Hi WillOhio, I always thought that apart from the art and all of the extra plastic counters that the rules never really changed?
I think I'm in the 1st/2nd camp because I always liked the Chalk/Dever(?) line art.
I played the iPad Talisman prologue game recently but the single quest novelty wore off pretty quick. The pleasure of Talisman really does come from playing against others and thwarting their progress.
Maybe you could run this as a poll?
(Mortis - do we have a polling tool?)
Mark me down as a fan of 2nd (I think) - colour board, Games Workshop, Dever/Chalk line art. Although, I think my own copy has actually gone mouldy!
Although I would have benefited from the alternative endings - I hated Crown of Command as the ultimate goal- often the first player the get there would be promptly deposed by the nearest player because it wasn't powerful enough (only took one life at a time).