Quote from: GrimJesta;221289Holy crap, there's a 5th edition? Man, I am SO out of the loop.

-=Grim=-

Unfortunately, not many others seem to know about 5th ed either. Seems like most of those who did considered it unnecessary and it pretty much bombed. Hasn't been good for Morrigan Press.

But I'll be fine, I've still got all my 1st ed stuff. Don't think I have ever played it, but it sure is pretty.

I'm a long time fan of Tal. I have every edition,every book published,and some not published.If you guys would like to learn more about this colorful,dark ,place
visit or join the new Talislanta yahoo group.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42879/*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Talislanta

...or see this old promotional video for Talislanta.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RUYejtvMwM

or talfans with very nice new map of Talislanta
http://talfans.com/

Thanks, that video could be useful for introducing players to the milieu without having them read a whole bunch...provided of course you can get them to sit still for six minutes.

I don't know much about Talislanta, I've never played it. All I know is the buzz surrounding it. My problem is the presentation; it's always seemed a rather austere and unexciting product. Thus the world isn't being protrayed as something that appeals to me. Whereas Exalted has all sorts of whiz bang pizzazz and looks interesting. Talislanta just looks 20 years out of date: a big old dry book full of exposition about a hugely detailed and alien setting.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;226756I don't know much about Talislanta, I've never played it. All I know is the buzz surrounding it. My problem is the presentation; it's always seemed a rather austere and unexciting product. Thus the world isn't being protrayed as something that appeals to me. Whereas Exalted has all sorts of whiz bang pizzazz and looks interesting. Talislanta just looks 20 years out of date: a big old dry book full of exposition about a hugely detailed and alien setting.

The artwork has been one of the major draws of Talislanta since first edition. The game definitely has a distinct look a feel.







Or by presentation, do you mean aspects besides the artwork?

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;226756I don't know much about Talislanta, I've never played it. All I know is the buzz surrounding it. My problem is the presentation; it's always seemed a rather austere and unexciting product. Thus the world isn't being protrayed as something that appeals to me. Whereas Exalted has all sorts of whiz bang pizzazz and looks interesting. Talislanta just looks 20 years out of date: a big old dry book full of exposition about a hugely detailed and alien setting.

You don't know much about Talislanta,that says it all,and you never played it. The buzz,if your're referring to reviews,most I've ever seen have been good.The presentation i can see,it's one of the most over looked games.Exalted,or any other fantasy game/setting,doesn't have the detail history,cultural elements that Tal has. The artwork i feel is better that most game companies and I'm not talking about cover art.As for being out of date,most RPG's look out of date these days,unless you're playing something by WOTC. BTW which published Talislanta,and dropped it right before they started their magic the gathering card game.Fact is they dropped role-playing games all together.That is until they got their grubby hands on money maker Dungeons & Dragons.Another fact is that the d20 system written by Jonathan Tweet,(pick up d&d 3rd edition) also worked of the 3rd edition of Talislanta. The d20 system was developed from the system that Talislanta uses,Tal is play with a single 20 side die.Talislanta 20 years out of date,or ahead of it's time.

I do not say it's a bad game; I say that it has never been marketed or advertised properly. I don't know much about it and I have yet to find anywhere that tells me about it in an engaging way. That video certainly doesn't (and the VO is dreadful).

People claim it's a fantastic world, so how can I know this?

In a way I agree, GW. I passed on Tal back in the 80's, when I was into "realistic fantasy". Over the last few years I saw people saying good things about it, but I'm pretty skeptical of gamers' enthusiasms. What really sold me was finding a copy of the 2e rules in Half Price Books and realizing that this was a wonderfully imaginative world with quite simple rules. The game isn't built around big dramatic/epic themes (although WotC started to take it in that direction with the 3e modules). It's more picaresque, and IMO it doesn't take itself too seriously--although a given group could probably take it in any direction.

I would say that the appeal of Exalted strikes me as 180 degrees opposite Talisltanta. Both the official hype and the buzz seems to be about getting to play a big passionate hero. That's not Talislanta, which is more about reveling in exoticism. Any heroics or other "big stuff", or really the whole issue of "what to do" with the setting, is up to the GM and players.

You can probably find a copy of the 4e sampler, possiblly through web.archive.org's archive of the Talislanta or Morrigan site.

The 4e sampler is available on various torrent networks if one is inclined to look. It's the only hit for "Talislanta" on the ones I checked.

I agree that Talislanta has never been marketed or advertised properly.This game isn't for everyone...but for people like myself who have been role-playing for 20+ years, you get tired of playing elves and orcs in one of the multi Tolkien Knock-offs out their. Talislanta allows you think outside of the traditional fantasy mind set.

I don't know, I've liked Tal since I first stumbled upon it. The whole "no elves" thing wasn't really a draw. I like Tolkienesque settings if they're done well. (Not many of them are, but there are a couple.) Yet Talislanta has always been its own wonderful thing, a homage to fantasy of a different ilk. Fantasy that is ofttimes strange and surreal, of exoticism, but not entirely for its own sake.

The "No Elves" thing,i think was just meant to say hey,"This isn't you're average fantasy game".Most people identify elves with fantasy.

Yea, "exotic" is definitely the word I'd use. My players loved the Dune Ships...

-=Grim=-

I have been a fan of Talislanta for a long time.

Haven't seen 5th edition, but am quite happy with 4th. I thought Midnight Realms was kinda cool.

I am currently in an on-and-off game with my chatroom group.

I am playing a Marukan Mercenary named Merduk. What can I say, I like underdogs.

Brian