In 1983 Games Workshop published the popular board game, Talisman. Unlike Games Workshop's wargames, Talisman could be enjoyed by just about anyone with very little money or time invested. In 1985, Games Workshop released the 2nd edition of Talisman, and then in 1994, a 3rd edition hit the shelves. People from all over the world have played, collected, and enjoyed this game for over 15 years now. Used sets of this game are selling on online auction sites as fast as they come available, and for many times their original value. And now, Random Games, Inc., who created the PC version of Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Gate for Games Workshop, is ready to re-vitalize this classic favorite for a whole new generation in Talisman PC.

The concept behind the game is simple:
"The game board represents a land once ruled by a powerful wizard. The wizard is now dead, but legend has it that if anyone can make their way through the perils of the various regions and discover the wizard's Crown of Command, they will be granted the power to become ruler over the land. It is this legend that has drawn here the various adventurers, each of whom seeks the Crown.
You are one of the adventurers, and you will meet powerful enemies, discover friends and magical objects, and meet strange beings on your journey. Finally, when you have gained sufficient power, you can cross the last and most dangerous region to secure the Crown of Command. But no matter how powerful you have become, your journey will have been in vain unless you have first found the TALISMAN."

Talisman is a game of adventure, cunning, strategy, strength and courage. Players can choose from a cast of characters which have different levels of strength and craft (spell casting ability), and which may also have special abilities to help them move around the board (ie. the Elf, if he ends his turn in a woods space, may move to any other woods space instead of rolling for his next turn), or which give them advantages in specific situations (the Dwarf is always safe in the Crags or Chasm).

The original board is made up of three regions, each of which presents players with increased difficulty, and greater chances for improving their character skills. All players start on the outer, easier, portion of the board. As they increase their skills, they can move into the middle region, where monsters and opponents have more of an advantage, and then, when they feel ready, they can move into the inner region, for the hardest test of their skills.

Expansion packs and new versions have been created over the years. Each of these expansion packs and version changes adds or modifies Adventure cards, characters and rules, as well as expandability to the original board with Dungeon, City, Forest, Mountains and the Dragon's Tower.

Because there are so many characters to choose from, this game can be played an almost infinite number of times, with each game having a different "feel" to it, depending on which characters are chosen. Even where a game is played by identical characters, the game plays out differently based on the random selection of Adventure cards and die rolls, which allow combats to occur, followers and objects to be gathered, or strangers to be encountered.

The Proposal
Random Games proposes to convert the tabletop/board version of "Talisman: The Magical Quest Game" into a computer game for the PC. We will take what we feel are the best elements from the 2nd edition and 3rd edition as well as many common "house rules," and merge them into Talisman PC. The initial release of Talisman PC as proposed is expected to include the Original Board Game (a meld of the 2nd and 3rd Edition board and cards), with the Talisman Expansion and Adventure sets incorporated. Subsequent releases would include; Talisman Dungeon, Talismn City, Talisman Dragon, Talisman Forest, Talisman Mountains and Talisman Dragon's Tower. The development team is extremely excited about the prospect of being able to work on another Games Workshop product, and especially enthusiastic about revitalizing what has, for many years, been one of our favorite games.


The Game Engine
There are three basic ways in which a game event is shaped: 1) The board itself, 2) The adventure cards which are encountered, and 3) The individual character's special abilities. Random Games will generate two utilities to develop this game 1) a board generator and 2) an element editor. Each of these tools will allow the development team to build pieces, which when combined, will create currently licensed add-ons, as well as giving us the ability to generate any new add-on packs which Games Workshop may license in the future.

The Game Screen
Talisman PC will be an immersive environment with richly-colored and texturized 16bit art. Each space of the "board" will be a detailed story-element which will bring the player into the world they are exploring. As the characters move around the board, they will encounter the specific terrain reflected on each board square, until they end their turn on the space they have rolled, where they will encounter animated and graphically interesting versions of the "cards" they have drawn.

We will show characters strolling through the meadows, climbing over hills, or encountering any number of terrain elements. Most importantly though, will be the representations of combat with enemies, where the enemy will appear and be engaged in combat by the player's character.

Because the game itself focuses so much on the standard board, this will be the central focus of our computer version. The board will be viewed from a isoplaner perspective in the middle of the screen. Standard play will focus on the currently active character as they move around the board and encounter the various elements of the game.

The main play screen will also show a smaller graphical representation of the entire board. Each of the squares of the board will be shown with the player having the ability to right-click on a square to view a close-up of any specific rules associated with the location, other players who might be present, or enemies or objects which are currently located there. This will allow players to view their ending-space options when they roll for movement and keep track of other players in the game.

Stand-Alone and Multiplayer
This game will be built with both single-player re-play and multiplayer flexibility in mind. One of the most exciting aspects of this proposed game is the ability to offer something which has been missing from Talisman for 15 years; the ability to play the game by yourself or with a group of remote friends. This version of the game will allow a player to play against zero to five computer opponents, save the game at any point, then continue at a later time. We will also include the ability to play Talisman PC with up to five remote players via a Lan connection or the Internet. The game will be built with hooks in place to allow it to be used with matchmaking services.

Magic
All of the characters in the Talisman game can cast magic spells. We will be creating a system that handles the casting of these spells, and that will allow for future expansion without re-programming of the game. This system takes into account the timing issues of casting spells. We will keep the natural flow of a tabletop board game where players can interrupt each other out of turn, while maintaining a game that flows smoothly.

Art Considerations
Talisman is set in the colorful Warhammer fantasy universe. Random Games' artists will imitate the artistic style for which Games Workshop is so well known. We will create extremely detailed playing boards, characters, objects and encounters using 2d and 3d graphics. We will generate our PC version of Talisman with vivid detail to the art that lead up to it, and add in 3d aspects not able to be represented in a flat board game.

Audio Considerations
A musical score that creates a fun, fantastical atmosphere will be created for Talisman, one which reflects events as they occur, and which changes according to the character's location. The music and sound effects will be composed by the same team who produced of the music for Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate.

Random Games' Intention
We are committed to the vision that Talisman PC will be the best translation of a fantasy board game to the computer medium. We will achieve this by: creating a game with stunning 16 bit graphics which bring the world to life and immerse the player in our reality; an intuitive, yet powerful point and click interface; scores of enemies and player characters interacting in beautiful pre-rendered art; and game mechanics which directly mirror the board game play without the tedium of setting up the board, keeping track of counters, and figuring out die rolls. This game will create a place for players who have loved Talisman for years to play by themselves or play with others from around the world, and it will open the doors to this genre for the hundreds of thousands who have been looking for a great fantasy game.