Klytus, I'm bored.

[geoffrey]

May 12, 2014 19:32:16 GMT -6 chirinebakal said:

The very best compliment I ever got from the Professor was after the other group - Phil's Monday group, which was made up of the old original group's players - tried to have Princess Vrisa (Kathy Marchall) arrested and executed. (They though it would be funny; see also Bill Hoyt's comment about playing with psychopaths.) In my capacity as Governor, I insisted on the proper paperwork - no verbal orders - and Phil had to spend two weeks of pouting doing up the proper Tsolyani documents. He shoved the beautiful thing at me, I read it, and told him that if he'd filed the right paperwork two weeks ago we wouldn't have had to have all the bother. Phil went purple, especially after I handed the arrest warrant to Kathy and she said "Your tent or mine?", and then got very quiet. He finally looked at me and said:

"Chirine, you've gone native."

That's great!

[Fearghus]

It was not until coming to this message board that Tekumel was know to me. I know the feeling of having other players come into a game for no other reason than cause grief. Sad to see that it happened then and continues to occur to this day. It is also delightful to see that RP was so alive then. No matter the edition or system some groups get into the RP, and that was always my draw to the game.

On another note, it is odd to see the sacrifice of any sort of intelligent creature be labeled under a category of good. One thing if it is willing, but that's the fun of the game I guess. Being able to add in our own interpretation of philosophy into the cosmos.

[machpants]

What would the one book to learn about Tekumel that I would need to buy? I have no Tekumel stuff at all, always been interested but never seen any product. I guess with the internet I can now actually find some!

[Deleted]

May 13, 2014 19:35:25 GMT -6 machpants said:

What would the one book to learn about Tekumel that I would need to buy? I have no Tekumel stuff at all, always been interested but never seen any product. I guess with the internet I can now actually find some!

May I suggest "Empire of the Petal Throne" - yes it's an old game, but you get just enough detail for the world setting to get going and play. Everything else fills in after that, and you can get lost in the vast amounts of trivia.

Glorious General, you'd know more about this then I would - I am not all that 'up' on the current styles of gaming, sorry - and could you help this worthy person out?

yours, chirine

[cadriel]

Empire of the Petal Throne is available in PDF format for $11:

www.rpgnow.com/product/2060/Empire-of-the-Petal-Throne?it=1

It's a shame they don't offer a Print on Demand option for this excellent book. It also provides a lot of insight into OD&D, having been an adaptation of its system to Tékumel. You can pretty much use its monsters as straight-up D&D encounters, if you want a different "feel."

[Deleted]

If the old EPT is available for $11, then yes, as Chirine said, there's no better introductory book to Tekumel.

[machpants]

Is there much of a difference between that (which I guess is the original 1975) and the Tita's House of games version (in the 80s?)

Thanks

EDIT: that is still listed on the website: Empire of the Petal Throne (HOG reproduction) ... $24.95
Don't know if it is available.

[Deleted]

May 15, 2014 0:47:59 GMT -6 machpants said:

Is there much of a difference between that (which I guess is the original 1975) and the Tita's House of games version (in the 80s?)

Thanks

EDIT: that is still listed on the website: Empire of the Petal Throne (HOG reproduction) ... $24.95
Don't know if it is available.

The Glorious General is in conference with the Prince; as the staff officer, perhaps I can help...

There's no difference in the rules. The Tita's edition is a reprint of the version of the 1975 rule book that was done by Different Worlds, which had the license for a while in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The artwork is a little rearranged, but that's about it. You also don't get the 1975 maps or other inclusions. For all intents and purposes, it's the same book; we use them interchangeably at the game table.

... And I will make sure that the Glorious General is told of your visit, noble sir, and I will have an orderly inform you when he can see you.

(Ya know, this staff gig sure does beat getting chased all over the desert by Baron Ald and his hard cases. Sheesh!)

yours, chirine

[cadriel]

Some fresh questions for Gronan...

1) How much of a role did missile weapons play in the dungeons? Would you expect to have a round or two of fire before melee, and did people ever try firing into melee?

2) Did PCs around, say, 8th-9th level have a lot of magic items or only a few?

3) OD&D lists a bunch of increasingly weird options at the end of the monster types - dinosaurs, living statues, robots, androids, etc. Do you remember any encounters with that kind of creature?

[machpants]

Thanks Chrine, and sorry to hijack the thread!

[Deleted]

1) Missile Weapons... in a dungeon if you were lucky you might get one shot. I actually preferred a hand axe or spear; they can be thrown about as far as you're likely to encounter somebody in a dungeon, and if you are suddenly in melee they're a lot more useful than a crossbow. Spears are nice if you have time to set them, but hand axes are nice for in-fighting.

2) By 8th or 9th level a PC typically had five or six useful magic items.

3) Greyhawk was FULL of weird sh*t. Once you got below the fifth or sixth level the odds of encountering anything "usual" except as a wandering monster was virtually nil. Go look at Rob Kuntz' "Bottle City" for an example. It was ALL weird!

[cadriel]

May 19, 2014 17:40:52 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

3) Greyhawk was FULL of weird sh*t. Once you got below the fifth or sixth level the odds of encountering anything "usual" except as a wandering monster was virtually nil. Go look at Rob Kuntz' "Bottle City" for an example. It was ALL weird!

Awesome. Can you get that put on a t-shirt?

[geoffrey]

May 20, 2014 4:13:28 GMT -6 cadriel said:

May 19, 2014 17:40:52 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

3) Greyhawk was FULL of weird sh*t. Once you got below the fifth or sixth level the odds of encountering anything "usual" except as a wandering monster was virtually nil. Go look at Rob Kuntz' "Bottle City" for an example. It was ALL weird!

Awesome. Can you get that put on a t-shirt?

I'd wear one.

[scottyg]

May 19, 2014 17:40:52 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

1) Missile Weapons... in a dungeon if you were lucky you might get one shot. I actually preferred a hand axe or spear; they can be thrown about as far as you're likely to encounter somebody in a dungeon, and if you are suddenly in melee they're a lot more useful than a crossbow. Spears are nice if you have time to set them, but hand axes are nice for in-fighting.

Hey Gronan,
Speaking of in-fighting, was space required for weapons a consideration? Was it common sense, or was there a system?

Thanks,

Scott

[Deleted]

Pretty much common sense. Front rank carried sword, mace, or hand axe. Spear or polearm maybe from the second rank, maybe not.

[waysoftheearth]

Do you remember whether clerics were permitted to use slings or throwing hammers (including the magical war hammer +1, +2, and +3)? Or were they sans missiles?

[Deleted]

I don't remember.

[geoffrey]

Michael, elsewhere you wrote: 'Gary working on AD&D was not some "money grab", it was what is called "good business practice." If 80% (for instance) of your customers want tournaments and modules, you spend 80% of your effort on those things (and the things that support them.)'

I recognize that you are clearly right on this.

Question: Was Gary's inclusion of dwarves, elves, and hobbits in the 1974 D&D rules the result of his players wanting them, rather than Gary himself wanting them? I seem to remember reading that somewhere, but I can't remember for sure.

[Deleted]

Dwarves and elves come from many places, but hobbits and the other LOTR references are there because we pestered him mercilessly.

[Red Baron]

Did you play with encumbrance rules?

[Deleted]

Gary would periodically ask us how much each of us was carrying, usually when we were loading up on yet more treasure. I think he "seat of the pantsed" encumbrance, though. Hard to tell, this was before publication and nobody but him had the rules.

And I do it much the same way. I'd never totally ignore the effects of encumbrance.

[waysoftheearth]

This might be too detailed, but do you recall how magic weapons were treated in the early days of D&D? If you'd got yourself an enchanted sword +1, for example, would it:

Add to attack rolls?
Add to damage rolls?
Do double damage versus undead (e.g. wights)?

[Deleted]

As written in OD&D. A +1 sword gave +1 to hit.

[waysoftheearth]

What about the other weapons, like say a mace +2? Did it adjust attack and damage rolls? Or only damage rolls?

[Deleted]

Whatever it says in OD&D.

[geoffrey]

Michael, am I right in remembering that Gary was a big fan of the ancient Chinese game of Go?

[Deleted]

Dunno, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[Deleted]

Jun 23, 2014 21:35:07 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Michael, am I right in remembering that Gary was a big fan of the ancient Chinese game of Go?

I know he liked Japanese Chess (Shogi) very much. Is this what you're thinking of?

[geoffrey]

Possibly. My memory is kind of hazy on this.

[cadriel]

Go (Chinese: wei ch'i) is a game played with black and white stones on a 19x19 grid. Shogi is a Japanese descendant of chaturanga, the Indian game that eventually became chess, played with tiles on a rectangular 9x9 grid. Wei ch'i / Go originated in China, Shogi was developed in Japan. Japan is the center of the Go world, and it is Japanese Go players who are usually the masters of the game.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi