Talomir Tales?? What's that???

The PDFs for this game (Talomir Tales "Distant Shores", "Caravanserai" and "Piathoe's Peaks") from 2 Hour Wargames (THW) have been sitting in my hard drive for so long that THW has sold off most of their IPs to an outfit named Rebel Minis (that I actually bought some 15mm metal minis from way beck when for my 5 Leagues and 5 Parsecs games). I think it's time to give Talomir Tales a try. Talomir Tales is a set of solo RPG/minis campaign game where you wander the continent of Talomir and have adventures. It helps to have a goal in mind.

I quickly statted up a Star character: Halda the barbarian, a Red Sonja lookalike. The pre-built campaign has a set series of 16 encounters. Let's see what will happen. I'm playing the Caravanserai campaign for which there is no BGG entry and since the IP was sold off, you can't find it for sale anywhere either.

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Halda. Human Warrior-Thief. Rep 6. AC4. 

Class Attribute: (Warrior) FANATIC (5): Changes 1 failed d6 on the Action Table to a passed d6.

(Thief) CLEVER (4): Able to take a Challenge with 3d6 when rolling to disarm a Trap or find a Secret Room, counting the two best scores.

Race Attribute (random): QUICK REFLEXES (5): Count Rep at 1 point higher than actual when rolling on the Action Table.

Random Attribute: CRUEL (5): Counts a +1d6 when Interacting with Characters with a lower Rep.

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Halda seemed to have worn out her welcome in Demeskeen. Or at least in her mind she had and that was good enough. She surveyed the tavern. Kurinthian Warriors, Barylistani Caravan Guards, Demeskeen Army and she swore that little lady in the corner was a Wererat. Well, not right now of course. Not in public, but get her alone and who could say?

“Yes, it’s time to go. I wonder what Brigana is like this time of year?”

MONTH 1

ENCOUNTER #1: CAROUSING

Having decided that it was time to leave Demeskeen, Halda thought that joining a Caravan would be a good idea. Having extra folks along with her would be safer. The question was; go along as a Caravan Guard or just go along with the Caravan?

She figured she’d look for a job and take advantage of the other “opportunities” Carousing offered.

In the Bloody Dwarf’s Head tavern. Looking for job offers… but then again, Halda was kind of a rogue and easily distracted…

After rolling the dice, Halda gets 4 Possible Enemy Factions (PEFs) that resolve into:

• Demeskeen (BM) - Leader - Knight (Swordsman) (Rep 5). AC4 | +2 Grunts - Soldier (Duty) : Both Rep 3 and AC2.
• Civilian (BM) - Grunt - Civilian Merchant (Rep 3). AC2. (M)
• Civilian (BM) - Leader - Civilian Labourer (Rep 3). AC2. (M)
• Civilian (N) - Leader - Civilian Trader (Rep 3). AC2 (F) - Name?

So it looks like the Bloody Dwarf’s Head tavern despite its name is a reasonably respectable tavern.

Halda decides to approach the female Trader, seeking Companionship. They exchange pleasantries. Thanks, but no agreement is reached.

Gain 1 Decreasing Rep d6. Ugh. OK, move on. (Decreasing/Increasing Rep happens each Encounter and at the end of the Encounter, you see if your Rep is permanently increased, decreased or stays the same, depending on what happens during the Encounter.)

Undeterred, Halda approaches the male Labourer, seeking Companionship. Success! Gain 1 Increasing Rep d6. Phew!

(I'll draw a discreet veil over the following scene as I ponder the tables. When carousing, I’m limited to Gamble, Seek Companionship and Seek jobs.)

After going upstairs…

ENCOUNTER #2: EMPLOYMENT

Halda had been in the Tavern for a while now taking full advantage of all the “opportunities” of the night. Then she saw a Caravan Leader. What the heck? Let’s see what he has to offer.

“And I can leave anytime I want?” Halda asked.

“Correct my friend,” the Demeskeen Caravan Leader replied. “When you do we give you your wages, no ill will between us and if you choose, you can rejoin us on our way back.”

“And what if I want to continue on as a passenger?” Halda asked.

“We deduct the price of passage from your wages,” was the reply with a smile. “You cannot lose, my friend.”

Halda wasn’t too trusting of the Demeskeen fellow, but she figured he could leave when she wanted. Besides; what “opportunities” would begin with the Caravan offer?

“Deal!”

Halda found out that the job wasn’t until a few more days so she decided to look for another easy job to tide her over.

Success! You have a Job Offer.

Employer is a Male Healer (Rep 4. AC2) named Tyros. Constantly fiddles with pouches and containers holding his healing herbs and potions.

Your employer wants you to guard him from harm. Play an Escort Encounter in the area where you have met the employer.

Along the road, Halda and the Healer encounter 2 PEFs.

The first PEF resolves into 2 mercenary warriors who are serving in a warband. 

PEF 1 

- Leader Torsten : Rep 4. AC4. M. Class: Warrior. FANATIC: Changes 1 failed d6 on the Action Table to a passed d6. HARD AS NAILS: Once during each Encounter will treat its first Obviously Dead result as Out of the Fight instead. Gossip. Perfect posture.

- Grunt Bertram : Rep 4. AC4. M. Class: Warrior. FANATIC: Changes 1 failed d6 on the Action Table to a passed d6. No other attribute. Slacker. Bite mark on cheek.

Both are Demeskeen so are followers of the Black Moon.

They are executing a captured foe (in a suitably grisly fashion, since they are followers of the Black Moon) on orders of their leader. 

Halda and the healer have an Interaction with the 2 warriors. Then go on their way. The 2 warriors are already in a warband so Halda has no chance to recruit them.

PEF 2

Next, along a memorial avenue of trees that commemorates a long-forgotten war, they encounter 2 thieves (Neutral). Both Male. The sight a lone female and a weedy healer. Easy prey. Or so they think.

• Leader Narraman : Rep 5. AC2. M. Class: Thief. CLEVER : Able to take a Challenge with 3d6 when rolling to disarm a Trap or find a Secret Room, counting the two best scores. HARD AS NAILS: Once during each Encounter will treat its first Obviously Dead result as Out of the Fight instead. 
• Grunt : Rep 3. AC2. Class : Thief. CLEVER : Able to take a Challenge with 3d6 when rolling to disarm a Trap or find a Secret Room, counting the two best scores. 

The thieves kept getting the advantage so they always attack first.

Round 1: thieves charged forwards, seeing easy prey.

Didn’t quite manage to reach Halda and the Healer.

Halda attacked the Grunt and after several rounds of combat, put him down. I think I need a d6 to track increasing/decreasing Rep. (Apologies for the poor image quality. DOn't know what happened to my phone's camera that day.)

Then the Leader attacked Halda and after a couple of rounds, Halda managed to put him down as well. This was due to the thieves’ AC2. Otherwise it might be a different story.

After the encounter and accomplishing the objective, Halda gained a Rep because she got a total of 4 Increasing Rep, allowing her to roll 4d6. I got one 6 out of that, which was enough to see her Rep permanently increase to 6.

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Huh. The combat was over so fast. Setting up the table isn’t worth it. Might was well just use a battle board. Or need to re-think the encounters. 

The combat rules in Talomir Tales are really simplified. There are no reaction tables, what to do if you get hit, whether you're ready to fight or run away etc. Pretty mindless and then you wonder why you bother playing combat out if it's this cut and dried.

The normal THW combat rules have a TON of dice rolling and referencing tables to see what happens in combat. There's less of that here.

So either the campaign is the main thing and the emergent story that develops... or I'll just hack in the actual THW Fantasy Combat rules in place of the watered down version contained in Talomir Tales.

I'll play a few more encounters to see what happens next before I decide.

A quick note: as usual, the rules and tables is a typical THW mish-mash. The rules are complete. They are just so awkwardly laid out and written that it's a chore to actually make use of them for playing! That was my experience way back when I tried to play a solo skirmish game. It hasn't changed in this game. Sigh.