1. A lot of that still goes on. This is why I stick with the same guys that I've gamed with for the last 30+ years. Even though this means I GM a group of 3, the lack of aggro is worth the trade off.Originally Posted by chirine ba kal
2. That is one of my favourite parts in the book, along with the Tolek Kana pits. BTW, am I correct in presuming that the events in A Death of Kings are accounts of your adventures with Harchar to Tsolie and Salarvya, with Harsan "replacing" Chirine?
Shemek.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
You're welcome! Happy to be of help!Huzzah! Keep it coming. This thread is an amazing resource for primary information, and can easily be used as a springboard for our own Tekumel games. This thread has cleared up a lot things for me regarding Tekumel. Nice to see how and why things were done a certain way in Phil's games. Even though I didn't know Phil personally,having only carried on a brief email correspondence with him, judging from what you and the Glorious General have told us he probably would have enjoyed this thread as well (especially when you two guys tell us about pulling the professor's beard). Thank you for sharing your memories Chirine.
1. Yep. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, even. So, I let people do their own organizing, and simply sit back and watch the fracas. I don;t do much actual gaming, as a result, but life is both much quieter and more peaceful.
2. No, not really. What Phil used to do is use us as his 'pathfinders' - in the military sense, not the game - and let us explore areas of Tekumel that he hadn't really given much thought to. We'd go out there, ask him questions, and he'd make very detailed notes after the game session. These would get used both as 'local color' in the novels, and in future game sessions - had one of the 1990s gamers tell me about an island that they'd visited, and I told them everything I knew about the place. They were astonished - what Phil was doing was taking the notes he'd made a decade before and consulting them when the next group of players dropped by.
Glad to see the thread being a successLook at this! 250 pages! 2,500 posts and replies! 45,614 views! Who would have thought?
Keep those questions and comments coming in, everyone - this is your thread, not mine!
The Professor was a cagey man. Scouting areas is exactly what PCs are best at
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward." - Rocky
Well, I do hope people find it useful. I've been around for a while, and I thought that folks might find it useful to learn from my mistakes...Glad to see the thread being a success
The Professor was a cagey man. Scouting areas is exactly what PCs are best at
He was indeed. He'd get us out there, to where he thought it might be fun to go, and then we'd spark his imagination with our questions and observations. I think it bears mentioning again that the right side of the table, from Phil's chair, was Artists' Row - Kathy, Chris, and Ken all drawing as we went along; the left side of the table was the very inquisitive players - usually Jean, Mike, Mike, Greg, and Erica; the end of the table was my little corner, where I took notes of the passing scene and painted like a maniac, trying to keep up with the action. Phil would have to literally 'create on the fly', as we went along. It was an astonishing performance.
The next day, Phil would retire to his home office, type up the notes from the previous night's game, and work them into the current novel. One of the joys I had, when I made all the back-up copies of his papers, was finding all these notes and seeing our adventures from his perspective. Fascinating; utterly fascinating!
It would be nice if you could somehow do a side by side, so to speak, comparing what you experienced in your own words, and what Phil saw in his own words. Where someone is sitting in relation to the Screen can sometimes skew perceptions.
Although this would probably get someone, or something all hot and bothered.
Shemek
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
I could; I think it would be a useful thing for potential GMs. The 'after game' talks with Phil on the weekends we were down there were always fascinating. My position is that I'm simply an archivist; I simply report the data, as it is, and point out connections and correlations to other data in the archives. From there, I take take the position that you, the end user, have to make your own interpretations and decisions. Some people, however, feel that you need to have the data interpreted for you.It would be nice if you could somehow do a side by side, so to speak, comparing what you experienced in your own words, and what Phil saw in his own words. Where someone is sitting in relation to the Screen can sometimes skew perceptions.
Although this would probably get someone, or something all hot and bothered.
Shemek
Missed the little fracas on the Official Tekumel Facebook Page between the two Directors over this kind of thing, did you? And people wonder why I don't want to work for them...
I could be very catty about this, but I'm having a grand night building boats for the Missuma River Yacht Club and I don't want to spoil my good mood. (River / harbor lighters, actually but let's not get technical.) Photo on my blog in today's post. Shall we just cast off for adventure, then?
Why do I think last years' GaryCon Jakallan Underworld Adventure just got potentially much sillier?
I don't care if you respect me, just buy my fucking book.
Formerly known as Old Geezer
I don't need an Ignore List, I need a Tongue My Pee Hole list.
The rules can't cure stupid, and the rules can't cure asshole.
I know from my experience, both in gaming and at work, that it's often quite funny how two people involved in the exact same situation, contemporaneously, can have such different recollections of what happened. IMO, it would be great to see something like this from Phil's game.I could; I think it would be a useful thing for potential GMs. The 'after game' talks with Phil on the weekends we were down there were always fascinating. My position is that I'm simply an archivist; I simply report the data, as it is, and point out connections and correlations to other data in the archives. From there, I take take the position that you, the end user, have to make your own interpretations and decisions. Some people, however, feel that you need to have the data interpreted for you.
Missed the little fracas on the Official Tekumel Facebook Page between the two Directors over this kind of thing, did you? And people wonder why I don't want to work for them...
I could be very catty about this, but I'm having a grand night building boats for the Missuma River Yacht Club and I don't want to spoil my good mood. (River / harbor lighters, actually but let's not get technical.) Photo on my blog in today's post. Shall we just cast off for adventure, then?
I'm not sure what happened at the "official" page, as I don't ever go there. I don't even have a facebook account.No doubt it was something petty and ultimately silly, judging from your experiences. I think what you are doing on this thread is more useful and interesting than some sanctioned body.
BTW, who made the current folks over there the ultimate authority on what Tekumel is, and how much of it can be shared? Was this Phil's wish? It would seem like he made a pact with the Pariah Gods, and didn't fully appreciate what this entailed.:jaw-dropping:
Building is always great. I am currently doing the finishing touches on my module for this month's game, which is this week.:cheerleader: It is a long forgotten and buried shrine dedicated to the Pariah Gods, from the Latter Times. It is unique because it is not dedicated to a single deity, but to many. Not only are the three main ones there, but some new ones as well. This should cause some major head scratching amongst the group. :teehee: Like Phil said in one of the Sourcebooks, the three known Pariah Gods are... I anticipate much gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, and rending of garments; not necessarily in that order.
Shemek
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
Nope; ain't gonna happen. I play Jakalla 'straight', right out of the book, as it's funny enough that way.
The Missuma River Yacht Club is the name given to my players to my little fleet of ships and boats that figure in some of our adventures. They range in size from a simple log raft about the size of an index card to the mighty 'Nemesis', the big 2' long galley that's a former dispatch galley from Jakalla. And there's always the Hlyss nest ship, and Harchar's big Tnek; I just like building things.
Nonoe of this stuff is ever likely to be seen in public again; you probably missed the latest antics where the latest game publisher who wanted to work with me got threatened with the loss of their potential license to publish Tekumel stuff. They were told to "shut Chirine up", or else. Quite the scene at Gary Con on Sunday, I gather. Somebody really does hate me, I was told.
>shrug< Not my problem, any more, and my blood pressure is half what it used to be as a result.
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