Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Well,I downloaded the first for free, will tell you more when I get to reading it.

Very cool! This is a manifestation of the cottage industry that has grown up over the past few years of movies and books that claim to be able to reveal the secrets of the early days of gaming. Me, I'd much rather read Gronan, Rob Kuntz, or people like that who were there at the table and see what they have to say.

(And anyone who uses 'Lance' and 'Earnest' doesn't really have a good feel for the people he's writing about, but that's my personal opinion.)

Not that I'm going there with my little effort; my books is simply about a bunch of friends sitting around a table having fun, told from the point of view of the people that they played. I've been taken to task for this by a number of people, who seem to want a) a new RPG, b) a "significant historical document" along the lines of Jon's book, c) a scandal-filled book detailing who was diddling who when, d) a Tekumel version of the 'Harry Potter' series, e) a book glorifying people who didn't play with us in the group but who are Very Important People In Gaming, f) A Serious Literary Work, g) a blow-by-blow account of how Phil rolled dice, h) anything but what I'm actually doing. I've been advising these folks to get another writer, as I'm not writing any of these other books; somebody else can interview me and do it themselves, if they want it that badly.

Originally Posted by Zirunel

Happy New year to one and all, on this, the seemingly most vibrant forum there is for discussion of matters Tekumel.

Best wishes for our host Chirine and for your family. I hope this will be the year of "To Serve the Petal Throne," and so much more beside. Keep the Flame burning!

And to Gronan, I hope this will be the year of your "fucking book" as you put it. Seriously, it sounds like it is coming together and I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you! I think that the reason why we're doing so well is that we all have different viewpoints and experiences, and we're willing to share them with people in a 'mature, adult' manner. I could be wrong, of course.

I am hoping to finish the book this year; while I am functional on this particular machine (a MacBook laptop), the Missus has found a way to get the big G5 'billboard' back up and running - it's just easier for me to use.

Yep; same here.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

h) anything but what I'm actually doing.

I know the feeling. It kind of makes me feel bad when people want tales of "a typical adventure," because all I remember are the pratfalls. To paraphrase Tolstoy, "Successful adventures are all alike, but unsuccessful adventures are each disastrous in their own way."

You know? I've got a hard drive full of half finished stories and games and programs (I dabble). It's really hard to stay motivated.

I always feel like an imitator or a poser.

At least you guys are the real deal. The other people who've written histories might not be posers but they aren't speaking from first hand experience.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

I know the feeling. It kind of makes me feel bad when people want tales of "a typical adventure," because all I remember are the pratfalls. To paraphrase Tolstoy, "Successful adventures are all alike, but unsuccessful adventures are each disastrous in their own way."

Agreed. We had over a dozen years with Phil, every Thursday night, no matter what; that's 12x52x4.5 (hours, average) for about 2,800 hours of game time - which does not include the time we spent simply sitting in his living room and talking, or all the time and effort we put in as his publishers. Like you, I rememebr the funny moments most of all - if I hadn't been taking notes the whole time, I doubt I'd be able to remember all the story arcs that took us years to play out. Phil got seven novels out it all; I'm merely getting one (massive, I admit, but we had a lot of adventures.)

Originally Posted by David Johansen

You know? I've got a hard drive full of half finished stories and games and programs (I dabble). It's really hard to stay motivated.

I always feel like an imitator or a poser.

At least you guys are the real deal. The other people who've written histories might not be posers but they aren't speaking from first hand experience.

Mmmm. Interesting point. My 'difficulty' with a lot of the people writing histories of the early days of gaming tend to reply on the same interviews with the same people, and it's gotten to the point where I can tell who the writer has talked to from the way the historical record is discussed and presented. Jon's book may be 'dry', but he's working from primary documentary sources - which, I will admit, favor the Lake Geneva viewpoint, as they tended to generate a lot more paper then the Twin Cities crowd did - and I find that very helpful. I knew quite a few of the people he mentions, so having the additional data is very nice for me. And please don't feel like you're an imitator or a poser; you have your own perspectives, and you should articulate them

As for being 'the real deal', thank you for the kind words. I've tried to be upfront about my limitations as an observer of the game hobby / industry as it was back then, and equally as upfront about my beliefs and opinions - which will, obviously, have an effect on my abilities as a reporter of those events. My book isn't going to be a lot of things, and will probably disappoint quite a few people when they read it. As I mentioned, all I'm doing is telling our stories as we saw them through the eyes of our PCs, and trying to make them entertaining. We got to know these people pretty well over the decade we adventured in their world, and I think we can share some insights about that world. And perhaps how the world's creator viewed them and it.

Which is, I think, what this thread is all about. I will confess to being genuinely astonished that we're up over 100,000 views; if you'd told me that, back over a year ago when we started, I would have snorted in disbelief at the very idea. It's like with my little blog; I am still astonished that people do follow it and enjoy it. I am, when everything is said and done, a guy who pushes little toy people around on a table - as somebody once said, "We made stuff up and we had fun." If we can still share that, then I feel like yes - this is the real deal...

Chirine,

I recently came across this website: http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/ which allows you create your own pulp magazine covers and download them.
After recently re-reading the part in MoG when Harsan is in the Temple of Sarku, which I believe was based upon your sojourn to the same temple, here's what I came up with this.
I like the way it looks, not sure how I can use it for my game though. Perhaps as part of my new player handout...
Maybe you could use it make a cover for TStPT?

Pulp-O-Mizer_Cover_Image.jpg

Shemek

Nice.