CLIQUE AQUITalislanta is a fantasy role-playing game written by Stephen Michael Sechi, with significant stylistic input by artist P.D. Breeding-Black. Initially released in 1987 by Bard Games, the game quickly gained a reputation as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons that was both much simpler mechanically and far more colorful in tone. The game has maintained a strong cult following among table-top gamers. Talislanta has endured a bumpy publication history, such that there have been five different editions published over the years (eight, if one counts ashcans, alternate rules and foreign editions), nearly all by different companies
The Talislanta universe differs strongly from other role-playing games of similar genre. There are very few references to Norse/Celtic mythology or the imagery of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novel. Instead the flamboyantly diverse setting is more akin to the Dying Earth novel series by Jack Vance. Indeed, Vance is listed by Sechi as a primary influence on the setting, and each edition has been dedicated to that author. Other stated influences include The Travels of Marco Polo, the journeys of Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and a host of other pulp-era fantasy fiction and works by other eclectic authors. As the game reviewer Rick Swan stated, "It's as if H. P. Lovecraft had written Alice in Wonderland, with Hans Christian Andersen and William S. Burroughs as technical advisors."
Existing game literature mostly deals with the continent of Talislanta on the world of Archaeus, home to several dozen very distinct peoples and races, including the Cymrilians, the Gnorl, and the Xambrians. These cultures and races are wholly alien, or akin to Earth cultures not of the stock commonly seen in other RPGs[citation needed]. Thus the slogan, "No Elves!", which appeared in ads for the games upon its initial release, establishing that very little of the common Tolkienic influence was present in the setting.
In the distant past Talislanta was ruled by the Archaens, a race of decadent sorcerers who lived in floating cities and used their uncanny powers mainly in the pursuit of pleasure and distraction. It was this haphazard use of dangerous and unstable arcane powers which presumably weakened the dimensional fabric, causing the magical devastation known as "the Great Disaster". The disaster shattered the Archaen society in a day, and had numerous ripple effects on the continent of Talislanta. Most contemporary races are either some offshoot of the Archaen race, "Neomorphs" created by magical means, or one of a handful of mysterious races more ancient than the Archaens.
The continent is one of great magic, with the eldritch forces being in common use within every social strata of the continent and its many cultures. Arguably the greatest of the magic wielders are the people of Cymril, who founded the Seven Kingdoms (often the default starting point of the game). It is stated many times that the magical capabilities of the Archaens was far beyond this. Archaeans possessed magical equivalents to spaceships, virtual reality theme parks, space stations, and other trappings of an advanced technical life (founded on magic, instead of technology). Many of these advances are left in ruins to be rediscovered by the truly intrepid adventure seekers.
The setting is grim in places, comic in others. Situations vary on the Continent and it is possible to have Talislanta games of greatly varied tone due to this. Areas of the continent are very grim with warring factions and brutal survivalists who live each day to see the next, while others are decadent areas where wealth, magic, and leisure have made the inhabitants petty and argumentative (in a tip of the hat to Vance, as above).
It is reportedly[citation needed] very common for new GMs and players to feel there is too much scope to the setting, and it is advised that players find a single region to concentrate on before moving on to globe-trotting games. This tactic for game development is aided by newer editions, where setting and character material is broken up by major geographic sections of the continent, to allow players to focus until their comfort level is achieved.
