Talislanta to D20 conversion?

[Argent Silvermage]

Sent the message

Argent, if you're feeling very bold, you might ask him on the Tal mailing list--he posts there occasionally.

I just sent him a private Message outside of the boards. We will see what he has to say. I would love to work on the project myself, along with whomever does it (assuming he goes along with it)
So wish me luck. I'm on a Quest (notice the big "Q") and will not stop until I have a copy of the Talislanta D20 game in my hands or I am assassinated by the entire Rajan Empire.

Grimm

 

[V-2]

Now that IS bold. But I'm lurking on the list, and I was surprised to notice that SMS actually doesn't sound nearly as d20-hostile as the fanboys. Who knows? He may well realize that a well-made d20 version could broaden support and fanbase without destroying his creation.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Hell, I'd be happy if he just updated his old Complete Line and Atlantis. Saying that the list isn't very pro D20 is like saying Chaosium has made a full commitment to D20! Which they haven't! :-(

 

[GrimJesta]

::shudders at the mention of the Rajan Empire::

Bad things happened to 3 of my favorite characters there. One was a Thrall Warrior, one was a Jakka Manhunter, and the other was a Kharakhan Giant. Bad, terrible, mean things happened to them there. Evil.

::shudders and falls silent in his terror::

-=grim=-

 

[Argent Silvermage]

Sort of Sad tidings

Here is the e-mail responce....

Hey Grimm -

Thanks for your email. Not much chance of a D20 version of Talislanta being published, at least as far as I can tell. To date no one has approached me with any offers, and in any event I'm very pleased with SI's Tal4.

Knowing the folks on the Tal email list, I'm sure one (or more) of them has already done a D20 conversion of the Tal system, on will shortly. if you haven;t asked about that yet, give it a shot.

Thanks again, and take care -

SMS

"arctos_magi" <grimmbear@aol.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>I hear your the person to speak to about this. Is there even a hint
>of a chance of publishing a D20 version of Talislanta?
>I have been addicted to Tal since I first saw the cover of the 2nd
>edition and have purchased every book that I could find on the game.
>At the moment the D20 system has improved lightyears beyond original
>D&D and I find myself prefering the system to most others. I (and
>many others from the EN World lists) would love to see Talislanta be
>the force in the gaming field that it can be and the way to do this
>(in my opinion) would be to make it accessible to D20 players. Even
>if you were to Publish a general conversion system for the books that
>are already out that would be cool.
>Think about the possibilities for the company that publishes
>Talislanta at the moment. You make the basic "players and GM
>books"along with the D20 people and all subsequent books are
>published by your company alone (from my understanding of it). There
>are many of us who are fans of both games and have created D20
>versions of the races and "classes" of the Talislanta characters.
>From there all the rest of the work is done. Remember that
>Talislanta's strength is in it's ATMOSPHERE. The texture and vibrancy
>of the writers and artists the the fantastic world that has been
>created.
>
>Thank you for your time (and I hope I haven't done anything to upset
>you),
>
>Grimm


Well I tried.

Grimm

 

[Argent Silvermage]

????????????????????????????????

So..... Where do we go from here? Any one have any suggestions?

I was thinking if some of us worked on a proposal... maybe came up with the best D20 version of Talislanta and submit it to him for his blessing we could get some "offficial" version out of this. If not we would at least have a "unified" system for our own use.

Anyone want to help me?

Grimm

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, he said that he hasn't been approached yet. I could approach him on behalf of Natural 20 Press, if Morrus thinks it's a good idea. The problem is, I wouldn't be able to handle any of the writing myself, even though I'd like to; I have other projects already scheduled that I can't put off if I plan to finish them on time.

So, if Russ would like to try to get a d20 version available, and if someone or some group of people can show me they're talented and devoted enough to handle this, I can send Mr. Sechi an email with a proposal. Not that it'll necessarily happen, but I'd love to see Talislanta get more publicity and popularity as much as anyone else on this thread.

 

[Ace]

An interesting bit of Talislanta trivia. At one time there was going to be a GURPS Talislanta.

The author (Nigel Findley of GURPS Illuminati fame) died before it could be completed.

Sad both for the loss of a good game supplement and more importantly a good writer.

As for D20 Talislanta, two words

Great Idea!

 

[Argent Silvermage]

Are you God?????????????????

Well, he said that he hasn't been approached yet. I could approach him on behalf of Natural 20 Press, if Morrus thinks it's a good idea. The problem is, I wouldn't be able to handle any of the writing myself, even though I'd like to; I have other projects already scheduled that I can't put off if I plan to finish them on time.

So, if Russ would like to try to get a d20 version available, and if someone or some group of people can show me they're talented and devoted enough to handle this, I can send Mr. Sechi an email with a proposal. Not that it'll necessarily happen, but I'd love to see Talislanta get more publicity and popularity as much as anyone else on this thread.

I don't know what to say. If you can send the proposal to him I would send you my first born child. fed ex overnight. What would you need for me to send you to see if I am talented enough to work on the book? (assuming there is one?)

Grimm

 

[V-2]

RW, a d20 Tal from Natural d20 would be THE KEWLEST IDEA EVAR. Thing is, exactly what kind of book would it be?

In a sense, it's a tragedy that Tal 4 was published so recently and is (apparently) so great. Because the best solution would have been to publish it dual-statted and with an intro for the newbies. That opportunity missed, the book won't attract too many d20 fans...

So instead you'll have to come up with a d20-only tome that could somehow be both an adequate system conversion AND a pared-down yet still meaningful intro to this vast setting. Can you convert the 500pp. Tal 4 into a (say) 128pp. Tal d20? Maybe you can. Fading Suns d20 is a fairly slim tome, but it's been called a success by many.

But the idea is exciting. Y'all have my best wishes (and potentially, my money).