Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Sigh. Enough of this, if we may; this has gotten depressing. Can we get back to talking about Tekumel, please? Questions from the floor?

Apologies, I certainly didn't intend to depress you.

Here's something that may make you smile... did you know John McEwan is STILL selling Starguard rules and figures?

For that matter, Lou Zocchi is STILL bringing the gypsy caravan to GenCon.

I hope they live to be a thousand.

Originally Posted by NathanIW

If someone wanted to get into Tekumel, perhaps just to read for interest, or to use as a setting for a game, or to borrow from and be inspired by for a game, where would you advise they start?

I think the old TSR "Empire of the Petal Throne" game is available as a legal PDF somewhere. I'd start with that.

Then read some John Carter, watch "Thief of Baghdad" (either version), read Man of Gold, and go to it.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

In one wargame campaign my leader was Enguerrand VIII de Coucy.

Roi ne suis,
Ne prince ne duc ne comte aussi.
Je suis le sire de Coucy.

They sure were arrogant sons of bitches weren't they? What an odd coin-cee-dinc that you happened or chose to get Enguerrand as your leader.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Here's something that may make you smile... did you know John McEwan is STILL selling Starguard rules and figures?

I have some Star Guard in my collection that I use for Star Wars. The Star Guard are midgets next to the 25mm, but Dreenoi are good for weird alient and the Ralnai ended up as a species I added, because who doesn't like grav-sled riding force-blade wielding reptiles?

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Because, you see, wargame rules are fan fiction for wargamers.

I'll say that again. Wargame rules are fan fiction for wargamers.

The "Star Trek Battle Manual" is Star Trek fan fiction for wargamers.
TRACTICS is WW2 tank combat fan fiction for wargamers.
Fight in the Skies is WW1 airplane combat fan fiction for wargamers.
And the Uruks, Ents, Balrogs, and Hobbits of the CHAINMAIL fantasy supplement are Tolkien fan fiction for wargamers.
And "Warriors of Mars" is Barsoom fan fiction for wargamers.

To us at the time they looked no different.

All of your post was great. And I need to save this. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Bren

They sure were arrogant sons of bitches weren't they? What an odd coin-cee-dinc that you happened or chose to get Enguerrand as your leader.

No coinkydink at all. The de Coucy line ended with Enguerrand VII, so Enguerrand VIII was a natural choice.

Also, the game started about six months after I read A Distant Mirror for the first time.

I have some Star Guard in my collection that I use for Star Wars. The Star Guard are midgets next to the 25mm, but Dreenoi are good for weird alient and the Ralnai ended up as a species I added, because who doesn't like grav-sled riding force-blade wielding reptiles?[/QUOTE]

Even back in the 70s Mr. McEwan got a lot of flak for his "wimpy" figures. But he showed the numbers; he based his figures off an average 6 foot tall man shrunk to 1 inch tall.

Ever get any of his fantasy personality figures? He did some GREAT stuff! The potbellied knight in chainmail, surcoat, and helm is a classic.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Even back in the 70s Mr. McEwan got a lot of flak for his "wimpy" figures. But he showed the numbers; he based his figures off an average 6 foot tall man shrunk to 1 inch tall.

Ever get any of his fantasy personality figures? He did some GREAT stuff! The potbellied knight in chainmail, surcoat, and helm is a classic.

I don't have that knight. Wish I did. From quick glance on the web, I recognize his style, but I think the only minis of his that I have are the Star Guard, Ralnai, and Dreenoi.

EDIT: I just noticed he also made the Terran Marines that I use as Stormtroopers. Probably the most used group of miniatures in our Star Wars campaigns.

Originally Posted by AsenRG

"The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master."
Something like this?

Well, "generation" was shorter than saying "both you and Gronan, and the other people that started playing with Gygax, Arneson and MARB". It's simply due to the observation that older games did indeed have less rules.
I'm now curious what you'd think of some of the modern ORE games. Here's the shortest free one I've found, and it's for Star Wars.

Still, it was a better attempt than attempting to copy another GM's attire. But, well, whatever works for people...or in this case, whatever doesn't work for them, but makes them feel better!

Nope; I wish it had been. What I was told by some of the Big Names in the OSR was that my playing Ye Olde Games "from the bad old days" was a sure sign that I was not a Real Gamer, and having BadWrongFun in my game group. Which I thought was funny, but then these are the people who brought us TARGA.

And for me, what made it even funnier / sadder is that I do not consider myself a 'gamer'; I think of myself as a model builder, and that my games are an excuse to show off what I can do with bits of foam and paint. Think 'Blue Peter' with percentile dice - "Here's one that I made earlier..."

Looked at the game you suggested. "Length" and "width" of the dice is a new on on me, as are "wiggle" dice. From my perspective, it's a nice little game, but the mechanics savor of reinventing the wheel. I generally do the same 'one roll' with a set of percentile dice, and go from there. See also my game videos, on my YouTube channel. I think that in practice, this game would move along smartly, which is something I look for in games; the game session bogging down in mechanics really spoils the fun - which is what we used to call what I think is now called 'immersion', which I think is something else entirely.

Agreed; if it works for you and your gamers, then it's good. I was just reminded by the guy's obsession with Dave's shirt by some of the marital arts people we used to know, who were always asking Gronan what the secret of his success was. H would reply, "Practice for a couple of hours each day for a year", and they would be very upset as it wasn;t the answer they were looking for. "No! No!" they would cry, "Teach me your Secret Blow that stops my opponents in their tracks!!!" Gronan would look baffled, and try again. It never worked, sad to say.