A Return to Tarantis... ?

Since beginning to play TRPGs again 10 years ago, I often think back on my favorite past adventures. A Warhammer campaign – starting with The Enemy Within and most of all, a AD&D campaign with best friends - delving into a city called Tarantis back in the late 80s. Since then, I’ve been chasing that high.

In the mists of ancient time - when slide rules were a thing - when MTV (in stereo!) was our music - when Ronald Reagan slid down the back of a brontosaurus and into the Oval Office - I bought The City State of Tarantis adventure supplement for AD&D from Judges Guild. I picked it up at Cassler’s Toys in Burlington Vermont’s North End 1982ish.

City State of Tarantis
Photo courtesy therpgsite.com. https://www.therpgsite.com/reviews/gamedaddy-reviews-tarantis-by-judges-guild/?PHPSESSID=072f781c56115b8042d245c3ca2e3c50

In the next few years, my friends Michael and Randy (and occasionally a few guest stars) would get together weekly in Randy’s family living room, lay the map of Tarantis out on the coffee table, and play AD&D for several hours on a school night. Adventure would ensue. Tarantis also became the central bit of civilization for AD&D with my cousin Shawn and friends in those years as well.

Although I remember reading different locations in the books for inspiration in the early days of using the module, I don’t remember actually using much of the material in the set as written. We would look at the map, pick a location, create the adventures together - and make Tarantis our own. By the end of the campaign, Tarantis would not be recognized by its original developers. Walter was leading the thieve’s guild, his wife Holly was pregnant with their first child (later to be named Oswald or “Finn”), and they owned a storefront in a very nice section of town. Talsien had taken on the Azurerain Pirates just across the bay and north of Tarantis - and had become their leader. In AD&D (1st ed), a Bard has to progress through several levels of different professions before progressing as a Bard. Talsien was a high level Bard. Our heroes had a lot of adventures and had a strong impact on Tarantis and environs.

After nearly 40 years, Randy and I played a D&D (5th edition) campaign a few years ago over Roll20 (a virtual game environment) with some friends. I wanted to include Tarantis in that campaign, but it didn’t come together. I have some Judges Guild material that my cousin Shawn and I had collected over the years. Including a PDF version of Tarantis I purchased on DrivethruRPG. I have been working on updating it to the latest version of D&D and incorporate it into my new world - but something is just not working. Some of the written content didn’t age well, let’s just say. Also - I set “my” Tarantis in a more temperate climate and the original material just doesn’t resonate with me or the environment I want to present to players.

On my commute this morning, I pondered the issue. Problems: we only sort of played our games in Tarantis as published. My fond memories are around the stories and characters we created - and how much fun we had as friends - not so much the lore that was created by Judges Guild. Those memories are often triggered by thinking about having that map in front of me, though.

Solutions: There’s no way to recreate the experience we had with Tarantis in our youths. If I want to experience similar urban adventures in a fantasy setting, I could just use one of the many published cities I already own (Thistlehold or Yndaros in Symbaroum, Waterdeep, Bard’s Gate (from Frog God), or Zoebeck (from Kobold Press), or Altdorf, Middenheim, or Marienburg in Warhammer).

Another solution could be to develop a “New Tarantis” based on my brain’s impressions of the original - a Monet-esque approach. I’d consult with Randy, Michael, and Shawn and harvest their memories of things that happened there. It would be like building my own city based on the memories of Tarantis.

Follow me!