Quote from: chirine ba kal;1043033Yes, it's a big honking sphinx. You can get up inside the thing, too. Made of stone, dedicated to Hry'y, from the inscriptions. Bednjallan, we think; Phil refused to be pinned down on specifics, and I think he threw it in 'cause he liked Ancient Egyptian stuff. I still got me a honking big resin sphinx in his honor, just 'cause.

What was its "face?" And you could climb inside? Where was the entrance? Since you guys nicknamed so many other things, did it get one? Like go to Nickname and take the first left? Did you run into any others any place else?

Also, you type Hry'y and many of the older publications use that spelling while the newer stuff go with Hru'u, with umlauts. Any difference? Why the difference?

Umlauts used to be difficult, that's why.

Quote from: Hrugga;1043204Uncle,

Everytime I see the Workbench, I am impressed. Enjoy the mayhem!!!

H:0)

Thank you! The post-game report will have to wait; the players all just left - it's 2:00 on Monday morning! - after a twelve-hour game session. Lots of photos; I did three 'scene changes' as we went along, each of which took under four minutes to change the table scenery.

Very, very good time, although - once again - we all almost got killed.

Quote from: Big Andy;1043242What was its "face?" And you could climb inside? Where was the entrance? Since you guys nicknamed so many other things, did it get one? Like go to Nickname and take the first left? Did you run into any others any place else?

Also, you type Hry'y and many of the older publications use that spelling while the newer stuff go with Hru'u, with umlauts. Any difference? Why the difference?

More tomorrow - I have to get to bed.

What Gronan said; umlauts used to be very hard to do with older publishing technology, and it wasn't until Sarah Prince - the AGI typsetter - figured out how to do it the 'y' was used. She was later hired by the company that made the machine, as she could get it to do things that the engineers who built it could not.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1043213Hi all,

In case you missed it, here's an interesting (at times rambling, but in a good way) discussion about and around Tekumel between James Maliszewski (The Excellent Travelling Volume) and Ron Edwards (of Sorcerer and other RPG related productions fame).

James Maliszewski has been running a Tekumel campaign for two or three years now (meeting every week for two hours). Ron Edwards was a participant until he left. This discussion took place at a time when Edwards wanted to re-join the campaign.

Anyway, it's interesting stuff and I recommend it. Among other things, they chat about level mechanics in settings that approach culture seriously (like Tekumel), creating new rules from the original Petal Throne rules, coming up with new social/religious customs, being surprised by one's own character's reactions to a situation, the game's publication history, Glorantha, Tunnels and Trolls, the lack of great illustrations of Prof Barker's world, etc.

Enjoy
(and thanks to James Maliszewski and Ron Edwards for making the video available to all!)

I'll look at this tomorrow, and get back to you.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1043283Thank you! The post-game report will have to wait; the players all just left - it's 2:00 on Monday morning! - after a twelve-hour game session. Lots of photos; I did three 'scene changes' as we went along, each of which took under four minutes to change the table scenery.

Very, very good time, although - once again - we all almost got killed.

As Hrugga says: thanks for the reports and the photos.
I can't post comments on your blog directly, as I don't use gmail anymore (and have never used G+ actually), but, sometimes, I wish I could just to be able to express my excitement and admiration at what you're doing!

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1043213Hi all,

In case you missed it, here's an interesting (at times rambling, but in a good way) discussion about and around Tekumel between James Maliszewski (The Excellent Travelling Volume) and Ron Edwards (of Sorcerer and other RPG related productions fame).

James Maliszewski has been running a Tekumel campaign for two or three years now (meeting every week for two hours). Ron Edwards was a participant until he left. This discussion took place at a time when Edwards wanted to re-join the campaign.

Anyway, it's interesting stuff and I recommend it. Among other things, they chat about level mechanics in settings that approach culture seriously (like Tekumel), creating new rules from the original Petal Throne rules, coming up with new social/religious customs, being surprised by one's own character's reactions to a situation, the game's publication history, Glorantha, Tunnels and Trolls, the lack of great illustrations of Prof Barker's world, etc.

Enjoy
(and thanks to James Maliszewski and Ron Edwards for making the video available to all!)

And as a follow up to the links I give above, I recommend this bit of conversation, still found on Ron Edwards' personal site about sexuality in role-playing games, and, in this particular instance, about how sexuality can be expressed in an Empire of the Petal Throne campaign (James Maliszewski's long running one).

There are two parts to Edwards' comments:

The first part (3 minutes): Edwards describes how his character (a dancer-devotee of Durritlámish) used sex on one particular occasion.

The second part (10 minutes): Edwards gives a fascinating account of how one of the campaign's PCs (probably a worshiper of Sárku) brought his dead fiancee back as a Jájgi (Edwards doesn't use the term, but it sure sounds like that's what she is) to marry her and live with her as a regular married couple, doing what regular married couples (or otherwise) do.

To anyone familiar with a particular (mind-blowing) scene found in "The Man of Gold" and a particular character portrayed in "The Prince of Skulls", or with the Worm Lord's doctrines and their implications, the story Edwards recounts is not going to be that surprising. But to anyone unfamiliar with certain aspects of Tekumel (the more mature oriented ones), the anecdote will be revelatory, as it will make clear what being a member of a death cult, where death is considered to be more perfect than life, can entail in certain circumstances.

All in all, a great example of what mature players can come up with when playing in a rich world, and when taking their characters' instincts and ways of thinking seriously.
I'm not going to say enjoy ... but, well, enjoy.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1043499And as a follow up to the links I give above, I recommend this bit of conversation, still found on the Ron Edwards personal site (and youtube) about sexuality in a Tekumel game/campaign.

There are two parts to his comments:
First part which is only 3 minutes long.
Second part, which is a bit over 10 minutes long: it gives a fascinating account of how one of the PC in the campaign brought his dead fiancee back (creating a jajgi really, although Edwards doesn't use the term) to marry her and in the end make her become a PC in her own right,.
To anyone familiar with The Man of Gold and the Worm Lord's doctrines and philosophy, the story Edwards is not going to be that out there, but for anyone interested in finding what being a member of a death cult entails (where death is considered a more perfect of "being alive"), this will be a bit of an education.

Ron Edwards is playing Tekumel, really?

Other than that amazing piece of news, I fully agree with his player's approach. It makes total sense for a Worm Lord devotee;).
Which also explains my personal distaste for said devotees, BTW:D!

In the Secret Tongue of the Priests of Karakan, "Sarku" means "Purge it with fire".

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1043567In the Secret Tongue of the Priests of Karakan, "Sarku" means "Purge it with fire".

How curious, Glorious General! I never suspected having a natural gift for that particular language:D!

Quote from: AsenRG;1043500Ron Edwards is playing Tekumel, really?

Other than that amazing piece of news, I fully agree with his player's approach. It makes total sense for a Worm Lord devotee;).
Which also explains my personal distaste for said devotees, BTW:D!

Being as knowledgeable about the history of the hobby as he is, I'm sure he knew of and about the Prof's creation before joining Maliszewski's campaign, but I note that he mentions he game and the world often now, in the videos he posts online where he discusses rpgs and related matters with friends and colleagues. Clearly he's really enjoying in stay on Tekumel ... and clearly James Maliszewski (with the help of the other players; it takes a group!) is doing a top notch job at bringing the world to life.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1043603Being as knowledgeable about the history of the hobby as he is, I'm sure he knew of and about the Prof's creation before joining Maliszewski's campaign, but I note that he mentions he game and the world often now, in the videos he posts online where he discusses rpgs and related matters with friends and colleagues. Clearly he's really enjoying in stay on Tekumel ... and clearly James Maliszewski (with the help of the other players; it takes a group!) is doing a top notch job at bringing the world to life.

I wonder how this would evolve his views on game design;).

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1043497As Hrugga says: thanks for the reports and the photos.
I can't post comments on your blog directly, as I don't use gmail anymore (and have never used G+ actually), but, sometimes, I wish I could just to be able to express my excitement and admiration at what you're doing!

You're welcome! And thank you for the kind words, too!

Well, the game session lasted for twelve hours; we had lots of snacks to hand, but wound up ordering take-away about eight in the evening. People seemed to have a great time; the GM had prepped all of the encounters and stats in advance, so it was a pretty intensive session with occasional bathroom breaks - I have built one next to the game room, for just such situations. We did some shopping in the village, and got geared up, but we had four players and one NPC, which I thought was a little too shallow for this kind of adventure. Being adventurers, though, we set off down the forest path:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2542[/ATTACH]

We got jumped by what amounted to undead badgers, and got pretty badly handled. However, being adventurers, we kept on going to the clearing in the woods:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2543[/ATTACH]

Whereupon we got jumped by undead wolves - Waffle The Wonder Dog was of no help, here - and then by some undead trees. After a long and nasty fight, we managed to defeat the lot, and are now poised to solve why the local Druid is having a bad time.

We went from the original table set of the village map I'd had printed, to the forest path, and then to the forest clearing. The 'scene changes' took under four minutes each - yes, I had them time me - so I am very pleased at how well the terrain and scenery system I have in the game room worked in actual game play.

I'll try to have more photos up on the blog later on; this is a very busy time here, as I had the Shieldmaidens game a week ago, the 5e group this past Sunday, and the Free RPG Day game event this Saturday. I do have this coming Sunday and Monday off, and the proper reports may have to wait until then.

As a side note to the game, I thought that it was fascinating that the players had no problems with the lack of a grid and the other usual 'D & D' accessories. They seemed to really enjoy this ancient style of gaming, and I found it that was heartening that they did.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1043213Hi all,

In case you missed it, here's an interesting (at times rambling, but in a good way) discussion about and around Tekumel between James Maliszewski (The Excellent Travelling Volume) and Ron Edwards (of Sorcerer and other RPG related productions fame).

James Maliszewski has been running a Tekumel campaign for two or three years now (meeting every week for two hours). Ron Edwards was a participant until he left. This discussion took place at a time when Edwards wanted to re-join the campaign.

Anyway, it's interesting stuff and I recommend it. Among other things, they chat about level mechanics in settings that approach culture seriously (like Tekumel), creating new rules from the original Petal Throne rules, coming up with new social/religious customs, being surprised by one's own character's reactions to a situation, the game's publication history, Glorantha, Tunnels and Trolls, the lack of great illustrations of Prof Barker's world, etc.

Enjoy
(and thanks to James Maliszewski and Ron Edwards for making the video available to all!)

I've now listened to this, and am pretty amused by the whole thing - they've rediscovered and restated what I've been saying for decades. Good material and worth listening to.