Originally Posted by chirine ba kal
Ah, yes, "The Brain of Morbius."
Phil was an avid Dr. Who fan, back when it was on at 11:30 PM on Public TV. I remember us all clustering around the little TV in the kitchen.
Phil was an avid Dr. Who fan, back when it was on at 11:30 PM on Public TV. I remember us all clustering around the little TV in the kitchen.
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.
No. When I started playing, the original group had been going for about two years, and had gone up to about third to sixth level (more or less; Phil didn't worry about 'level', very much.) So, Phil rolled a four-sider and told me that I should be a third-level PC, in order to be able to play on the same terms as the rest of the group. I was the last PC rolled up in his campaign in EPT:
STR: 86 INT: 98 CON: 97 PSY: 00 DEX: 89 COM: 12
Phil took a look at the dice rolls, and told me that if I wasn't going to be a magic user he'd smack me up the side of the head. He meant it, too. So, I was 'born', and we were off and running.
Again, no, unless the players very specifically request that I do so. The vast majority of people I get to play with want to get into the world setting as quickly as possible, and this approach can take a while.
What I do, and what has worked very, very well over the past 15 years that I've been running the current group, Is to do the same as Phil did - have the players roll for PCs between first and third level, in whatever set of rules they like. (I should note that I have PCs rolled up in EPT, S&G, "Gardaisiyal", and T:EPT; I do the number crunching 'off-stage' - pay no attention to the computer behind the curtains...)
I then give the players some light 'backstory'; they are the 'country cousins', sent by their clans to their relatives in 'The Big City' to get an education and some finishing, as well as do some networking and influence-peddling. This allows for the players not knowing much about the world-setting, and then being able to let them learn about it in very short order; I always allow them to read the background materials, which is why I have so many bookshelves in the game room, and this also allows for the players knowing more then maybe they really should.
This has seemed to work out very well, over the years, and I am told by the players that they like this approach. I have had players ask about playing non-humans, and I'll do this if they can demonstrate some 'acting ability'; I've had very good Tinaliya and Pe Choi, for example. Players get to go off on 'adventures', have a good time, and learn about the world all in one campaign, and it's seemed to worked for both me and them.
I've never read the set of rules that you mention. Where can I find a copy, please?
And remember when KCTA moved it to the 7:00 p.m. time slot on Thursdays, right before the game sessions, and we'd all dread what phil would see on the telly?
Phil was an avid Dr. Who fan, back when it was on at 11:30 PM on Public TV. I remember us all clustering around the little TV in the kitchen.
Google being my friend, I've now had a look at this set of rules and I think one could certainly use a lot of the system to play in the Tekumel world-setting.
What I find fascinating - and this is not intended to be any sort of negatve response to your very good question! - is that the existence of this kind of rules set is filling a need in the market. Not that I should be surprised - I go all the way back to Mark Pettigrew's "Flashing Blades", for heaven's sake - but back in our day we sort of absorbed this kind of thing by osmosis. we had all seen innumerable swashbuckler movies, over the years, and we all sort of assumed that that was the kind of thing we were doing - right up there with Conan, Brak mac Morn, Fafherd, and the Grey Mouser. Not that we considered ourselves anywhere nearly as good as those seasons professionals, but they were our lodestones.
Like the time we wanted to have a quiet chat amongst ourselves while at the siege of Sunraya, during the NE Frontier campaign, so we PCs had a picnic lunch packed and trotted off to one of the bastions that was still in contention. We had a great time - we played this just like the scene in "Four Musketeers", including OG observing "This wine just does not travel very well!" when the neck of the bottle was shot off by a hostile crossbowman. (Lucky NPC dice roll, there.)
I think it's the time factor; back then, we didn't have the wealth of rules sets available today, so we had to use other models of play...
Fascinating...
And remember when KCTA moved it to the 7:00 p.m. time slot on Thursdays, right before the game sessions, and we'd all dread what phil would see on the telly?
Phil was not afraid to buckle a swash or two. Remember how delighted he was by the Dino De Laurentis version of "Flash Gordon?"
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.
Well, yes! He'd grown up with the serials and the comics, and seeing it all in full over-the-top color simply filled him with joy and happiness. And we were off in some damn spaceship right afterwards, too...
Phil was not afraid to buckle a swash or two. Remember how delighted he was by the Dino De Laurentis version of "Flash Gordon?"
I'm just fascinated how the passage of the decades has made a difference in how people play games...
Thanks for the explanation!
I count that as high praise! Thank you for having such a high opinion of my not humble enough self!
My wife just had a good laugh at this list of unacceptable behaviours. She's known for considering every single one of them part of the standard operating procedure for her PCs. Me too, come to think of it. And our players are learning!2. Well, it's the 'Evil' part; in the original D&D gameplay in the late 1970's 'Evil' characters were all pretty much cardboard cut-out NPCs and considered fair game for PCs, who were all - almost by definition - The Good Guys. Here I am, playing an Evil High Priest, doing all the nasty stuff reviled in D&D; human sacrifice, hanging out with courtesans, blasting people into oblivion, leading armies of Evil across the land, etc. (The usual things a ranking Priest of Vimuhla does in his day job; I was also an errand boy for the Imperium in my spare time.) This always caused a ruckus at Gen Con, as players' brains just stopped when the subject came up in conversation - it was one of the things that got Tekumel the reputation that it seems to have.
This cultural background isn't exactly unfamiliar to us, either. I grew up on a mix of Bulgarian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Scandinavian, German, Japanese and Central Asian tales and legends. So have most of my regular players.Phil pointed out in an interview once that all of the religions of the Five Empires are 'evil', in comparison to Western Christianity, especially as is often practiced here in the upper Midwest. Culturally, Tekumel's religions are much closer theologically and ethically to non-Western ones, which should be no surprise given Phil's cultural background. (See also The Great Satanic D&D Scare; I had to live through that.) Tekumel, Phil once said, is Mughal India and not Victorian England - hence the issues that quite a few people had with my PC.
Thing is, these things don't shock us, it's just stuff that has happened and still happens.
Glad to hear that. Passing on the next...3. Agreed; my point, exactly.
Just one more question. Do the amulets work?4. I didn't make him a god; the locals took one look at the talking fish and got the idea by themselves on what was a spectactular dice roll by Phil for their reactions to this rather unusual happening in the marketplace in the city of Khirgar. It was a wonder, as people said at the time, and an obvious manifestation of the divine. (Rather like the events in "Life of Brian", where things go badly for a Zealot resistance fighter while being chased by the Romans, actually.) There is still a little shrine to The Blue Fish in Khirgar, just of the Street of The Blue Fish which happens to be behind the Gate of The Blue Fish (you can see a pattern, here), where devotees of the Temple of Ksarul go to ask for The Blue Fish's help and ask him to use his influence with the Doomed Prince of the Blue Room. On what, I have no idea; I just make a donation to help with the up-keep of the shrine. They do sell little blue ceramic amulets there, which are supposed to protect one from drowning.
No garden around, I can bring stuff only to my country house.5. Yes; my UK friends have made a cult of garden sheds, as a result.
Well, I get that. I just don't want players mentioning them too often on the table!6. The Pythons are one of those things we here in the US gaming scene grew up with, like the Tom Baker 'Dr. Who" episodes. (like the Sisterhood of Karn: "Sacred Flame! Sacred Fire!" You can guess who showed up very shortly at the Temple of Vimuhla with their chanting...) They are a handy source of surreal comic relief when the dice call for such...
Well Chirine ba Kal hasn't drowned, has he?
That whole fish bit reminds me of Issek of the Jug.
Currently playing: WEG Star Wars D6
My Blog: For Honor...and Intrigue
Gronan now owes me 7 beers and I owe him 1 beer.
Well, swashbuckling is something that was obviously popular with your generation. It's popular with people my age as well, but not with people several years older.
Today, the place of the swashbuckling and swords and sorcery is mostly taken by urba fantasy, according to my empirical observations.
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