Kevin from Missouri

[loremasterstl]

The thing about Talisman is that--especially if your players take their time during their turns, but even if they don't--the game can take hours and hours, like a classic RISK game. The reason for this is that luck largely determines your movement, so you often have to wait until you roll the right number to proceed. And it helps to know what the requirements are to advance in the game: going from the outside ring of the board to the inner rings requires fulfilling certain challenges, acquiring an item that can be found several random ways, or dumb luck if you encounter a portal or get the right spell.

However, you choose from a bunch of character classes and collect items and increase your stats, which is reminiscent of ATOE. The goal of the game is to capture the crown in the center, in which one life point is drained from all of the other players every round until you're the last one standing. But it doesn't rob from the game if players do not directly impede (attack or steal) from other players until someone gets close to the goal. If you like games where you have time to converse on the side while another player takes their turn, and you've got four to five hours to kill, it's quite fun; definitely a good game for a group of older boys and girls who enjoy long games.

Prices vary from $40 to $60, so keep an eye out. The game's rights were sold to another company, Games Workshop I believe, so the "revised 4th edition" (their version of 4th edition) of the game was released, including an expansion. It's one of the better fantasy-themed games out there for sheer variety, and probably a precursor to Flying Frog's gaming style..