Yep. Please see post #2592. And people wonder why, after thirty-five years of this sort of thing, I get into these 'cranky old man' moods.Originally Posted by Zirunel
My talent - and my curse is not to know what the future will be; it's knowing what the future can be. I mourn for all the lost opportunities that have been passed by, the talents squandered, and relationships ruined. I know the Tekumel that could have been...
Last edited by chirine ba kal; 04-14-2016 at 01:24 PM. Reason: typo
You should see her other stuff... :jaw-dropping:
Yep, that's them. These are the ships from the Brown and Purple Empire. They seemed to be allied in some way to the Hokun, which was enough - along with their having Lord Fu Hsi hanging around - more then enough reason to avoid them. They showed up very infrequently, and it was always very bad news when they did. We knew about them through Vrisa, who'd get the rumors and gossip from her father the Ssao, the Baron's ally. It's one of the reasons she went back home, to try and keep these people out of local politics. It got messy; she was also being considered as a possible wife for Ald, and so we had to intervene on a number of occasions to keep her from getting murdered.Chirine,
I was recently on the old Blue Room Archive and I came across this snippet from Phil. It's from a larger paragraph.
"I don't mind talking about it -- it's common knowledge in the ports of Yan Kor and Pijjena. ...The Black Ships come from over the Pole --apparently there are ways around the ice cap that lies about 30 hexes north of the northernmost hex you can see on the Zocchi map. The Black Ships contain leather-clad traders and warriors who seek gold, furs, fancy goods, etc. in Yan Kor and the south. They do not often disembark, and they never leave their ships to travel southward by land. Some seem to have sorcerous powers, like Fu Shi'i, while others are reputed to be fine warriors and sailors. They have not been a major problem, which is why they are not much mentioned in any of my books. I suppose one could take passage on one of these ships and go across the pole. But rumour has it that those kingdoms are ruled by Hokun, who use humans as slaves."
Out of curiosity, is there anything else that you could tell us about these Black Ships, and their crew? According to Phil, in the same post, he states that "Fu Shi claims to have come over the North Pole, via the "Black Ships" that sometimes appear in the northern seas." I guess that they are somehow related to the Brown and Purple Empire you mentioned a while back?
I checked the previous posts, but didn't find any mention of these ships, or the human allies (slaves?) of the Hokun that crew them, if that's who these "men" are?. If you already covered it, please point me in the right direction and I'll see what you said.
Shemek
As I recall, these ships are very similar to the ones that we use, but look 'different' in some way that Phil had a hard time describing. The black color is paint, he did say.
This is also a good point that you need to be kind of specific to trigger my memory banks. Think of my brain as the warehouse at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and you get the idea.
Maybe I need to have an index for TStPT...
What a sad story...Ah, Glorious General, I hope you have a bucket handy.
Yes. The very same. The talented artist and wonderful player. Our mutual friend. Our stalwart companion for a decade. Read and weep, my General...
So one fine Thursday night in the middling 1990s, the Missus is watching the telly in the living room when the front doorbell rings. She comes and gets me in the home office; Kathy's at the front door, and she hands me a copy of a typed letter that she's just handed to Phil before she'd walked out. She'd told Phil and the cronies - guess who? - that's she'd had enough of their antics and that she was quitting the Thursday Night Group. Permanently. To drive the point home, she'd done one of her great bits of art telling them just exactly what she thought of them.
As you are, I was - and still am - gobsmacked. Then she told me, in short pithy words, on my doorstep, why she was quitting.
The continuing and graphic in-game 'PvP' sexual harassment, sexual abuse, torture, and rape that she had had to put up with as Vrisa was made the object of hatred by the very people that she was then currently doing the artwork for - she was in the middle of the "Adventures on Tekumel" series - and that night had had the final straw when Vrisa was drugged and abducted by one of the players - guess who, my General! - who then had her stripped and sold to Gij and Sons for sale as a slave. The player - guess who, my General! - not only pocketed the sale money but sold all of her possessions and pocketed that money as well; remember the suit of steel armor that we got her as a gift? Gone, my General. Her enchanted sword, that she used to save our sorry asses on so many desperate occasions? Gone, my General.
"Oh, and by the way, could you hurry up on that artwork?" she was told. That's when she walked out.
And with that explanation, she turned and left. Never came back to Tekumel, either. I had the shakes for the next two days.
Sad little postscript: When I called to let her know about Phil's memorial event, her husband gave me a polite brush-off. Can't say as I blame them, my General.
Does this put my rage in perspective for you, my General?
Kathy and her amazing talent for illustrating Phil's imagination. Gone, my General.
But wait, isn't it "associating with slavers"? What happened to the PC's prestige afterwards?
Also, selling Vrisa as a common slave? That's like hacking a new computer prototype and selling the precious metals in it!
I wonder whether to laugh at the IC ineptitude, or at the OOC ineptitude displayed in that story.
Might it be the ships were of a different model?
(On my version of Tekumel, the main ships are praus and junks, followed by cogs, galeras, giant pseudo-balsa wood rafts and reed boats. If anyone has a brig, it would be a great asset!
I get it Phil was using different ones, but it's a topic where I've chosen to diverge from canon. Nothing says "you're not in Kansas any more" to players better than embarking a wooden ship and then having a reed boat being faster and less susceptible to storms).
An index of TStPT would definitely be a great idea!
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward." - Rocky
Was Phil the GM of that Thursday Group?Ah, Glorious General, I hope you have a bucket handy.
Yes. The very same. The talented artist and wonderful player. Our mutual friend. Our stalwart companion for a decade. Read and weep, my General...
So one fine Thursday night in the middling 1990s, the Missus is watching the telly in the living room when the front doorbell rings. She comes and gets me in the home office; Kathy's at the front door, and she hands me a copy of a typed letter that she's just handed to Phil before she'd walked out. She'd told Phil and the cronies - guess who? - that's she'd had enough of their antics and that she was quitting the Thursday Night Group. Permanently. To drive the point home, she'd done one of her great bits of art telling them just exactly what she thought of them.
As you are, I was - and still am - gobsmacked. Then she told me, in short pithy words, on my doorstep, why she was quitting.
The continuing and graphic in-game 'PvP' sexual harassment, sexual abuse, torture, and rape that she had had to put up with as Vrisa was made the object of hatred by the very people that she was then currently doing the artwork for - she was in the middle of the "Adventures on Tekumel" series - and that night had had the final straw when Vrisa was drugged and abducted by one of the players - guess who, my General! - who then had her stripped and sold to Gij and Sons for sale as a slave. The player - guess who, my General! - not only pocketed the sale money but sold all of her possessions and pocketed that money as well; remember the suit of steel armor that we got her as a gift? Gone, my General. Her enchanted sword, that she used to save our sorry asses on so many desperate occasions? Gone, my General.
"Oh, and by the way, could you hurry up on that artwork?" she was told. That's when she walked out.
And with that explanation, she turned and left. Never came back to Tekumel, either. I had the shakes for the next two days.
Sad little postscript: When I called to let her know about Phil's memorial event, her husband gave me a polite brush-off. Can't say as I blame them, my General.
Does this put my rage in perspective for you, my General?
Kathy and her amazing talent for illustrating Phil's imagination. Gone, my General.
Even the the "cutting edge" storygamers for all their talk of narrative, plot, and drama are fucking obsessed with the god damned rules they use. - Estar
Yes, Sean Connery's thumb does indeed do megadamage. - Spinachcat
Isuldur is a badass because he stopped Sauron with a broken sword, but Iluvatar is the badass because he stopped Sauron with a hobbit. -Malleus Arianorum
"Tangency Edition" D&D would have no classes or races, but 17 genders to choose from. -TristramEvans
Jesus wept.Ah, Glorious General, I hope you have a bucket handy.
Yes. The very same. The talented artist and wonderful player. Our mutual friend. Our stalwart companion for a decade. Read and weep, my General...
So one fine Thursday night in the middling 1990s, the Missus is watching the telly in the living room when the front doorbell rings. She comes and gets me in the home office; Kathy's at the front door, and she hands me a copy of a typed letter that she's just handed to Phil before she'd walked out. She'd told Phil and the cronies - guess who? - that's she'd had enough of their antics and that she was quitting the Thursday Night Group. Permanently. To drive the point home, she'd done one of her great bits of art telling them just exactly what she thought of them.
As you are, I was - and still am - gobsmacked. Then she told me, in short pithy words, on my doorstep, why she was quitting.
The continuing and graphic in-game 'PvP' sexual harassment, sexual abuse, torture, and rape that she had had to put up with as Vrisa was made the object of hatred by the very people that she was then currently doing the artwork for - she was in the middle of the "Adventures on Tekumel" series - and that night had had the final straw when Vrisa was drugged and abducted by one of the players - guess who, my General! - who then had her stripped and sold to Gij and Sons for sale as a slave. The player - guess who, my General! - not only pocketed the sale money but sold all of her possessions and pocketed that money as well; remember the suit of steel armor that we got her as a gift? Gone, my General. Her enchanted sword, that she used to save our sorry asses on so many desperate occasions? Gone, my General.
"Oh, and by the way, could you hurry up on that artwork?" she was told. That's when she walked out.
And with that explanation, she turned and left. Never came back to Tekumel, either. I had the shakes for the next two days.
Sad little postscript: When I called to let her know about Phil's memorial event, her husband gave me a polite brush-off. Can't say as I blame them, my General.
Does this put my rage in perspective for you, my General?
Kathy and her amazing talent for illustrating Phil's imagination. Gone, my General.
I'm too busy being heartbroken to be angry. For now.
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.
That is what breaks my heart...Tekumel has so much great stuff, but thinking about what it could have been. Seems the same old stuff is still happening today with prospective projects...
The Professor's, Dave S's, and Kathy's illustrations really do define Tekumel for me...
H:0)
Last edited by Hrugga; 04-14-2016 at 01:00 PM. Reason: Additions
It is indeed one of the very saddest of stories. I'm still heartbroken about it to this day - what could have been...What a sad story...
But wait, isn't it "associating with slavers"? What happened to the PC's prestige afterwards
Also, selling Vrisa as a common slave? That's like hacking a new computer prototype and selling the precious metals in it
I wonder whether to laugh at the IC ineptitude, or at the OOC ineptitude displayed in that story.
Might it be the ships were of a different model?
(On my version of Tekumel, the main ships are praus and junks, followed by cogs, galeras, giant pseudo-balsa wood rafts and reed boats. If anyone has a brig, it would be a great asset!
I get it Phil was using different ones, but it's a topic where I've chosen to diverge from canon. Nothing says "you're not in Kansas any more" to players better than embarking a wooden ship and then having a reed boat being faster and less susceptible to storms).
An index of TStPT would definitely be a great idea
In that group, getting the better of Vrisa was a big prestige item; they have the philosophy of 'the bigger my enemy, the more important I am!'. Which may be why gaming out at Phil's pretty much died, under their reign.
I would like to submit that your views on ships are still well within 'canon', whatever the heck that is. If it floated, we saw it in Phil's campaign, and I've sailed on all the types you describe. Most of them are in my basement as models to. May I commend to you this excellent blog, and an even more excellent work by the author:
http://dualdais.blogspot.com/
I will take your advice, and start on that index! Thank you!
Last edited by chirine ba kal; 04-14-2016 at 01:29 PM. Reason: typo
Yes, he was. His philosophy was that the players had 'full player agency', as I think it's called these days, and we could do anything we wanted to - the only area of the campaign that we could not affect were the plot lines for his novels. Otherwise, there were no real limits. The 1990s group was a return to the kind of very nasty power gaming that the original group - later, the Monday Night Group - enjoyed, and which we did not like; that's why we split in the first place.
The downside of this philosophy is that things can get really, really toxic. I had the same situation develop in my own game group, with one of the original 1974 players demanding that she be given first choice of anything in game and out simply because of her prestige and seniority as one of the 1974 players. She eventually drove all my younger players away, and was one of the primary causes I closed down the group.
Repeated warnings had no effect. She was simply perfect, in every way, in her view and the rest of us didn't matter.
I frankly don't miss her.
Welcome to the last twenty-five years of my life, my General. (Now do you get an idea of why I didn't go to Gary Con?)
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