Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Bren

don't worry. Be happy.

Blam!

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Blam!

Ah ha! So you're the one who shot the sheriff.



I shot the deputy.

Originally Posted by Greentongue

It is very interesting to know the why and how.
While stories are excellent, they are not as helpful as knowing the logic behind them.
The logic provides a framework for future gaming.
=

Sounds good. Phil was not always logical; the thing grew more or less organically, but when there's some logic I'll try to make sure I include it.

Originally Posted by Bren

Ah ha! So you're the one who shot the sheriff.



I shot the deputy.

And here I thought it was all a Firesign Theater reference...

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

And here I thought it was all a Firesign Theater reference...

Out of the fog...

Look! The pyramid is opening!

A metaphysics question this time:

To my understanding, Tekumel's "magic" isn't magic as customarily known in RPGs, but more like either psychic phenomena and/or manipulation of other-dimensional energies.

Did the Humanspace star-empires have these abilities? Or did they only begin to manifest once Tekumel was dumped into the pocket universe?

I.E. did the first spell-casters on Tekumel find something new, or were they rediscovering the wheel, so to speak?

Thanks! This thread rocks!

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Hello Gents,

I hope you all are well. I was just wondering what were the the facts and circumstances when PC's ended up in a Mexican jail? How did they react being in a strange land? What was the reason, if any that the Professor sent them there? How did they overcome the language barrier(unless they had their little orbs)? What time period was it?

Thanks,

H :0)

This was the 1990s group, during one of their mighty epics of plane-spanning adventure - I think it was part of their 'Hero of the Age' story line. Phil thought it would be funny to toss them in the clink in revolutionary Mexico. Information on the incident is very scarce; for some reason, the players seem unwilling to talk about it. It was pre WWI, I've been told.

Originally Posted by Atsuku Nare

A metaphysics question this time:

To my understanding, Tekumel's "magic" isn't magic as customarily known in RPGs, but more like either psychic phenomena and/or manipulation of other-dimensional energies.

Did the Humanspace star-empires have these abilities? Or did they only begin to manifest once Tekumel was dumped into the pocket universe?

I.E. did the first spell-casters on Tekumel find something new, or were they rediscovering the wheel, so to speak?

Thanks! This thread rocks!

You are correct; what we refer to on Tekumel as 'magic' is use of the ancient technologies. This very basic difference has been a major problem for RPG players over the decades, as the 'magic' in the classic RPGs has all been based on the supernatural.

The Lords of Humanspace used machines and objects such as the 'Eyes' to use the energies of The Planes Beyond to make things happen. They did not use 'magic', in any sense. They did do a lot of selective breeding to enhance certain abilities in their servants, such as what we see in the Nom, the Nylss, and the natural telepaths of the Lost City of Bayarsha and the Nyemsel Isles.

After Tekumel (and the other 772 worlds) were cast into the pocket dimension, researchers found that the 'skin' of reality between the worlds was very weak, and energies could be accessed by 'spells' and the like. So, yes, you are correct - they were rediscovering the wheel. They had the devices of the ancients to hand, could see what they produced for effects, and worked out alternate ways to reproduce these same effects.

'Wetware', instead of 'hardware', if you will.

All this is classic 1940s and 1950s F/SF, by the way.