Game: Talislanta 4th Edition
Publisher: Shooting Iron Design
Series: Talislanta
Reviewer: Max_Hattuer
Review Dated: 10th, December 2004
Reviewer’s Rating: 10/10 [ Breathtaking ]
Total Score: 15
Average Score: 7.50
The fourth edition of Talislanta is a beautiful tome that brings this wonderful world back to life.
Talislanta is a fantasy world rich in history and imagination. Since its inception in 1989(?), Talislanta has been lurking in the shadows of the RPG industry. A few brief moments in the spotlights here and there during the early 1990’s then it disappeared, always there, but unseen.
A dark, gritty, post-apocalyptic world of magic and survival, Talislanta has survived, and has grown stronger.
The various cultures and races in and of themselves open up a large amount of adventure ideas ranging from the tried and true dungeon crawl to political intrigue to merchant campaigns and epic level events.
The continent of Talislanta is very colourful and has a lot of detail, but not too much to lock a game into a particular storyline.
Ancient ruins, ancient magic, dungeons, monsters…all the good stuff.
The differences to the system show a definite evolution in the game mechanics, no more levels to worry about, and a great new magic system that builds upon what types of spells the character knows as opposed to what individual spells are known.
The resolution system has not changed, but it seems that much has been clarified and conveyed in a much more understandable way.
Quick and easy, only 1 die is needed, and the results table is small, used for everything and leaves plenty of room for narration for combat, spellcasting and skill use.
The system is very stable for grim, and herioc fantasy.
The artwork, one of the most unique things about Talislanta since the 1st edition, still has a certain flavour to it. The new artists fit in perfectly to the melieu.
While it may look fairly intimidating to some players, with its 500 page size, the writing is captivating and easy to understand.
One of the greatest points is that with this book, you have enough information to run a game for years, no splatbooks are needed at all. There are over 100 character types presented for use spanning the breadth of the continent, a travellers guide which details the different areas and plenty of GM tips to get you started.
There is a lot of reading involved. You really need to wrap your head around a lot of information if you want to run a continent spanning game. Although limiting yourself to one of the areas is helpful when you start off, you still have to really know the area.
The above goes for giving details out to the players also. More than likely, your players won’t know the difference between a Druhk Shaman and a Dhuna Witch, you have to provide that detail. Its a bit odd the first time you do it if you are used to running ‘Generic’ Fantasy.
At first, I did not like the way the book deals with characters knowing spells. As a player, you make up the spell, figure out the mods and write it down…the Character is ASSUMED to have already known the spell. This seemed a bit over the top for me, especially when one of the biggest hooks in the game is to go out and find ancient magics and sell them off for profit. Although, after spending some time on the forums and the mailing ist listening and asking questions, I have come to like it the way it is written.
This game is obviously a labour of love from the creator, the writers, and the artists.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants more out of their fantasy RPG besides what is otherwise on the market.
And if the setting doesn’t grab you, the system is easily converted! You can use the races and monsters to spring surprises on your players.
