Our Friday night D&D game stops each week around 11:00 p.m.  Not just because we’re all nearing 40 years old but also because two of our players have to work the graveyard shift and leave at that time.  The three of us left like to play a board or card game before calling it a night.  Our newest acquisition; Talisman, the Magical Quest Game (Revised 4^th Edition) now published by Fantasy Flight Games http://www.fantasyflightgames.com. 

Talisman has been around since 1983 and up until last year was published by Black Library, a part of Games Workshop.  The latest incarnation of the classic board game stays true to its roots while offering several nice upgrades and an easy to learn rule set. 

In Talisman each player plays a different type of character, normally determined at random, and include such classics as the wizard, assassin, troll, and priest.  Players take turns moving their characters around the game board attempting to gather magic items, build personal power, attract followers, and amass wealth.  As they move players not only have to contend with monsters, NPC’s, and dangerous locales, but they must also watch out for each other.  Everyone in the game is competing to become powerful enough to attempt to take charge of the Crown of Command.  Once a character reaches the crown they use it to cast spells at the other characters until none are left and the crown bearer wins.

I used to play the first edition of Talisman and have many fond memories of the game.  Fantasy Flight has done a great job bringing the game back to life along with numerous upgrades.  Each of the 14 characters comes with a finely detailed plastic miniature.  Markers for things such as Strength, Lives, and Craft (mana) are all cone-shaped plastic pieces that stack together nicely.  The game board itself is constructed of the same extremely heavy duty card stock that has become the standard with Fantasy Flight.

The game itself is everything I’ve come to expect from the masters of the board game, Fantasy Flight Games.  Set up is easy, about 5 minutes, and play takes about an hour or two, perfect for our after RPG games on Friday nights.  For quicker games the rules include several easy to incorporate alternatives to speed up the game.  The rules are very well presented and easy to understand and with different characters to choose from and upcoming game expansions, the game offers excellent replay-ability. 

Over all I found Talisman to be a great blend of easy to play, tactical complexity, cut-throat competition, and humor (wait until your character is turned into a toad!).  For a fun, light game you can’t beat Talisman.  For those of you who are fans of the original you won’t be disappointed either.  If you like board games, or are looking for a fun game to play on those nights when you aren’t roleplaying, look no further than Talisman.