Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

The Five Empires are totalitarian, and they make no bones about it. Law enforcement is indeed corrupt, which is why most people do it themselves.

As for ending the war, Lord Karakan and Lord Vimuhla would not care; they regard us humans as playthings, and there'll be another war along shortly. In my particular case, Lord Vimuhla is patient; I kill people for a living, after all. As I once remarked to a High Preist I know, "I am a ruthless killer so that I can be a devoted father and family man; the children are alive today because I make sure that any threats to them get dead in very short order."

And keep in mind that Phil taught himself to read all three forms of Ancient Egyptian scripts when he was eight years old - he had a huge library on Ancient Egypt!

Yeah, that's exactly the attitude-I'm just glad it's reflected in T`ekumel. Way too often I see the big, bad, totalitarian country where everyone is prone to call the local guard.
Yeah, right.

That's exactly the attitude of many PCs. I've been told it's somehow unrealistic, but admit I've still got no idea why.

Well. That's impressive, and I'm putting it mildly here!

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

That is, in point of fact, incorrect. Your first obligation as referee is to clearly communicate your expectations to your players. Your second obligation is to help your players to formulate appropriate expectations. Part of the rationale for an exotic locale is that it is DIFFERENT.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Greentongue

Clearly communicating expectations does not means that the player "gets it".
Only actual play reinforces the expectations and by then the game has started.

Excellent point!
=

Yes, misunderstandings still happen. But as long as you were clear, it's no longer your fault. Or at least you're not the only one at fault!

Originally Posted by Bren

Thanks for the extra info.

The gaming in real time is unusual. I've never done that. Time always moves faster or slower than real life. Unless there is a lot of travel, it moves slower.

I agree, that surprised me as well. Pendragon would be out of question, for instance.
Well, that's the first thing I hear about MAR Barker's style that I'm not sure I like. What's the rationale behind it?

And I found the tale of Old Geezer. The eidetic memory guy is Rob Kuntz!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Have a look at the 'Lord Meren' series of mystery novels - they will provide a lot of good ideas for Tekumel.

* quick Google search *

Dang, I'd never heard of those! Chirine, old boot, it appears I owe you yet another one...

Originally Posted by AsenRG

And I found the tale of Old Geezer. The eidetic memory guy is Rob Kuntz!

Yep. Though it's too bad that Chirine wasn't around in my heavy days of underworld crawling... a man with eidetic memory is SO damn handy to have around when you're wondering "Did we get teleported or does my map suck?"

As far as Korunme's career...

I started off as a barbarian just off the boat. I was one of the very first group of EPT players using the green covered ditto rules.

We were in the foreigner's quarter of Jakalla at first. Very soon, Al Muscielewicz, my first wife, and I formed a "mutual defense pact" so that one of us would stand watch while the others slept. The cheap flop spots in the foreigner's quarters are not safe. Rather like many modern homeless shelters, sad to say.

Very soon, Moose established himself as heavy muscle for disputes among the fishermen on the river, I was fighting in the arena for pay, and Anka'a was providing halftime entertainment as a nude bareknuckle boxer. Thus we got enough money to rent a room with a door that actually had a bar.

About the time that I had advanced enough in level that I could leave the foreigners' quarter safely, I joined the army because I figured it would give me a chance to see the world, experience exotic cultures, meet fascinating people, and kill them. I figured it would be a chance to get the "lay of the land" while at the same time being a soldier would give me a place in Tsolyani society. Other players as mentioned above were trying to ingratiate themselves into high society, play political games, etc. I just wanted a place where I knew what was expected of me. I figured if the Tsolyani army was like every other army in the world throughout time, there would be cheerfully smiling sergeants who would be only too happy to tell me exactly what was expected of me.

It also meant I didn't have to worry about the perils of being a foreigner in Tsolyani society... a soldier is a soldier.

Well, I ended up a Kasi (commander of a cohort of 400) right away. My crawl up the ranks to Molkar (commander of half a legion) and eventually Kerdu (General) of a Legion took some years. I was promoted to Kerdu of the Legion of Mnashu of Thri'il just after my marriage. The previous Kerdu Mnashu had recently been killed and my clan put me forward as the ideal candidate to take the post; young, strong, brave, willing to follow orders, not too bright, and completely expendable.

I eventually drifted out of Tekumel when I hit grad school. Korunme's wife Nlel had just become pregnant.

As far as future career, I expect ol' Korunme would come home once in a while when the Army let him, shag his wife senseless while he was home, and then wander out into the frontier again, maybe to return some day, maybe to return only as a "We regret to inform you" letter from the Imperium. Children would be raised in the clan house.

If I were lucky, I'd live out my twenty years in service and retire, perhaps get a small villa somewhere where I would live with my wives and children. I'm sure Nlel would love some junior wives to boss around, and since Nlel is both smart and kind to me, I'm sure the junior wives would be pretty.... but not QUITE as pretty as Nlel.


In such ways are foreigners assimilated into the Tsolyani Empire.

Originally Posted by Bren

Thanks for the extra info.

The gaming in real time is unusual. I've never done that. Time always moves faster or slower than real life. Unless there is a lot of travel, it moves slower.

Well, this was back in the 1974 - 1976 era; nobody really had much of any experience running a long-term RPG campaign. Phil kept very detailed records on what happened over the course of a week, and would roll for each day of the week at the beginning of a game session. if anything turned up on the encounter tables, we'd play 'Tuesday's encounter with the six bandits', and then get on with the campaign.

It got to be a running joke, to the point where I made a little folding deck chair to go with my personality figure when we went off on voyages with Capt. Harchar. We'd set sail, and on the off days when we weren't fighing off pirates or Hlyss nest-ships I's sit in me deck chair and watch the waves go by. Very restful, and very relaxing. Not that I let my guard down, of course...

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

* quick Google search *

Dang, I'd never heard of those! Chirine, old boot, it appears I owe you yet another one...

I try. I think Phil would have loved these; he would have reveled in all the little details, as he had most of them in his books - did you know he was a friend of Dr. Otto Schaden, an Egyptologist you see on TV all the time?

Of course, we would have hated it; we'd be up to our hips in murdered people instantly, and told by the Imperium to investigate the crimes forthwith. Would have been fun to watch Phil run a murder mystery, though...

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

Yep. Though it's too bad that Chirine wasn't around in my heavy days of underworld crawling... a man with eidetic memory is SO damn handy to have around when you're wondering "Did we get teleported or does my map suck?"

Thank you for the compliment! I think I can still give you the directions around the Temple of Vimuhla or the Garden of the Weeping Snows from memory - I need to get a life, eh?

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Of course, we would have hated it; we'd be up to our hips in murdered people instantly, and told by the Imperium to investigate the crimes forthwith. Would have been fun to watch Phil run a murder mystery, though...

Another advantage to the life of a career soldier... "Dammit, Jim, I'm a general, not a detective."

Of course since it's high-society I'd no doubt be called upon to be the "sharp edge" for the priest of Thumis handling the investigation, and then have to cope with the fact that the perpetrators are trying to silence HIM...