Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal - part II

Originally Posted by Rezendevous

I'd be interested in hearing about that (especially as a local who didn't get involved with the scene until 2000 or so), though I don't have any specific questions in mind at the moment.

Tom had just opened his shop on Lake Street (Little Tin Soldier, by then) which was the hub of Ancients / AWI / ACW, there was a big group of RPG and board gamers at Fifth Precinct just around the corner, there was CSA meetings at Coffman Union, and 'home groups' like Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign or my apartment games for people. Everybody moved around from venue to venue, so you could have had a game every night and weekend for years. You gamed with people like Dave Wesely, Dave Megarry, Dave Arneson, M. A. R. Barker, Larry Bond, Ross Maker, Fred Funk, Dave Sutherland, and Gronan Himself. A fair number of these people wrote sets of rules, some of which are still going strong today, and two miniatures casting companies in town. Coupled to this was a strong culture of re-enactors and the F/SF community with local authors like Gordy Dickson and Cliff Simak.

Have a look at Jon Pederson's book, "Playing at the World"; Gronan and I lived it.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

That's good to hear! Keep us posted, please - link?

Well, I just posted it over there, no takers yet.
And the language might be a bit confusing, I admit - it's a complicated way to say "old school, while addressing the legitimate concerns of new school players, too").

I'm sure that there were - if not formal schools or training, out back of the tents with one of the veterans...

There were formal schools, too. But you should still listen to the veterans!

Yep; my mace was my 'Pe Choi cracker'; they're quick and fast, but they bleed out quick if you can get in a good hit. Makes them a little cautious in melees, but that gives us an advantage...

Note taken, Uncle. That would make them vulnerable to an overwhelming attack, wouldn't it?

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Well, I just posted it over there, no takers yet.
And the language might be a bit confusing, I admit - it's a complicated way to say "old school, while addressing the legitimate concerns of new school players, too").

There were formal schools, too. But you should still listen to the veterans!

Note taken, Uncle. That would make them vulnerable to an overwhelming attack, wouldn't it?

I'll have a look; thank you!

Agreed; I did, and I'm still here. My cadre NCOs were terrifying, but great teachers.

It does, and we tried to rig things so we had local superiority in numbers whenever we could. Hit 'em hard, and hit 'em fast.

Why, look, my General! Yet another evening defending the Petal Throne...

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Imperial politics?

(That said, that's gorgeous!)

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Imperial politics?

(That said, that's gorgeous!)

Agreed! I think we finally worked out that we could trust Eselne, Mirusiya, and Ma'in - and that was about it. The imperials themselves were not the problem; their followers were. Sheesh!

If you haven't seen the full movie, I can give it a thumbs up - it's very good, and visually just like Phil's word pictures. There's also a series (I think) called "The Three Kingdoms", which seems to be about the Warring States period and just as good, and also there's "An Empress and the Warriors", which is so epic and in such a grand style that you need a seat belt on your TV watching chair just to take it all in.

Grand stuff, and - in my humble opinion - just chock full of stuff that GMs can borrow:

"Impossible! We already killed you!"

HAR! Boy, does THAT sound familiar!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I'll have a look; thank you!

Please do, Uncle! Also, I have one taker already. I might need to call some GMs on this forum and others, if there are more takers than I could handle.

Agreed; I did, and I'm still here. My cadre NCOs were terrifying, but great teachers.

I'm also striving to "listen to those who suffered, not those who are merely old", as the proverb says.

It does, and we tried to rig things so we had local superiority in numbers whenever we could. Hit 'em hard, and hit 'em fast.

...And don't stay for the counterattack, unless you have obtained superior position. Right, Uncle?