Could be; it just seemed to us that he wasn't all that interested in the place.Originally Posted by Greentongue
Could be; it just seemed to us that he wasn't all that interested in the place.
Basically, yes. Phil's habit was to sketch out areas and peoples in broad detail, so that he could have a source of rumors and adventures, and then go back and fill in the details when he got us out there - it seemed to get his creative juices going to have us asking questions.
And keep in mind that the rest of the globe is blank; we only know a lot about one quarter of the planet's surface...
Great! We'll contact the man...
Shemek, could you PM me the same link(s), please
On a system level, that's beautiful in its simplicity.Oh. Well, what Phil used to do in most situations we simply tell us to roll percentile dice, and he'd roll against us. This was the foundation of his:
Each of us rolls percentile dice.
If you role high, your view of reality prevails.
If I role high, my view of reality prevails.
If we're close, we negotiate.
It seemed to work for us.
And you're welcome; I'm just happy to be able to be helpful!
(I'd make it "roll under attribute and compare the margins of success or failure", but that's all).
That's hardly surprising to anyone, I'd hope. A lot of people develop their characters the same way. Starting with what the system requires, than filling in the blanks as the game goes on.
It's also an informal trick for writers that getting people to read it and ask questions acts as a brainstorm. Phil was probably familiar with that advice, what with him writing novels and knowing Gordon Dickson!
The line that dissuades me from purchasing the Excellent travelling volumes is simply the one that says "print-only".
"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
Done. Check your inbox.
Shemek.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
Thank you! Though I suspect I should have asked Greentongue...
Ah well, hope he wouldn't mind it
"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
I don't mind.Thank you! Though I suspect I should have asked Greentongue...
Ah well, hope he wouldn't mind it
Certainly not a shining example of "How To Play EPT".
Just my dusting off of old memories with Actual Play.
=
From AsenRG:
On a system level, that's beautiful in its simplicity.
(I'd make it "roll under attribute and compare the margins of success or failure", but that's all
Agreed. Phil would, on occasion, ask what our stats for our PCs might be, and then use that number as the number to roll against. It's why EPT uses a d100 roll for stats. Most of the time, we'd be the ones expected to do the number crunching; we'd look at our stat, roll, and tell Phil if we'd made it or not. It was the custom of the house to tell the table what we'd rolled, so everybody could laugh and see what Phil would come up with. The custom of the house was that a drastically missed roll resulted in a comic failure, and a drastically made roll was a dramatic success. Phil loved to improvise bits of business, based on this; I think he would have been happy on the stage...
Phil strongly believed in 'keep it simple'; and keeping the game flowing around the table.
That's hardly surprising to anyone, I'd hope. A lot of people develop their characters the same way. Starting with what the system requires, than filling in the blanks as the game goes on.
It's also an informal trick for writers that getting people to read it and ask questions acts as a brainstorm. Phil was probably familiar with that advice, what with him writing novels and knowing Gordon Dickson
It seems to be; there's the mythology that Tekumel sprang from Phil's head fully formed, and is a rigid inflexible mass. It was pretty well developed, from what I can see in the 1940s and 1950s documents, but the game play in the late 1970s and early 1980s caused him to develop areas that he'd only broadly sketched out. Tekumel, in the mass, was about 90% fully formed by the middle 1950s, and about all we did was fill in the spaces around the edges.
An observation
I've been asked, every now and then, where I get my inspiration for the games I build. Well, all I can do is mention how some people do things over the water, and point folks here...
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/...-pictures.html
This is from the UK show Salute, run this past weekend. I suspect that I am more of a 'British' sort of gamer, then an 'American' one...
Or perhaps we just go back far enough that we still participate in the common roots.
EDIT: I just realized I'm using "participate" in the Platonic sense here.
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.
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