Talislanta, the most metal, 1980s, no-elves, doodles-on-the-side-of-your-high-school-workbook fantasy setting that nobody's heard of.
What is TALISLANTA?
An exotic post-apoc fantasy world inspired by the fantasy novels of Jack Vance, and by other sources such as H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dreamlands, Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels, and The Travels of Marco Polo.
The game is set in a strange world of twin suns and seven moons that's overflowing with exotic peoples, places, and creatures. The time is the New Age, a Renaissance-like period 600 years after The Great Disaster, a cataclysm that marked the fall of the Space Wizards of the Archaen Age.
Talislanta has seas of glass, phytomantic bird-people, tattooed clone warriors, transmutation wizards who use quintessence to change storms into crystals, sindarans with two brains, warring cultists who have taken over entire nations, elemental demons, ice schooners running on glaciers, windships manned by astromancers, beastmen mutants riding two-headed mini-dragons, and a whole lot more stuff that's a combo of every prog-rock album cover you've ever seen.
All the books are free, legally: http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5
>>54839211
Face book group: fb.com/groups/2211928311
G+ group: plus.google.com/communities/116551534357549477172
Wibbit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Talislanta/
>>54839211
Looks interesting. Give me the ups and downs of the system and I'll buy the book today.
Heavy Metal Movie OST to rock out to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OhO-uikL1s&index=8&list=PL37390DB39985A5A3
>>54839281
Sorry, it's out of print in hardcopy, but all the PDFs are legally free here:
http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5
The last 5 publishers went bankrupt (except WOTC, which reverted the rights when MTG took off). You can still find a few hardcopy books on Ebay, et al., but they are damned expensive.
I'd start with either the Big Blue Book (4th Edition) or if you want a rules-free intro read The Chronicles of Talislanta. It has nice illustrations.
>>54839211
>no-elves
You mean this game with the pointy eard multicolored guy on the cover?
>>54839281
Pros:
>Weird fantasy with 60+ races and strange cultures
>Easy rules system
>Quick chargen, at least in earlier editions
>Creative customizable magic system
>Endorsed by Jack Vance himself
Cons:
>A lot of setting material to get into
>Pretty edgy and amateurish in many places
>Out of print though still supported somewhat by the creator
>Magic system takes a bit of time to grok
>>54839399
I don't see where it is edgy.
>>54840138
>I'm an orphan...
>Necromancers killed all my people
>I must avenge them
>Alone
>Never stop
>Keep killing these evil reincarnating wizards...
>Forever!
I kid. ;)
Gotta love a Kang on a feathered dino, err, I mean Strider.
Goes well with some of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo-sHP6cI8Q
>Zandir Paradoxist Cultist (sybarites) vs Aamanian Orthodoxist Cultist (puritans)
>You can summon of these little fuckers at level 1
Two-headed dragon-mounts, incredibly stupid and so vicious they just might eat their own rider.
>>54840337
So this song basically?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aWRh0IkRtc
Take a tour of Talislanta using the Geocities interface circa 1998:
http://www.johnmsteele.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Talislanta/Tour/tour.html
>>54840935
There are 3 free music albums for Talislanta as well, suitable for any fantasy game really.
http://talmusic.barsoom.cc/mft1arc.html
>>54840917
Pretty much, yeah. I don't know what genre Visigoth fits into, but it works nicely for Talislanta.
>This guy leads an ultra-puritanical cult that believes anyone who isn't shaved is a sinner and that gathering mana points is the only way to heaven.
>>54841468
The blue guy on the right kinda looks like the Grinch
>>54841555
Aeriad. Bird-People who have vestigial wings and can glide but not fly. They specialize in Botanomancy, or plant magic. They come in Green(magician) and Blue(warrior) varieties.
>>54842470
kek
I found a blog about the adventures of the Group of Not-So Magnificent Seven here:
https://mytalislanta.wordpress.com/author/bigugly27/
All the different races presented as Archetypes (race + profession).
>>54842730
>>54842753
>>54842789
>>54842799
>>54842932
>>54842938
Updated PDF of random Talislanta things.
>>54842946
Shit, looks like there might be TOO many races
>>54840726
Why does he have no barbs? His spiky bits don't have any backward spikes on the tips.I suppose it could be a she, and her name is Barbara.
>>54841468
Oh yeah, definitely no elves here.
So instead of creating your own character, you choose an "archetype" that's been created for you? Who would want that?
>>54844210
"Spiked Horror" must already have been copyrighted.
>>54844238
>So instead of creating your own character, you choose a "class" that's been created for you? Who would want that?
>>54846390
No no, that's *totally* different
>>54845631
I am really looking forward to more awesome art like this in the Talislanta The Savage Land supplement.
First great, evocative artwork I've seen since the 2nd edition.