Geek Dad success with Talisman

One of my goals here at Lance Draconis is to promote the raising of the Geek Generation. I have two case subjects in progress children in my lab home who are developing promisingly into little Geek-lings, and I think it's worth publishing some of the evidence of my success thus far.



Some of you fantasy gaming nerds out there may be familiar with Talisman - the Magical Quest Game, a card-based board game. We have the base game along with the Dungeon expansion, and the kids manage it pretty well. My 8-year-old girl is pretty savvy, and can plan strategies based on different available options. My 4-year-old enjoys the game too, but he just likes accumulating gold coins. The game is known to sometimes take a while to finish, especially with more players, so we use a few house rules to speed things up.

My Geek Dad budget is somewhat limited, so we get a little creative sometimes. Rather than purchasing some more game expansions, we've taken a few of the extra game mechanics and scribbled out our own cards. They aren't much to look at, but they do the job. What they lack in paper quality however is made up for by the excellent custom artwork. I'd pay money for a whole set of Talisman in this theme style...

Here are a few scary monsters, but I suddenly I want to pat them rather than fight them. Gaming connoisseurs may recognise the Wyvern picture from Munchkin, another favourite in our house.

 There are a few extra characters too. These ones come in colour!

This one was my own contribution...

My little artists also do a few digital modifications of the cards we swipe from Google Images. Again, they tend toward a more passive approach, and sometimes incorporate our own game mechanics.