Oh, yeah: no horses, and nothing else quite taking their place, so no cavalry.

(According to Barker, there were suitably domesticable creatures to be found and tamed in his campaign, but players had not done so.)

The brief description of Pechano in The Tekumel Source Book seemed about as close to D&D-ish medieval feudalism as you're likely to find in the world familiar to the Tsolyani.

I played that up for D&Ders wanting to know more about where their characters came from. Islands in the Western ocean are also likely starting points.

I would say that, from a campaigning perspective, it may be best not to worry overmuch about canon, and make the world your own.

For games focusing on native Tsolyani, the free Tirikelu rules set is one I have enjoyed. You'll want some other sources of background info, though.

www.tekumel.com/ is a good starting point!

Quote from: vytzka;654373The second hand impression I got about Tekumel was that it was a bit too... well, involved. Difficult to get into. How much truth is there in it?

I suppose the applicable RPGsite idiom is "Internet forum bitter non-gamer bullshit."

Tékumel is a richly detailed imaginary world, and it breaks from the usual Western European mold of fantasy world-building in favor of Southeast Asian and Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican influences, with marked sword-and-sorcery sensibilities.

Prof. Barker was also a respected linguist who chaired the Department of South Asian studies at the University of Minnesota (where he met and gamed with Dave Arneson), who developed several fictional languages for Tékumel (mainly Tsolyáni) — knowledge of which is not, and has never been necessary for play (a common Internet strawman).

This combination can be intimidating to the uninitiated. I believe Prof. Barker himself saw this and came up with the "barbarians fresh off the boat" approach, in which PCs come to Tsolyánu as foreigners and their ignorance of the land and its customs mirrors their characters'.

The assumed standard mode of play here is to arrive at a big city (typically Jakálla) as a clanless non-citizen (the lowest of the low), scavenge some gear, and go off exploring the vast underworld (tsuru'um) beneath the cities — a combination of abandoned planet-wide underground transportation networks (built by the ancient Terran colonists) and ruined old cities buried by generations of ditlána (ritualistic urban renewal). In the tsuru'um, like any old dungen, you may come across wealth, secrets (it's a classic stomping ground for secret societies hiding from the law), magic and ancient technology.

In due time you get to buy yourself "adoption" into a clan, and military, political or religious office, and play the "movers and shakers" endgame with a distinctly non-feudal flavor.

tl;dr — it really is D&D with very distinct cultural trappings.

You can certainly play a Tékumel game with PCs as natives, but this does assume a certain familiarity with the setting from the players' part, and possibly misses out on part or all of the social mobility game. And who would want that?

Quote from: Phillip;654544The brief description of Pechano in The Tekumel Source Book seemed about as close to D&D-ish medieval feudalism as you're likely to find in the world familiar to the Tsolyani.

I played that up for D&Ders wanting to know more about where their characters came from. Islands in the Western ocean are also likely starting points.

I would say that, from a campaigning perspective, it may be best not to worry overmuch about canon, and make the world your own.

For games focusing on native Tsolyani, the free Tirikelu rules set is one I have enjoyed. You'll want some other sources of background info, though.

www.tekumel.com/ is a good starting point!

Strongly agree with all of the above. Tékumel.com is an awesome, comprehensive, beautiful site and well worth a visit.

As far as the language thing goes, it's like the various languages Tolkien made up for his Middle-Earth, no more necessary for fun.

Quote from: vytzka;654373The second hand impression I got about Tekumel was that it was a bit too... well, involved. Difficult to get into. How much truth is there in it?

This will give an excellent overview of what you need to be able to play.
You, too, CAN run Empire of the Petal Throne
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Quote from: The Butcher;654139I didn't know about SW: Showdown (thanks for the link), but I don't think it's a good fit. Unless you were mixing it up with the actual SW RPG, which I still don't think is a good fit for Tékumel specifically.

Showdown is the miniatures version of Savage Worlds, an actual wargame. So, since a "Braunstein" is based on wargaming, it seems like a perfect fit (to me).

Savage Worlds can do "Empire of the Petal Throne" just fine as shown by Savage Tekumel. Now the later rules releases that bring in more of the political aspects may not be such a great fit but, a "Braunstein" doesn't require those to work.
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Quote from: Greentongue;654764Savage Worlds can do "Empire of the Petal Throne" just fine as shown by Savage Tekumel.

I never said it couldn't; just that I, personally, think it's a poor fit for the sort of Tékumel game I want to run.

@The Butcher: point taken.
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Quote from: The Butcher;654245My bad; I stand corrected. I'll go back and edit the original post.

Yep, Chirine and I are different people.  My character in the Thursday Night Group was Mt'tk, a sometime priest of Wuru.

Quote from: bbgenderblind99;655372...

Can someone do anything about this asshole? He doesn't do anything but spam shitty smileys.

Its already been done.