Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by d(sqrt(-1))

Given the way I think Tekumel often works (which may be incorrect), I'd maybe go with some sort of gene-engineered/other-planar powered virus/bacteria that is what animates the Shedra (a la many zombie films), and is therefore also present on their equipment. The Necrofacture spell probably just provides the other-planar power to allow the virus to do its stuff.

Or no reason, and that's just how it is...

I tried to answer this last night, but the reply got lost in a connection burp. So...

Um, I don't think that there's a 'correct' or 'incorrect' to this. Phil could change a light bulb, but he was very hazy on how it produced light. One of the more unpleasant conversations at a convention was when a fan asked him how the Eyes work. He said he didn't know, just that they did, and the fan berated him for not having thought out his world setting in enough detail. Whatever you come up with to explain how stuff works may very well be how it works - we have no idea, just that is does. See also Clarke's Law...

Originally Posted by d(sqrt(-1))

I'm thinking of a nice trip to the scary Sarku temple in Katalal to flog off the swords, where they have a civilised conversation (and the equivalent of tea and biscuits) with a priest-appraiser who is very polite and offers them a good price, gets a scribe to write out a receipt for the transaction (with Imperial taxes deducted, of course) and sends them on their way. Of course, if they find any more he would be very interested to have first option on buying them, and any further information would be useful too.

I think the PCs could be quite worried about it afterwards...

Sounds like a lot of fun - I know I'd be worried!

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Gottcha!!! It's been awhile. Now I know I need to reread again. I was kinda waiting for the whole manuscript, book form and all, special edition hardcover with slipcase and silk book mark... ;0) By Late October I should get back on the Tekumel track full time. Hopefully I will have some intelligent questions for you then. Sometimes it's hard to juggle real world and what keeps us sane and entertained. Thank you as always.

H:0)

No problem! You're very welcome!

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

I always tried really, really hard to make sure the OAL had no interest in me. Once Phil realized that I really didn't have any nefarious plans other than "be a good and loyal soldier" it wasn't much of an issue.

For me, that is. There's always SOME player character who thinks he can outsmart the Secret Police. "When we return to Be Sy you will be pulled apart by wild Feshenga, for the plaudits of the troops and the amusement of the children."



*2500 XP to identify THAT without checking

All very true. We made sure not to get officially noticed.

(Raises had) I know! I know!

Originally Posted by d(sqrt(-1))

Ok, another Tekumel question, this time regarding tubeways. If you summon a tubeway car, and you don't have a golden disc of advancing to glory, does the car have pre-programmed destinations anyway? i.e. does the disc over-ride the normal settings? Or do you need the disc for it to do anything? Presumably if you summon a car and don't do anything with it, after a while it will disappear off somewhere else, depending on what the central system thinks needs doing somewhere.

Did you ever have an journeys interrupted or redirected because someone/thing somewhere else had called a car?

If you don;t have a disc, then you still have the ten destination buttons on the control console. These hold the last ten destinations programmed by the last person who loaded their disc - which could have been before the Time of Darkness! Pushing these will take you places, but you have no real control over the choice of destinations. Loading the disc seems to 'wipe the memory', and substitutes your destinations for any existing ones.

If you summon a car and don't use it, in our experience it just sits there in the station until you do use it. But, I should also say that we always opened the hatch, to see what might be inside, and the cars will not move - we hope! - with the hatch open. I would assume, like you, that a closed car would be 're-used' by the system to meet traffic demands; we just never did leave a car unused, as we usually needed to get out of the station in a hurry...

Yes, we had a few very bad moments when the car stopped and then went off again; we didn't know if somebody was calling for a car, or what. From what we could tell, once you start a journey the car will finish it - but - if you don't get the hatch open when you arrive, your car can indeed be 're-dispatched' to a different station. At this point, an adventure ensues, as you try to keep the car in the face of whomever has called for one. Same for cars stopping in the 'junction' and repair stations; if you don't hit a destination button, the car goes back into the pool and you can be off to some other station willy-nilly.

It's one of the reasons that we had qualms about using the system - while it's very reliable, most of the time, we really didn't have much control over it.

I think I'm all caught up, again. We were out yesterday getting one of my nieces married off, and I had connection issues last night. Up early to give #2 Daughter a ride home, and now off to get a snack. The air skiffs look nice, I think; the weapons mounts are coming along nicely. Still have to add the detachable motors and props, once I find my stash of rare-earth magnets.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

(Raises had) I know! I know!

Of course you know!

Originally Posted by d(sqrt(-1))

Have read all those though, so can use all suggestions, and then choose an explanation. As Prof Barker said I believe it up to us to make Tekumel our own, as we can't run it the same way as he did, especially as a lot of underlying rationales are unstated. Also I was suggesting a non-DNA based reason!

Well, sure. But my point is that to most gamers nowadays, the tropes of 30s science fiction and fantasy will feel far more exotic and alien than the tropes of modern science fiction and fantasy.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Of course you know!

< chortle >

It's because I have powers beyond the ken of mortal men! Pick a card, any card...

(One can learn so much about playing the NPCs from that film...)