Talislanta: The Second Thread!

Not if they say 'no homo'.

Turns out Vivec was a Marukan.

I can totally see them grappling to the death, then...their chins lock...and it's true love.

Lol. Just wait for someone to say that Talislanta totally rips off The Elder Scrolls.

>Lol. Just wait for someone to say that Talislanta totally rips off The Elder Scrolls.
You are a thread too late, man.

I mentioned it on the first thread but I'll say it again. Talislanta had a lot of unseen influence on later rpg material. Dark Sun, Earthdawn, and Morrowind are immediately evident but there's others too.

It's cool that Tal's getting some love here. The system is kinda dry, and the setting is very kitchen sink and a little racist but it's full of unique ideas and great adventuring.

I own most of 3rd and 4th ed in hard copy but it's pretty dusty on my game shelf.

>and a little racist
I don't see it. Unless by 'racist' you mean 'not designed to appeal to genderfluid slugkin millennial'.

Which parts are racist?

Nah. I'm not the sensitive type. It's the product of a time. 1987 was a different era of culture. It's little things, that's why I said a little racist.

I've known this game a really long time and my perceptions of it are probably colored by that. I don't find it offensive but it does have some content that might raise some eyebrows. The jihadi death cult, the jewy trap mages, gypsies in whatever form they take.

It's a great game but it's a game with warts and as a long-time fan I don't mind pointing them out.

>1987 was a different era of culture.
Yes and we all know, this is current year.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic, man. I like the game and am more than happy to discuss it's virtues and failings.

Talislanta seems neat, but how many gameable ideas does it have? What system is it made for? What kind of game is supposed to play with it?

Can someone give, like, a three sentence summary, and a slightly more in depth one?

It looks neat, but I don't really get the point. Like, Eberron is high magic postwar steampunk. Glorantha is tribal humans reenacting deific stories to gain their powers, and ducks. CoC and Paranoia are a bunch of schmucks in over their head vs various cultists in an attrition war until everyone dies....

So what's Talislanta about?

>how many gameable ideas does it have?
It can do a lot of things. There is a vast array of character templates to draw from. The setting is rich with unique locations and fairly coherent world-building. It is quite thorough. The 4th ed core book is a very good starting point.

>What system is it made for?
The Omni-system is a very straight-forward d20 +/- mod vs. a scaled results table. There are 8 ability scores, 3 sub-abilities, 40+(?) skills, 20ish special/racial abilities, and a cohesive magic system.

I find it a bit dry but it is a very solid engine.

>What kind of game is supposed to play with it?
It's built on the remnants of several magical apocalypses so there's plenty of dungeoneering to be had. The Hadjin issues licenses and charge fees to sack the ancient tower-tombs of their ancestors.
There are many nation-states, alliances and empires so political machinations are readily available.
Each region is well developed. There is a detailed gazetteer for every region of the starting continent.

High magic postapocalypse. There where flying cities all around filled to the brim with magic wonders. But they had a catastrophic war that took them down and made the central continent a desert complete with glassed sections.
Numerous of the many races were originally magically bred Neomorphs.
Now Civilizations once again form but huge tracts of land are tribal frontiers. Decendants of the mages try to claim lost magical knowledge.

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Is that an orc with crazy tattoos or something else?

Its a magically bred race of identical clone warriors. They use tattoos to gain a measure of individuality.

>orc
Well, if people are so adamant at making comparison they're more like hobgoblins or turians. They just look 'orcish' but, overall, they're a much more regimented race than the classic D&D orc and are more practical minded than the 'green klingon' Blizzard-style orc.

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bump

Well, I guess the last thread was merely lightning in a bottle. Oh well.

That happens a lot to niche games here. There's a flurry of activity because the game hasn't been discussed in 2 years and lots of people don't know about it, then it dies down because the few people interested in it don't have that much to talk about.

I've seen it with Delta Green, Savage Rifts, Dresden Files, and all kinds of other stuff.

OSRfag here. Sell me on Talislanta. Why would i play this over whatever other RPG?

TALISLANTA WILL PREVAIL

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You're right. Second edition with some houserules is justice.

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Does 4th edition have the best magic system than any other rpg or is it just me?

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Ya betta not be a manhunter.

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bump

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Talislanta: where an encounter with a Skank doesn't involve women of questionable morals at all.

John Harper's mix-and-match system is quite good and even predates Mage the Ascension (I think), but I always found my players didn't use their creativity enough and fell back on rather standard spells all the time. It requires quite a lot of pizazz and ingenuity to reach its full potential.

I do like how each Tradition has its own quirks and special powers though. That's Talislanta's strength: magical traditions are race-cultural and not just interchangeable cogs for anyone to use. If you're not a Drukh, you're not gonna be making fear-drum magic no matter what.

I uploaded all the Tal music soundtracks from the Barsoom site to one file for ease of downloading.

dropfile.to/vg0Eb4L

MORDANTE SAYS: "LIVE!"

You, I like you. It's definitely a part of many rpgs that becomes hard to avoid, since the makers of each of these games have to try to make archetypes, which inevitably end up being drawn from unfortunate stereotypes.

There's a kernel of truth in every stereotype.

Unwittingly, Sechi created some interesting stereotypes: Aaman as the darkest reflection of Christianity and Rajanistan as the darkest reflection of Islam. Being a Buddhist, he created an idealized reflection of that religion in the Mandalans and Ariane.

As a Christian, I don't have any problem with that.

I love that illustration of Mordante in the Sorceror's Guide.

Shut the fuck up about racism, cucklord.

>I don't mind pointing them out.
Hello Anita.

I KNOW user! He is one of the (many) things that has stuck with me. Gotta love an evil sorcerer with great power.

I don't think any of it was intentional or political. I really think it is reflective of the era. The Rajan are a caricature of Islam, particularly Ayatollah Khomeini and his fanatics. In the 80s this was a perceived threat to Western culture. So SMS took something real and fantasized it. To good effect because the Rajan are a dangerous and frightful antagonist.

There's plenty of cultural re-skinning but there's also significant vision in the development of new and fantastic cultures. Thralls are a great example. Yes, they are a homogeneous race of clones but they all have there own style. And the fact that they just don't understand magic, in a world bursting with magic, is a great gear fear role-playing.

One of the best things about Tal's archetypes is that they are not balanced. There's plenty of ass-kickers, and plenty of wizards, but there's also accountants, and dancers, and dung merchants. I always know what players to watch out for because they want to be Jaka, Ferrans, and Kharakhan.

Also, where did pic related get that killer chair?

You can't have meaningful discourse without honesty. To conceal a point of contention is to foster weakness in one's own stance.

Also, y'all some newfags and if yr not hear to talk Tal then kindly shut the fuck up.

>I SUMMON THEE

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Don't you have a nice noose to knot, you fucking faggot.

Come on, go. It's time. Go kill yourself. End your pathetic existence. You need to die, right now.