Line #20 TabletopGame/Talislanta


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7	[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talislanta.jpg]]
8	[[caption-width-right:275:[[{{Tagline}} No Elves]].]]
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10	It's been called "the [[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Rasputin]] of [[TabletopRPG RPGs]]".
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12	It has literally hundreds of unique character concepts... and that's just going by base templates.
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14	It's inspired by the fiction of Creator/JackVance.
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16	Its tagline is "[[ScrewYouElves No Elves]]".
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18	To be more descriptive, Talislanta is a TableTopRPG created by Stephen Michael Sechi and published by Bard Games. First releasing in 1987, Talislanta has been steadily chugging along for 6 editions.
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20	Taking place on the titular continent, Talislanta turns players loose into a world inspired by (among other things) the ''Literature/DyingEarth'' series and H.P. Lovecraft's ''Literature/TheDreamquestOfUnknownKadath''. Which means players and gamemasters ought to expect a surprise or two. Oh, and there's No Elves.
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22	In 2010, Sechi released all of the Talislanta books under the Creative Commons License, and they are now available free to download at [[http://talislanta.com/talislanta-library the Talislanta Website]].
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25	!!This tabletop RPG provides examples of:
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27	* AdventureFriendlyWorld: Talislanta is this because of the Great Disaster, a world-spanning catastrophe that dramatically altered the landscape and completely destroyed the Archaen civilization. In the present day, hundreds of years have passed since the Great Disaster, and civilization has been re-established, but it's a pale shadow of what the Archaens once had. Much of the world is dangerous and inhospitable, and travel is difficult. Talislantans are eager to reclaim what they can from their past, and that means searching for, and delving into, ancient ruins and tombs in search of lost knowledge and artifacts.
28	* AllWebbedUp: The Crag Spider and the Vasp use webs to trap their prey.
29	* AlternativeCalendar: Talislanta has a calendar based around its 7 moons. Seven days to a week, seven weeks to a month, and seven months to a year; all adding up to 343 days a year. The months are named after whatever moon happens to be highest, and the days have no names, simply being the number of day in the month.
30	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Cymrilians are green, Thiasians are purple, Farad are gray... and that's only some of the [[HumansByAnyOtherName basically human cultures]].
31	%%* AmazonBrigade: Danuvians.
32	* ApocalypseHow: The Great Disaster was Class 2: Planetary Scale, Societal Collapse. To be specific, too much magic being flung around by the ancient civilizations led to everything going to pot, setting the world back by quite a bit. It's been quite a few centuries since then, and civilization has built itself back up, but some worry that a second Great Disaster is on it's way...
33	%%* ArmlessBiped: Lopers and Striders.
34	%%* BeastMan: Several, including the Jaka, the Gryphs, and the Beastmen.
35	%%* BigCreepyCrawlies: Rankids, Crag Spiders, Manraks, Sea Scorpions, Vasps, and more.
36	* BlueMeansCold: The Mirin have naturally blue skin, and are immune to the freezing cold in their homeland of L'Haan.
37	%%* BornUnlucky: All of the Maruk people are this.
38	%%* ButtMonkey: Maruk, a whole city that functions as the setting's ButtMonkey.%%How?
39	%%* ChurchMilitant: The Aamanian church and the Nihilist Cult of Rajanistan.
40	%%* ClockworkCreature: The Parthenians.
41	* ColdBloodedTorture: The Drukhs have made torturing enemies and each other an integral part of their culture. The Rajans and the Aamanians are known for their use of torture as well.
42	* CrystalWeapon: Gnomekin warriors wield shortswords made of crystal.
43	%%* FeatheredFiend: The Stryx.
44	* FesteringFungus: When disturbed, Scarlet Sporozoids release a cloud of living spores which consume organic substances of any sort. Once the victim is dead, new scarlet sporozoids begin growing from the host's remains.
45	* HiveCasteSystem: Rankids are divided into drones, workers, warriors, and queens.
46	* HorseOfADifferentColor: Equs, Aht-Ra, Striders, and Dractyl are just some of the creatures that have been tamed for use as mounts.
47	* HumansByAnyOtherName: Although some of the races are [[AmbiguouslyHuman arguably very human]], the term "human" is never actually used.
48	* IntelligentGerbil: Jaka ([[CatGirl cat-people]]), Ferrans ([[YouDirtyRat rat-people]]), Aeriad, Gryphs, and Stryx ([[WingedHumanoid bird-people]]), and Saurans ([[LizardFolk lizard-people]]), among others.
49	* MadeASlave: The Imrians are a race of slavers who prey primarily upon the primitive inhabitants of the southern coasts and islands. Even among those who use slaves, Imrians are regarded as backwards and disgusting.
50	* MassiveRaceSelection: Talislanta has a wide variety of playable non-human races, and even the various races of "man" in the game aren't exactly human.
51	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Archons are 10' tall beings of light. Guardians are 20' tall and look like stereotypical armored angels. Paramanes are 7'-10' tall silver skinned beings that serve as guardian angels for mortals.
52	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Demons are chaotic beings associated with various elements (e.g. Aqua Demons, Frost Demons, Pyro Demons), while Devils have a complex hierarchy and are governed by a strict set of laws and customs.
53	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Crested Dragons, Land Dragons, Sea Dragons, Ice Dragons, and a number of other Dragon-like creatures.
54	* OurElvesAreDifferent: [[TagLine What elves]]? However, our Ariane are more [[SpaceElves enlightened and mystical]] than your elves could ever hope to be.
55	* OurGargoylesRock: Gargoyles are a type of lesser devil that serve as mercenaries, guards, and heavy infantry.
56	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Disembodied Spirits, which are stereotypical Ghosts, and Reincarntors, which are the spirits of dead Torquaran wizards who possess mortals.
57	* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: Necrophages are humanoids from the Underworld that feed on the remains of the dead. Ghasts hail from the nether realms, and tend to haunt ancient graveyards, tombs, and battlegrounds.
58	* OurGiantsAreBigger: Kharakhan Giants, which stand 12' tall and weigh upwards of a thousand pounds.
59	* OurGnomesAreWeirder: The Gnomekin stand just over three feet tall, and they live underground, but otherwise have little else in common with "stereotypical" gnomes.
60	* OurHydrasAreDifferent: The Kaliya is a dragon that has up to seven heads. It can't grow new ones, but it is intelligent, breathes fire and smoke, and can do magic.
61	* OurMagesAreDifferent: In the 3rd edition there were two dozen different schools of magic, although that list was considerably shortened in later editions.
62	* OurNymphsAreDifferent: The Dryad Bush is a flowering shrub that, at night, turns into a green skinned forest nymph.
63	* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Although there are no races actually ''called'' "orcs," Kang are basically the Blizzard sort, only red. And [[HorseOfADifferentColor they ride dinosaurs]]. And then there are the Ur, who act more like the Tolkien variety, but look more like the Blizzard variety (aside from averaging about seven and a half feet tall).
64	* OurWightsAreDifferent: Shadowights, the spirits of deceased persons sentenced to spend eternity as specters. When they touch a mortal, they drain substance from them to make themselves corporeal. A living being drained of all of its substance becomes a shadowform.
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66	* PlantPerson: The Arborin are sapient plant creatures, and Mang are sapient trees. Both are native to the Aberrant Forest.
67	* PointyEars: Very common among the many races in this game.
68	* ProudMerchantRace: Most notably, Farad and Kasmirans.
69	* ProudScholarRace: Sindarans are the stand-out example.
70	* ProudWarriorRace: Lots of 'em.
71	* RacialRemnant: The Xambrian wizard-hunters are a RacialRemnant of a culture that was wiped out by evil sorcerers. The few survivors' descendants spend their entire lives tracking down and executing the ever-reincarnating culprits, over and over again.
72	* ReligionOfEvil: The Nihilist Cult of Rajanistan, which worships death, and "converts" outsiders by means of HumanSacrifice.
73	* Roguish Romani: The Sarista gypsies are clearly based on this archetype.
74	* SandIsWater: Dracartan Duneships glide across the red sands of Carantheum.
75	* SandWorm: Land Kra
76	* SexyDimorphism: Batreans. The males are hulking, slow-witted ogres; the females are [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe green-haired space babes]] with [[LoveIsInTheAir seductive pheromones]], and quite intelligent.
77	* ShoutOut: Among others, to Creator/MarvelComics with the "Crimson Bands of Cyttorak" (and associated reference to the "[[Comicbook/DoctorStrange sorcerer supreme]]" who created the spell), and to ''Franchise/StarWars'' with the "Tszarlak."
78	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: The Ariane has this ability.
79	* SpidersAreScary: The Crag Spider, which is 15' long, 300+ pounds, and has 12 legs.
80	* SuperstitiousSailors: The sailors of Talislanta have a superstitous dread of the open seas. As a result, ships tend to hug the coast. Then again, considering how many hazzards there are on the open waters, their fear is not entirely unfounded.
81	* TheBeastmaster: Jaka Beastmasters and Kang Trackers.
82	* TheTheocracy: Aaman and Rajanistan.
83	* UnstoppableRage: Several races have it as an option, but there's almost always a major catch.
84	* UpperClassTwit: This is the [[PlanetOfHats hat]] of the Hadjin.
85	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Manra achieve this through ingestion of the leaves of the jabutu plant.
86	* WeakWilled: Several races have below average willpower making them more susceptible to mundane temptation, bribery, torture, mind influencing magic and [[LoveIsInTheAir Batrean female pheromones]] (if male). The exact ''reasons'' for being weak willed vary considerably though -- the Zandir are very romantic and hot blooded and find it difficult to control their passions, Ferran are cowardly kleptomaniacs and Danuvian men are pressured by their matriarchal warrioress dominated society to be docile and submissive.
87	* WeirdWeather: As a result of the Great Disaster, Talislanta is subject to various forms of aberrant weather, including Black Lighting, The Black Wind, and Icicle Rain. Also counts as HostileWeather.
88	* {{Whatevermancy}}: Several types of magic follow this naming convention: Aquamancy, Pyromancy, Cartomancy, Technomancy, and several others.

Context TabletopGame / Talislanta