Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

That may indeed be what the text said, but after about 1978 or so, possibly earlier, Phil simply ignored that, about the time he stopped starting players as barbarians from the southern continent.

Originally Posted by Greentongue

Well... The original EPT rules implies that "Magic-users" are freelancers and that is one of the qualities that distinguish them from "Priests".

I was under the impression that it was with the power of the mind that the other-planar energy was focused and formed into effects.
That rituals were for those that didn't have enough natural focus without them to cause a controlled effect.
The giving of more experience points for "Magic-users" with a high psychic ability, while a "Priest" got a bonus for high intelligence implied to me that the "Magic-user" was less dependent on learning rituals.
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It's a matter of degree' 'Priests' are usually more connected to their temple organization; M-Us are have a looser attachment and tend to get used for odd jobs. We're starting to compare texts by Phil at different times; he addressed this issue in an article in The Tekumel Journal on the temples.

Phi didn't play it that way; see also his text in S&G II.

Once again, play it any way you want in your campaign; it's all about what works for you, more then anything else.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

That may indeed be what the text said, but after about 1978 or so, possibly earlier, Phil simply ignored that, about the time he stopped starting players as barbarians from the southern continent.

This. Phil didn't feel bound by his own rules, and we went along with that.

For movies, don't forget "King Richard and the Crusaders," based on "The Talisman" with Rex Harrison as Saladin.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

'Psychic' magic, in the way Phil defined it, is the use of other-planar power without the use of 'props'; 'ritual' magic uses gestures and props to use larger amounts of other-planar power.

(I think that a lot of this is a result of Gary's view that players of the day were not ready for a 'sword and planet' type of game, which is why he marketed EPT as a 'fantasy' game. I could be wrong, of course.)

I'm really not glad about his opinion.

Then again, I'm not judging him. The letters from "Dragon" and what you guys told me of early convention goers being unable to understand the concept of "honourable priest of a cruel god" might have given me pause, too!
Fascinating times, they seem to have been, for both good and ill.

Originally Posted by Greentongue

Well... The original EPT rules implies that "Magic-users" are freelancers and that is one of the qualities that distinguish them from "Priests".

The giving of more experience points for "Magic-users" with a high psychic ability, while a "Priest" got a bonus for high intelligence implied to me that the "Magic-user" was less dependent on learning rituals.
=

Funny that you mention it, because my conclusion was "nobody is willing to teach him, so he must teach himself".

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Once again, play it any way you want in your campaign; it's all about what works for you, more then anything else.

And this simply canot be stressed enough!

Just peeking in to say hi again. Busy month. But glad to see we're still getting more great tales! Especially helping in ramping up my brain and excitement to (Hopefully, barring act of plague like my last scheduled session! Where fully half the group was sick so we had to cancel) run my game again! See how the PCs do from here...

And I do have a question:

It was said Phil took you to Barsoom at times. Did you find yourself capable of John Carter-esque feats there? Or was that slipped by the wayside and things played out normal?

Originally Posted by Dulahan

Just peeking in to say hi again. Busy month. But glad to see we're still getting more great tales! Especially helping in ramping up my brain and excitement to (Hopefully, barring act of plague like my last scheduled session! Where fully half the group was sick so we had to cancel) run my game again! See how the PCs do from here...

And I do have a question:

It was said Phil took you to Barsoom at times. Did you find yourself capable of John Carter-esque feats there? Or was that slipped by the wayside and things played out normal?

So, we go through yet another portal, and the players start falling over and hopping around. (Me, I just sat down, as I am wont to do in these situations.) After a few moments of confusion, which were high comedy of the best sort, I smiled nicely and asked "So, what color is the sky, Phil?" Phil grimaced over my picking up too quickly, and confessed that the sky was a clear reddish hue. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I than asked in my best innocent voice "Are the two moons up?" and the banth was well and truly out of the satchel.

Yes, Phil played it honestly; we were from a Terra-normal gravity world, so we had Terra-normal muscles. Which came in darn handy, as our sorcery didn't work for beans on Barsoom. Now, a sharp blade and a good swift left uppercut worked just fine...

Originally Posted by Dulahan

Very fun!

And sounds like a bunch of fine Tsolyani sorts would thrive there. As even more than John Carter you were quite used to melee warfare!

Get any fun artifacts or tagalongs when you got back from Barsoom?

We did fit right in, I'm happy to say. Had a nice ride on a skyship, too.

Not really; we had a good time, made some new friends, exchanged a few favors, that kind of thing. Picked up a few neat weapons, though.