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Questioning chirine ba kal - part II

Started by AsenRG, April 23, 2017, 01:00:06 PM

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chirine ba kal

#135
May 01, 2017, 06:46:36 PM
Quote from: Hrugga;960255Uncle a quick few questions in regard to coinage. How much more valuable are coins from the past than those minted new in the Empire? Is there an exchange rate? Would one hesitate to melt them down?

H:0)

Well, you could always sell them for their metal content, but they bring better prices from coin collectors. So, yes, one would hesitate to melt them.

Hrugga

#136
May 01, 2017, 07:04:29 PM
Quote from: chirine ba kal;960257Well, you could always sell them for their metal content, but they bring better prices from coin collectors. So, yes, one would hesitate to melt them.

Are any of these old coins still excepted as payment, or valuable only to the collector?

Thanks,

H:0)

chirine ba kal

#137
May 01, 2017, 07:12:40 PM
Quote from: Hrugga;960263Are any of these old coins still excepted as payment, or valuable only to the collector?

Thanks,

H:0)

Only as metal weight. The only place that I know of where they will take the Engsvanyali Su'or as legal tender is in Mihallu.

Zirunel

#138
May 01, 2017, 07:25:30 PM
Quote from: chirine ba kal;960243They did the two "Tekumel Journals", "Missum", and began the "Armies" series before the split. I finished most of the "Armies" series, republished Phil's other works, and did everything else from 1980 to 1987, including the miniatures line. I got exactly one article for the 'zines from them in the period 1978 - 1988.

Phil didn't resolve it; he liked having everyone at each other's throats, because it greatly reduced his workload as a GM. We solved the issue ourselves, by telling him we were quitting unless we had our own group.

Cool, thanks. I have to admit, I haven't tried to identify the personalities, but by their works shall ye know them, and I guess their works included some good stuff, so as far as that goes, good for them.

Too bad about the toxic dynamic. It sounds like that wasn't the last time. Maybe not the first time, either.

Gronan of Simmerya

#139
May 01, 2017, 07:30:02 PM
Remember, Phil was an academic, and that atmosphere is truly toxic in many ways.
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can\'t cure stupid, and the rules can\'t cure asshole.

Zirunel

#140
May 01, 2017, 08:28:11 PM Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 08:31:49 PM by Zirunel
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;960268Remember, Phil was an academic, and that atmosphere is truly toxic in many ways.

Yeah, spot on, you go straight to the res. That's what my questions are dancing around.

I was an undergrad in the 70s and a grad student in the 80s. I lived that environment, I have my own stories, of no interest to anyone outside a rarified field (much like Tekumel!) and I can imagine how it might play out in any university department. Young kids jostling for position, older authority figure gratified and validated by being some kind of mentor, all that. Just trying to get a sense how it played out in that particular time and place.

chirine ba kal

#141
May 01, 2017, 08:33:13 PM
Quote from: Zirunel;960267Cool, thanks. I have to admit, I haven't tried to identify the personalities, but by their works shall ye know them, and I guess their works included some good stuff, so as far as that goes, good for them.

Too bad about the toxic dynamic. It sounds like that wasn't the last time. Maybe not the first time, either.

It did, and it's why I was so disappointed when they declined to participate and kept up the feuding. And you're right, too. See Fine's book for the story.

chirine ba kal

#142
May 01, 2017, 08:35:35 PM
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;960268Remember, Phil was an academic, and that atmosphere is truly toxic in many ways.

True. It makes the current situation just that much more comprehensible.

And I apologize for being so snarky earlier, too. The whole incident made me wonder - and still does, for that matter - if putting in forty years, unlimited energy, and substantial sums of money was at all worth it. Again, not your fault; sorry for being a cranky old man.

chirine ba kal

#143
May 01, 2017, 08:37:12 PM
Quote from: Zirunel;960269Yeah, spot on, you go straight to the res. That's what my questions are dancing around.

I was an undergrad in the 70s and a grad student in the 80s. I lived that environment, I have my own stories, of no interest to anyone outside a rarified field (much like Tekumel!) and I can imagine how it might play out in any university department. Young kids jostling for position, older authority figure gratified and validated by being some kind of mentor, all that. Just trying to get a sense how it played out in that particular time and place.

It did indeed play out the way you think, and for decades. I think we'd have all quit years earlier then we did, if Tekumel wasn't so damn fascinating. The sheer fun of adventuring in the setting made the crap we all took bearable.

chirine ba kal

#144
May 01, 2017, 08:40:08 PM
So, I was playing in my third ever D&D session yesterday, and the party got dry-gulched by some goblins. Just like you GM'd all those years ago, the party reaction was "Let's track down the little creeps and get our stuff back!"

And we're about to, in the next game session, and the party has asked yours truly about the best tactics to use to dry-gulch the goblins back. Mayhem will ensure.

Gronan of Simmerya

#145
May 01, 2017, 09:09:45 PM
Excellent!  The correct response to the PCs being killed by bad guys is not "WAAAH!" but rather "VENGEANCE!!"
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can\'t cure stupid, and the rules can\'t cure asshole.

Gronan of Simmerya

#146
May 02, 2017, 01:56:12 AM
Quote from: chirine ba kal;960271True. It makes the current situation just that much more comprehensible.

And I apologize for being so snarky earlier, too. The whole incident made me wonder - and still does, for that matter - if putting in forty years, unlimited energy, and substantial sums of money was at all worth it. Again, not your fault; sorry for being a cranky old man.

No worries, I didn't take anything as being specifically aimed at me.
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can\'t cure stupid, and the rules can\'t cure asshole.

Greentongue

#147
May 02, 2017, 07:11:51 AM Last Edit: May 02, 2017, 01:20:55 PM by Greentongue
Quote from: chirine ba kal;960271if putting in forty years, unlimited energy, and substantial sums of money was at all worth it.

Well, you obviously thought it was at the time and that is usually all one has to go on.
That extra effort may be what has gotten us this far.
May not seem all that far but, there are other great ideas that are long gone already.


What efforts are taken to preserve all this paper that is being used to record transactions?
Is humidity as much of an issue as I suspect (what with living in Florida)?
How long are they retained? Are there huge storehouses of nothing but the clan's records?
=

chirine ba kal

#148
May 02, 2017, 06:56:30 PM
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;960321No worries, I didn't take anything as being specifically aimed at me.

Thank you - you're very kind! :)

What has been truly annoying to me have been all the lost opportunities for Tekumel over the decades. No funding, no resources, no interest from some of the people you'd think would be the most concerned, and a level of infighting that is truly breathtaking. My curse is to be able to see into the future - not like Cassandra, who knew what would be, but to see what could be. (You, I think, tore your hair out just as much as I did during your time in the barrel) There was too much of doing things for personal prestige and position, both before and after our time, and not enough thinking outside the box and for the long term.

So it goes, I would guess; human history is full of this kind of thing...

chirine ba kal

#149
May 02, 2017, 07:01:40 PM
Quote from: Greentongue;960336Well, you obviously thought it was at the time and that is usually all one has to go on.
That extra effort may be what has gotten us this far.
May not seem all that far but, there are other great ideas that are long gone already.


What efforts are taken to preserve all this paper that is being used to record transactions?
Is humidity as much of an issue as I suspect (what with living in Florida)?
How long are they retained? Are there huge storehouses of nothing but the clan's records?
=

Agreed; we were having a lot of fun, and a pretty good time. Lots of games, lots of things like doing our costumes, and we were doing something that had never been done before.

Lots of cool dry cellars, extra copies in safe places, and plenty of scribes. Humidity is indeed an issue, which is why there are wind trap towers to collect breezed and keep the archives vented out. Retention - centuries; you never know when you might need the documents in some sort of property dispute. And yes, there are warehouses full of records, as well as temple archives and the government ones.

The Mu'uglavyani, I have to point out, require that everything is done in quadruplicate...
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