''A Naturalist's Guide to Talislanta'' is a supplement published by
Bard Games in 1987 for the fantasy role-playing game ''
Talislanta
''Talislanta'' is a fantasy role-playing game published by Bard Games in 1987 that forgoes many of the tropes used by popular games of the genre in favor of a unique world and many new game mechanisms. There have been six different English-langu ...
''.
Publication history
In 1982,
Stephan Michael Sechi,
Steven Cordovano and Vernie Taylor formed the company
Bard Games to produce their own ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'' supplements. In 1986, due to personal and financial disagreements that arose after the publication of ''
The Atlantis Trilogy'', Sechi sold his shares in Bard Games to Cordovano and left} to begin work on another role-playing game system and its supplements. When Cordovano decided that he did not want to run Bard Games and sold it back to Sechi, Sechi had the opportunity to publish his new his new game, ''
Talislanta
''Talislanta'' is a fantasy role-playing game published by Bard Games in 1987 that forgoes many of the tropes used by popular games of the genre in favor of a unique world and many new game mechanisms. There have been six different English-langu ...
''.
After publication of the rules of the role-playing game in ''
The Talislantan Handbook'' in 1987, Sechi also published three supplements: ''A Naturalist's Guide to Talislanta'', ''
The Chronicles of Talislanta'', and ''
Talislanta Sorcerer's Guide
''Talislanta Sorcerer's Guide'' is a supplement published by Bard Games in 1988 for the fantasy role-playing game ''Talislanta''.
Publication history
In 1982, Stephan Michael Sechi, Steven Cordovano and Vernie Taylor formed the company Bard ...
''.
Contents
''A Naturalist's Guide to Talislanta'' is a 118-page perfect-bound softcover book with illustrations by P.D. Breeding-Black. The book acts as a
bestiary
A bestiary () is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beas ...
for the ''Talislanta'' game, and includes complete information on all the creatures and plants
mentioned in ''The Talislantan Handbook'', both domesticated and wild. In addition, details of sentient races such as Elementals and Diabolics are included, and short descriptions for all known non-human races living on the continent.
Reception
Stewart Wieck
Stewart Douglas Wieck (May 10, 1968 – June 22, 2017) was one of the founders of the publishing company, White Wolf, Inc. He was also one of the original writers of Mage: The Ascension.
Career
Stewart Wieck was born in Freeport, Illinois, in 1 ...
reviewed ''A Naturalist's Guide to Talislanta'' for ''
White Wolf'' #11, and stated that "''A Naturalist's Guide to Talislanta'' is a compilation of notes written by Tamerlin concerning the flora and fauna of Talislanta" and describes the Zarathan in particular as "awesome".
In the March 1989 edition of ''
Dragon
A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
'' (Issue #143),
found the artwork useful, saying, "All of the creatures and plants discussed are accompanied by illustrations which add greatly to the atmosphere of the work." Bambra concluded, "This book will also be of interest to anyone looking for new creatures to use in other games."
In the July-August 1989 edition of ''
Space Gamer
''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...
'' (Vol. II No. 1), Craig Sheeley commented that "True to form, many of the creatures that roam Talislanta would disturb a zoologist - they're close enough to Earth-norm to mistake them for regular creatures (some of them, that is) but alien enough to be very different."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naturalist's Guide to Talislanta
Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1987
Talislanta supplements