terje
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Post by terje on Mar 12, 2024 13:08:57 GMT -6
I have finally got hold of a copy of The Shadow People by Margareth St Clair (I don't understand why this book has not been reprinted) so that's what I'll be reading now.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 8, 2024 10:57:49 GMT -6
Thank you! Always fun to listen to "war stories" from back in the days.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 7, 2024 17:14:41 GMT -6
Hi misterbill and welcome to the forum. Thank you for telling us more about your game! Did you run a campaign in Shakhan, or was it primarily played at conventions?
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terje
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Post by terje on Sept 4, 2023 14:08:23 GMT -6
The Beetle by Richard Marsh (in swedish translation).
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 7, 2023 13:25:01 GMT -6
I'm halfway through season 1 of ST Strange New Worlds and I'm actually enjoying it quite a lot! To me, it feels true to the original series. My favorite episode of the season is the fourth, "Memento Mori". Yes, they really managed to make the Gorn feel malevolent!
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terje
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Post by terje on Jul 7, 2023 12:05:22 GMT -6
I'm halfway through season 1 of ST Strange New Worlds and I'm actually enjoying it quite a lot! To me, it feels true to the original series.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jun 14, 2023 4:52:55 GMT -6
A new update: my mom passed away early this year, and I have to tell you, that encompassed ALL of my time until just recently. While this has been a time of sadness for me, the one bright spot is that my mom's estate has now provided me with the resources to pay for the art for The Egg of the World, which is really cool. As I get back on track, I will be looking for people to help me run events at conventions using material from the book. I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I think everyone understands that such matters must take precedence. Glad to hear that you are able to return to working on the Egg of the World as I'm sure it will be a great thing for tekumel gaming!
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terje
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Post by terje on Jun 10, 2023 10:58:09 GMT -6
The Fisherman by John Langan - A weird horror fish story about the biggest and oldest fish in the most primordial sea. A beautiful weirding of ancient mythology.
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terje
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Post by terje on May 31, 2023 8:43:23 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 31, 2023 9:39:12 GMT -6
I happened to come across this Canadian homebrew game by one Marcus Shield by way of the facebook group Obscure and Rare Roleplaying Games. Shakhán is set on the planet of Telostic, "a world in which a once-mighty civilization has degenerated over thousands of years to a level roughly equivalent to that of Earth's early Middle Ages". Shield seems to have begun developing the game system and setting for his home campaign in the late 70s and kept working on it at least into the 00s. In Book A Introduction / Game setting, the author states that "Telostic is almost entirely the product of my own imagination, but I freely acknowledge my intellectual debt to many sources of popular fantasy and science fiction literature, in particular the Empire of the Petal Throne® series of games and books by M.A.R. Barker." This RPG.net review gives a summary of the rules system: www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/classic/rev_5389.phtmlThe game, and lots of additional material, can be accessed through the magic of the Wayback Machine: web.archive.org/web/20060818033723/http://www.globalserve.net/~marcusnkaren/shakhan/shakhan_homepage.htm
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 14, 2023 12:20:07 GMT -6
This animated short movie could perhaps take place in some of the wilder parts of Carcosa, or perhaps some strange world on the farther side of an eldritch portal: youtu.be/6J6Z67elnDo
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 2, 2023 10:13:58 GMT -6
Yesterday I finished The Black Maybe by Attila Veres. Impressive weird fiction collection from this hungarian author. Last time I read something as unique and strange was when I discovered Ligotti.
Started on A Different Darkness by italian author Luigi Musolino. Also reading To Rouse Leviathan by Matt Cardin, cosmic horror based in theological speculations.
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terje
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Post by terje on Oct 30, 2022 8:34:24 GMT -6
When the term was first used (referring to rpgs) it was explicitly (or at least implicitly) "old school D&D" which I think was understood to mean D&D from the early 80s and before. As the term spread it was also used to refer to other games from the same era, and new games that were compatible or at least made with the same kind of sensibilities. And as is only natural people started experimenting with different ways to implement the rules or the underlying sensibilities.
"Old school" is so vague that it can mean just about anything so long as it's not the newest thing, and as time marches on, more and more stuff can be considered "old school". Depending on one's perspective it's entirely possible to argue that 3e/d20 is old school.
Lately, I've been leaning towards "wargames style D&D" (as Eero Tuovinen calls it in Muster), but then again people will have different ideas about what "wargames" implies. I guess language is inherently imprecise and trying to pin down the exact definition of a word or phrase is a fools errand.
But having said all that, for me "old school d&d" is 0e to 1e and B/X.
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terje
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Post by terje on Aug 30, 2022 7:50:26 GMT -6
The kickstarter is live (and funded), and you can download a quick start pdf:
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terje
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Post by terje on Aug 24, 2022 2:17:34 GMT -6
Drakar och Demoner used to have a position among swedish rpgs similar to D&D's in the US. Nowadays, several other games have become prominent and swedish newcomers to the hobby are more likely to pick up D&D rather than any of the swedish language games. But Drakar och Demoner still has a strong following among middle aged swedish roleplayers. What impact this new edition makes remains to be seen. Wikipedia has a decent outline of the games history: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakar_och_Demoner
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terje
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Post by terje on Aug 19, 2022 14:57:56 GMT -6
I wrote up a bunch of NPCs for my Carcosa game a long time ago, but I never shared them here for some reason. Maybe I'll do so in the near future. Please do! A npc gallery for Carcosa could be useful.
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terje
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Post by terje on Aug 8, 2022 14:48:53 GMT -6
I recently read The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper, a cosmic horror novella that feels more Clive Barker than HP Lovecraft.
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terje
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Post by terje on May 23, 2022 7:24:56 GMT -6
The Shadow People, Same author - This was nearly as good as SotL, minus an ending which was clearly phoned in. The mythic underworld it takes place in is perfect inspiration for dungeons and I can clearly see the influence on early D&D. Also, the method of entering the underworld is a sort of predecessor of the 'backrooms' concept. It's too bad this book is so hard to find, I'd love if some one took a shot at republishing it!
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terje
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Post by terje on Apr 16, 2022 19:42:15 GMT -6
I'm currently slightly obsessed by the Saurians supplement for Chivalry & Sorcery. Here's a link to a Google-translated french review of the book: anniceris-blogspot-com.translate.goog/2013/07/ecailles-saurians-1979.html?m=1&_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=enThere's very little chance that I'll ever run a campaign based on this, but one can always dream right? I would run such a campaign set in an all sauroid setting (no human pcs, all dinosaur-people) with a world map based on, say, the middle Cretaceous. It would be a troup style game where the players were both the rulers of their own dino kingdom as well as grunts sent on missions, and a group of travelling merchants (= thieves and spies with legit reasons to visit other kingdoms). Politics and strategy mingled with adventure. Anyway, has anyone read this fascinating supplement, or perhaps even used it in play?
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 14, 2022 9:10:40 GMT -6
Dear All - Thank you for being patient with me!I am days away from finishing “The Egg of the World” - a guide to playing in the world of Tekumel, aimed at GMs and players, based on the work I posted here, oh so long ago. It is a companion to Empire of the Petal Throne, and I am looking for playtesters. If you are a GM, and would like to run adventures in the world of Tekumel, this is for you. I have already recruited a fair number of playtesters, but I am interested in people from this board who have (a) been interested in running a Tekumel campaign, and (b) have not done so, due to the challenge. If you are interested, please let me know - thanks! This is such a cool project! Has there been any further progress?
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 13, 2022 12:41:43 GMT -6
The carcosan chess looks fun, but it really could use som printable silhouette paper minis!
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 13, 2022 10:53:56 GMT -6
Ulfire Tablets is a new osr zine "dedicated to roleplaying in science fantasy / planetary romance settings". The first issue has lots of material for Carcosa! Free download here: eldritch-fields.itch.io/ulfire-tablets-1
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terje
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Post by terje on Jun 8, 2021 8:36:05 GMT -6
A Season of Loathsome Miracles by Max Stanton (short story collection, weird fiction). Really good, some mindblowing narratives.
The Weird and the Eerie by Mark Fisher (essays on the aesthetics of the strange and the unknown). Very interesting and thought provoking.
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terje
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Post by terje on Apr 10, 2021 13:49:54 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 4, 2021 10:14:01 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Feb 14, 2021 10:01:47 GMT -6
Yea, I'll have to get hold of a copy of that game! The Boats of the Glen Carrig is another great story!
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terje
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Post by terje on Feb 13, 2021 17:35:21 GMT -6
If you haven't read it, you might try Hodgson's The House on the Borderland. It's much more effective and less digressive than The Night Land. That was actually the first that I read by Hodgson and I really enjoyed it.
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terje
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Post by terje on Feb 11, 2021 17:14:17 GMT -6
I'm currently listening to Hodgson's The Night Land as audiobook. The world that is depicted really is a singular vision of weird fantasy. But the writing is so overly cumbersome, with all too many unnecessary digretions and repetitions. It is at the same time some of the best and some of the worst I've read by him.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 17, 2021 9:57:37 GMT -6
The files have been updated with a continental map (in both color and bw). If you have bought the pdf you should be able to download the updated version.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 16, 2021 11:36:37 GMT -6
Recently finished the Cronenberg-inspired anthology The New Flesh, currently reading a weird fiction collection called Nox Pareidolia.
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