Trashdome - Arkham Horror VS Talisman

Go TALISMAN! Arkham Horror is on the way (once the stupid last WoW miniature arrives), and I'm sure it is brilliant, but Talisman is just the game of my youth. Whoever played Talisman, the Expansion, Dungeon, City, Timescape and Dragons in one epic game, will never forget it.

This is supposed to be a contest?

Arkham Horror has one thing Talisman lacks - pressure. There's the threat of the old one, the malovelent board (especially Innsmouth! Lovely how hostile they made that town) and the constant march of monsters. Talisman? Run around the board until you find the MacGuffin. Doesn't matter if it takes ten minutes or ten hours. No other way to get around it. Talisman gets boring too easily and can drag. The only games of Arkham that dragged were pre-Dunwich where we had enough players to keep everything in check and the gates kept bouncing on seals.

Put Talisman back in the mausoleum.

Vote: Arkham Horror

The other players create the pressure in Talisman...It just sucks when everyone's too scared to move to the center until their stats are godlike. There's a reason the Belt of Hercules (one of the Crown of Command replacements in 2nd Ed.) provides 12 strength and craft in addition to the teleport ability - it was supposed to make everyone crap their pants cause a 12/12 guy would kick their ass turn after turn. The designers didn't expect people to be so lame that they'd wander around building their stats up to the 20s.

Mad Malthus wrote:

Strictly a revenge vote in the name of TI3:
TALISMAN

Hahaha - Make it a double!


Vote: Talisman

I'm largely ignorant of the whole Lovecraft thing, so I'm not voting based on the source material at all. Although I appreciate what Talisman could be in the right circumstances, I just felt it dragged on for WAY too long. Arkham was if nothing else pretty amusing for the kinds of bizarre stuff that can go on...and I doubt there are too many games that even come close to its replayability. Just looking at all those piles of cards makes me dizzy.

VOTE: Arkham Horror

The pressure element is an interesting point. TALISMAN creates this right at the very end of the game, but usually it's too late to do anything about it. And for the record, I always liked the Belt of Hercules better anyway. Maybe it needs a "doom track" or something to keep the cowards from tooling around the outer region for four hours.

BTW, in regards to the Civil Rights issue MJ brought up, I think it is worth noting that ARKHAM HORROR includes characters of all ethnicities and they all have balanced, equitable powers. TALISMAN's characters are all white, at least in the current FFG edition. In fact, I don't think there's a single image of a non-white personality in the game. And hey, wait, where did all those skulls in 3rd edition come from? Hmm...1+1...looks like TALISMAN was subjected to some ethnic cleansing, if you know what I mean. Is nostalgia enough to forgive genocide?

Michael Barnes wrote:

Now we're talking, enough of this reacharound "but I love both games" crap.

But... but I do like both games.

Arkham Horror

No contest. The stories from Talisman, while sometimes good and memorable in their own right, don't hold a candle to AH.

BTW, in regards to the Civil Rights issue MJ brought up, I think it is worth noting that ARKHAM HORROR includes characters of all ethnicities and they all have balanced, equitable powers.

Bullshit. Most of the characters are white, at least in the base game. Plus, it's religiously biased as well. The nun character is a hero, while Eldritch occultism is clearly depicted in a negative light.

TALISMAN's characters are all white, at least in the current FFG edition. In fact, I don't think there's a single image of a non-white personality in the game.

Excuse me? The Troll is green. And if you play the 2nd ed., there's the Zulu and the Martial Artist.

Why you gotta' lie, Barnes?

And hey, wait, where did all those skulls in 3rd edition come from? Hmm...1+1...looks like TALISMAN was subjected to some ethnic cleansing, if you know what I mean. Is nostalgia enough to forgive genocide?

This is pure conjecture. Is this what passes for rational discourse in the trashdome nowadays? Sad.

mjl1783 wrote:

Excuse me? The Troll is green. And if you play the 2nd ed., there's the Zulu and the Martial Artist.

IIRC, the Chainsaw Warrior and Cyborg are black dudes...because they're from the future.

Ha! Breaking my self imposed year sabbatical of game sites for this one. Actually, I came back here after my neighbor, a videogame artist and budding boardgamer directed me to Barne's Gameshark article. Sup, fellas?

Anyway, for all the whining about videogames vs boardgames in that other thread, I can't believe that AH is being preferred over Talisman. AH is mainstream kryptonite. There is so little pay-off for all the work involved. What the @#$%@ are all those symbols on the back of the creatures? Movement based on their border? chits, cards, etc. everywhere! I get exhausted just thinking about all the work involved in that game. Not to mention the downtime between turns. yikes! AH is the one case where I'd *rather* play a videogame. Give me Eternal Darkness over all this crap. Hell, role-playing would be a better alternative. At least it wouldn't be as railroaded as AH is. Putting out fires indeed. yawn...
(and those crying 'it tells a story', read a damn book!)

Now, Talisman is a timeless classic that provides the fun *everytime*. Pressure only at the end? Bullshit! Set the bumps to only 5 instead of 7 and throw in that reaper expansion (best one yet). The whole game is intense with folks being pushed into sections of the board together to avoid the Grim one. For more fun, play 3 teams based on alignment, 2 players per side. I will admit that Talisman looses a lot with the 'L' expansions as the extra boards create less conflict, but like a previous poster said, you can play Talisman several drinks into the evening so that counters any negative the expansions add. (personally, I just use them for the characters)

There really is no comparison between the two. One is an overbloated dice-fest in the worst possible sense with a terrible endgame. The other, is an exciting knife fight in a phone booth with a dramatic endgame.

TALISMAN

I'll hang up and listen.

Yeah, an alternate future where they weren't wiped out or forced to leave the game, as is the case with the Zulu and the Martial Artist.

So the Troll is green...clearly a token greenskin, considering how many greenskins are generally killed over the course of a given game of TALISMAN. And what about the animal rights issue? How many toads get killed as a result of a game of TALISMAN?

All I'm saying is that the 3rd edition looks like the Khmer Rouge rolled through and shared some decorating tips and it seems fishy to me that the ethnic characters mysteriously vanished. In the inclusive world of ARKHAM HORROR, there are no racial boundaries or prejudices.*

*excluding extradimensional entities, who really are awful and bad and should be exterminated.

Vote: Talisman

Best beer and pretzels gaming out there. What is more AT than Talisman?

Seriously, what's with "no pressure in Talisman" whinging? If Talisman is boring, UR DOIN IT WRONG.

Besides, AH is a co-op lovefest where players are given the possibility to beat down a GREAT OLD ONE with an old revolver and a board with a nail stuck in it. Lovecraft would not approve.

Talisman, on the other hand, is combination race/beatdown where it doesn't matter if you're a Monk and the other guys are the Knight and the Priest. Techically, you should all be on the same team, but the power of the Crown of Command is so alluring, you'll kill anyone who gets in your way. Plus, the new Dungoen is almost like a reincarnation of DungeonQuest (if you go in before getting beefed up). Not even TimeScape was as brutal as the new dungeon!

Arkham Horror without a question. I can't believe this is even being debated. It's got swords, monsters, magic, guns, bombs and motorcycles. Talisman only has swords, monsters and magic.

It's deeper, darker and better.

Vote: Arkham Horror