Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal - part II

In light of the TF's "games" it's somewhat of a miracle that Jeff Dee was able to publish Bethorm. Then again, they may have thought it would be more lucrative to bank off of his name and see what came of it. I wonder if they waived the ridiculous terms and conditions in his case?

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I think you'd enjoy this game, my General. It's the Great Mos Eisley Spaceport Raid writ large, using the forty years of gaming and modeling experience that I've gotten under my belt since that fateful Saturday at Coffman Union. You have your choice of four settings for the game: Lord Meren's Egypt, John Carter's Barsoom, Chirine ba Kal's Tekumel, or Cleopatra's Aegypt. The basic game board / set up stays pretty much the same - aircars get swapped out for giant Sphinxes towed by armies of sweating slaves - and we just replace one set of miniatures for another. Yes, my General, I now have enough miniatures to run four seperate Mos Eisley Spaceport Raids. Everything I've learned from Wesley, Arneson, Barker, and Gygax all distilled into one game and done in my very best swashbuckling SuperTechoRama epic style.

When will this game / games be happening? When somebody books me and a space to run it in.

Heh.

David T. is convalescing right now ( ! ). But sometime later this year or early next... hmm... have you ever seen the large miniatures table on the third level of Chez Thornley...?

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

In light of the TF's "games" it's somewhat of a miracle that Jeff Dee was able to publish Bethorm. Then again, they may have thought it would be more lucrative to bank off of his name and see what came of it. I wonder if they waived the ridiculous terms and conditions in his case?

Looking at the frankly incomprehensible way in which the TF has been dealing with the "Kurt Hills" guide (sill waiting to get feedback notes after more than four months of wait), I can't help but feel that the future of "Bethorm" as a product line is quite compromised, perhaps irremediably so.
It's as if the people in charge at the TF were doing it on purpose: let "Bethorm" sink to, in their confused minds, make room for the EPT re-edition which will anchor a new successful line of Tekumel products?

Of course, the other consequence of not supporting "Bethorm" is that any outside rpg author worth her or his salt, who, for some reason, might be interested by the idea of creating something Tekumel related, will simply move on and not even bother contacting the TF about anything really.

It's all quite bizarre.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

In light of the TF's "games" it's somewhat of a miracle that Jeff Dee was able to publish Bethorm. Then again, they may have thought it would be more lucrative to bank off of his name and see what came of it. I wonder if they waived the ridiculous terms and conditions in his case?

Just back in after some overtime work, but here goes:

Not a miracle at all; Jeff is one of the Very Big Name OSR People that the TF wanted to have attached to themselves, in order to establish their reputation in the OSR. (This was after TARGA folded, I gather.) As I was told by the TF at the time, he got a very good deal in order to get him and his products on board.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Heh.

David T. is convalescing right now ( ! ). But sometime later this year or early next... hmm... have you ever seen the large miniatures table on the third level of Chez Thornley...?

I have, and it's quite fine. This little thing I'm cooking up will need a larger space, about nine by nine foot on a side, but in a fractal pattern to allow for full access to all the modules. I'll likely do a ground cloth for the scenic effect, but it'll be something that can be crawled or walked on. I'm doing this the same way we did Mos Eisley.

Hadn't heard; hope he's doing well!!!

Originally Posted by Neshm hiKumala

Looking at the frankly incomprehensible way in which the TF has been dealing with the "Kurt Hills" guide (sill waiting to get feedback notes after more than four months of wait), I can't help but feel that the future of "Bethorm" as a product line is quite compromised, perhaps irremediably so.
It's as if the people in charge at the TF were doing it on purpose: let "Bethorm" sink to, in their confused minds, make room for the EPT re-edition which will anchor a new successful line of Tekumel products?

Of course, the other consequence of not supporting "Bethorm" is that any outside rpg author worth her or his salt, who, for some reason, might be interested by the idea of creating something Tekumel related, will simply move on and not even bother contacting the TF about anything really.

It's all quite bizarre.

To quote: "Never attribute to malice what can be ascribed to incompetence." I am very startled that Jeff Dee is suffering from this kind of treatment - especially after producing what I'd consider a very good product line for Tekumel - but I am not at all surprised. I had the same issues with these same people back in my time as Phil's publisher, and I've been hearing a continual litany of complaints over the recent years about the TF's inability to get anything done or even communicate with people. Fans or authors, it seems to make no difference; there's just no response in any sort of a timely manner.

And yes, I agree with your prediction.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Hadn't heard; hope he's doing well!!!

I only just heard. He apparently had a small stroke! Fortunately it was very minor and has caused no loss of ability, except he gets really tired quickly.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

I only just heard. He apparently had a small stroke! Fortunately it was very minor and has caused no loss of ability, except he gets really tired quickly.

Dear God. Glad to hear he's doing well - it's a scary thing to have happen.

I hear that about the gets tired quickly; same here.

He's now had a heart attack and a stroke. Considering he has no real bad habits, it seems hardly fair!

So, Tuesday I leave for GenCon to help with "Legends of Wargaming."

A place to sleep, a ticket to the con, and a modest per diem for food in exchange for working like a navvy for four days. Sounds familiar!