1, Part 2 - Coming of Age in Tekumel. There is also a perception among the latter-day Tkumel community that the languages are off-putting to new players.Adventures on Tekumel Vol. Joe Saul’s Tkumel: Empire of the Petal Throne (2005), but as Barker got older he stopped creating new languages from whole cloth.
I’m told by a friend who has a much greater knowledge of the setting, its pedigree, and anthropology in general than I that the human culture presented contains elements of Aztec theocracy, the Indian caste system and the clan/honor systems associated with feudal Japan. Which I will grant you, makes reviewing it prety toughThough decidedly low-tech and high-magic—which would lead you to think that this was a sword and sorcery genre piece—it was set in the distant future following a cataclysm and thus, highly advanced technology was still present and semi-available to the characters.The setting was human centric, but there were some truly non human races detailed for use as player characters (no “pointy-eared graceful” humans or “small humans” made the cut).Examples from the pear-shaped, artichoke-headed Pachi Lei, to the radially-symmetrical four-armed/four-legged, Aghoyya give a better idea of what was presented under the banner of “Non-Human” and are not any more or less odd than the others half-dozen presented…consider them a “Strangeness” baseline reading.Humanity, as presented, had a culture I was unsure I had ever seen described anywhere in the real world. Even the swords are made from specially-treated Dinosaur hide rather than steel.The culture was very complex, well-detailed and unique almost to the point where it defied summary. Firstly, it was nothing at all like Tolkien. A rich¸ complex world and a complete set of rules¸ Empire of the Petal Throne includes rules for character generation¸ magic¸ monsters¸ adventuring¸ societies and This is the original manuscript for Empire of the Petal Throne, produced in the Spring of 1974 in a limited and confidential run of fifty copies for the.Two years before the release of Star Wars, two years before the death of Elvis Presley, two years before the discovery of fire…we are talking history here folks.We are talking about the original release date of the second RPG ever published ( Empire of the Petal Throne), and Tekumel, the setting on which it hung it’s coat.Now what I can recall of Empire of the Petal Throne is mostly positive. Product Line: Empire of the Petal Throne (Theatre of the Mind) MSRP 18.95Jump with me in the way-back machine, and return to the year 1975.Empire of the Petal Throne is a classic of the gaming genre¸ setting the standard for everything that followed after it.
I suppose this is what 50-odd years of development by a university professor can drum up in terms of consistency and coherence.The University Professor in question is one M.A.R. And given how freaking odd a lot of the setting elements are, that is quite a feat. Right?The setting is airtight the effects of nearly every peculiarity of design are properly extrapolated into the larger society.
I laughed to my wife that the artist “had a girl’s name”She pointed out that the artist might, indeed, be female (as turned out to be the case).The system is another reworking of Guardians of Order’s Tri-stat system, used in Silver Age Sentinels, Ex Machina, Big Eyes, Small Mouth amongst others. This one is drawn by Giovanna de Fregni who, from a quick Google search on the name, appears to have been associated with Tekumel products for ages now. I didn’t think that RPG products really shipped with poster-sized, hand-drawn full-color world maps anymore. I was going to say that it reminded me of Skyrealms of Jorume in tone, but given their respective publishing dates, I think saying the reverse would be more fair.The book itself is up to Guardians of Order’s normal, high standards: Well done, evocative black-and-white art, Easily readable layout with liberal use of sidebars and suchlike for clarity and “Feel” (much appreciated), and the Map!The map is a thing of beauty.
There are demons, Monsters, powerful secret (and less-than-secret) societies with unfathomable, arcane (not like that) goals, and a whole lot more.There are some editing and proofreading gaffes, but the only one that truly stares out at you is on page 95, under the heading To Roll or not to Roll. The setting taken into account all of the product, though the authors seem well-aware of the difficulty involved in getting new players into the “feel” of this very non-standard world and have spread liberal helpful hints, sidebars and suchlike all though the book (including two separate examples of character creation: One built with a deep involvement in the setting, and the other being a generic “Swashbuckling Swordsman” deftly illustrating the flexibility you are presented with.Opposition is presented in abundance. The skill list is remarkably complete with a several examples of setting-specific skills and uses.I found it strangely akin to GURPS during character creation (Advantages, Disadvantages etc.), and I say that as one of the highest compliments I can give.One of my favorite system presented here is the “Special Items” creation rules, which allow very specific customization of equipment. A point based system with six stats (which makes you wonder why they slapped the “Tri Stat” logo on it) Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Psyche, Charisma and Willpower, with other purchase options (like Attractiveness, Flunkies, or Friends in High Places) and defects (like Clumsy, Addicted or Bad Reputation) which give you more points with which to build your character.
This was kind of a good thinbg, though, as normal Tri-Stat can seem a bit bland sometimes. At first I was bit taken aback at how unrelated to "real" Tri-Stat the system seemed. Guardians of Order have managed to tie together a lot of the disparate strands that were Empire of the Petal Throne and turn out what must be called the definitive handbook for the setting.I got to play in a demo game of T:EotPT at GenCon 2004. Absolutely unique in my experience, and very, very well done in comparison to previous editions.
Tekumel has never been paired with a better system. People who are interested in this new editionof Tekumel should head on over to Tita's House of Games and look into their extensive library of Tekumel reprints.I can only hope this new product will lead to a Tekumel revivial. The sourcebook on Tekumel (systemless) is still a great resource, though. Pretty simple.I used to own the Swords & Glory incarnation of Tekumel, and the GoO version is waay better. The greater the margin by which you make your roll, the greater your success. You roll a d10 under your stat or skill rating, and you want to roll low.
30,000 years in Tekumel’s past, after space colonization by various races, something terrible happened and the system went through some worm hole and now exists in a pocket universe. Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne retails for $39.95.Tekumel takes place some 60,000 years in our future. The cover features an Aztec priest summoning a vision of a man, with torn robes, climbing steps while peering over his shoulder by Raven Mimura. Barker's fantasy world of Tekumel, the author credits go to Patrick Brady, Joe Saul, and Edwin Voskamp.
As a result from being cut off from the rest of the universe, the population slid back into barbarism.
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