Looking for an original, riveting fantasy roleplaying game NOT using the d20(tm) System and does NOT contain any elves? Read on...
First a little history: Talislanta has was first published in 1987, it is a game that has had a turbulent publishing history, yet it has survived. An explanation is in order about Talislanta, it is not your average role playing game. Unlike most fantasy games, Talislanta isn't based on traditional European mythology or some archetypal medieval setting. Instead, Talislanta is a strange and exotic place populated by unusual cultures, creatures and characters from Wizard Hunters to Dream Merchants. If your looking for Elves and Dwarfs then this ain't the game for you.
Talislanta is set on a continent on a unknown world, it is populated by many cultures and nations and races. Talislanta has suffered many woes, many centuries ago a race known as the Archaen's rulled. They were powerful indeed, they lived in cities that floated in the sky and created entire races by genetic enginering. They held knowledge of magics that could alter reality, bend time. But they became lax. No one knows what caused the great disaster but the Archaens were destroyed, the world left in ruin.
600 years down the line and you are in Talislanta, the New Age, who knows what could happen, city states are emerging, nations viaing for land alliances being formed. The brutal Kang Empire in the West seeks to enslave the continent, the Zealus Aamans fight for purity in the name of Aa. The Seven Kingdoms look on nervously at the hostil land around them. The mysterius Black Savents are extremly active.
The book itself is a whopper, 500 pages. Saying that the system is quite rules light. Over 300 pages of the book are spent detailing the races on Talislanta. Races are broken down into Ancestory, Society, Customs, Government, magic & Religion, the Arts, Language, Defenses, Commerce and Worldview. Most races have side bars detailing extracts from the Wizard Tamerlin's travels, providing insight into varios aspets.
When you create a character in Talislanta you choose from one of 160 archetypes. These are basic charater profiles that contain stats and skills the character might know and a bit of background on where the character came from, how he acts, how he thinks. It is easy to modify an archetypes to suit your needs. In talislanta all is not equal. Archetypes come in all shapes and sizes from merchants to raiders, pick one that takes your fancy.
Now on to the game system. All that is required to play Talislanta is a single d20. Yes 1 d20. Talislanta does not use a class or level system, but a skill one. It works very well, you role a d20 add your skill modifier, and a dificulty modifier. You then compare the overall result against a table as follows:
Roll Result
>0 Mishap
1-5 Failure
6-10 Partial Success
11-19 Full Success
20> Critical Success
All the weapons have fixed damage, Partial Success, deals half damage, Full Success normal damage and Critical Success deals full damage and a 'critical wound', that effects the character in a major way.
You gain experience as you go along when you want to increase a skill you have to pay double the new level in experience to movve there eg. to go from 3 to 4 would cost 8xp.
One of the best things about Talislanta is the Spell System. Spells in Talislanta are limited to what they can achieve, they can not raise the dead, change the past or last for long periods of time. The system is implemented in a most novel manner, there are 11 different Orders within the game (Cartomancy, Cryptomancy, Crystalomancy, Elemental Magic(Air, Water, Fire, Earth), Invocation, Mysticism, Naural Magic, Necromancy, Shamanism, Witchcraft and Wizardry). Each player normally only learns spells from 1 order and each order has specialities and limitaions. Each order is broken down into 12 futher modes (which you learn with experience individually) these are Alter, Attack, Conjure, Defend, Heal, Illusion, Influence, Move, Reveal, Summon, Transform and Ward.
Now all of these you may be thinking: 'That book is going to have a lot of spells, right?' But NO! They provide a handful of spells for each Order and the players are to make there own spells up on the spot, or before the game. Eash mode has limits of what it can do at each level, so you can get 8 different mages who cast an Attack spell at the same level, and each one deals the same amount of damage, but each player gets to describe the spell effect themselfs, eg;
Zanillo's Fluttering Doom (Wizardry, Attack):
A stream of coruscating butterflies erupts from the caster's palm, fluttering about the target and inflicting a multitude of cuts by means of their razor-edged wings.
Mordante's Loathsome Martyrs (Invocation - Demonology, Defend):
Dark shadows seep from the ground, rising into the air and coalescing into a swarm of tiny levitating demons of foul mien that surround the caster, sacrificing themselves by interposing themselves between the caster and that which would do him harm.
This is a most wonderful idea and if your playing with creative types (and I know you are all here) you can get some wonderful spell descriptions. When players have cast a good spell, they are encouraged to write it down and use it in future. In game terms, the players arn't really making spells up on the spot, but are pressumed to know them allready. This may sound confusing or daft to start with but it is an excellent system. Trust me.
The only minor quibble I have with the game is that the creatures are mixed in with the races and can be difficult to find.
This isnt a game for hack-n-slashers, its a game for people who have experience with RPG's and want something more, want to role play in a new and exciting land, which isn't the same as every other and presents a noval and easy approach. It provides a rich background, but one which isn't restrictive in plot terms. Altogether an excellent product.
EXTRA:
A downloadable sample of the game is available at www.talislanta.com
Quotes:
"It's as if H.P. Lovecraft had written Alice in Wonderland with Hans Christian Anderson and William S. Burroughs. . . for the adventurous, Talislanta is roleplaying nirvana."
-Rick Swan, THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ROLEPLAYING GAMES
"The world of Talislanta combines a unique setting with an easy to use and flexible game. . . simply lose yourself in hours of enjoyable roleplaying exploring Talislanta's myriad cultures."
-Jim Bambra, DRAGON MAGAZINE
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