Where can I find information on Talislantia?

[GrayIguana]

I was reading the thread "I'm sick of elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc", and someone mentioned the campaign setting of Talislantia. (It may be Talislanta)

I remember seeing some books on this world in the late eighties or early nineties. I remember it had some great black and white artwork, and that one of the campaign's selling points was that there were "No elves!".

If I remember correctly it also had some very cool races, and alien-type monsters. I never got to pick up any of these books, and my hobby shop never picked them up again.

Does this decription ring a bell with anyone? Does anyone know of a web site dedicated to this world?

Thanks.

 

[Ezrael]

Talislanta has a website at http://www.talislanta.com/talislanta/index.html and there's a good 3e adaption of the Talislanta world out there somewhere, if you're interested.

 

[RangerWickett]

Talislanta, not Talislant-i-a

I think you'll find it quite interesting. www.talislanta.com Admittedly, they haven't updated the site in the longest time, but then again, the people at Shooting Iron Press aren't professional game designers, and they've been having to work on their next book in their spare time.

Previously, Talislanta was owned by Bard Games, then Wizards of the Coast, and briefly by two other people who never published anything. Now it has found a home among some of its greatest fans.

It's a great setting, but you might have a hard time tracking down a copy of the rulebook, which sold out.

 

[Kjeran_der_Unheilig]

You might also want to look at httP;//www.tekumel.com

Tekumel came out in 75...very detailed, non-European world with strange non-humans. Even has developed languages. There is a d20 version out on the net.

 

[War Golem]

Re: Talislanta, not Talislant-i-a

It's a great setting, but you might have a hard time tracking down a copy of the rulebook, which sold out.

Indeed, the first printing of Talislanta 4th edition did sell out, but this email was posted to the Tal mailing list just yesterday:

At 05:45 PM 9/24/2002 -0400, you wrote:
Last I heard the new printing was due out this month. It hasn't been delayed, has it?

You must've missed a post in there somewhere. The last update to the list explained that it would be shipping in Nov instead of Sep, due to catalog advertising/ordering with the larger distributors.

Not too much longer.

Jonathan Elliott
http://www.shootingzen.com

I have never actually played Talislanta, but I have been a huge fan of the setting since back in the 80's. Some great artwork, and the 4th edition rulebook is just overflowing with fantastic ideas that are easily adapted to a D&D campaign. I strongly encourage everyone to at least take a look at the book when it is published again in a couple months (although, unfortunately, you may have to make a special request at your FLGS to get them to order it).

Cheers,

-War Golem

 

[Geoffrey]

Yes, indeed. I own the latest version of Talislanta, and that massive tome is one of my favorite RPG books. At least two-thirds of the text is a description of the world of Talislanta. The rest is devoted to very simple rules, much simpler than d20. In fact, Talislanta has a better claim to be called "d20" than anything else, since the only die you need to play is a d20!

I strongly recommend buying a copy.

 

[brak1]

I've yet to use the game system, but Talislanta 4th ed. has been well worth the purchase price. (was $37.95). At 450 some odd pages it's probably the largest or second largest gaming book I own (CoC's Beyond the Mountains of Madness being up there as well).

What do I use from it? Lots! Monsters, locations and, in particular, the archetypes towards the back. A multitude of interesting character templates - PC and NPC.

Plus I sometimes use it as a prop if I need a "massive tome" in a game.

 

[wighair]

check out the group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/talislanta-l/

mel

 

[Razuur]

Not just that, but the magic system is outstanding.

It is everything that we wanted Ars Magica's magick to be. We loved ars magicas magic system in flavor, but could never get it to work practically. This is in the similar vein but much more intuitive.

Plus the game is very close to D20 in mechanics. Even magick works great when ported over. We use it w/ d20!

Razuur

 

[GrayIguana]

Thank you

Thank you to everyone for the information. I checked out a couple fo the links and this world is as cool as I remember. Hopefully, I'll be able to grab the setting guide once it is available again.