Talislanta
Striking cover to the second edition Talislanta Handbook, published by Bard games in 1989. Art by P.D. Breeding-Black.
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| Designer(s) | Stephen Michael Sechi, Jonathan Tweet (3rd edition), John Harper (4th edition), K. Scott Agnew (5th edition) |
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| Publisher(s) | Bard Games, Wizards of the Coast, Shooting Iron, Morrigan Press, Ludopathes Éditeurs (French) |
| Publication date | 1987 (1st edition) 1992 (3rd edition) 2001 (4th edition) 2005 (d20 edition) 2006-7 (5th edition) |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| System(s) | Custom, Omni System (d20 based) |
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. Talislanta is now freely available online via a Creative Commons licence.
The Talislanta universe differs strongly from other role-playing games of similar genre. There are very few references to Norse/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."
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