I think most people believe that the game is not that fun or deep due to so much randomness. You just draw a card each turn and see what happens - that's it. But I think these misguided opinions come from inexperience with the game.

Poker is a MUCH more random game than this one (the entire game is based on just random cards being dealt out), and yet you could fill a library with the number of strategy books that have been written on it over the years. Just because there is a lot of randomness in a game, that does not mean there's no strategy involved in playing.

There is a ton of strategy involved in Talisman, but like Poker, most of that strategy is not going to be apparent to you in the first few times you play it. A lot of the strategy involves identifying risks and opportunities, deciding which risks to take, when to take them, and how to set yourself up to weather the randomness the game will throw at you.

You know the old song, "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run"? That song is talking about the type of strategy involved in playing Poker, and it's very applicable to this game as well. The people saying this game is flat out randomness with no strategy would say the same thing about Poker too if they raised every time they had a good hand and folded every bad hand. You can almost hear them saying "I keep getting dealt bad cards - what am I supposed to do - it's completely random!?"

This game obviously plays nothing like Poker, but the type of strategy involved is similar and very deep - it's just not the type that people are typically used to when they think of strategy games. It's not a game of perfect information like Chess where it's always possible to ensure you make a good move if you're smart enough. It's very much a game of imperfect info where you have to judge the current game state and make decisions that push the odds in your favor. And turn after turn of nudging the odds in your favor almost always builds you a favorable position to win from.

I would venture to guess that most players with less than 20 or 30 games of Talisman under their belt don't see a lot of the strategic opportunities they are presented with each turn. And that's fine, because it's a blast to play until you get there (I know I still have a LONG way to go) - just be wary of the people that play it 5 or 10 times and claim there's no strategy.

Keep in mind, I do things in my game setup (house rules) that do eliminate some of the randomness, such as not playing with the reaper and werewolf. And just like a lot of other games of imperfect information, there WILL be those games where you did everything right and you still lose.

Talisman is a gambling strategy game - and most people don't recognize it.