Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal - part II

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Excellent!!! Great drawing! Can't wait to see the troops...!!!

H:0)

I'll try and get the photos up as soon as I can.

Phil generated dozens of drawings like this during our games, and the brilliant people on 'Artist's Row' on the north side of the table did just as many over the years. I probably have over 350+ drawings like this in my files. Kathy did the Glorious General's legion of Mnashu of Thri'il. for example, and I used that to do the miniature version of his legion.

Originally Posted by estar

Within the core books of the Player's Handbox, Monster Manual, and DM's Guide, most of it is list of stuff, items, classes, monsters, and spells. One of the reason that D&D 5e has become people's second favorite RPGs is that the designer worked at so that that if people were not interested in "building" characters, they could use the freely available basic rules and just start off at level 1 and go on from there. There maybe a handful of choices but by and large the character creation and advancement is straightforward. At level X you get blah and blah. And it just as optimal anything else in the game. You will see players do all kinds of things with tweaked characters but if you were to crunch the numbers you are contributing as much as they are.

The rest depends on the referee. In my 5e campaign proper strategy and tactics were of vital importance. But the reason players figured it out was because the way I run things is to try present as much of a first person view as I can. I find that doing that get the players thinking the same way as if they were really there. I played under referee who didn't do that, and it came off across a lot more like a wargame with weird rules. But then again I experienced that with AD&D back in the day as well so it isn't a particular fault of 5e.

Maybe the best course is to pop over at the game store when a game is breaking up to see if you can talk to the referee about the issues you were having. Explain about the stuff you are used too and see how he handles them. To take Gronan's example of flanking, if the players you were with never try to flank, then the referee will never get to make a ruling on its effect. He may actually welcome somebody with your approach.

For example I don't need people act as actor or do funny voices. My only requirement is that you talk in first person when it comes to doing something as your character. But I enjoy the campaign more if people do that sort of thing. And there been times when the most of the group were mostly roleplaying versions of themselves in my setting and a newer player who like doing that felt inhibited. Then we get to talking some point and I am all like "Hell yeah do the funny voice or acting bit." And now they feel a lot more comfortable in playing the way they want to play.


Again hope this helps.

Yes, it does; all good advice. I'll try this, and see what happens.

In fairness to the GM, he invited me to play in this campaign, as I'm supposedly some sort of authority on Blackmoor. So, we'll see what he has to say; the party is on the verge of a major fight, and I'll be there for that as I don't want to leave them in the lurch.

Originally Posted by estar

Here a question I have that relates to the use of dioramas, props, and miniatures. How generic or specific were they? How often were they used? Like was there a village set? Or a set that was only used for the Village of (some Tekumel name).

For myself I always go for stuff I can combine in multiple way to depict "roughly" the locale the players are in at the moment. My friend, Dwayne, goes for highly detailed models that pretty much only used in a single adventure. But reading stuff about Blackmoor and Tekumel I get a sense somethings were used over and over again. And from the photos it obviously that they were a labor of love with a lot of details in them.

Well, Dave used anything he could get his hands on, and didn't worry about how 'suitable' the stuff might be - dice, plastic dinosaurs, you name it - and he just said what they were. Phil did some truly astounding miniatures - his historical armies are a wonder, especially the Ancient Egyptian one. Neither had a lot of scenery or terrain; Dave had some Life-Like model railroad trees, and Phil had The Hill and The Tree (an early Woodland Scenics product). I was the big 'scenery and terrain' guy, and after a short while we all used my stuff as it was easier - and I owned a full-sized van to haul everything in.

Having said that, everybody back in the day tried to have stuff that could be used for a wide variety of games. Storage space and money were always tight for everyone, so we had to get a lot of use out of everything. As always, I'm waaay out there on the end of the spectrum, with a 10' x 10' x 10' shed full of game stuff and a 30' x 15' basement game room where all the miniatures and books live. I have two 'dedicated' scenery sets; one is the miserable mud-brick 'castle' we took and held in Milumaniya, and the other is the decrepit Sakbe road and terrain from the battle we fought at Anch'ke. (I also have a niceer Sakbe road set.) There's a set of Pe Choi domes as well,, but they can be used for other things.

The rest of my inventory is entirely generic and modular, and I mix and match what I need for a game from that. (Photos on my blog.) I have ocean, beach, swamp, temperate, arid, and high desert terrain tiles, and swamp, temperate, mountain, and arid vegetation to go with. I also have a nice selection of hills, rocky outcrops, buildings of all kinds, and all sorts of Lost Temples and Mysterious Ruins to paly in and around. My goal was and is to have for our games all the stuff ew talked about and wished for when we were gamin out at Phil's, back in the day, and which (mostly) hadn't been invented yet.

I just like building stuff, and seeing the looks on the gamers' faces when they come down the stairs into the game room...

Originally Posted by bconsidine

I may be behind the curve here, but how many legions were invented after publication of Deeds of the Ever-Glorious, and was there an 2nd edition of that book published? Or, is there a comprehensive list of legions lurking somewhere on the interwebs?

Blaise

As far as I know there's only one edition of Deeds, although Chirine will be the one with the authoritative answer.
Check this link out: http://www.tekumel.com/gaming_toolsSLP.html

Shemek

Gary Gygax and the rest of the Lake Geneva crew never used miniatures in all the years I played with them.

Dave Arneson and the Minneapolis crew always used miniatures.

The Internet will now self-destruct.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Gary Gygax and the rest of the Lake Geneva crew never used miniatures in all the years I played with them.

Dave Arneson and the Minneapolis crew always used miniatures.

The Internet will now self-destruct.

Gronan speaks truth.
Countdown: 3...2...1...
Nerd heads exploding.

Well, it's Gary's own fault for discussing miniatures in the books.