Looking at the rest of Jakálla outside of the Foreigners Quarter, let’s note where the other armories are located (all reference numbers are taken from the key to the Jakálla city map): 57. Armoury and Marine Outfitting Workshop of Grékka the Yán Koryáni.58. Armoury and Smithy of Ghrý of the Vermilion Helm.59. … Continue reading Tékumel Thursday: The Rest of the City
In my previous Tékumel Thursday, I talked about understanding the map of the city of Jakálla, and one of the questions I did not answer was “where are the marketplaces of the city?” That is a very good question, and one that needs direct attention. But I want to start with two observations to act… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday: In the Foreigners Quarter
The chocolate chip cookies were exactly golden-brown and hot from the oven. Using an oven mitt, I took the cookie sheet out, slipped the parchment paper and the dozen cookies onto a cooking rack. In another few minutes we’d have cookies and tall glasses of cold milk. For now, though, we would wait until they… Continue reading Learning How to Bake
One of the biggest issues I had to deal with in starting my Tékumel campaign had to do with alignment. Tékumel’s alignment system is different from the various alignment systems in D&D, and is more grounded in the setting, which is helpful. My experience in the original campaign was that the player-characters worshiped different gods,… Continue reading Tékumel Thursdays 12: Alignment in my Tékumel campaign
The need to convey news about what was happening elsewhere in the Empire presented a challenge to Prof. Barker in the original campaign – or player-characters were along with Prince Eselné when this encounter took place: “…Know ye, O Omnipotent Eye Which Sees the World, that your excellent son, Lord Eselné, has travelled to Chéne… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 11: Trolls in the Woods
It is worth keeping in mind that Empire of the Petal Throne (EPT) was one of the first roleplaying games published after Original D&D. The fact that it is well-written and laid-out in a clean and attractive fashion for the time can mask this fact. But that also means that there are things not necessarily… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 10: EPT Rules Updates – Introduction
Tékumel is very well suited to the long-form tabletop roleplaying campaign. It has cultural, social, and historical depth, it covers a vast area, and has tremendous detail to it. It is also incomplete, which invites further participation by game masters wanting to contribute their own ideas to the game. So it should not be surprising… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 9: Starting My Campaign
This is the first Dispatch to the Petal Throne, and is highly appropriate, since it involves an adventure undertaken by one of Bill Hoyt’s characters, a priest of Keténgku… “ . . .Know ye, O Perfumer of the Nostrils of the Gods, that an intelligence has come from your city of Urmish of most curious… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 8: The Haunted Sákbe-Road
Just got back from Gary Con XVI, so this is about how to run Tékumel convention events and how to attract players for a Tékumel campaign. At Gary Con XVI I ran three different adventures, all based out of the northern Tsolyáni city of Khirgár. Here is the description for the second one: Deep in… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 7: Gary Con XVI
Starting in The Strategic Review, Vol. II, No. 2, published in April 1976, reports of what was happening in Prof. Barker’s campaign began to appear. These were written in the form of dispatches sent through the Imperial bureaucracy, possibly requiring some sort of action – thus giving readers a window into the World of Tekumel. … Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 6: What About All Those Dispatches?
