In the 1980’s when I was a Dungeons and Dragons nut, I found a role-playing game that was sort of unique. It was called Talislanta. Created by Stephan Michael Sechi, it was a game like D&D, but totally without elves and dwarves and orcs and even humans. It was set on the world of Talislanta with many weird and wonderful races that didn’t exist anywhere else in literature. I used it to play RPG games with South Texas kids, and the Baptists preached against the demons and devils in D & D. The only way I could get away with D & D games was by playing Talislanta, where the Baptists couldn’t preach against me because they didn’t know what the heck it was. So, I created stories and art from Talislanta, inspired by the work of the game’s lead artist, P. D. Breeding Black.
Kastur, hero and adventurer
Hal Vas was a Jaka wilderness scout, while Xeribeth was a Zandir Sorceress who specialized in spells of flight and levitation.
Orrin, the headless snow wizard, and Teveron, the Tanasian pyromancer were both bad guys who tried to defeat the heroes at every turn.
Magnolia and Willowleaf were both Muses, the butterfly-winged people who used magic mostly for the purposes of entertaining others. They were attended by the tiny butterfly-winged people called Wisps.
Talislantans were many different colorful races. There were green ones like the Cymrillians, the Tanasians, and the Oceanians. There were blue ones like the Mirin.
Sunnyjias was a Cymrillian enchantress while Zoran-Viktor was a Mirin alchemist.
Spooky was a Man-ra Shapechanger who could alter his body shape drastically. Harun was a Phantasian astromancer who could fly using sailing ships powered by anti-gravity wind crystals.
And Tazian Thralls were warriors who had elaborate colorful tattoos over every inch of their bodies.
It was a fun world to play in. Magic and mystery and wacky wizards abounded. And it wasn’t all about throwing fireballs and whacking stuff with swords… although there was a lot of that too.
Catch a Falling Star 