Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Tom had a habit of buying and reading stuff that was more in the genre of campaign histories; he was very well-versed in the big picture and grand strategies, but he tended to neglect the 'less popular' in style and the more tactical.

Actually, you twigged onto something there. Tom was a much, much better strategist than a tactician. At the University there were these huge multi-year strategic campaigns of all sorts and Tom did quite well, as well as the giant high-level hex and chit games like "Drang nach Osten" and some Napoleonic era game that goes from something like 1790 to 1830.

But yeah, tactics seemed to elude his genius. Still, no disgrace in being a better strategist and logician than tactician.

How interesting it is depends on relevance.

As a military officer I enjoyed learning that "Gurek" is the Yan Koryani word for "Legion." The word for "ten thousandth" would not be as interesting as I would probably use it infrequently.

And we laughed like thirteen year olds at the fact that Kaing is the word for "standard" (as in a legion's standard) and "qeng" is the word for "penis," and with a little slurring you can pronounce them very similarly.

Here's another inspirational pic for Tekumel I found on line. Ghatoni, and Serudla with a Yan Koryani officer. Anyone you recognize Chirine? Enjoy.

Shemek

Ghatoni_Serudla.jpg

From AsenRG:
I know it wasn't in a nation that practiced impalement at the time. But shipping shells that don't explode would surely catch Chirine's ire... In fact, I suspect he would react badly no matter which side he was on.
Yeah. like the time somebody tried to sell me a legion's worth of cheap and mostly defective swords.

Well, it was distressing for them, I guess...
I remember the first time someone offered me to play Vampire: the Masquerade. My reaction was "I killed a lot of PCs last month".


No need to be sorry, I doubt you'd learn anything new. I just think it's a good text for new players.
Had a look at the Kobold Press website. Interesting look into 'gamer culture', but as you say, a very good text for new people.

Oh, I'm fine with mechanistic tactics. If they let me set it up, they get what they deserve.
The reasons I don't like this one in particular are frankly unclear even to myself.
I can agree with that; while very effective, it's not very satisfying somehow. Yeah, it won the fight for me, but it made for what I would have to say was one of the least exciting games I'd ever played - no fault of Gronan's, I got the feeling at the time that he was just as disappointed as I was over the opposing side's performance. I mean, he coulda just phoned it in, to use a theatrical phrase.

Well, those terms are somewhat contradictory. The way I use them, "power gamers" probably applies, but you'd have to add "stupid" in front of "min-maxer"...
I think that the Timmy, Johnny and Spike classification* fits better in this case. In this case, we're definitely talking about a Timmy.
Min-maxers tend to be Spike.
*Likes to win with big cards, likes to use non-standard comboes even if they don't win often, likes to win, period.
I read the article; and I think you're right. Not people I'd like to game with, though.

Also, hereby we, the audience, request that you tell us of Eyloa's fried eggs, the whimsical Sarvodaya Di'ela, what happened to Arumel's daughter when he left her alone at the College for too long, and why Ais is interesting, other than being someone's bride!
No idea; this was the 1990s crowd, and they didn't publish much on their adventures. I'd suggest contacting them directly; they're the Tekumel Foundation, and I think you can reach them through their website. Sorry; just no specific data on this in my archives.

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Uncle, Haha!!! I have all the time in the world!!! So you can start with your first door, and continue on from there...I'm all ears. Or If you like, hold off on this and let's get that leather bound collector's edition of TSTPT done!!! That would be a dream come true. Thanks. Be well.

H;0)

Oh, right. Let me think about this; there were so many doors/gates/portals that got kicked in over the years. One of the hard parts about writing TSTPT is making the more-or-less random dungeon crawls of the first year or so into something that makes sense. I'll see what I can do...

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Uncle,

Would you happen to know anything about "Intermediate Tekumel" Hokun? Or can you shed any further light on the Professor's "Intermediate Tekumel"? I know we have been here before, but Lord Shemek has rekindled some of my thoughts...Any tidbits to add?

Also if you may, can you give us a overview of Avanthar? Such as its scope above, below, and beyond? And some of its lesser known oddities(we know about the Jade arch, Petal Throne, lightning bringers, etc.). Anything that is lesser known? Thank you in advance.

H:0)

PS I ask because I'm wondering now, how far off is my branch of Bethorm from the main trunk...

Well, I am a little unsure about what you're asking for. There are, as Phil points out, varying degrees - and I use that word deliberately, as Phil was an academic - of knowledge and experience with his world-setting. I've been described (by the Tekumel Foundation, of all people!) as, quote, "The Greatest Living Authority On Tekumel", unquote, and while I do know a lot about the world-setting I don't even pretend to know all of the details of the thing; which is why I devote so much time, energy, and brute-force storage space for the archives. In Phil's 'ranking system', I think I'd be classed as 'Advanced Intermediate' with only Phil himself as the only one in the top rank; other people think I'm in that same top rank, but in my opinion that's because I have access to all of his files as well as my own.

One thing to remember always about Tekumel is that Phil very deliberately never revealed everything; I got one really important bit of information from him in a casual conversation about six months before he passed away, and I'm sure that he took some of the 'deeper secrets' with him - he was always right up front about wanting people to explore his world for themselves and finding their own answers to things.

So, the Hokun. Yes, we know that they originally paid for Tekumel's terra-forming, but are not that fond of humans; my best guess, based on everything I know and have in the files, is that they were neutral in the conflict that saw Tekumel (and the other 772 worlds) dropped into bethorms, and the surviving Hokun on Tekumel have been cheesed off ever since. Would they like to see the Five Empires ruined so that they can rule this continent as well as theirs? I'd think so, from what we saw and what we know. Besides that, we have Phil's notes in the Blue Room and the Sourcebook, and some bits in his novels - the rest, we're supposed to be able to work out from all that. (I can tell you how to paint them in miniature, though.)

Avanthar. Makes Cheyenne Mountain look like a small village; Avanthar is a good-sized city built inside the mountain, with a palace complex (the Golden Tower) situated on the flattened peak amongst the gardens there. There are no 'ground-level' gates; normally, you get in via the watergate on the western flank at river level, and the entrance channel is usually blocked off from top to bottom with a massive and enormous portcullis. There is a large, military-accessable tubeway station in the very lowest levels, built there by the Ancients, and which may be even lower then the Catacombs of Silent Waiting. (It was through this station that the forces attacked Avanthar during the late civil war.)

The mountain is honeycombed with tunnels, of all sizes, and it's really much more like a city or town. There are temples, libraries, offices, armories, halls, barracks, and residences all along the outer layers of the mountain; more secret and secure portion are located deeper inside the rock. There are, to the best of my experience, no elevators; the climb up from the watergate can take most of a day to do, so visitors tend to stop off at places (like canversarai) along the way to pause and rest; the vertical nature of the place makes moving the security troops around slow and difficult.

From the outside, the mountain is sheer as it rises from the river, and the upper sections are dotted with embrasures, balconies, windows, and openings so that it looks like a huge apartment building or hotel. Topping everything is the Golden Tower, which you can see a very long distance away when the sunlight hits it.

There is no 'map' of the place; nobody is really quite sure what's located where, and you wind up using 'local guides' to navigate inside, and you get handed off from guide to guide as you go from section to section.

What else do you want to know?

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

There is this notion, I have no idea where it started, that every player must have something "fun" to do every round. The notion that "Olav and I are going to watch forward at the head of the group while Chirine and Aelfric watch behind us in the rear, because we're the four most heavily armored types" has been judged "not fun" by a subset of modern gamers. What they'd do with a regiment of foot in square while the artillery pounded the enemy cavalry, I have no idea.

Me, I always thought "accomplish your objective" was fun. But what do I know.

Does the "Tomb Complex" have wandering monsters? As referee I have found that the more things that are variable, the more surprises ** I ** can have, which helps keep it fresh and fun. Like when the wandering bugbears decide to shake down the players for a "toll" rather than just attacking.

Consult some complex table to roll on what the infantry can do to pass the time, I'd suppose. More rules and tables, the better?

Yes. They are pretty nasty, and do keep the part in their toes as when they get too wrapped up in the current situation they'll get hit in the rear. It's usually pretty funny to run, if you're the GM.

Originally Posted by Greentongue

In Chinese and Indian there is a specific word for "ten thousand" like English has "teen".
Are things like this true for Tekumel and do they add spice to the game or just confusion in your opinion?
=

Yes, they do; it's in the language books.

Phil very rarely threw any of this kind of thing into his games, unless it was important to the plot line or the flow of the adventure. I follow his lead, and only use Tsolyani words when they are needed by the flow of the game. I think they add to the setting once the players have some experience under belts, but I think that they do get in the way of new players. Insisting that new players go through some sort of hour-long 'orientation session' or 'language camp' is a great way to turn off new players; I don't do it for any game or campaign that I run. Players get a very quick fifteen-minute briefing on 'mission' and 'objective', and we're off; if they want to learn anything more 'in-depth' then that, I'll do it outside the game session.