Talislanta

Contents

The continent of Talislanta, located on the world of Archaeus, is a place where magic is widespread and has developed to a highly advanced, almost technological level. In the first four editions, players chose from over 80 pre-defined character types, each with a specific race, nationality, abilities, skills, equipment, and background. To personalize a character, a player could increase one ability by three points, decrease another by one point, and add one extra skill.

Artist PD Breeding-Black, the first to work on the game, shaped the visual identity of the first two editions, a look that remains influential. The fifth edition introduced a more detailed character creation system. All actions—combat, magic, or skill use—are resolved with a single twenty-sided die on a unified table. The roll produces one of five outcomes: Mishap, Failure, Partial Success, Full Success, or Critical Success, with the degree of success or failure determined by comparing the result to the task’s difficulty.

Publishing history

In 1982 Stephan Michael Sechi, Steven Cordovano and Vernie Taylor formed Bard Games to produce their own Dungeons & Dragons supplements. After personal and financial disagreements following The Atlantis Trilogy, Sechi sold his shares to Cordovano and left to work on a new role-playing game system. Cordovano later sold Bard Games back to Sechi, allowing Sechi to publish Talislanta. Sechi cited the Dying Earth series by Jack Vance as the primary influence, along with works by H. P. Lovecraft, Marco Polo, and Sir Richard Burton.

In 1988 Bard Games published a second edition starting with The Cyclopedia Talislanta, an 88-page softcover book. In 1989 they released Talislanta Handbook and Campaign Guide, a 152-page softcover combining earlier material with new rules. In 1990 Bard Games published Talislanta Worldbook, a 183-page atlas. Shortly after, Bard Games went out of business.

In 1992 Wizards of the Coast acquired the license, and Sechi collaborated with Jonathan Tweet to produce the third edition.

Reception

Stewart Wieck reviewed Talislanta for White Wolf #11, rating it 9 out of 10 overall, and stated that its true strength is its uniqueness, recommending it as a place where imagination can run wild. In Dragon #143, Jim Bambra called it something out of the ordinary, finding the art visually appealing and effective at conveying atmosphere, though he noted some might find the system thin on rules. In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games, Rick Swan called the 1st edition entertainingly written and a model of clarity, praising the character creation system as one of the best of any fantasy RPG, while noting a lack of structure.

He gave it an excellent rating of 3.5 out of 4. Mark A. Santillo reviewed Talislanta Complete Roleplaying Game in White Wolf #33, rating it a 4 out of 5, citing the tremendous creative effort evident in the artwork, archetypes, and system, which emphasizes role-playing over numbers-crunching.