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Thursday, January 16, 2020

Through A Veil of Blue Mist Did I First Behold Talislanta


I've mentioned my appreciation for Stephan Michael Sechi's Talislanta setting. Since I'm contemplating running a Sword & Planet game that uses Talislanta as the "planet," I though it was a good time to revisit the setting, and it's publication history in a series of posts, as I think about what I'm going to use and what I might do differently.

Historically, Talislanta is both a setting and a game. It's core, however, has always been the systemless Chronicles of Talislanta, first published by Bard Games in 1987. Chronicles is the narrative of Tamerlin, a wizard from another world, as he explores the continent of Talislanta. Sechi's imaginative setting is made more compelling by P.D. Breeding-Black's distinctive illustrations.

When I first encountered Talislanta, I didn't have much experience with Sechi's inspirations: the works of Jack Vance, Marco Polo's Travels, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and the comics of Philippe Druillet. To me, it seemed more daring than the implied setting of D&D, and at once goofier and more lurid than the likes of Middle-Earth. It reminded me of Star Wars and comic books. I liked it instantly.

My appreciation has only grown over the years. So, I'm going to trace Tamerlin's journey and the places it visits across editions and think about how I might make it my own, influenced by my understanding of Sechi's stated influences and influences of my own.

More to come.

5 comments:

  1. I relate. Big fan of the setting and of its creator.

    The books are available as free PDF downloads at talislanta.com.

    Looking forward to your future posts.

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  2. Talislanta always fascinated me, though I could never quite pull the trigger on getting it...even after it became free! However, I am a big fan of Sechi's earlier books (The Compleat Adventurer, etc.) which I understand were part of the impetus for creating his own setting/system.

    Regardless, I'd love to read a series on the subject.

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  3. I plunged into Talislanta after seeing your previous post with an image from the cover of The Chronicles of Talislanta. Amazing stuff. Looking forward to reading your reflections.

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  4. Looking forward to seeing more about this! If the art and list of influences you included here are any indication, Talislanta sounds quite psychedelic.

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  5. I’m excited for this series. My next campaign is going to be swords and planet too and I’ve been curious about talislanta for a long time

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