Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Styrofoam is really hard to work with, actually. It's easy to mold in shape, but once molded it's very fragile if you try to cut on it.

Gods, yes. See later response!

I think we're all caught up. Got the second coat of silver on the car; got the wood form for the aircar, inspected and approved new granddaughter Naomi, wished Middle / Third Daughter a Happy Birthday, talked to Fourth and Fifth Daughters in Zurich, took Second Daughter to work,found out that Fifth Daughter will be moving in with us later this year while she goes to classes here in the US. It's been a busy day.

Oh, also got a platoon of Silver Suits prepped for basing and painting; I need to give my Ssu and Ahoggya space marines something to shoot at.

Ahoggya space marines? Hmm... Nadrek, his name was?

"Then poison breathing, frigid blooded Nadrek came to town,
And said that we should have a drink to wet our whistles down,
King's Ransom wasn't Aqua Regia, which he drank with vim,
But all we Earthmen cooled our beers by setting them on him.

All clear and on green, QX, QX..."

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Ahoggya space marines? Hmm... Nadrek, his name was?

"Then poison breathing, frigid blooded Nadrek came to town,
And said that we should have a drink to wet our whistles down,
King's Ransom wasn't Aqua Regia, which he drank with vim,
But all we Earthmen cooled our beers by setting them on him.

All clear and on green, QX, QX..."

Ah, what fun!

I'll have to get some photos of the Ahoggya in their suits; they're made with flight stands in the form of the reaction jets' blast, and look the business!

I wanted to comment on all of your very kind posts, earlier today.

I guess that I view this little corner of the Internet as that corner booth in the pub where the regulars congregate to have a drink or three and swap tall stories. ("Tales from the White Hart", anyone?) People come and people go, and sometimes there's somebody who drops by and makes noises and then leaves. That's fine, by me; this is not my thread, I think, but all of yours. I'm here to be asked about what we did, back in the dawn of time, and what I'm doing these days in that same style. If there's anything you can take away from this thread, and use in your games, please feel free - it's why I'm here.

And I think I'd like to leave it at that. I've been baited a lot of times, over the years, and I've found that simply being as kind as I can and inviting the person into the discussion seems to work best for me. I will freely admit that I have some very strong opinions, and that I freely express them; I just hope that I can do so and still be helpful and hopefully civil in the process.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

1. Not bad really. Like I said earlier...

2. I don't think I will now. Amber holds a special place for me, and is something that has provided countless hours of enjoyment for me. I have tried to incorporate elements of Amber into nearly every campaign I have run over the years. Sometimes blatant elements, and some times subltle ones. It's kind of the same with Leguin's Earthsea trilogy. I have incorporated a lot of her stuff into my games. I guess this is why I don't read "new" fantasy novels these days. The most recent or modern fantasy I have read is G.R.R. Martin's stuff. He's got some good story ideas, and I do enjoy watching Game of Thrones, but IMO he really is a shit writer. His prose is nothing special, just easy to read quickly. The only other author I can think of who is as repetitive in vocabulary and imagery is Moorcock from 40 years ago when he was in his "sardonic" phase. In fact, Martin kind of reminds me of Moorcock, although I think that Moorcock was more inspired and sometimes rougher that Martin is, if you know what I mean? Kind of like Chirine I tend to re-read the old ones I have enjoyed for years. I just recently finished reading Phil's novels, which when coupled with this thread has really inspired me as a DM. The guys are really into the game.

3. I agree. I just wish I could find more stuff that holds my attention.

Shemek

Agreed on the first two counts, as for the third, I'd recommend John Brunner and K.J.Parker.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I think we're all caught up. Got the second coat of silver on the car; got the wood form for the aircar, inspected and approved new granddaughter Naomi, wished Middle / Third Daughter a Happy Birthday, talked to Fourth and Fifth Daughters in Zurich, took Second Daughter to work,found out that Fifth Daughter will be moving in with us later this year while she goes to classes here in the US. It's been a busy day.

Oh, also got a platoon of Silver Suits prepped for basing and painting; I need to give my Ssu and Ahoggya space marines something to shoot at.

It seems like a rather busy day, full of family matters. Maybe we should use it for inspiration for "a day of the family life of a Tekumeli scholar"?

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

The cool way to do this:

Contact Howard Fielding, he of The Tekumel Project. Ask him very nicely to contact his and my friend, who is a long-time Tekumel fan who does three-dee printing; he works for a prototyping company, and has been doing some very - and I mean very!!! - cool models for Tekumel. he is one of Howard's suppliers, and maybe they'd be able to do something. (I'd do the design for free, in trade for one of the models!)

The process is amazing; it can do hollow objects, and the resin is quite strong.

That sounds very interesting... He wouldn't even have to completely hollow it out, only the passenger/crew compartment. What diameter sphere would be required for this? I believe you used a 6" one for your model.

Shemek.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I wanted to comment on all of your very kind posts, earlier today.

I guess that I view this little corner of the Internet as that corner booth in the pub where the regulars congregate to have a drink or three and swap tall stories. ("Tales from the White Hart", anyone?) People come and people go, and sometimes there's somebody who drops by and makes noises and then leaves. That's fine, by me; this is not my thread, I think, but all of yours. I'm here to be asked about what we did, back in the dawn of time, and what I'm doing these days in that same style. If there's anything you can take away from this thread, and use in your games, please feel free - it's why I'm here.

And I think I'd like to leave it at that. I've been baited a lot of times, over the years, and I've found that simply being as kind as I can and inviting the person into the discussion seems to work best for me. I will freely admit that I have some very strong opinions, and that I freely express them; I just hope that I can do so and still be helpful and hopefully civil in the process.

I have never understood the motivation behind trying to stir something up for no reason. If you don't find the topic interesting then just, pardon my French, fuck off! People like this...

Shemek

I have never heard of John Brunner and K.J.Parker. I'll have to look for them next time I go to my local used bookstore. Thank you for the recommendations.

Shemek

With the moronic Tor articles and what not, I got to thinking. What are some of the favourite books or series of the regulars on this thread?
I originally was going to make this post "If you could only take 5 F/SF series or books, which authors' works would you choose?", but this became too limiting for me.

I know for me, and in no particular order, they are:

U.K. Leguin, The Earthsea trilogy. (Didn't really care for the later books added to the original three).
R.E. Howard: The Complete Chronicles of Conan.
M.A.R. Barker: All five books. (No surprise here I guess. Even though Phil may have not been "the best" writer out there I like Tekumel!)
J. Bellairs: The Face in the Frost.
R. Zelazny: The Chronicles of Amber.
J. Crowley: The Deep,
C.A. Smith: Eidolon and Other Tales,
H.P.Lovecraft (any of the Cthulhu stories, although my favourites are: The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness, and The Whisperer in Darkness),
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion (Not too fussy on LOTR these days).
M. W. Wellman: any compilation of his Silver John stories.
H. Harrison: either the Stainless Steel Rat, or The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted.

The funny thing is I've incorporated elements from all of these books into all of my campaigns over the years. Cthulhu works just fine on Tekumel, especially if you make him (it?) one of the Pariah Gods.

Shemek.