So check it.  I'm looking for something and can't find it.

One of our gamers is much older than many of us, though we range in age from 30 to 50.  He's at the far end.  Anyways...

He's told us he doesn't want to GM, but as I've been talking to him I can tell he would be interested in some nostalgia from way back.  I think there might be a chance I can coerce him into running a game, but I had to find the "sweet spot" in his gaming memory...

Due to my club's nature (in that we run many editions of many games) we wanted to take a look at the wayback machine through this veteran's eyes, as he's been a gamer since there have been games.  The game he named as being interested if we could find was called...

The Arcanum.  

The only problem is I can't find anything on Ebay.  

I know it evolved into Talislanta, but I'm unfamiliar with that particular game.  The actual Bard Games printings are the ones I'm after, but I don't know if it's even feasible to find.

So I have a few questions for you good gents.

• How hard is it going to be to find this?
• Is Talislanta far removed from the original edition to count as The Arcanum if we can't find it?

This was a few years before I got into gaming, so any advice would be appreciated.

I had the first edition of The Arcanum and its two companion books. The system was a kind of proto-version of what is currently the Talislanta rules system. In fact, first edition Talislanta was exactly the same system. It was certainly playable. We had a lot of fun exploring Michael Sechi's (I'm pretty sure I'm spelling that wrong) fantasy world set in the decline of the Atlantean Empire. For what its worth, they revived the setting fairly recently using 5th edition Talislanta rules. I think the newer version is just called Atlantis, but I could be wrong. Visiting the parents for my birthday so all my books are several hours drive away.

A warning though, the new version has some bad typos, nothing you can't figure out or work your way around, but it still might annoy you while reading it. Also the history has been tweaked a bit. The new edition is heavier on the Atlanteans using arcano-tech kinds of devices. Didn't do much for me, but it might be exactly what floats your boat.

The world is well detailed and certainly has a nice 'sword and sandals' kind of feel to it. I remember when I ran it back in the 80s it played very Robert E. Howard. Bigger than life adventurers traveling the world, getting into trouble and generally stealing anything not nailed down.

Edit: Now that I think about it...it would be a really neat universe to take and convert into either RQIII or MRQ II. Hmmm, yet another project to throw onto the pile.

There's a thread at the piazza which may be of interest:
http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4299

Apparently there is a modern-day version of the game, the pdf of which is cheap on drivethru - though this uses the Omni system (the generic version of Talislanta 4E) and so would be very different system-wise.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=2881&it=1


The original books are apparently hard to find. Talislanta stuff is all free at talislanta.com, but no one's attempted to do the same for Arcanum by the looks.

I've got a used copy of the 1e core rules that I'd sell for $5.50 plus postage. 2e (note: not the Omni version, but a second edition of the original system) isn't much different but may have some tweaks and errata.

The bestiary is available from Amazon, Biblio, Alibris, and AbeBooks. I also have a spare copy, but it's in excellent condition and I'm not sure I want to part with it. (My other copy is part of a combined setting/bestiary book that was published at some point, and the printing isn't as nice.)

The lexicon (setting book) is also available from the same places.

In a pinch, I think Palladium 1e may offer a similar feel.

I managed to get all three books for (non-OMNI) Arcanum 2e about 2 years ago by patient eBay searching.  The main rulebook popped up with fair frequency, the Lexicon (world book) a bit less, and the Bestiary was the hardest to locate (I may have gotten the latter via Amazon, now that I think about it).  Took about 3-4 months to get everything.

The system is pretty much house-ruled, streamlined AD&D.  It has a decent magic system and a lot of detail on magical item creation and alchemy.  I'd love to get a chance to run it one day, but am not sure it's different enough from D&D to really justify a new campaign with it.

The setting book, while cursory (it covers the whole world in 128 pages, after all), is very good.  The bestiary was pretty good, though strangely organized (fluff information in the first 2/3, stats listed separately in the back of the book).

For some reason, the three books don't seem to cohere to me.  The rules feel like generic fantasy, while the setting information seems to want to go in another, more exotic, direction.  The Bestiary is a little bit better integrated with the Lexicon, but still felt a bit generic and scattershot.  All three books are very good on their own, however, if only for lots of "stealable" content for a home game.

About the relationship with Talislanta, I think there are some similarities system-wise, and there are even some overlaps in the "weird" areas (character types, races, and monsters) that aren't obviously derived from D&D. But I think the total package is quite a bit different. Talislanta is a pretty well-integrated setting that doesn't much resemble D&D-style "high fantasy"; it's more like science fantasy + S&S, with a huge number of weird races and no elves, dwarves, etc.

The Arcanum/Atlantis is much closer to D&D tweaked for S&S; IIRC it still has some of the standard D&D tropes, so it's up to the group how far you want to go in one direction or the other--more D&D-like, or more weird & "Atlantean".

I like them both and would play/run either in a heartbeat.

Thanks guys.

Was able to locate all three main books for just under $75 USD.  Not so bad as I thought it would be.