nhy's Talisman House Rules

First created on 9th Nov 2005.

Characters

• Character attributes (strength and craft) and lives are limited to maximum of 8.
• Toad is dumbed down to a less severe toad curse. You have no special abilities, are limited to 4 golds and objects, may not have horse/cart. However, you keep your attributes, spells and followers. You move one square per turn for 3 turns. You may cast spells but may not replenish them until the end of your curse.

The following are covered by individual character rules, but they are still worth repeating.

• Character's special ability to draw an extra card to choose from is restricted to the main board's outer region.
• Characters may only add half their craft (round down) to their strength in combat.
• Most character special abilities that are automatic are now craft dependent: roll under their craft, under the other player's craft or something. This should give players incentive to improve their craft. (However, I haven't gone through the characters in detail yet.)
• Characters who choose to outrun their followers by whatever means may not return to them implicitly in the next turn.
• Characters who are always safe in particular places now need to add one die roll to their craft. 1-7 = encounter, 8+ = safe.

Objects

• You are limited to 4 objects. (Already a game rule, just stating it explicitly.)
• Mule, horse and horse-n-cart remain as objects, but they carry a maximum of 4 man-sized objects each.
• Based on the above, you may have a maximum of 16 objects. (Not counting those carried by the magic pouch and the porter.)
• Objects must be placed in the horse/cart specifically. The packing order may not be changed during an encounter. (For example, your last chance to change the packing order is before the Thief does a stealing die-roll.)
• If the horse/cart is stolen/lost, all the objects on it are stolen/lost as well.
• The concealed pouch is counted as an object, but its content is not. It can only store objects that are half man-sized or smaller.
• The magic pouch may carry 4 objects of any size, but they may not be used. The objects must be placed with it specifically.
• There are several objects, especially magic objects, to be toned down, but I haven't gone through them in detail.

Followers

• You are limited to 4 followers.
• The porter can carry two man-sized objects only. The objects he's carrying must be placed with him.
• If you win in combat against another player, you may bribe one of his followers to follow you instead. Roll one die and pay the number of golds. You may decide not to get the follower after the die-roll, but you may not choose to get another type of compensation. Characters who are already able to get followers this way via their special abilities need not roll.

Spells

• You may only replenish your spells at the start of your turn. This limits you to casting spells on hand per turn. This limits spell misuse.
• Spells may be stolen or lost in combat.
• Fireball: add half your craft to the card's strength. This is to make it a stronger spell, especially towards the end.
• There are several spells to be toned down, but I haven't gone through them in detail.

Gameplay

• Remove all talismans. The only way to get them is the Warlock's Cave.
• All teleportation to the Crown Of Command go to the Plain of Peril instead.
• You may trade with another player if you are on the same square. If you just move into a square, you must encounter all face-up cards before trading. Trading does not count as an encounter.
• Combat becomes less challenging as you increase in strength. To solve this, enemies also increase their strength/craft with time. We add new enemy level cards that add 1 or double the enemy strength/craft when drawn.

  The first two cards add 1 each to the enemy's strength/craft. The next card doubles the attribute for enemies of strength/craft 3. Each additional card affects enemies one strength/craft higher. The doubling is based on the face-value, not after the power-up.

  If the character's strength attribute is capped at 8, the enemy's strength is capped at 12. Otherwise it's almost impossible to fight a dragon of strength 14!

  The strength increase applies to all enemies, including board enemies.

  XP is still counted based on the face value of the card. Same goes for captured enemies.

  If you want to make the middle region more challenging, make it 2 enemy levels ahead and proceed from there. For example, enemies are +2 strength/craft right from the start.

  Depending on the total number of adventure cards, there may be 2 to 6 enemy level cards. You can't have too many such cards because it would make life difficult in the early stages.

  If you don't want to introduce new cards, cut the adventure deck into two or more decks. After the first deck runs out, treat it as if the first card is drawn. After the second deck runs out, treat it as if the second card is drawn. When all the decks are drawn, recut the deck and repeat as necessary.

Combat Rules

• Warhorse: adds two strength to first round of offensive combat only. You have the option to keep the warhorse by losing one life.
• Strength from followers are not added for ranged combat.
• After you defeat an enemy, you get experience points (XP) based on the enemy attribute. The enemy card goes to the discard pile straightaway. You get one XP/strength and one XP/craft. (I wanted to make it 2 XP/craft, but it is too high. 1.25 or 1.5 XP would be good.)
• You get half the experience points (round down) for ranged attacks if you win.
• You get half the experience points (round down) for defensive combat with board characters if you win, excluding the inner region. You don't get XP for offensive combat. For example, there's no XP for fighting the Sentinel.
• It takes 7 XP to exchange for one strength attribute up to strength 5. Subsequently, it takes 10 XP.
• It takes 10 XP to exchange for one craft attribute up to craft 5. Subsequently, it takes 12 XP. This makes it possible for players to advance their craft. It is very difficult to do so in the original game.
• You must be carrying the weapons and armour in person in combat. They do not have an effect if they are on horse/cart. It's too late to swap after an encounter starts.
• You may use up to two one-hand weapons at the same time. You need to take the shield into account; you only have two hands.
• You may use two shields, one armour and one helmet for defense at the same time. You roll the die for each defensive object in this order.

Places

• If you want to build a raft in the Woods or Forest, you have to roll a die. 1-4 = encounter square, 5-6 = safe. This prevents you from bypassing the squares easily with an axe. You will have your raft on your next turn if you are still at the same place, even if you miss a turn.
• In the Mines and Crypt, the third die is restricted to count of 4. This is because character attributes are now limited to 8. This applies to all 3 die-rolls that test against character attributes.

Radical Changes

• Treat the die-roll as the maximum movement. You must encounter every square along the way. You may choose to stop halfway, but may not change direction. You must move at least one square.

  This gives players much more decision making power, but the downside is some characters may need to be tweaked if their special abilities are movement related or allow them to interact with places in special ways.

• Horse/cart do not count towards the 4-objects limit. You may have any number of them, but each one subtracts one from the die-roll. However, you move at least one square.

Quests

Introduce quests to to give Talisman less of a random enounter feel.

The problem with quests is that a player may find it hard to land on specifc places or draw the specified cards. Thus, it can take a long time to complete a quest. To solve this, we introduce open (non-player specific) quests. Players landing on designated places may draw a card from a newly created quest deck. Any players who fulfill the requirements may proceed to the place for their reward. They may do this even if they fulfilled the requirements before the card was drawn.

Quests are available at Castle, City, markets, Tavern, Temple and Village; basically where people gather. There is no need for separate Quest Master adventure cards.

Open quests are left on the square. They do not count as encounter cards.

The card is discarded when a player claims the reward. The cards are subjected to events or spells affecting face-up cards. Otherwise they are left on the board until claimed.

The player must take some proof back to the originating place to claim his reward. The proof may be stolen or lost in combat.

Kill A Specific Enemy Quest

After you kill the enemy, you get an enemy-heart token (specific to that enemy) to bring back to the city as proof. The token counts as an object. It may be stolen or lost in combat.

Dragon Quest

The very common dragon quest in fantasy games. Dragons are always a menace, so there is always a reward for killing dragons. There is no quest card for this.

Assuming you don't have the Dragons expansion pack, dragons are not all that common, so the rewards can be higher.

Do A Deed Quest

Do or get something and bring it back to the originating place to claim your reward.

Delivery Quest

Deliver an object to a specified place and claim your reward there. As always, the object may be lost in combat or stolen.

The quest card is moved to the destination.

Double Delivery Quest

Deliver an object to a specified place, get another object in its place and go back to the originating place to claim your reward.

Rewards

Reward for open quests is usually very little: 1 attribute, 1 gold, 1 spell or based on die-roll.

Player Specific Quests

This is a variant of open quests.

You take the quest card. Some quests are private. Others are open, so you leave them open. Quest cards count as objects. You may have any number of quest cards.

You may choose not to take up the quest. The card goes to the discard pile.

Once accepted, you may not discard the quest card at will, but it can be lost due to spells, events or encounters.

In some cases, you may be given an object to aid you on your quest. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Every time you're back at the place, you need to roll a die. 1 = give up quest/object, 2-3 = give up quest/object or give one gold, 4-6 = safe. This happens as long as you have the quest card. If the object is taken by another player, you need to get it back or replace it.

If the object enters the discard pile, you need to pay up to 3 golds immediately.

In addition to the normal reward, you usually get to keep the object on completion of the quest.

Player Specific Delivery Quest

Pick a random object from the Purchase deck. (Point to any card, roll a die and pick n-card [either direction] from it.)

Deliver it to the destination with the quest card for your reward. The recipient recognizes the quest card, not the object.

You may accept the quest and not deliver the object, but so long you have the quest card, you'll need to roll a die at the destination. 1-2 = give object or one gold, 3-4 = give one gold, 5-6 = safe.

City Expansion

The city has grown bigger and more crowded. It is now slower to navigate the streets and the Watch only strictly keeps the law-and-order.

• Everyone is allowed into the city.
• Use these movement rules: 1-4: move as normal, 5-6: roll again.
• Mules, horses and horse-n-carts are not allowed into the city. Pay one gold per animal to check them into the stable automatically. If not, they are left at the city gates.

  When you leave the city, you'll get back your golds less one. If you leave by the Wharf lawfully, your animals will be transported to you after you leave the city. Otherwise you need to go back to the City to retrieve them.

• The watch is too busy to enforce all the laws! The law is simplified to simply no combat (of any sort). Each combat adds one law-breaking point. The points are reset on leaving the city.
• If you end your movement on the street, if your die roll is less or equal than your law-breaking points, you encounter a watch. Add one die roll to your law-breaking points to determine the watch's strength. This combat does not give XP, or it's too easy for moderately powerful characters to "level-up". If you win, you encounter the square normally. If you lose, you either pay one gold or go to the Donjon.
• Warrant counts as 1 point.
• The law-breaking points and warrant are taken away as soon as you are imprisoned in the Donjon.
• To become the High Mage, after discarding a magic object, add your craft to two die roll. 1-10: nothing, 11-13: get magic object back, 14+: you got the job!

Dungeon Expansion

• Use these movement rules: 1-4: move as normal, 5-6: roll again. If you have a torch, you only need to re-roll on 6.
• The dungeon should have an entrance right from the start.

Timescape Expansion

Never played with it. No comments.

Dragons Expansion

Never played with it. No comments. (Never even seen it.)