Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by AsenRG

If that's an actual event, can we get some more info on the motives, means and implications of this?

No, it's something I invented for this conversation.

In other words, "I made up some shit I thought would be fun."

On a completely different subject, over the last couple of days I've had the itch to create a miniatures wargame called "ROCKETSHIPS!" based on space combat as it was portrayed in the 1930s Flash Gordon serials, Fireball XL5, and the Space Angel cartoons.

From AsenRG:

Three settings? Tekumel, Barsoom...which is the third one?

Ancient Egypt, specifically the Eighteenth Dynasty, from the "Lord Meren" series. By coincidence, I was at the FLGS yesterday on my way home from work, and they are closing out their 25mm historical miniatures lines. I got 150 Ancient Egyptian figures for $35; I wanted just the chariots, but I coudn't resist the bargain.

I'd bet on them being some of the original colonists who found what they can do...
Oops, Lord of Light was mentioned already, right?

Yes, it was.

Kindly prepare to answer questions until the Second Coming, Uncle!

Not a problem; as long as people find me useful, I'll be around.

There was also a big period when gunpowder was invented, but not guns. You need high-precision instruments and materials that are in short supply in order to make a barrel, too, so the idea of using them as mass weapons might be out...
I mean, early guns win battles when they're used as an weapon you can hand to new recruits, compared to needing a lifetime of practice for shooting the bow.

Exactly. It's jut not a cultural thing; better and more available weapons are to hand.

Link?

I'll find it; it's on my blog, too. Maybe Zirunel will answer, as well; always fun to hear from him!

A whole dagger? Not a steel one, I guess?

Nope; the cheapest chlen-hide.

I wonder, what would a normal NPC do if you need to sue one of them?

Good question! They never really interact with individual people - they're too private - so I think the PC's clan would simply 'settle out of court' and pay the PC. This would also save the PC and the clan the utter social shame of messing with them, too.

And allow me to thank you for that!
I can adapt my own rules just fine! It's the experience of playing in Tekumel that I find more important.

Exactly; it's a world-setting, not a set of rules. Like Greyhawk and Blackmoor were. A ways back, A guy wanted me to do a new edition of my miniatures rules for Troll Lords, and I got started on the second edition. To see what kind of thing that they were doing, I looked at the d20 Blackmoor that they did. Didn't like it; too much game mechanics and rules, and too litte Dave Arneson and Blackmoor. Eventually, the guy got back to me with a list of what Troll Lords wanted 'fixed', as they thought that the game would not sell unless I added things like cavalry and black-powder artillery. The project foundered when I declined to churn out a copy of "Chainmail"...

Playtesters for Qadardalikoi? Where do I sign up and how many virgins need to donate blood for the ink?

I'll drop you an e-mail when I have something useful.

Ironically, when I read the question, I thought "players aren't bad enough for you" first...

Well, I've gotten really tired of the sniping; we used to have to waste a lot of time in game sessions dealing with the trolls in the other group, and later with the courtiers around the Petal Throne. Which is why I refuse to be part of any business or publishing venture, any more.

Frankly, I'd rather make them learn a living language. Mandarin or hindi might not be a bad idea, now that I think of it...

Urdu or Pashtun; it'd be funnier.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

On a completely different subject, over the last couple of days I've had the itch to create a miniatures wargame called "ROCKETSHIPS!" based on space combat as it was portrayed in the 1930s Flash Gordon serials, Fireball XL5, and the Space Angel cartoons.

I have the rocket ships in the basement, courtesy of Target Stores; figures are also available.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

No, it's something I invented for this conversation.

In other words, "I made up some shit I thought would be fun."

Good job.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

From AsenRG:

Three settings? Tekumel, Barsoom...which is the third one?

Ancient Egypt, specifically the Eighteenth Dynasty, from the "Lord Meren" series. By coincidence, I was at the FLGS yesterday on my way home from work, and they are closing out their 25mm historical miniatures lines. I got 150 Ancient Egyptian figures for $35; I wanted just the chariots, but I coudn't resist the bargain.

Heh. The only Egypt-basedgame I know is Zenobia: Aegypt. Check it out, it's free and it consists mainly of a setting with simple 2d6-based rules that I suspect you'd like.

http://www.paulelliottbooks.com/free-rpgs.html

Kindly prepare to answer questions until the Second Coming, Uncle!

Not a problem; as long as people find me useful, I'll be around.

Well, we've got more questions incoming, no doubt.

Link?

I'll find it; it's on my blog, too. Maybe Zirunel will answer, as well; always fun to hear from him!

Thank you in advance!

A whole dagger? Not a steel one, I guess?

Nope; the cheapest chlen-hide.

Yeah. In Japanese settings, they'd send him a kaishakunin...but at least they'd give him a sharp wakizashi.

I wonder, what would a normal NPC do if you need to sue one of them?

Good question! They never really interact with individual people - they're too private - so I think the PC's clan would simply 'settle out of court' and pay the PC. This would also save the PC and the clan the utter social shame of messing with them, too.

So, even whole clans don't mess with them? Would that change if their relative was offended enough that he or she refused payment?
I suspect at least the Ndalu clan would take the offer.

Exactly; it's a world-setting, not a set of rules. Like Greyhawk and Blackmoor were. A ways back, A guy wanted me to do a new edition of my miniatures rules for Troll Lords, and I got started on the second edition. To see what kind of thing that they were doing, I looked at the d20 Blackmoor that they did. Didn't like it; too much game mechanics and rules, and too litte Dave Arneson and Blackmoor. Eventually, the guy got back to me with a list of what Troll Lords wanted 'fixed', as they thought that the game would not sell unless I added things like cavalry and black-powder artillery. The project foundered when I declined to churn out a copy of "Chainmail"...

So, they wanted you to recreate Chainmail? Ah well, I guess it couldn't be helped.

Fun fact: two out of my five favourite OSR games are actually based on Chainmail, though I'd never read Chainmail.

Playtesters for Qadardalikoi? Where do I sign up and how many virgins need to donate blood for the ink?

I'll drop you an e-mail when I have something useful.

Great! In the meantime, I'll go solve the virgins issue!

Well, I've gotten really tired of the sniping; we used to have to waste a lot of time in game sessions dealing with the trolls in the other group, and later with the courtiers around the Petal Throne. Which is why I refuse to be part of any business or publishing venture, any more.

I can figure why...
OTOH, Uncle, I think you should just use those people's characters as antagonists for your games. It seems they wouldn't act so smart as to always win, and it seem like their usual style would make it easy for the players to get invested in defeating them!

Frankly, I'd rather make them learn a living language. Mandarin or hindi might not be a bad idea, now that I think of it...

Urdu or Pashtun; it'd be funnier.

Sure it would be funnier, but if I make them study a language, I'd want it to be a language they could actually use outside the game. Urdu or Pashtun wouldn't be nearly as useful, it's easier to find a native translator for those.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Eventually, the guy got back to me with a list of what Troll Lords wanted 'fixed', as they thought that the game would not sell unless I added things like cavalry and black-powder artillery.

Dur?

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Heh. The only Egypt-basedgame I know is Zenobia: Aegypt. Check it out, it's free and it consists mainly of a setting with simple 2d6-based rules that I suspect you'd like.

http://www.paulelliottbooks.com/free-rpgs.html

So, even whole clans don't mess with them? Would that change if their relative was offended enough that he or she refused payment?
I suspect at least the Ndalu clan would take the offer.


So, they wanted you to recreate Chainmail? Ah well, I guess it couldn't be helped.
Fun fact: two out of my five favourite OSR games are actually based on Chainmail, though I'd never read Chainmail.

I can figure why...
OTOH, Uncle, I think you should just use those people's characters as antagonists for your games. It seems they wouldn't act so smart as to always win, and it seem like their usual style would make it easy for the players to get invested in defeating them!

I'll have a look - thank you for the tip!

No, nobody messes with Striding Incantation. It's very difficult to persuade them to perform in the first place, an they don't charge fees. One makes a substantial donation / gift to them for their deigning to show up at your affair, and it is considered a huge social 'victory' that they showed up. The Ndalu clan is their firm allies, and will not even consider taking commissions regarding them. They keep to themselves, give no trouble to to anyone, and do their performances for the people, clans and temples if they think the request is noble and proper. They do not even reply to anyone who is considered to be the least little bit 'un-respectable' or 'un-cultured'. About the only 'command performances' they do are for the current occupant of the Petal Throne itself; even Imperial personages make their requests carefully and politely. To do anything else would be ignoble and gauche, in the worst possible way; one would be socially cut dead instantly - at best!

If they had said up front that they wanted a new version of "Chainmail", I would have refused and sent them elsewhere. It smelled like somebody was trying to get around WotC, and I was happy to get away from the whole thing.

Oh, I have my methods. You will see, in due time, how I deal with these people. Revenge, as some body once said, is a dish best served cold: I have managed to outlive quite a few of my tormentors over the years, and I expect to outlive these. I have even done miniatures of some of them, so they are literally 'figures of fun' in my games...

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Dur?

Why, yes, my General. My rules, and the world-setting that they are based in, are fatally flawed because - since this is a Fantasy Role-playing World - there is no horsed cavalry or real artillery. There are also none of the required fantasy elements such as elves, dwarves, orcs, and the like, and so the rules needed to be substantially fixed to have all this material in them. Otherwise, I was told, the 'market demographic' of D&D players would not buy them.

Basically, the whole thing smelled like somebody was trying to get around whatever copyrights somebody else might have - this was also the time when there was much talk about 'Chainmail - The Movie', which was a really obvious try at getting past WotC and which spawned a very interesting lawsuit that I followed with much fascination.

Eventually, I pointed out that there was a company called 'Games Workshop' which had the kind of game that they really wanted, and that I had no interest in producing yet another bog-standard set of 'fantasy miniatures rules'. Or any other set of fantasy miniatures rules, as the market is littered with the corpses of game companies that have tried this over the past thirty years - leaving a trail of discontinued miniatures lines in their wake, too.

See also my being able to buy up literally hundreds of miniatures over the years, as companies collapse and leave retailers with walls and walls full of miniatures on display. Figures that I like, which I can't afford at retail, I'm getting at 75% off or even deeper discounts.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I'll have a look - thank you for the tip!

You're welcome, Uncle! Paul Elliott makes really fun games, and I'm sure the Zenobia (and supplements) line is something you and the Glorious General would approve of...

No, nobody messes with Striding Incantation. It's very difficult to persuade them to perform in the first place, an they don't charge fees. One makes a substantial donation / gift to them for their deigning to show up at your affair, and it is considered a huge social 'victory' that they showed up. The Ndalu clan is their firm allies, and will not even consider taking commissions regarding them. They keep to themselves, give no trouble to to anyone, and do their performances for the people, clans and temples if they think the request is noble and proper. They do not even reply to anyone who is considered to be the least little bit 'un-respectable' or 'un-cultured'. About the only 'command performances' they do are for the current occupant of the Petal Throne itself; even Imperial personages make their requests carefully and politely. To do anything else would be ignoble and gauche, in the worst possible way; one would be socially cut dead instantly - at best!

Hmm, now I wonder what would happen if a member of Striding Incantation decides to "go rogue" and starts abusing that...
Imagine one of the Monday/Thursday Night players playing one, for clarity

If they had said up front that they wanted a new version of "Chainmail", I would have refused and sent them elsewhere. It smelled like somebody was trying to get around WotC, and I was happy to get away from the whole thing.

Yeah, bad idea. WotC have great lawyers, I hear.

Oh, I have my methods. You will see, in due time, how I deal with these people. Revenge, as some body once said, is a dish best served cold: I have managed to outlive quite a few of my tormentors over the years, and I expect to outlive these.

I like better what they said in "A Necklace of Skulls": "The best revenge is to live better than your enemy".

I have even done miniatures of some of them, so they are literally 'figures of fun' in my games...

That's the spirit! Also, a good start for what I suggested.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I have managed to outlive quite a few of my tormentors over the years, and I expect to outlive these. I have even done miniatures of some of them, so they are literally 'figures of fun' in my games...

Put any of the minis in a High Ride diorama?