The Talislanta Sorcerer’s Guide is exactly what you might expect: every idea Stephen Michael Sechi had about RPG sorcery in 1988, iterated and expanded on to fill 98 pages. The result is a deep dive into novel magical systems, organizations, books, spells, demons and more. As someone whose creativity comes out in a trickle, I am a little bit in awe of Sechi. The Talislanta books are creativity blasting through a fire hose.

Despite this feast of ideas, Talislanta has a rocky publication history. Sales at Bard Games were good, but in the late 80s, that was dangerous. A buyer for Waldenbooks made a huge order for Atlantis: The Lost World, a reprint of the original Arcanum books. As was often the case with the book trade, a large portion of the order was returned a year later, necessitating a hefty refund. Sechi paid the debt and in 1990, poof, Bard Games was no more.