About this project
Talislanta: The Savage Land
$69,146
1,963
Here's a summary of some new things since we launched this project:
We have several stretch goals to add content to a new PDF bonus book called Wilderlands Encounters! Here's an overview of the remaining goals:
$70,000 = Legendary characters addition to Wilderlands Encounters. 4 characters will be detailed and illustrated.
$75,000 = Tribes addition to Wilderlands Encounters. 2 tribes will be fully detailed and illustrated.
PLUS! Share please share this project with your friends so we can achieve this additional goal:
2000 backers = If we have the support of 2000 backers then we'll commission new artwork for a cover for Wilderlands Encounters.
Information about Magic in the Savage Lands is the subject of Update #4.
Update #9 features a special stretch goal essay by Talislanta-creator Steve Sechi called "Connecting the New Age and Savage Land Eras". Fans of the original Talislanta RPG will definitely want to read this, while new players can quickly get a glimpse at the depth of this fantasy world.
Update #10 asks for your vote on the scene depicted in the 2-page spread illustration that we hope to unlock at $40k. VOTE NOW!
Update #11 samples the Open D6 version of TSL.
Update #12 samples the 5th edition OGL version of TSL.
Update #16 samples the Savage Worlds version of TSL.
Talislanta is a fantasy roleplaying game and game-setting that was first published back in 1986.
Unlike most RPGs from the 1980s, the Talislanta milieu was not based on traditional Western mythology. It didn’t have the usual Tolkien-esque trappings of games like D&D; in fact, ads for the game proudly proclaimed, “No Elves”.
The original Talislanta RPG was inspired by the fantasy novels of Jack Vance, and by other sources such as H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dreamlands of Unknown Kadath, Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels, and The Travels of Marco Polo.
The game was set in a strange world of twin suns and seven moons that seemed to be practically overflowing with exotic peoples, places, and creatures. The time was the New Age, a Renaissance-like period that started a thousand or more years after The Great Disaster, a cataclysm that marked the fall of the once-great Archaen Age.
During this era, Talislanta was still a dangerous place, especially in the wilderness regions that lay beyond the walled cities. But for many who lived in the New Age, there was also a sense of hope, and the possibility of greater things to come.
That Was Now.
This Is Then...
Talislanta: the Savage Land is a prequel to the original Talislanta game. It takes place just a short time after The Great Disaster, which the inhabitants of this era refer to as The Fall.
This period is like a nightmarish version of our own Dark Ages. All knowledge of spell-casting has been lost; maps are nearly non-existent, and much of the world is unknown. Most of those who survived The Fall are illiterate, and governed by superstition.
There are no nations, city states, or even laws. In their place, tribes of warriors, nomads, slavers, and refugees struggle to survive in a hostile wasteland, torn by centuries of warfare and a malevolent magical maelstrom known as the Gyre.
This is the world in which Talislanta: the Savage Land (TSL) takes place.
The world of TSL is dangerous and largely unexplored. Anything the inhabitants pre-Fall knew of the world is of little value now. The landscape has shifted. The great nations were sundered. Civilization itself has shattered.
This new vision of Talislanta is a world awaiting your discovery!
Steve Sechi's Talislanta: The Savage Land comes to life in the amazing interior illustrations by David Arenas, and cover art by Mario Teodosio.
We're delighted to offer FIVE different versions of TSL! Some pledges offer all five versions, but for pledges that reward a version of your choice, you will make that selection after the project in the pledge manager.
The print editions are all hardcover.
The entire rulebook is presented in Steve Sechi's original, completely reworked Talislanta game system as well as editions converting the characters and creatures to 5e OGL (D&D), Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Savage Worlds, and Open D6.
All five versions of the rulebook are divided into the following chapters:
- 1. Rules
- 2. Characters & Tribes
- 3. Skills & Special Abilities
- 4. Territories
- 5. Bestiary
- 6. Goods & Equipment
There is also GM-facing material called "Encounters" that we hope to add to the rulebook if we hit stretch goals. (UPDATE: with your support we have added almost this entire chapter!)
The rulebook will be about 250 full-color pages. And here full-color really means FULL! This book is packed with amazing artwork! Here is a partial count of the illustrations:
- 60+ creatures and plants in the Bestiary
- 50+ pieces of equipment and artifacts
- 23 playable character races
- 20 Landscapes showing the terrain of TSL
There's no way to show even a fraction of the artwork on this project page, so I'll post more (a lot more!) in project updates, but watch the project video for glimpses of lots of artwork!
The core mechanic of the TSL game system is simple. Determine modifiers based on your and/or your opponent's Attributes and Skills, roll a d20 and consult the Action Table. Here's what the table looks like:
- 0 or less = Critical Failure — the attempted action fails miserably, resulting in negative additional consequences of some sort (GM’s ruling based on the intent of the action and prevailing circumstances).
- 1-5 = Failure — the action fails to achieve the stated intent.
- 6-10 = Partial Success — the action is moderately successful, and achieves some of of the desired intent (such as half-damage from an attack).
- 11-19 = Success — the action achieves the desired result.
- 20+ = Critical Success — the action is even more successful than intended, achieving the stated intent and also yielding additional benefits of some sort. The GM determines the additional results based on the circumstances. Note that in Combat, this result is called a Critical Hit (see the nearby sidebar for details).
Even though the system has been updated from the original 1980s version (as well as subsequent editions of Talislanta), this remains a purposely retro-gaming experience.
If the origin edition of Dungeons & Dragons is the first generation of roleplaying games, then Talislanta is one of the great second-generation games. It presented a vision of fantasy roleplaying very different than that of D&D. Still, there's no denying that D&D remains the world's most popular tabletop roleplaying game, and so players of the latest edition can enjoy the rich world of TSL, we're offering a 5th Edition version.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is the most successful game birthed by the original 3ed OGL, and as such stands among the games most due TSL treatment. We successfully relaunched the Scarred Lands fantasy setting last year in both 5e and PFRPG and think the combination works great for Talislanta too!
The combination of the “Fast, Furious, Fun!” of Savage Worlds is a natural for this project. The ruleset and setting are a great fit (they both have Savage in the name!), and we’re excited to bring this wonderful world to the equally wonderful Savage Worlds community. Savage Worlds fans are passionate gamers, and we are happy to count ourselves among the ranks of Savage Worlds publishers!
Nocturnal Media (publisher of TSL) also owns West End Games, the publisher of classic roleplaying game like the original Star Wars RPG as well as Ghostbusters, the RPG that gave birth to the target number rolling mechanic that is now Open D6. We're pleased to offer a version of TSL for this user-friendly game system.
Talislanta: The Savage Land also focuses on a epic stye of play. You control a single character as in most tabletop RPGs, but in TSL you my also create a Tribe and use your leadership skills to increase its strength, influence, and prosperity. Your Tribe can choose to remain neutral and operate as nomadic traders or tomb raiders. You can follow the path of war, and seek to conquer and control vast territories. Or you can build a stronghold, create a place of safety for your people, and maybe even try to rebuild some semblance of civilization.
Large-scale actions for a Tribe are accomplished in the TSL game system by using the Mass Action Table, and similar options are available in both the 5th Edition and Open D6 versions of the game.
In late 2015 Kickstarter project, we funded Talislanta: Tales of the Savage Land, a webcomic by Talislanta-creator Steve Sechi and illustrator Ben Dennett. The new prequel vision of Talislanta premiered in those pages and the new pages added every week throughout 2016 and every Monday in 2017. There are still around a dozen pages to go (the graphic novel ran many pages longer than anticipated!) and when these pages are complete we'll print the book as promised in that earlier project.
You can download the free prologue to Tales of the Savage Land on DTRPG.
The graphic novel's completion lines up pretty closely to when the new RPG will be ready for press, so they are likely to print at the same time. Therefore, we're offering the printed graphic novel as an add-on in this project. (If you backed the prior project, then see the recent update for information.)
Talislanta-creator Steve Sechi (Composer/Sound Designer) is also a composer, and together with Kostas Varotsis (Orchestrator/Conductor/Composer) they have produced a complete album of nine tracks to add another element to your TSL games. Steve has composed and produced over 200 albums of music for production libraries in the US, UK, and Canada and his music has been used on hundreds of TV shows and films. Kostas has won the Beethoven Award (Bonn, Germany) and a Gold Medal for Orchestral Conducting (Reims, France).
Here are the 9 tracks included in the soundtrack (available as a $5 add-on):
- 1 — Savage Land Theme
- 2 — The Underrealms
- 3 — Archaen Ruins
- 4 — Plains of Armageddon
- 5 — The Umar
- 6 — Nomads
- 7 — War
- 8 — Pursuit
- 9 — Boglins
The Savage Land Theme is available as a free download at both DriveThruRPG.com and at the Nocturnal Media website.
You can also listen here:
Several "add-ons" are available for an additional pledge that you add to your reward selection. Some of the pledge options to the right include some of these add-ons, but you may also select them a la carte. For instance, you may pledge $10 for the Digital Scout reward and receive one rulebook PDF plus the Savage Land Soundtrack.
There is no additional shipping charge associated with any add-ons.
TSL RPG PDF +$5
- Add the PDF of any other version to your pledge.
Savage Land Soundtrack +$5
- Includes 9 tracks plus any unlocked with stretch goals.
Custom Dice +$8
- Chose either 1d6 & 1d20 OR 3d6.
Tales of the Savage Land (PDF) +$12
- A special price for the 100+ page graphic novel.
TSL Poster Map $15 (print)
- Not yet complete, this map will be drawn by Colin Driver (Guide to Glorantha).
Giclée print $25 (or 4 prints for $80)
- Select from any of the 23 races illustrated by David Arenas.
- See Update #1 for details about the museum quality paper for these prints.
Tales of the Savage Land (print) +$40
- Immediate access to the PDF is included.
TSL Rulebook (any version) +$40
- Choose from the TSL, 5th Edition or Open D6 versions.
*Please note that the giclée print of the front cover of the book is exclusive to the Print Pilgrim, Print Conqueror, Print Overlord and Savage Land Denizen pledge levels.
A shipping charge is added to all pledge levels that include physical rewards. The same flat rate shipping is applied whether you buy one game book, pledge at the Print Conqueror level, or to your pledge for a variety of add-ons.
Note that all the books and material ship "customs free" to Australia, Canada, EU, New Zealand and UK.
We have a number of stretch goals planned, including ones that add more music to the soundtrack, a custom d10 to the dice, and more material to the books.
Below is a list of what's been unlocked so far! "Enounters" is a a couple of dozen of story seeds for the various territories of the Savage Land. See Update #2 for more information. Encounters are linked to the update that includes artwork from the game depicting the territory.
$12,500 Black Desert Encounters
$15,000 Darklands Encounters
$17,500 Bonus music track "Siege Golem" added to the soundtrack.
$20,000 Dead Forest Encounters
$22,500 Junglelands Encounters
$25,000 New 2-page illustration by David Arenas
$27,500 Plains of Armageddon Encounters
$30,000 Volcanic Hills Encounters
$32,500 Bonus music track "The Gyre" added to the soundtrack + Steve Sechi essay
$35,000 = Wastelands Encounters
$37,500 = Wilderlands Encounters
$40,000 A second new 2-page illustration by David Arenas
Be sure to VOTE on this illustration!
$42,500 = Encounters: The Gyre
$45,000 = Encounters: Ruins
$50,000 = Additional custom d6 added to all dice rewards! It's a blue d6 to act as a "wild die".
$55,000 = Locations to begin a new book titled Wilderlands Encounters. 12 locations will be detailed.
$60,000 = Artifacts addition to Wilderlands Encounters. 12 powerful artifacts will be detailed.
$65,000 = Bestiary addition to Wilderlands Encounters. 8 new creatures will be detailed and illustrated.
NEXT!! >>
$70,000 = Legendary characters addition to Wilderlands Encounters. 4 characters will be detailed and illustrated.
$75,000 = Tribes addition to Wilderlands Encounters. 2 tribes will be fully detailed and illustrated.
2000 backers = If we have the support of 2000 backers then we'll commission new artwork for a cover for Wilderlands Encounters.
Risks and challenges
All of the material for this project is very close to completion. Steve Sechi's text for the Talislanta rules version is complete and the text for both the Open D6 and 5th Edition versions are underway and on schedule for June completion.
Importantly, with the exception of the wall map, all of the artwork is complete, and as you can see in the sample page spreads, the layout & design is largely complete too.
We look forward to delivery on time or even early!
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Funding period
- (32 days)