with the popularity of Talisman that someone has not made custom carrying case for all the expansions.

Does anyone know if any company makes card/deck holders that fit this size card?

For the cards stands I use small sugar pouches' stands and it works perfectly.

And for the cards storage I use small plastic box from the Dollars Store that you can see by clicking on my signature. Same for my painted figurines.

Custom deck holders at Talisman Island:

http://www.talismanisland.com/storage_qral.htm

My $1.00 solution from the Dollar Tree:

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1911037/domagb

http://www.dollartree.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=296578

Hi,

I made some boxes to store the cards, I thought you might be interested ... it's DIY project ..
Here's the link:
http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/130376-diy-card-storage-system/

Cheers

I toss the cards in the box lid and swirl.

Like this! https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/294008/shuffling-enormous-stacks-teeny-cards

I toss the cards in the box lid and swirl.

Does that really randomise the deck enough? It also looks like it might not be very time efficient. Normally, I would not bring up an issue such as efficiency, but it could easily take upwards of an hour to shuffle all the decks properly before play (if you do it yourself because you don't trust anyone else okIhaveissues) so in Talisman it matters. I'm guessing the basic adventure deck requires many rounds of sloshing.

If someone knows of an automatic shuffler that manages Talisman-sized cards, that would still feel like the best solution. We occasionally play Arkham Horror as well, and I can tell you that standard sized cards makes the preparation so much easier since I can use a shuffler.

I don't think it takes long to shuffle all of them. The set-up takes longer. An initial purchase of a new expansion takes a bit longer to shuffle in the new cards because you don't want bunches and try to equally disperse them. In such times we "pile" shuffle. Making stacks of 4-6 cards one at a time and adding a new card to each stack as you go.

I have seen threads on BGG on card shufflers, especially when they are posted in the hot deals section. Too much concern about the machine eating cards. Surprisingly some folks say that the more expansive machines tend to eat non traditional card sizes more than the cheaper one. And that's because the cheaper ones usually don't have power enough to damage cards.

I toss the cards in the box lid and swirl.

Does that really randomise the deck enough?

Nope. Truthfully, it's a "wash" step, which is necessary before pile shuffling. Here's a pile shuffling method that I believe makes a random and homogenous result.

1. Wash the cards in the box lid.

2. Separate the cards into piles A, B, C, D, E, and F.

3. Shuffle each pile individually.

4. Separate pile A into pile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Separate pile B into pile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Continue this process. At the end, pile 1 should have cards from A through F, with A at the bottom and F on top. Pile 2 should be the same, etc.

5. Shuffle piles 1 through 6 individually.

6. You can repeat this process ad infinitum , but I believe this is enough. Then stack the piles!

If you pile shuffled this way without washing the cards, you would get a homogenous result, but not a random result.

Surprisingly some folks say that the more expansive machines tend to eat non traditional card sizes more than the cheaper one. And that's because the cheaper ones usually don't have power enough to damage cards.

Oh, I use the cheapest possible device! There's absolutely no possible way it could eat cards. The worst that can happen is it gets jammed when it combines cards from both stacks at the exact same time. There's not enough force to damage the cards when that happens though. I specifically got card shufflers to reduce wear on cards and I'm pretty sure normal shuffling would have harmed cards way more.

Nope. Truthfully, it's a "wash" step, which is necessary before pile shuffling. Here's a pile shuffling method that I believe makes a random and homogenous result.

1. Wash the cards in the box lid.

2. Separate the cards into piles A, B, C, D, E, and F.

3. Shuffle each pile individually.

4. Separate pile A into pile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Separate pile B into pile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Continue this process. At the end, pile 1 should have cards from A through F, with A at the bottom and F on top. Pile 2 should be the same, etc.

5. Shuffle piles 1 through 6 individually.

6. You can repeat this process ad infinitum , but I believe this is enough. Then stack the piles!

If you pile shuffled this way without washing the cards, you would get a homogenous result, but not a random result.

That is interesting and I thank you for it. The stacking in lots of piles reminds me a bit of how some Magic-players told me to shuffle a deck actually. But then, they usually don't actually strive for randomness, which I suppose is where the washing comes into the picture. I'll have to try this method next time!

This is apparently quite an old thread, so I don't know if anyone will read this. Hi, first post for me here!

A friend of mine had a suggestion which I tried out and has served me well in boardgaming over the years: Plano boxes! You know, the subdivided plastic molded boxes sold in fishing tackle aisles of department stores. You can find them quite cheaply at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc., etc.

These are excellent for storage of all the fiddly pieces in a board game. They will fit inside the game box, they do away with the hassle of sealing and unsealing dozens of tiny baggies, and best of all, once you open them up and set them on the table, they can double as reservoirs for tokens, dice, and even small cards. When I set up Arkham Horror, all I have to do is unfold the board, get out the character cards and Old One, get out the full-sized ards (which don't fit in the Plano and instead reside in a pair of Ultra-Pro deckboxes), and the rest of unpacking consists of... opening the Plano box, setting it on the table as a reservoir, and letting players dig into it for cards, sliders, hearts, brains, etc., etc. Talisman setup is similar, though since the Adventure Cards deck is so huge I have to separate it in the Plano and reconstitute it in one stack on the table.

Using Planos will of course necessitate throwing out the plastic or cardboard inserts the board game box came with, but as a result you wind up with a lot more usable space inside the box. Fantasy Flight's small cards (of the kind found in Talisman and Arkham Horror) fit neatly into the compartments of a moderate-sized Plano box, and you can alter the size of compartments by adding or removing the plastic dividers that come with the box. The cards will need to lean slightly in the compartments to fit, but they can easily fit without being pressed or crushed by the box lid.

Just make sure to get a real (brand name) Plano box. There are knockoffs but they aren't as well made, and the dividers are flimsier and don't extend up to the box lid as fully, which means that game components and tokens may get mixed between compartments even with the lid shut. Plano brand boxes also have a sturdy, tight front latch so the box won't pop open inside the overall board game; some competitors' lids close quite loosely. I have tested my setup and even if flipped upside down and tossed like a frisbee, none of the components wind up crossing the dividers and getting mixed up. If anyone is interested I'll post a pic of my setup.

Pics are always good to see.

...and welcome!

Regarding shuffling has anyone come up with something more ingenious than hand shuffling? There are just so many cards! I tried one of those electronic shuffling machines like they have in Vegas, but it didn't like the smaller card size and it appeared it was a bit of a rough mechanism and would mark up the cards eventually.