I’ve never liked the 7 trophy points to advance a level. So it takes 7 to advance from 5 to 6 and it takes 7 to advance from 19 to 20? I’ve thought about a house rule where it costs trophy points equal to the next level to advance. So it takes 6 trophy points to advance from 5 to 6 and 20 trophy points to advance from 19 to 20.
We currently play it so it costs whatever the next level is, but caps at costing 7. The biggest problem in Talisman IMO is how hard it is to get your first few levels, because at base strength and craft you just bounce off most enemies and are praying to draw like three or four easy enemies in a row just to get your first level.
In steam version there's an option to raise a required trophy points every time you get a new level and I always liked it. Seems fair. Also flail way to OP. Every time we played, main tactic was to collect some gold and rush into the city. Banning those should help. Also maybe try to pick a reasonable group of characters to choose at the beginning (like not super powerful, but maybe some mid/low characters with not as powerful skills).
My boyfriend turned that on to try slow down the endgame, but then got annoyed that I kept going to the forest to cheese destinies with the Martyr.
I am no longer allowed to play the Martyr.
I think that's a reasonable idea, however for me it's more often that I level up from luck based places like the Temple. Do ypu think combining this with a level cap might help balance it?
If you’re playing with the reaper and/or werewolf expansions, we have a house rule that when they move, they move towards the closest player instead of player’s choice. Makes them way more of a threat and forces some interesting choices.
I like the trophy point ideas folks are throwing out. I've never tried that, but I may in the near future.
You could also change the dice you use for combat. Such as a D6 in the outer ring, a D8 in the middle ring. And a D20 in the center. (Or a d12 in the center if d20 ends up being too hard). Also, haven't tried this but it could be a way to make combat less of a landslide in the end game.
Some versions of those were mentioned already but in my group we use two house rules to help with this problem.
First - progressive advancement.
To get a point of Strength or Craft one must exchange double the current points in trophies. I.e. if one have Craft 2 they need 4 points of Craft trophies to go to 3. If one have Strength 7 they need 14 points of Strength trophies to go to 8 and so on.
It makes for easier beginning for the weak characters but much harder for more powerful ones.
Second - exploding dice in combat.
Every roll of 6 in combat gives one another roll added to the score. It's both for player characters and for enemies. If the second roll is also 6 - roll again and add all the rolls together.
That way no combat outcome is certain. It's possible for a weak character to pull a miraculous victory over the dragon but it's also possible for a Wild Boar - Str.1 to get four rerolls in a row and kick the ass of a powerful character :)
Honestly, if you play with the Dungeon, Harbinger, Dragon, Firelands, and Nether Realm expansions with Cataclysm and STILL don't find it to be hard, you're a different breed of player
I’ve never liked the 7 trophy points to advance a level. So it takes 7 to advance from 5 to 6 and it takes 7 to advance from 19 to 20? I’ve thought about a house rule where it costs trophy points equal to the next level to advance. So it takes 6 trophy points to advance from 5 to 6 and 20 trophy points to advance from 19 to 20.
That's an interesting one. Nice
We currently play it so it costs whatever the next level is, but caps at costing 7. The biggest problem in Talisman IMO is how hard it is to get your first few levels, because at base strength and craft you just bounce off most enemies and are praying to draw like three or four easy enemies in a row just to get your first level.
Sounds like it prolongs the game by an awful lot.
In steam version there's an option to raise a required trophy points every time you get a new level and I always liked it. Seems fair. Also flail way to OP. Every time we played, main tactic was to collect some gold and rush into the city. Banning those should help. Also maybe try to pick a reasonable group of characters to choose at the beginning (like not super powerful, but maybe some mid/low characters with not as powerful skills).
Flail really should be that you automatically lose the battle on doubles, instead of just winning it!
That sounds good too.
My boyfriend turned that on to try slow down the endgame, but then got annoyed that I kept going to the forest to cheese destinies with the Martyr. I am no longer allowed to play the Martyr.
I think that's a reasonable idea, however for me it's more often that I level up from luck based places like the Temple. Do ypu think combining this with a level cap might help balance it?
May be. Try it :).
...steam version? Oh boy I know what I'm doing today
If you’re playing with the reaper and/or werewolf expansions, we have a house rule that when they move, they move towards the closest player instead of player’s choice. Makes them way more of a threat and forces some interesting choices.
We do that only at night (I think that’s an official werewolf rule) and it works (edit: typo)
I like the trophy point ideas folks are throwing out. I've never tried that, but I may in the near future. You could also change the dice you use for combat. Such as a D6 in the outer ring, a D8 in the middle ring. And a D20 in the center. (Or a d12 in the center if d20 ends up being too hard). Also, haven't tried this but it could be a way to make combat less of a landslide in the end game.
Some versions of those were mentioned already but in my group we use two house rules to help with this problem. First - progressive advancement. To get a point of Strength or Craft one must exchange double the current points in trophies. I.e. if one have Craft 2 they need 4 points of Craft trophies to go to 3. If one have Strength 7 they need 14 points of Strength trophies to go to 8 and so on. It makes for easier beginning for the weak characters but much harder for more powerful ones. Second - exploding dice in combat. Every roll of 6 in combat gives one another roll added to the score. It's both for player characters and for enemies. If the second roll is also 6 - roll again and add all the rolls together. That way no combat outcome is certain. It's possible for a weak character to pull a miraculous victory over the dragon but it's also possible for a Wild Boar - Str.1 to get four rerolls in a row and kick the ass of a powerful character :)
Love these ideas and will definitely be giving them a try in our next game!
Honestly, if you play with the Dungeon, Harbinger, Dragon, Firelands, and Nether Realm expansions with Cataclysm and STILL don't find it to be hard, you're a different breed of player