Hollywood Talisman

Okay, now I officially admit this playing of Talisman was weird.

The characters that were drawn for start were the evil Wizard and good Elf. It was a two player game. We used the Sacred Pool alternative ending to speed up the game a little.

Well, the game started.

Wizard started to develop very early in game, gaining strenght and craft nearly every other turn. He also found the Runesword that's kind of an iconic weapon for evil characters. In other words... Wizard seemed very threatening and invincible. Elf did try his best but was no match for the evil villain!

Elf did one thing better. He completed many warlock quests while Wizard was struggling to find a certain type of enemy to complete a quest of his.

But at one point Elf dropped to only one life and started the annoying dodging of threats and trying to get healed. But it was to no avail... Elf finally died at the Portal of Power. Can you imagine the good elf grasping for the huge and menacing door that leads either to saving the world or destroying it but finally succumbing to foes that surround him?

Well, another character was drawn to replace the elf.

It was the Swashbuckler. A good hero with an adventurous attitude. Elf, his dear friend, had obviously sent a message to him and called for his help to stop the evil, omnipotent maniac wizard!

Wizard had amazing statistics, obviously way out of range for Swashbuckler to confront directly. But still Swashbuckler gained manageable statistics for himself pretty soon. He completed all the required warlock quests to start running for the Crown of Command. However, his strenght and craft were so bad that he would pass Crypts or Mines only with real good luck. Wizard was still trying to get 4 discarded quest rewards even when his powers were otherwise enough to start running for crown.

One of the quest reward for Swashbucker was to gain all spells he could possibly have. That meant 3 spells. One of them was Toadify that makes a creature you're engaging in battle a toad with Strenght value of 1.

At that instant Swashbuckler started to run through Dungeon in order to fight Lord of Darkness. If it would be turned into a toad victory over it would have been certain. If Swashbuckler won and took the Cloak of Feathers and would've been teleported close enough the Portal all the while dodging the evil wizard... there would have been a chance.

But then.

Classic evil wizard almost guaranteed victory for him! The LAST quest reward that he needed not only made it possible for him to start running for the Crown of Command, it also turned Swashbuckler into a toad in the middle of dungeon! There was absolutely nothing to be done to wizard and his plans of enslaving or destroying the whole world!

Except it took a few turns for Wizard to arrive to Portal of Power. And Swashbuckler was lucky and didn't lose even a single life while he was a Toad. He also managed to pick up all of his things with a lucky movement roll and he was 12 spaces away from Lord of Darkness' treasure chamber.

Well, you know how just at the brink of victory all evil villains start to make weird, unexplainable mistakes?

When Wizard reached the Mines he failed the roll to get through and was teleported back to Portal of Power, buying few desperate turns more for Swashbuckler!

But Swashbuckler didn't get too good rolls. Wizard was nearing the end. He did botch Mines a second time but saved it with use of his last Fate.

When Wizard was at the Pits Swashbuckler was 9 spaces away from Lord of Darkness.

When Wizard was only one move away from victory Swashbuckler was 4 spaces away from Lord of Darkness and it was Swashbucklers turn.

Swashbuckler rolled for move. 5.

Then he cast Toadify on Lord of Darkness and succeeded in turning him into a toad.

Then he cast Bolster on himself which gave him an additional die to be added to his battle combat roll.

Then the Lord of Darkness and our daring hero, Swashbuckler, start the fight!

Even while Lord of Darkness is ridiculed when he has been turned into a slimy toad he puts up a fight and rolls 6 for his combat with his strenght 1!

Swashbuckler had Strenght value exactly 7. If he would beat the Lord's combat roll by 8 or more he would be teleported to Crown of Command there and then, no questions asked.

But that meant that he needed to roll at least 8 with 2 dice. That's a bit above average which makes it distressingly unlikely.

However, Swashbuckler rolled 9!

So, just as the evil wizard was climbing stairs, at the last step before gaining ultimate power, Swashbuckler appears out of nowhere and is teleported to the Crown of Command and all wizards schemes fail and goodness wins in a dashing style!

That game could have been filmed into a movie or something.

Wizard had Craft 9 versus Swashbuckler's 7 and Strenght 8 in battle versus Swashbuckler's 7. On top of that because of Runesword and one warlock quest reward the Wizard had 6-8 lives, don't remember exactly how much but above normal maximum.

So, victory for Swashbuckler!