TALISLANTA FANTASY ROLEPLAYING GAME FOURTH EDITION

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SHOOTINGIRON DESIGN Sample file Sample file TALISLANTA FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAME FOURTH EDITION The Fourth Edition of Talislanta is dedicated to Jack Vance, preeminent author of fantasy and science fiction, and also to Talislanta fans all over the world, for whom this book was created. Thanks to all of you who contributed to this book and to those who have continued to support the Talislanta game.

DESIGN TEAM Stephan Michael Sechi, John Harper, Adam Sonfield

ROLE PLAYING GAME DESIGN LAYOUT & GRAPHIC DESIGN John Harper John Harper

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & INTERIOR GRAPHICS & CARTOGRAPHY TRAVELLER’S GUIDE DESIGN Jonathan Elliott Stephan Michael Sechi ART DIRECTOR CHARACTER ARCHETYPE DESIGN Stephan Michael Sechi Adam Sonfield COVER ART EDITORS P.D. Breeding-Black Colin Chapman, Roger Bonzer ILLUSTRATORS ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SampleP.D. file Breeding-Black, Ron Spencer, Adam Colin Chapman, Adam Sonfield, Black, Anson Maddocks, Mark Tedin, Mark Williams, Benjamin Lyngfelt, Larry Dixon, Rick Emond, Todd C. Jonathan Elliott, Roger Bonzer Hamilton, Patty Sechi, Richard Thomas, Jesper Myrfors, Andreas Oltjen, Julia Lacquement-Kerr, Siamak Naficy, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

FOURTH EDITION PLAYTESTERS J.W. Bersani, Mark Beyer, Colin Chapman, Charles Collin, Chris Connolly, Rich Crotty, Patrick Cunningham, Drew Curtis, Dan Davenport, Kevin Denehy, Hiren Desai, Wade Durant, Eric Edwards, Jonathan Elliott, Andreas Gustafsson, Ed Heil, Brian Hixon, Chris Holmes, Philip LaRose, Peter Lind, Ben Lyngfelt, Dale Mitchell, Loyal Parsons, Joseph Porrett, Andrew Ross, Andrea Saldini, Aaron Sell, Preston Small, E.T. Smith, Nicholas Solberg, Stacy Stroud, Uriel, Wilson Valentino, Jayde Van Doorn, Matthew Webber, Mark Williams

SHOOTINGIRON DESIGN Creative Director: John Harper Business Director: Jonathan Elliott Director of Field Operations: Chris Holmes Talislanta Line Editor: Roger Bonzer 4 WHAT A LONG, STRANGE, TRIP IT’S BEEN. . . In 1987 a small company called Bard Games publiched edition), and enough perils, pitfalls, and near-death experiences The Chronicles of Talislanta, the first in a series of books to kill off a dozen other games. Yet despite the problems about a role playing game called Talislanta. The fantastic Talislanta has survived, thanks mainly to the efforts of its artwork of P.D. Breeding-Black and a quirky world setting fans, whose loyalty and support have made Talislanta “the influenced by the works of author Jack Vance soon earned the Rasputin of role playing games” – hard to kill (and also a little game something of a cult following as well as some pretty weird). good reviews. “Out of the ordinary,” said Dragon Magazine. If this is your first exposure to Talislanta, a word of “So rich with information that even non-role-players will explanation is probably in order. Talislanta is not your average enjoy reading it,” said Science Fiction Age. “Top 10 role playing game. Unlike most fantasy games, Talislanta isn’t Recommended Games” (Heroic Worlds by Lawrence Schick); based on traditional European mythology or some archetypal “Ten Favorite Games” (The Complete Guide to Role-Playing medieval setting. Instead, Talislanta is a strange and exotic Games by Rick Swan). And my personal favorite, also from place populated by unusual cultures, creatures, and characters Mr. Swan: “It’s as if H.P. Lovecraft had written Alice in such as Wizard Hunters, Dream Merchants, Thaumaturges, Wonderland with Hans Christian Anderson and William S. Rogue Magicians, and Mystic Warriors, to name just a few. If Burroughs.” you’re looking for elves and dwarves here, you’re out of luck. Over a decade has passed since then. In that time, Talislanta However, if you’re looking for a unique and colorful role has been through four different publishers (and one non- playing experience, you’ve come to the right place. publisher), three different editions (and an aborted fourth

SMS THANKS 1st and 2nd Edition playtesters Rick Petrone, Simon Shapiro, Butch Taylor, Fred Dobratz, Osiris Wisdom, Graham and the My very good friend (and original Bard Games Legal Eagle), mysterious Brad; Eric Chandler, Brad lewis, Alex Whitney, Joel Kaye, without whom the first Talislanta books would Brian Bilski, Pat Olsen, Nick Juliusburger, Cheryl Berti, and never have been published; Kim Donnell; artist P.D. Breeding-Black, who helped create the original 3rd Edition playtesters Steve Bishop, Marty Dennis, Hubert look and feel of the Talislanta milieu, and is also a great and T. Dolan Jr., Jeff Goldman, Mike Halse, Gail hermodsen, loyal friend; Michael R. Kilpatrick, Thomas Lents, George Lowe, Jesper Ron Spencer, a terrific artist who also added a lot to the Myrfors, Mary Oettinger, Brandon Clark Parks, Torr Randall, milieu, and was always a pleasure to work with; Chuck Sohlberg, David Sandberg, Greg Stolze, and Eric Tumbleson Anson Maddocks and Mark Tedin, whose work did so much to enhance the look of the 3rd edition Talislanta books; SPECIAL THANKS Patty Sechi, my lovely wife and also Talislanta’sSample very first Lisa file Stevens, Peter Adkison, and everyone at WotC for their graphic artist; efforts on behalf of the Talislanta game; Jesper Myrfors, for his inspired art direction during the WotC Jesper Myfors, John Tynes, Daniel Gelon, Rob Heinsoo and years; Maria Garcia for helping to save the old Talislanta inventory Joe Bouza, for the original map of Talislanta and for his help from a fate worse than death; throughout the Bard Games era; to anyone whom I might have accidentally forgotten to thank; equipment expert Richard Thomas, archetype-guy Rick my wife, Patty, and my step-children Kayte and Jesse, for Emond, expert bird-man Larry Dixon, Todd Cameron putting up with all of this crazy business in the first place; Hamilton, Victor Wren, Sandra Santaro, Daniel Gelon, Grant and last but certainly not least, to all the Talislanta fans around Costa, Richard Kane Ferguson, Siamak Naficy, Tal3 the world who have helped support the game throughout the cartographer Eric Hotz, Sandra Everingham, Rich Kaalaas, years, and have hung in there despite numerous set-backs, Jeff Goldman, and Spencer Kip; snafus, and abortive almost-editions: you cats are the coolest. writers, editors, and wordsmiths John Harper, Adam Sonfeld, Colin Chapman, Mark (Tipop) Williams, for service well JOHN THANKS beyond the call of duty on Tal4 and its ill-fated precedents; John Tynes, for advice and support when we were struggling typist Lauren Schnitzer for turning my hand-written scrawls to get this thing off the ground; Christine Felton, PageMaker into the first Talislanta manuscripts; Eric Chandler, Tony Guru; Jason Werner, for going there first; Steve and Jeannie, Herring, Anthony Pryor, Bill Armintrout, Stevie McBride, for love, support, encouragement, inspiration, and finances. and all the writers who contributed to the CT series; Jonathan The original Talislanta game group – Patrick Cunningham, Tweet, Robin Laws, Mike McDonald, James Hayes Jr., Chris Holmes, Hiren Desai, Kevin Denehy, and Drew Curtis. Beverly Marshall Saling, Jenny Scott, Peter Adkison, Jeff You guys are the best. Without you (and the Kang Civil War) Goldman, George Lowe, and all the WotC crew I never would have had the opportunity to work on this book.

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: THE RULES...... 7 CHAPTER TWO: COMBAT...... 23 CHAPTER THREE: MAGIC...... 31 CHAPTER FOUR: SKILLS...... 91 CHAPTER FIVE: A TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO TALISLANTA...... 109 THE SEVEN K INGDOMS...... 115 THE WESTERN LANDS...... 143 THE EASTERN LANDS...... 183 THE SOUTHERN RIM...... 217 THE DESERT KINGDOMS...... 267 THE NORTHERN R EACHES...... 293 THE W ILDERLANDS...... 323 TALISLANTA CHARACTER ARCHETYPES...... 360 CHAPTER SIX: GAMEMASTER’S SECTION...... 424 CHAPTER SEVEN: EQUIPMENT...... 452 CHAPTER EIGHT: APPENDIX...... 489 Sample file MODES IN B RIEF...... 489 MASTER A RCHETYPE I NDEX...... 490 MASTER SKILLS LIST...... 490 MASTER BESTIARY LIST...... 491 ENCOUNTER LIST BY R EGION...... 491 ACTION TABLE KEY...... 493 GUIDE TO PRONUNCIATION...... 494 INDEX...... 495 CHARACTER SHEET...... 500 MAP OF TALISLANTA (ONE SHEET)...... 502

The Talislanta game and fantasy world are the creations of Stephan Michael Sechi. Talislanta is a trademark of SMS, and is used by Shootingiron Design under authorization. All rights reserved. Talislanta Fourth Edition Role Playing Game is ©2001 by Stephan Michael Sechi and Shootingiron Design.

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