Talislanta
Encyclopedia
Talislanta is a fantasy
role-playing game
written by Stephen Michael Sechi, with significant stylistic input by artist P.D. Breeding-Black. Initially released in 1987 by Bard Games, the game quickly gained a reputation as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons
that was both much simpler mechanically and far more colorful in tone. The game has maintained a strong cult following among table-top gamers. Talislanta has endured a bumpy publication history, such that there have been five different editions published over the years (eight, if one counts ashcans
, alternate rules and foreign editions), nearly all by different companies.
/Celtic mythology
or the imagery of J. R. R. Tolkien
's The Lord of the Rings
novel. Instead the flamboyantly diverse setting is more akin to the Dying Earth novel series by Jack Vance
. Indeed, Vance is listed by Sechi as a primary influence on the setting, and each edition has been dedicated to that author. Other stated influences include The Travels of Marco Polo
, the journeys of Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
and a host of other pulp
-era fantasy fiction and works by other eclectic authors. As the game reviewer Rick Swan stated, "It's as if H. P. Lovecraft
had written Alice in Wonderland, with Hans Christian Andersen
and William S. Burroughs
as technical advisors."
Existing game literature mostly deals with the continent of Talislanta on the world of Archaeus, home to several dozen very distinct peoples and races, including the Cymril
ians, the Gnorl, and the Xambrians. These cultures and races are wholly alien, or akin to Earth cultures not of the stock commonly seen in other RPGs. Thus the slogan, "No Elves!", which appeared in ads for the games upon its initial release, establishing that very little of the common Tolkien
ic influence was present in the setting.
In the distant past Talislanta was ruled by the Archaens, a race of decadent sorcerers who lived in floating cities and used their uncanny powers mainly in the pursuit of pleasure and distraction. It was this haphazard use of dangerous and unstable arcane powers which presumably weakened the dimensional fabric, causing the magical devastation known as "the Great Disaster". The disaster shattered the Archaen society in a day, and had numerous ripple effect
s on the continent of Talislanta. Most contemporary races are either some offshoot of the Archaen race, "Neomorphs" created by magical means, or one of a handful of mysterious races more ancient than the Archaens.
The continent is one of great magic, with the eldritch forces being in common use within every social strata of the continent and its many cultures. Arguably the greatest of the magic wielders are the people of Cymril, who founded the Seven Kingdoms (often the default starting point of the game). It is stated many times that the magical capabilities of the Archaens were far beyond this. Archaeans possessed magical equivalents to spaceships, virtual reality theme parks, space stations, and other trappings of an advanced technical life (founded on magic, instead of technology). Many of these advances are left in ruins to be rediscovered by the truly intrepid adventure seekers.
The setting is grim in places, comic in others. Situations vary on the Continent and it is possible to have Talislanta games of greatly varied tone due to this. Areas of the continent are very grim with warring factions and brutal survivalists who live each day to see the next, while others are decadent areas where wealth, magic, and leisure have made the inhabitants petty and argumentative (in a tip of the hat to Vance, as above).
It is reportedly very common for new GMs and players to feel there is too much scope to the setting, and it is advised that players find a single region to concentrate on before moving on to globe-trotting games. This tactic for game development is aided by newer editions, where setting and character material is broken up by major geographic sections of the continent, to allow players to focus until their comfort level is achieved.
For most of the game's history, character creation was handled by offering a list of archetypes to choose from. Early editions of the game offered several dozen archetypes, expanding to over a hundred in later editions. Each archetype represents an adventuring personality particular to a certain culture with such colorful names as "Cymrilan Rogue Magician", "Jaka Beastmaster" and "Mandalan Mystic Warrior". Each archetype offered all relevant information needed to start playing the character including Attributes, Skills, apparel and equipment and, after making a few personalizations, was ready to begin play right from the book. In an aspect unusual among role-playing games, little attempt was made to balance
the archetypes, and many were clearly more or less powerful than others. The rationale being that it was more important to present characters that were faithful to the setting than mechanically equal. In the fifth edition, a more traditional character generation system was introduced to create balanced characters, but critical response was mixed.
, also known as The Atlantis Trilogy.
The first edition of Talislanta was published by Bard Games in 1987, a company in part founded by Talislanta's primary creator Stephan Michael Sechi. Bard Games published a revised second edition in 1989, and a series of supplements followed, culminating in the (now officially non-canonical) Cyclopedia series. However, the last Cyclopedia was published in 1990, and Bard games ceased to exist shortly thereafter.
Wizards of the Coast
, at the time a young upstart company just entering the hobby game industry, acquired the license to Talislanta and published the third edition in 1992 (in part written by Jonathan Tweet
, who years later would write Dungeons & Dragons
Third Edition). An ambitious schedule of supplements was announced, including a trilogy of grand adventures to take players through the events of the "Sub-men Uprising". But Wizards found success with Magic: the Gathering
and ceased all role-playing projects to focus on their collectible card games.
The final Talislanta supplement published by Wizards in 1994 ended with the announcement that Daedalus Entertainment, a small company which had gained some attention for creating the game Feng Shui
, would be publishing a new edition within the year, written by noted game designer Robin Laws
. But such was not to be, and Daedalus faltered before its version saw print.
The next company to attempt to revive Talislanta was Pharos Press (also known as Plaid Rabbit), who announced they would create a special tenth anniversary edition of the game in time for 1997. Despite early promise and enthusiasm, this release was long delayed, till the actual anniversary was years past. Though a handful of ashcan
copies of the Pharos edition were eventually distributed, Stephan Michael Sechi (who maintained creative control of the game through all editions) rescinded the license with Pharos and announced that the game was up for grabs.
Which brought the game to Shooting Iron, a modest graphic design company who also happened to be fans of Talislanta, and had provided work for Pharos. Largely on their own time and without remuneration, Shooting Iron turned the rough draft of the Anniversary Edition into the Talislanta 4th edition, publishing what remains the largest single volume collection of Talislanta rules and background as a hardback in 2001. Shooting Iron then published the first new supplement for Talislanta, The Midnight Realm, in 2003.
In 2004, Morrigan Press
acquired the Talislanta license and published a number of books for the game, including a d20
edition in early 2005. In 2006, Morrigan announced the upcoming release of Talislanta Fifth edition, and the first few volumes of the multi-book game saw release in early 2007. The final core book of the 5th edition was released in August 2007 (A Gamemaster's Guide to Talislanta). Unfortunately, in 2008 Morrigan foundered and the future status of Talislanta is in doubt.
In 2004, a French publishing company Ludopathes Éditeurs acquired the license to adapt the game for a French audience. A starter kit was published in 2005 and was followed by the rulebook in September 2005 and a GM's screen "Secrets of the Reaper" (Les Secrets du Faucheur) in early 2006. An original campaign "The Moons Chronicles - Phandir" (Les Chroniques Lunaires : Phandir) was released on July 2006, and a sourcebook on the Omniverse "The Guide of Spheres" (Le Guide des Sphères) was released in late 2006 as well as a series of PDF booklets giving the rule to create characters from the different parts of the continent. Others books followed since then, in April 2007 "The Western Lands" (Les Terres de l'Ouest)was published, a sourcebook detailing that part of the continent. Then was published in January 2008 "The Seas Devils" (Les Diables des Mers) a sourcebook about some of the peoples wandering the south seas. The next chapter of the campaign: "The Moons Chronicles - Zar" (Les Chroniques Lunaires : Zar) taking place in the Western Lands was published in January 2009.
As of June 2010, all Talislanta titles from first to fifth edition are available for free download from the Talislanta website. Most of the material has been scanned and posted. According to the game's website, "Talislanta is released to the world, for free, under the Creative Common license. You are free to download the books for your role-playing pleasure, but please no re-selling or remixing."
While not the first time a role-playing game company has decided to release its product as "free", it is certainly the largest to date.
There are currently no listed plans to expand the line beyond the existing products.
The Midnight Realm was the first book dedicated to one of these additional worlds.
Plans to publish other continent books, such as Altarus, Celadon, and Draknar, are rumored to be in the works.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
written by Stephen Michael Sechi, with significant stylistic input by artist P.D. Breeding-Black. Initially released in 1987 by Bard Games, the game quickly gained a reputation as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
that was both much simpler mechanically and far more colorful in tone. The game has maintained a strong cult following among table-top gamers. Talislanta has endured a bumpy publication history, such that there have been five different editions published over the years (eight, if one counts ashcans
Ashcan copy
An ashcan copy is a term that originated in the Golden Age of Comic Books, meant to describe a publication produced solely for legal purposes , and not normally intended for distribution.-Origins:...
, alternate rules and foreign editions), nearly all by different companies.
Setting
The Talislanta universe differs strongly from other role-playing games of similar genre. There are very few references to NorseNorse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
/Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
or the imagery of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
novel. Instead the flamboyantly diverse setting is more akin to the Dying Earth novel series by Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
. Indeed, Vance is listed by Sechi as a primary influence on the setting, and each edition has been dedicated to that author. Other stated influences include The Travels of Marco Polo
The Travels of Marco Polo
Books of the Marvels of the World or Description of the World , also nicknamed Il Milione or Oriente Poliano and commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo, is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Marco Polo, describing the...
, the journeys of Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...
and a host of other pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
-era fantasy fiction and works by other eclectic authors. As the game reviewer Rick Swan stated, "It's as if H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
had written Alice in Wonderland, with Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
and William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
as technical advisors."
Existing game literature mostly deals with the continent of Talislanta on the world of Archaeus, home to several dozen very distinct peoples and races, including the Cymril
Cymril
Cymril, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, is a city in the Talislanta milieu, a role-playing game created by Stephen Michael Sechi. Cymrilians are enamoured of magic and all things magical. They are green-skinned, green haired, and golden eyed; however, many of them alter their pigmentation...
ians, the Gnorl, and the Xambrians. These cultures and races are wholly alien, or akin to Earth cultures not of the stock commonly seen in other RPGs. Thus the slogan, "No Elves!", which appeared in ads for the games upon its initial release, establishing that very little of the common Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
ic influence was present in the setting.
In the distant past Talislanta was ruled by the Archaens, a race of decadent sorcerers who lived in floating cities and used their uncanny powers mainly in the pursuit of pleasure and distraction. It was this haphazard use of dangerous and unstable arcane powers which presumably weakened the dimensional fabric, causing the magical devastation known as "the Great Disaster". The disaster shattered the Archaen society in a day, and had numerous ripple effect
Ripple effect
The ripple effect is a term used to describe a situation where, like the ever expanding ripples across water when an object is dropped into it, an effect from an initial state can be followed outwards incrementally....
s on the continent of Talislanta. Most contemporary races are either some offshoot of the Archaen race, "Neomorphs" created by magical means, or one of a handful of mysterious races more ancient than the Archaens.
The continent is one of great magic, with the eldritch forces being in common use within every social strata of the continent and its many cultures. Arguably the greatest of the magic wielders are the people of Cymril, who founded the Seven Kingdoms (often the default starting point of the game). It is stated many times that the magical capabilities of the Archaens were far beyond this. Archaeans possessed magical equivalents to spaceships, virtual reality theme parks, space stations, and other trappings of an advanced technical life (founded on magic, instead of technology). Many of these advances are left in ruins to be rediscovered by the truly intrepid adventure seekers.
The setting is grim in places, comic in others. Situations vary on the Continent and it is possible to have Talislanta games of greatly varied tone due to this. Areas of the continent are very grim with warring factions and brutal survivalists who live each day to see the next, while others are decadent areas where wealth, magic, and leisure have made the inhabitants petty and argumentative (in a tip of the hat to Vance, as above).
It is reportedly very common for new GMs and players to feel there is too much scope to the setting, and it is advised that players find a single region to concentrate on before moving on to globe-trotting games. This tactic for game development is aided by newer editions, where setting and character material is broken up by major geographic sections of the continent, to allow players to focus until their comfort level is achieved.
System
The Talislanta rules system, called at various times the 'Action Table System', the 'D20 System' (before the term was used by Dungeons & Dragons) and the 'Omni System', is very simple relative to other role-playing game systems. Characters are defined by Attributes and Skills, the numerical ratings of which are added to the roll of a single twenty-sided die when a character attempts an action. The final number resulting is then looked up on an Action Table, giving one of five possible results: Mishap, Failure, Partial Success, Full Success or Critical Success.For most of the game's history, character creation was handled by offering a list of archetypes to choose from. Early editions of the game offered several dozen archetypes, expanding to over a hundred in later editions. Each archetype represents an adventuring personality particular to a certain culture with such colorful names as "Cymrilan Rogue Magician", "Jaka Beastmaster" and "Mandalan Mystic Warrior". Each archetype offered all relevant information needed to start playing the character including Attributes, Skills, apparel and equipment and, after making a few personalizations, was ready to begin play right from the book. In an aspect unusual among role-playing games, little attempt was made to balance
Game balance
Game balance is a concept in game design describing fairness or balance of power in a game between multiple players or strategic options. Each team or person would be equally matched in every aspect.- Overview :...
the archetypes, and many were clearly more or less powerful than others. The rationale being that it was more important to present characters that were faithful to the setting than mechanically equal. In the fifth edition, a more traditional character generation system was introduced to create balanced characters, but critical response was mixed.
Publishing History
Many ideas and concepts which would become integral to Talislanta first appeared in an early role-playing game written by Stephan Michael Sechi in 1983, ArcanumArcanum (role-playing game)
Arcanum is a fantasy role-playing game by Bard Games, set in the ancient world before Atlantis sunk. Like other fantasy RPGs, the game uses paper, pencils, dice, rulebooks, and imagination...
, also known as The Atlantis Trilogy.
The first edition of Talislanta was published by Bard Games in 1987, a company in part founded by Talislanta's primary creator Stephan Michael Sechi. Bard Games published a revised second edition in 1989, and a series of supplements followed, culminating in the (now officially non-canonical) Cyclopedia series. However, the last Cyclopedia was published in 1990, and Bard games ceased to exist shortly thereafter.
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
, at the time a young upstart company just entering the hobby game industry, acquired the license to Talislanta and published the third edition in 1992 (in part written by Jonathan Tweet
Jonathan Tweet
Jonathan Tweet is a game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games Ars Magica, Everway, Over the Edge, Talislanta and the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the Collectible Miniatures Game Dreamblade.-Early life:Jonathan Tweet started playing D&D in...
, who years later would write Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
Third Edition). An ambitious schedule of supplements was announced, including a trilogy of grand adventures to take players through the events of the "Sub-men Uprising". But Wizards found success with Magic: the Gathering
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
and ceased all role-playing projects to focus on their collectible card games.
The final Talislanta supplement published by Wizards in 1994 ended with the announcement that Daedalus Entertainment, a small company which had gained some attention for creating the game Feng Shui
Feng Shui (role-playing game)
Feng Shui is a martial arts-themed role-playing game, designed by Robin Laws, published first by Daedalus Entertainment and now by Atlas Games. The game shares its setting with the collectible card game Shadowfist. The system is simple, with most detail being in the game's combat system. Combat...
, would be publishing a new edition within the year, written by noted game designer Robin Laws
Robin Laws
Robin D. Laws is a writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the author of a number of role-playing games and related products.-Works:Robin D...
. But such was not to be, and Daedalus faltered before its version saw print.
The next company to attempt to revive Talislanta was Pharos Press (also known as Plaid Rabbit), who announced they would create a special tenth anniversary edition of the game in time for 1997. Despite early promise and enthusiasm, this release was long delayed, till the actual anniversary was years past. Though a handful of ashcan
Ashcan copy
An ashcan copy is a term that originated in the Golden Age of Comic Books, meant to describe a publication produced solely for legal purposes , and not normally intended for distribution.-Origins:...
copies of the Pharos edition were eventually distributed, Stephan Michael Sechi (who maintained creative control of the game through all editions) rescinded the license with Pharos and announced that the game was up for grabs.
Which brought the game to Shooting Iron, a modest graphic design company who also happened to be fans of Talislanta, and had provided work for Pharos. Largely on their own time and without remuneration, Shooting Iron turned the rough draft of the Anniversary Edition into the Talislanta 4th edition, publishing what remains the largest single volume collection of Talislanta rules and background as a hardback in 2001. Shooting Iron then published the first new supplement for Talislanta, The Midnight Realm, in 2003.
In 2004, Morrigan Press
Morrigan Press
Morrigan Press Inc. is a pen and paper roleplaying game publisher headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Starting out as the design studio behind the Jeremiah RPG, Morrigan Press then went on to acquire the license to the Seventh Seal and Talislanta roleplaying games...
acquired the Talislanta license and published a number of books for the game, including a d20
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
edition in early 2005. In 2006, Morrigan announced the upcoming release of Talislanta Fifth edition, and the first few volumes of the multi-book game saw release in early 2007. The final core book of the 5th edition was released in August 2007 (A Gamemaster's Guide to Talislanta). Unfortunately, in 2008 Morrigan foundered and the future status of Talislanta is in doubt.
In 2004, a French publishing company Ludopathes Éditeurs acquired the license to adapt the game for a French audience. A starter kit was published in 2005 and was followed by the rulebook in September 2005 and a GM's screen "Secrets of the Reaper" (Les Secrets du Faucheur) in early 2006. An original campaign "The Moons Chronicles - Phandir" (Les Chroniques Lunaires : Phandir) was released on July 2006, and a sourcebook on the Omniverse "The Guide of Spheres" (Le Guide des Sphères) was released in late 2006 as well as a series of PDF booklets giving the rule to create characters from the different parts of the continent. Others books followed since then, in April 2007 "The Western Lands" (Les Terres de l'Ouest)was published, a sourcebook detailing that part of the continent. Then was published in January 2008 "The Seas Devils" (Les Diables des Mers) a sourcebook about some of the peoples wandering the south seas. The next chapter of the campaign: "The Moons Chronicles - Zar" (Les Chroniques Lunaires : Zar) taking place in the Western Lands was published in January 2009.
As of June 2010, all Talislanta titles from first to fifth edition are available for free download from the Talislanta website. Most of the material has been scanned and posted. According to the game's website, "Talislanta is released to the world, for free, under the Creative Common license. You are free to download the books for your role-playing pleasure, but please no re-selling or remixing."
While not the first time a role-playing game company has decided to release its product as "free", it is certainly the largest to date.
There are currently no listed plans to expand the line beyond the existing products.
Additional Titles
Other Continents related to Talislanta, and sometimes referred to as the Unknown Lands, have been mentioned.The Midnight Realm was the first book dedicated to one of these additional worlds.
Plans to publish other continent books, such as Altarus, Celadon, and Draknar, are rumored to be in the works.
External links
- Talislanta's Official Web Page
- French Web Page
- Morrigan Press website inaccessible as of 12/06/2009
- Talislanta on RPG Talk