Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;953558Great stuff Chirine. For some reason only the Missuma is labeled on the maps. I know that the river where Hekelu is located is the Kanayugara (Phil talks about it in the Blue Room), but all of the rest are absent on my maps.

This sounds like a traditional "d&d type setting," and probably a good alternative to the off the boat approach to gaming on Tekumel. These types of areas tend to be less concerned with societal niceties and formalities, and such. A good place to learn the ropes before going into wider "civilized" society.

I'll have to look this book up. Thanks for the recommendation.

Shemek.

Yep. He didn't always note stuff down.

Yep; frontiers are always a great place to have adventures. Enjoy the book. You'll like Robert Carey, and Henry, Lord Hunsdon. The rest of the motley crew up there on The Borders just cries out for use in a campaign.

"Every precaution was taken to ensure a peaceful meeting, and during it Johnstone shot Maxwell twice in the back." Mayhem ensued, as it usually did in those parts.

Made it very interesting when Borderers met Afghans on the NW Frontier. More mayhem ensued, as one might expect.

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;953486Chirine,

Some questions on geography.
What is the name of the river that Thraya and Sokatis are located on?
Is the Forest of Gilraya, specifically Kerunan (near Sokatis) a wild and "unknown area," or have people settled in there, in large numbers, and started to log, build, etc?  

Shemek.

As I recall, that river is the Rananga

Quote from: Zirunel;953608As I recall, that river is the Rananga

Just back in from getting groceries, so I haven't listened to the tapes yet, but I think you're right. I seem to recall it being that, as well.

Thank you!

Quote from: Zirunel;953608As I recall, that river is the Rananga

Excellent! Thank you.

Shemek.

As deadly as Tekumel can be, how often have you had your group of players killed off?

How often was going down against overwhelming odds and how many were just some failed saving throws?
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Quote from: Greentongue;953893As deadly as Tekumel can be, how often have you had your group of players killed off?

How often was going down against overwhelming odds and how many were just some failed saving throws?
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In Phil's campaign, over the decade+ that we played with him, never; I think we had one or two casualties - dead, with a lot of wounded along the way - but we as a group played a very careful and very cooperative game. We looked after each other - as you say, Tekumel is very deadly.

In my various campaigns, once, due to a really stupid move by one of the very experienced players; he got a little too arrogant and self-assured, and screwed up very badly. The rest of the party started making bad saving throws against what he'd unleashed, and they all wound up dead. The one surviving NPC got them all carted back to Butrus.

So, as far as you know, no "fudging" of rolls occurred. You, and your players, lived or died by their skill or luck alone?
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I don't think they knew the concept of fudging;).

Hard to say, because Phil played by Free Kriegsspiel methods; we'd roll dice, he'd roll dice, and then he'd tell us what happened.

Now, as a military commander, yeah, I took losses.  But I tended to win, which helped mitigate losses.  But you cannot win a battle without experiencing losses.

Quote from: Greentongue;953964So, as far as you know, no "fudging" of rolls occurred. You, and your players, lived or died by their skill or luck alone?
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No, nothing of the kind; we were honest players, and Phil was an honest GM / referee. 'Cheating at dice' is a concept we didn't have any time for, and we didn't play with known cheaters.

Yes, we did; it was all about being able to think on our feet, use our skills, and maybe roll some lucky dice.

Quote from: AsenRG;953976I don't think they knew the concept of fudging;).

We knew about it, we didn't believe in it, we didn't do it, and we were pretty offended by it. If I catch anyone doing it at my table these days, they're out and never allowed to come back. Ever.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;953977Hard to say, because Phil played by Free Kriegsspiel methods; we'd roll dice, he'd roll dice, and then he'd tell us what happened.

Now, as a military commander, yeah, I took losses.  But I tended to win, which helped mitigate losses.  But you cannot win a battle without experiencing losses.

Agreed; from what we could tell at the table, he was not one to cheat. As I have said, it was a cooperative venture, between players and GM; there has to be a certain degree of trust between them for this to work. See also Gronan's comments on my Gary Con game and intellectual honesty.

Yep. We took our losses, learned from our mistakes, and got to be pretty good at the business.

With the chance a "magic-user" could be taken into custody by a temple or the government, how often was this a concern?
Did people that had psychic powers have to be discrete when using them, if they were not part of an organization already?  
If they were impressed into service, how restrictive did things become?
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Quote from: Greentongue;954119With the chance a "magic-user" could be taken into custody by a temple or the government, how often was this a concern?
Did people that had psychic powers have to be discrete when using them, if they were not part of an organization already?  
If they were impressed into service, how restrictive did things become?
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I'm not sure that I understand the question.

There are no 'magic users' in the Five Empires who are not part of a temple; such people get identified pretty early on and become members of a priesthood / temple. There are no 'freelancers' like you find in D&D and other RPGs. As for being taken into custody, anyone can be arrested; one simply has to make any charges stick, and usually they don't if you're clever.

There are no 'psychic powers' in the way that they seem to be defined in D&D and other RPGs, with the one known exception of the natural telepaths of the Nyemesel Islands and the Lost City of Bayarsha. There are also natural telepaths in the Five Empires, who are also of this ancient breeding effort by the Lords of Humanspace and later rulers - like the Hokun - and these are also identified and trained from an early age.

'Psychic' magic, in the way Phil defined it, is the use of other-planar power without the use of 'props'; 'ritual' magic uses gestures and props to use larger amounts of other-planar power.

(I think that a lot of this is a result of Gary's view that players of the day were not ready for a 'sword and planet' type of game, which is why he marketed EPT as a 'fantasy' game. I could be wrong, of course.)

Quote from: chirine ba kal;954228There are no 'freelancers' like you find in D&D and other RPGs.

Well... The original EPT rules implies that "Magic-users" are freelancers and that is one of the qualities that distinguish them from "Priests".

Quote from: chirine ba kal;954228There are no 'psychic powers' in the way that they seem to be defined in D&D and other RPGs, ...

'Psychic' magic, in the way Phil defined it, is the use of other-planar power without the use of 'props'; 'ritual' magic uses gestures and props to use larger amounts of other-planar power.

I was under the impression that it was with the power of the mind that the other-planar energy was focused and formed into effects.
That rituals were for those that didn't have enough natural focus without them to cause a controlled effect.
The giving of more experience points for "Magic-users" with a high psychic ability, while a "Priest" got a bonus for high intelligence implied to me that the "Magic-user" was less dependent on learning rituals.
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