Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal - part II

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed; I would have thought that my destruction of so much Valuable and Collectable stuff would help preserve the Full Market Value of everything, but they still seem to get cranky. I've often toyed with the notion of putting all of my collection up for sale at one time, flooding the market with merchandise and bringing the whole inflated pricing structure down.

Why, yes... Yes they can...

The basic story:

Well, Gary Rudolph thought it would be a fine thing to have his own private army, but being 'thrifty' he bought and armed slaves instead of hiring mercenaries - which is what everybody else does. Being a white guy from the Upper Midwest and heir to generations of abolitionist fervor, he expected the slaves to be good little NPCs and do his bidding like any minions are supposed to do. Phil rolled, got a spectacularly bad result, and Stanley Kubrick was hired to direct the movie. The revolt was quick, nasty, brutal, and bloody as the slaves settled a lot of old scores, but it was also pretty localized - Ferenara is one of those nice little towns out in the boondocks and kinda isolated; yes, it's on the Sakbe road, but that simply meant the troops could get there faster - and once the Imperial legions in Fasilitum and Sokatis got the news, they marched in and stamped the revolt right out in a quick, nasty, brutal, and bloody bit of repression. The Legions simply marched in, split up by cohorts, fanned out, and rounded up / killed anybody and everybody who couldn't prove that they weren't a slave. Not a lot of impalements; the slaves were usually simply killed on the spot, and any who gave up were shipped off to very distant locales to work in the mines or pull an oar. Pretty basic stuff, really; see also the movie.

Gary, as I recall, sat there with his mouth hanging open; he didn't know a lot about the historical precedents that Phil was working from, and got caught with his kilt down. The rest of the table loved it, as it gave them a chance to kill, loot, maim, rape, slaughter, and indulge in all those things that they really loved to do in their group. (Gary Fine may have been right, after all.)

I still don't understand, why didn't he free them, legally? An army of freed slaves is easier to keep under control.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed!

The first session, the Ancient Egyptian one, was pretty delightful as the players really got into their roles very early on, and really got into the culture of the place. I think the spate of movies set in the period like "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" really helped, as they both have a lot of juicy period stuff that people can relate to. I really enjoyed it, especially with the younger players picking up on the idea of RPGs and running with it. Heaps of fun.

The second session, the Barsoom one, was really 'old home week' for me, with a lot of old friends wading right in and running with the ERB and 'pulp' vibe. Again, the "John Carter" movie may have helped, but the real joy was the shameless mugging to the camera by all of the players who nailed their roles and the action on the first take.

In between games, there was a lot of wonderful discussion of gaming and gamers, and how what we used to do can be applied today. Fascinating stuff!!!

It was a very good day, if you asked me.

Excellent, glad to hear that!

Originally Posted by AsenRG

I still don't understand, why didn't he free them, legally? An army of freed slaves is easier to keep under control.

Excellent, glad to hear that!

'Cause he was 'thirfty', and didn't want to have to pay them. Also, if they were free, they might not do what he wanted them to. As slaves, they have to do what he tells them to, don't they? Gary was, shall we say, a trifle innocent of the realities.

Yep; I had fun, Gronan had fun, Vrisa had fun, and so did a lot of other old friends...

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed; I would have thought that my destruction of so much Valuable and Collectable stuff would help preserve the Full Market Value of everything, but they still seem to get cranky. I've often toyed with the notion of putting all of my collection up for sale at one time, flooding the market with merchandise and bringing the whole inflated pricing structure down

Yeah, I guess. I know what you mean, Tekumel stuff is priced weirdly. Scarcity sure, I get that, but like Mitlanyal? It so rarely enters the market, so theoretically scarce, but I think the notional "prices" (which are ridiculous) must be calculated by bots, there's nothing to base a real price on so all we have are fictional prices.

For myself, I have some nice "collectibles" I suppose. Original EPT, Sourcebook, Ebon Bindings, a few others etc. And later things like Mitlanyal. I value them, It would hurt to give them up, and yet I value them mostly for the information they contain. And yes they show all the signs of being well-read. If someone were to glut the market with any of them, mint in shrink-wrap, whatever, and mine ended up only worth $10 each, I wouldn't care. No that's a lie, I'd be happy. Because then the people who want the content would have it. And let's face it, unavailable out-of-print content has been a persistent problem with Tekumel.

That said, I think a lot of your material crosses the line from "collectible" to "archival." At that level, I think your collection is a little bit different from everybody else's.

Originally Posted by Zirunel

Yeah, I guess. I know what you mean, Tekumel stuff is priced weirdly. Scarcity sure, I get that, but like Mitlanyal? It so rarely enters the market, so theoretically scarce, but I think the notional "prices" (which are ridiculous) must be calculated by bots, there's nothing to base a real price on so all we have are fictional prices.

For myself, I have some nice "collectibles" I suppose. Original EPT, Sourcebook, Ebon Bindings, a few others etc. And later things like Mitlanyal. I value them, It would hurt to give them up, and yet I value them mostly for the information they contain. And yes they show all the signs of being well-read. If someone were to glut the market with any of them, mint in shrink-wrap, whatever, and mine ended up only worth $10 each, I wouldn't care. No that's a lie, I'd be happy. Because then the people who want the content would have it. And let's face it, unavailable out-of-print content has been a persistent problem with Tekumel.

That said, I think a lot of your material crosses the line from "collectible" to "archival." At that level, I think your collection is a little bit different from everybody else's.

Agreed; a lot of the pricing seems to be being pulled out of R2D2's exhaust port.

I like your distinction of 'collectable' and 'archival'; I think the same way you do, but all too many of the visitors I've made the mistake of letting in the door all had dollar signs in their eyes the moment they came down the stairs. And 'archival' does pose unique problems as well; I'm watching the dueling going on over 'who has the biggest pile of documents for D&D' at the moment, and am being quite repelled by all the posturing that's going on.

At least I have had a good time gaming this past month...

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed; a lot of the pricing seems to be being pulled out of R2D2's exhaust port.

I like your distinction of 'collectable' and 'archival'; I think the same way you do, but all too many of the visitors I've made the mistake of letting in the door all had dollar signs in their eyes the moment they came down the stairs. And 'archival' does pose unique problems as well; I'm watching the dueling going on over 'who has the biggest pile of documents for D&D' at the moment, and am being quite repelled by all the posturing that's going on.

At least I have had a good time gaming this past month...

Well good for you, that's why many of these materials were produced in the first place, right?

I'm not following the "duel" but if something is an important and unique historical document then its value, its importance, and its uniqueness really needn't depend on the size of the pile it's buried in. Not sure what that's about.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

shameless mugging to the camera by all of the players who nailed their roles and the action on the first take.

Originally Posted by Zirunel

Well good for you, that's why many of these materials were produced in the first place, right?

I'm not following the "duel" but if something is an important and unique historical document then its value, its importance, and its uniqueness really needn't depend on the size of the pile it's buried in. Not sure what that's about.

Yes, exactly! This stuff was meant to be played with, so I do. And that seems to get some people all riled up and hot under the collar.

A couple of collectors of early D&D materials are having a spat - it's part of the backwash of the Arnesonians vs. the Gygaxians 'who invented RPGs' feud. I know both of the people involved, and if they'd stop for a moment and work together we'd have a whole lot more knowledge about the early days of RPGs.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Agreed; I thought you nailed it in one, as did everybody else. The crack shooting by the Thark warrior did take me by surprise, I will admit...