Talisman
Review

Talisman (1983) is a classic adventure fantasy board game. Playing as heroes, wizards, villains, thieves and monsters you explore the world to gain equipment, weapons, ancient relics, and companions. It's a Dungeons and Dragons feeling adventure but played with preset rules on a board rather than purely in the imagination.

You race other players to move from the outer world to the inner labyrinth of the board. As you do you must build up equipment, weapons, and companions to improve your stats and be ready for what lies deeper. Complete a Talisman quest and you can enter the inner world and reach the Portal of Power to claim the Crown of Command. All the while other players are trying to stop you from killing all the monsters and winning.

Although there are lots of ways to progress through the world and your abilities, the gameplay is relatively simple. Each turn you roll a die for movement, then decide which path to progress. Each space on the board has different instructions and encounters. These can be creatures, companions, weapons, equipment, treasure, or relics.

You then fight creatures to gain the related items or companions. If another player is in the same space they can also get involved in the battle. If the defender loses, he loses a life and an item or companion of the attacker's choice. If the attacker loses, he loses a life.

Once you progress to the inner world the enemies are harder, like the Vampire's Tower and Werewolves. Manage to claim the Crown of Command and you can cast the Command Spell which forces other players to lose a life. It then becomes a race for the Crown as the other players try to take the player with the Crown down before he finishes them all off.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Talisman 19 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 10 months ago.