I went for the physical TSL and pdfs of all three.

Interested to see the 5e conversion.

I am interested in this, having much enjoyed Atlantis, but as I have no Talislanta experience, I am finding the KS page relatively impenetrable.

How is the team working on this, including the specific variations? How will the three version be supported? What updates are there to the original D20 engine?

I am also note sure I get the significance of it being a "prelude" to Talislanta. Does this mean that it will be different from classic Talislanta?

Quote from: Skywalker;954213I am interested in this, having much enjoyed Atlantis, but as I have no Talislanta experience, I am finding the KS page relatively impenetrable.

How is the team working on this, including the specific variations? How will the three version be supported? What updates are there to the original D20 engine?

I am also note sure I get the significance of it being a "prelude" to Talislanta. Does this mean that it will be different from classic Talislanta?

Lemme try to answer all of this - DISCLAIMER - I only worked on the TSL side of things. I have *zero* to do with the 5e/OpenD6 conversions, that's all being handled at Nocturnal.

Okay - the game will be released with three different rulesets. D&D 5e and OpenD6 - it will largely be just full rules-conversion with the setting material remaining the same. As far as updates to the d20 engine? I *imagine* very little. Savage Lands is very magic-lite. I think you'll see big changes there. Probably lots of Background stuff and Archetypes specific for the setting. This is largely conjecture on my part. As far as I know when it comes to support - it will depend on the KS. The game is complete. Support will depend on stretch goals and pitches to support it based on demand, but all of that will be up to Nocturnal.

The significance between classic Talislanta (which we call "The New Era") vs. the Savage Lands. THIS I can speak to.

Classic Talislanta is set in a period that has risen out of a *cataclysmic apocalypse* - I'm talking fire raining down from the skies (along with flying cities) whole sections of the continents being shifted to other planes, warping effects from magic annhilating shit left and right. Imagine Rifts+Torg+some nukes+Arioch-making-love-with Cthulhu in a mud-wrestling match+cats living with dogs. Yeah it was bad. BEFORE that cataclysm - there was an age of radically powerful mageocracies that had killed off all the previous empires (Drakken), living in flying cities, creating their own races in biomantic vats to make war on other mages from other flying cities etc. But their magic was so powerful it ultimately created a massively warp in reality that blew everything to smithereens. And we're not talking just one "big bang" - we're talking a cataclysm that raged on for centuries on top of centuries, where it slowly has been petering out until you get to the relatively much more stable era of Classical Talislanta. In the New Era, you have kingdoms and Empires and civilization, amidst the ancient ruins of many empires that have been ground to dust by the magical storms left over from the Cataclysm. Some parts of Talislanta would seem *very* D&D-like socially, but you'd not have to travel far to get into more primitive states of the world.

The Savage Lands is set many centuries before the New Era in the near-aftermath of the cataclysm (we call it The Fall). It's *barbaric*. It's about survival on the tribal level. You're one of those artificial races, or one of the natural inhabitants of the world (Beast men) and you're living in the world ravaged by the magical storms we call The Gyre which is magical chaos incarnate - just running wild fucking shit up. From the onset you're going to be tribesman, that can pillage the wonders of the ancients, fight against terrible monsters that have likewise been affected (or transported!!!) by the Gyre. Everything is a competition for resources. And the world is a dangerous place. But what better way to survive than finding an ancient ruin filled with armor and weapons from the godlike Archaens?

Speaking of which - here's the pictures of the playable races. In total there are 23, but there a bunch of other races recommended to be "NPC-only" that your GM can let you play. Look! No elves!

Thanks, that is very helpful.

Quote from: tenbones;954224As far as updates to the d20 engine? I *imagine* very little.

What base was used? Talislanta 4e? I really liked the system as it was presented in Atlantis, but understand that that was an offshoot.

Quote from: Skywalker;954255Thanks, that is very helpful.



What base was used? Talislanta 4e? I really liked the system as it was presented in Atlantis, but understand that that was an offshoot.

It's essentially a streamlined version of 4e. It's closer to 2e than anything else. *All* the editions of Talislanta, including Atlantis and Hellas are compatible with just a few tweaks.

Thanks. Specific question: how do defensive actions work? I ended up dropping these when running Atlantis, and note they were optional in 2e but not 4e.

well, I for one backed it. (only 1 hardcopy, but all 3 PDFs.  Probably going for classic system.) A question about the cataclysm, is this going to be a case of "we don't really know what caused the downfall of society" or will the book tell what happened?  I'm not asking for spoilers or anything, just curious.

Quote from: Skywalker;954283Thanks. Specific question: how do defensive actions work? I ended up dropping these when running Atlantis, and note they were optional in 2e but not 4e.

My copy of the rules right now are the beta - I'm assuming not much has changed here they're pretty standard for Talislanta.

Defense modes - Dodge/Parry

Defense Skills - Evade/Combat Skill+ Stat - you announce your Defensive action before you're attacked. You use your opponents Combat Rating as your penalty and roll. This is modified depending on what mode you're using vs. the Attack and obviously environmental factors.

Mind you - you don't have to make a defensive roll. You always have your passive Defense.

Quote from: tenbones;954290My copy of the rules right now are the beta - I'm assuming not much has changed here they're pretty standard for Talislanta.

Defense modes - Dodge/Parry

Defense Skills - Evade/Combat Skill+ Stat - you announce your Defensive action before you're attacked. You use your opponents Combat Rating as your penalty and roll. This is modified depending on what mode you're using vs. the Attack and obviously environmental factors.

Mind you - you don't have to make a defensive roll. You always have your passive Defense.

Cool. That looks like 4e.

If the Poohbah of the Dong says its a good game, its definitely worth a look!

Quote from: tenbones;954000So the premise of Savage Lands is you're in a very tribal setting, in a very hostile environment. Survival is a big factor beyond just going out killing shit and taking loot.

How is this represented mechanically? AKA, I get that its core to the fluff, but what about the crunch?

Quote from: tenbones;954000My sales pitch can't be better than this: Try it. All editions of modern Talislanta are FREE (//www.talislanta.com). The system is ridiculously easy to learn, it only uses one d20 (if you use 4e or 5e). All editions are compatible with the only big differences being magic-systems, which can be plug-and-play pretty easily.

Extremely cool. I downloaded the 1e books.

Quote from: tenbones;954000I generally feel what turns people off is the lack of "classic D&D races" and to a large extent, analog cultures.

That's a selling point for me!

Quote from: Spinachcat;954305If the Poohbah of the Dong says its a good game, its definitely worth a look!

An axiom for the ages!

Quote from: Spinachcat;954305How is this represented mechanically? AKA, I get that its core to the fluff, but what about the crunch?

The core mechanic has never changed between all the systems. You have a target number of -10 to +10 determined by the GM. An average difficulty is 0.

Your stats range from -5 to +5. Average stat is 0. Your stat is a direct modifier.

So your roll is Stats+Skill+Difficulty modifier then your total value is cross referenced on the Action Chart:


0 or Less - Critical Failure
1-5 - Failure
6-10 - Partial Success
11-19 - Success
20 or More - Critical Success

If you're doing something opposed like melee combat - your opponents total bonus is used as a passive modifier. If you try to do something not covered by a Skill, you assign an appropriate Stat and double the bonus and roll a check. Of course there are other quibbly modifiers like range, manuevers, multiple attacks, etc. But this is 99% of the mechanic.

In terms of tribal mechanics - we have rules for creating tribes and using them as almost meta-characters. They have their own stats etc. There are rules for tribal-scale combat. Territory control.

On a personal level, Savage Lands is very much about survival. The environments in The Savage Lands is *very* dangerous beyond the normal "desert", "jungle", "forest" variety. In Savage Lands the various regions have supernatural issues due to the constant chaotic forces of the Gyre. There are forests that will happily eat you, for instance. So your characters will have learn to adapt to these places. It also means you have access to rare goods that will allow you craft high-quality stuff.

Quote from: Spinachcat;954305Extremely cool. I downloaded the 1e books.

My favorite edition is probably 3e. But I have love for all of them. 3e was very compact. Savage Lands is closer to 2e. It's streamlined. If you want to get a taste of what Savage Lands will feel like mechanically, I'd start with 2e. Just keep in mind - *all* of the editions are pretty compatible. They use the same essential mechanics with the exception of the magic system. Magic in 1e and 2e are largely the same. 3e is it's own thing (and I like it). 4e is more complex but crazy-flexible, 5e is close to 4e. But since these sub-systems plug directly into the core mechanics which are largely the same, you can literally just use the system you like with relatively very little tweaking.

Quote from: Spinachcat;954305That's a selling point for me!

Heh well then you're likely going to be very pleased.

Quote from: remial;954289well, I for one backed it. (only 1 hardcopy, but all 3 PDFs.  Probably going for classic system.) A question about the cataclysm, is this going to be a case of "we don't really know what caused the downfall of society" or will the book tell what happened?  I'm not asking for spoilers or anything, just curious.

The context of the Cataclysm is a fairly big deal. Pre-Cataclysm the world was divided into these massive mageocratic societies collectively known as the Archaen Empire. You can download the Archaen Codex to get the deeper history if you're curious. In gaming standards, these people are *massively* powerful. They lived in flying cities, and the ground was left to the beast-men tribes which they warred with for centuries before taking to the skies. In terms of power it would not be a stretch to think of them as godlike. They created life in the form of servitor races, warped reality via interdimensional travel/summonings, waged genocidal war over prolonged centuries. Their constant manipulations via magic literally tore reality asunder.

That event, called the Fall/The Cataclysm etc. was so devastating, the Archaen Empire essentially vanished in world-wide destruction. In the Savage Lands, you're playing one of the more intelligent (reasonably) beast races or servitor races that survived. For the most part it's a matter of understanding. Beastmen that lived on the surface don't understand magic. From their perspective the world simply went to shit and it's been insane ever since. The Servitor races don't understand magic, generally, other than it's that "thing" their godlike masters wielded. At best it would be speculation by very very few individuals. In reality it's become myth.

Now in-game it's possible to uncover cache's of lore assuming you can teach yourself how to read/write, where you could learn these truths. Among many other things. This is how the New Era of Talislanta (older editions) came to pass. Only now, you and and your PC's can decide that course as you see fit by playing at the very beginning of that process.

Ok I jumped in for the original system version. The idea of a 250 page, no magic, fantasy RPG using that system and the art so far sounds pretty cool. I am interested in the 5e version too, but won't back it without more detail.

Man, this looks killer.  

The system (did they call it Omni system at one point?) seems relatively intact, and perhaps a bit streamlined.  I ran a few games of Tal years ago (4e, blue book, I believe) and Atlantis the 2nd Age, and remember it flowed smoothly and provided quite a bit of mechanical detail and nuance for characters.  It seemed a very strong system overall, but I vaguely remember not liking static character templates and set (non-random) weapon damage - I could be mixing this up with another game though.

In any case, I am a sucker for primitive and brutal settings, as well as any weird, non Tolkien-ish, fever-dream fantasy.  This may be just what I need to get me out of my FRPG doldrums.

Count me in.

Quote from: Madprofessor;954856It seemed a very strong system overall, but I vaguely remember not liking static character templates and set (non-random) weapon damage - I could be mixing this up with another game though.

Damage is a static number, though you can score either full or half damage based on your roll (and quarter damage with active defences).

Character creation involves templates but there is a level of customisation.