The Way of the Talisman

May 20, 2:52 PMSeattle Hobby Games ExaminerEd Healy

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Talisman Studios

Time for a little story. Once upon a time there were two small games companies. A few guys, working from home, using their talents to do what they could. Savage Mojo developed a roleplaying game called Suzerain, which was all about having adventures in different genres and settings. Talisman Studios, meanwhile, was an art house providing illustration, design, and layout to roleplaying game developers.

The guys were friends, but it took a few years for them to stop and see the obvious – people in stories can be pretty dumb at times. Still, in 2007 they got together and rolled it all into one happy family. Savage Mojo became the company, and Talisman Studios became the name of their roleplaying games arm. And that’s what they focused on, making great roleplaying games.

At the start they made game accessories: beautiful maps, stylish cards, and character packs. Then a mutual friend came along and asked to join in; he wondered whether Talisman Studios would release his game setting - Shaintar. A few months passed… months of feverish activity and a few solid ‘wow’ moments as things came together. Then, at about Christmas time, a new edition of both Suzerain and Shaintar jumped out at the world, ready to be noticed.

They both got an Origins Award nomination, so you figure the world noticed.

You might consider Talisman Studios a run-of-the-mill success story, told time after time over the years. The people in the company would agree, but perhaps for a different reason. You see, those people are what make this story interesting, because Talisman Studios is really a collective of creative talents instead of corporate suits and shareholders. There are no murky figures in the background, squeezing their percentage out of every sale. No marketing professionals trying to sell you something you don’t need and spouting sound bites on the forums.

Instead, Talisman Studios has one person who spends half his time dealing with the administration and necessary paperwork and the rest of his time as lead developer for Suzerain. And that’s it, as far as the business angle goes. Everybody else is a creative talent working on projects. If someone asks a question about a book on the forums, it’s likely to be the writer who answers. And the money from sales goes back into the pockets of the people who work on the products.

Talisman Studios attracts some fantastic writers and illustrators, editors and designers. People looking to pay the bills and afford an evening’s meal, but mostly interested because it’s a safe haven where they know they’ll get treated fairly… because everybody else at Talisman Studios is the same as them. If you’re wondering why this matters, you just need to look at some of the terrible one-sided contracts that artists have been forced to sign in the comic book industry, or by music companies, or even (sadly) among hobby games developers.

We all benefit as a result. The award-winning illustration talents of people like Jason Engle and Aaron Acevedo mix with celebrated writers like Aaron Rosenberg and roleplay industry luminaries such as Sean Patrick Fannon, crossing paths and weaving their magic in new and fascinating collaborations. The results are amazing, time and again.

There are other benefits too. Without the corporate fat weighing them down, Talisman Studios can keep prices low. Better than that, most of the members of the Talisman Studios family generate more content than each project requires, so a heap of free material is available on the website as well as the paid-for product. One of the creative talents is Alan Bundock who works on constantly developing the websites, so even those are works of art.

So what’s the moral of this story? Ultimately, that the Internet allows people to run a business along new lines, focusing on customers and the people making the products rather than managers and shareholders. Or perhaps the moral is that ethics aren’t for losers, and you can be a winner as well as being ethical. Or maybe that the Internet is about community in lots of different ways, and creating a community of artists is just as powerful as creating a community of gamers – because the gamers will join the talent to make something even more powerful that everyone shares.

That’s the epilogue – Talisman Studios has a thriving community of gamers visiting the sites and playing the games. These days, the community creates as much content as the professionals, and some of the community members are earning money for what they’re creating. As Talisman Studios celebrates its second birthday, it’s a telling fact that both the professionals and fans are now called ‘family’.