If it's a site issue, it' a site issue. I'm content with what's needed.Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel
If it's a site issue, it' a site issue. I'm content with what's needed.
It's a pretty mixed bag, from what we saw in our time there. Dlamelish is very big - hence the legion - but Ksarul and Gruganu are as well; I think there was another legion based there devoted to Gruganu, but I'd have to look it up. Some very odd pockets of old Vimuhla people - which is where my legion comes from - and some strong Sarku people in the city of Hekellu proper.
Out in the Protectorate, it's less about Pavar and more about the tribal stuff - more like Yan Kor, actually. The further out from Hekellu you get, the less 'civilized' it gets.
From the EPT rules the separate nations were distinct colors (blue/ red/ green/ black/ brown...)
In Flamesong it was specifically mentioned about colored walkways that only specific people were allowed to walk on.
Were colors important, besides in mass battles to distinguish the sides?
Were coded areas and/or walkways something you often encountered?
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Understood!
Re the Glorious Empire...
Yes, I think it did, in spots like The Dungeon in Lake Geneva and The Little Tin Soldier Shoppe and Uncle Hugo's SF Bookstore here in the Twin Cites. Back before the Internet, little indie stores had no competition, and if you wanted to get something you had to go to the very rare conventions or the local store. Mail order was very difficult, as it was very hard to even find the addresses of most publishers, and most of them didn't want to deal with mail order - too much overhead, and sales to distributors brought in more money more reliably. (Convention sales were the icing on the cake.) Model railroad and hobby stores used to exist that worked in the same way, too.
These days, used books are more or less worthless, and what few retail stores that still exist will touch them. Miniatures have very, very little resale value even when painted and based; 'used' raw metal has no value at all in today's retail environment. Stores must stock the 'big name brands' to get any sales, the days of being able to potter around in the back corners and look for lost treasure are long gone. Lines that have no support from the publisher / manufacturer have a shelf life measured in nanoseconds, and get dumped in the 75% off bins. (I will admit that I get a lot of great figures, that way.)
Once the Internet arrived, and became easy to use, all this went away - no money = no money. The small publishers / manufacturers have turned to the Internet to sell their stuff, because it's the only way to reach a large enough audience to survive. We are in the age of the 'boutique' website.
So, yes, I've been there, and I do kind of miss those times.
Generally, all of the countries have a particular color that is used a a trim or basic color, so you can tell everybody apart. Temples also have this, and being able to 'read' the possible combinations is learned at an early age.
The walkways are specific to the Engsvanyali provice of Mihallu, and are not seen in modern settings outside of Mihallu. (They still use these. The snobs.) The highest compliment that one can get in Mihallu is "He never strayed from his color."
Yes; you can tell anyone from anyone by what they wear; a Priestess of Avanthe will be dressed in blue, a Karakan worshipper with red and gold trim. The Five Empires are very place- and status-aware, and colors and glyphs all play a very big part in this.
No, not outside Mihallu. In the Five Empires, you do see platforms and seating that is very organized as to status and place, but they are not particularly formally coded like in the Engsvanyali system. What you get is the major-domo 'suggesting' that you walk on the 'nice carpet' or on the 'better tiles' to show your status. Much like Ancient Egypt - see also the palace floors in Malkata or Amarna - which is where I suspect Phil nabbed the idea from.
Historical footnote:
The recent photos of the miniatures game using Phil's figures are from the recent Gary Con, where the Tekumel Foundation ran a "Legions of the Petal Throne" game.
I think the peak of the hobby was roughly 1978-1983. I remember going to the first GenCon at Parkside and looking around the dealers' room and thinking, "This is all SO COOL."
Production was pretty difficult and expensive, so production values were pretty low; Judge's Guild wasn't atypical. Once photocopiers got more common and you got places like Kinko's, that helped. A lot of games were typed and photocopied.
But at that time a table in the GenCon dealers' room was something like $20. You got a lot of people flogging stuff, like my "Dungeon Tiles" set that is grey painted masonite with a stone pattern silkscreened on. Crude, but imaginative.
And then you got people like Scotty Bizar publishing any and everything he could think of, including getting the license for a Flash Gordon game briefly, as well as "Armies of the Hyborian Age" and "Down Styphon!", rules in the world of "Lord Calvin of Otherwhen."
I truly believe it was the imaginative peak of the hobby.
I don't care if you respect me, just buy my fucking book.
Formerly known as Old Geezer
I don't need an Ignore List, I need a Tongue My Pee Hole list.
The rules can't cure stupid, and the rules can't cure asshole.
Ran a nice little Tekumel dungeon crawl at the weekend. I was at a weekend con in Sheffield UK and ran a game that had folks from the temple of Thumis looking for a stolen image of Thumis that had been taken to embarrass the conservative faction of the temple. As it was an introduction to the world of the Petal Throne I ran it more as a "this is just like any other FRPG and not impenetrable at all" game and the fact that they didn't know much about the creatures they saw except for a description and some INT based information/rumours made it a load of fun - do we fight or run? For a starting game I ran it using Brett Slocum's Petal Hack, a very simple OSR ruleset to make the focus on the setting not the rules.
I notice from another thread that we seem to be in the same area. Which is the store that has used stuff?
BTW I can assure you that even this small city once had outposts of that glorious empire. Back in the 70s there was a nice little shop on Barrington. They carried some of the Tekumel stuff of that era, it's where I got my Ebon Bindings, my Legions of the Petal Throne and my William Murray figures. When I moved here permanently about 25 yrs ago, there was a comic shop on Robie where the shelves groaned with used game books. Diverse and cheap. I picked up 2 copies of Swords and Glory there as well as Man of Gold and Flamesong.
I wouldn't know where to look for such things now though (except, as you say, online)
Last edited by Zirunel; 04-25-2017 at 08:05 AM.
If someone came from some remote place where the ban against the worship of the One Other (or something similar) never reached, how would the be treated? What if they were an ambassador or trade legation? Seems like everybody wants to trade, even with some rinky dinky place- especially if they have some nice cache of goodies, but would that be too far?
The mention of Mihallu is what sparked this thought. In the novel everyone looks at them as out of their gourds for thinking that the Priestkings are still in business and Ganga is still above water, even continuing to send messages and such back to the main office, if you will. The idea of running into an enclave of dutiful members of the Empire who don't know that their faith is now verbotten is similar.
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