Everyone knows the marketplace is busy on a Tlakál weekday, so here's a little table for rolling up quick equipment for when your magic user just got his eyes devoured by the Thúnru'u.
Inspiration was taken from OSE's Carcass Crawler #2 zine.
Sorry folks, Tékumel Thursday is on hold this week as I prepare for ArneCon. I'll be running a couple Empire of the Petal Throne adventures and playtesting them afterwords with the intent to publish them. In the meantime, I have a big update to my Empire of the Petal Throne referee screens. This is probably the final form, content-wise, but I always have lurking plans to spice them up with some cool art or Tsolyáni script.
As a parting question, for anyone playing games set in Tékumel or that have used material from Tékumel, please share your tales! I enjoy reading about other folks playing in the setting.
Have a good week!
Does anyone know of any monster art for the Kurgha or the Shedra? I'm printing out illustrations for the monsters in my game so new folks can ogle at them while they get eaten.
Welcome back to another Tékumel Thursday! This week we will look at Empire of the Petal Throne, the first ruleset published for the setting of Tékumel and a game that has a long list of firsts under its belt for TTRPGs.
Released in January, 1975, Empire of the Petal Throne (EPT) was 2nd RPG ever released by TSR and arguably the 2nd RPG ever released (Tunnels & Trolls was released that same January). EPT is essentially a hack of original 1974 D&D (OD&D) with some neat changes that I think people may be interested in for houseruling their own games which I will point out below.
As a note, while some people complain about OD&D’s organization and lack of explanations, I’ve found that EPT is much better organized in a way that is still familiar, being organized mainly following the Men & Magic; Monsters & Treasure; Underworld & Wilderness Adventure 3-book format in one 121-page book.
Being a ruleset for Tékumel, EPT only has 11 pages of direct lore in which the pre-history & history of the planet, the current political situations around the Five Empires, and the species of Tékumel, all in a fairly broad view that doesn’t get you weighed down in too many details. The rest of the lore of the setting is drip-fed throughout the rest of the book in the form of magic items, spells, class information, skills, etc. EPT originally came in a box set consisting of the comb-bound rulebook, some reference pages, maps of about half of the known world of Tékumel, and the city map of Jakálla, the City Half as Old as the World.
One fun note is that while OD&D doesn’t go into details on how you actually play an RPG, EPT does! EPT breaks down how you play RPGs in a very easy to understand way, instructing you on how to build your own dungeon, social setups, characters, and wilderness adventures. This bit of detail was one of the reasons EPT actually outsold OD&D until TSR began to put EPT on the backburner and not advertise it as much so as not to compete with their flagship game, leading to quite the legal dispute.
There are 3 professions (classes) of characters in EPT: Warriors, Priests, & Magic-Users (which serve as a lay-priest of sorts). Characters aren’t expected to be blank slates just arriving from the wilderness, either. These are people with a previous place in society, as we will see in the Skills section.
There are two basic alignments in EPT “Good” & “Evil”, though this was a change requested by Gygax as he felt Tékumel’s system of Gods of Stability and Gods of Change would be too confusing to players. Characters are expected to be worshipers of either the 5 “Good” Gods or their Cohorts (attendee deities) or the 5 “Evil” Gods or their Cohorts. As another note, the nomenclature of “Evil” really is a bad way to explain the Gods of Change, as they are more gods of entropy or base desires/emotions. The Gods of Stability are more gods of tradition and, well, Stability! Both sides of the pantheon are worshiped and accepted throughout the Empires, some more than others depending on the location.
Characters also choose a sex, noting that women in Tékumel are treated as equals of men with their own protections and powers. The Yán Koryáni Empire to the north, for example, is a matriarchal society where women head the clans and rule vs the patriarchal Tsolyáni Empire. As an aside, 1983’s Swords & Glory (the 1e AD&D to EPT’s OD&D) would later go on to elaborate on the sexual progressiveness of Tékumel society, describing how LGBTQ+ persons on Tékumel are given an equal status as cis-gendered, heterosexual persons!
These are your core attributes, some of which will be familiar to D&D-heads.
Strength, intelligence, constitution, psychic ability, dexterity, and comeliness are the main characteristics of your character. These attributes are rolled using a flat 1d100 rather than the familiar 3d6 bell curve. This means that attributes can vary fairly widely and is a common spot for houseruling. The typical bands of adjustment are 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-95, and 96-100. Strength is the main attribute for Warriors, Intelligence for Priests, and Psychic Ability for Magic-Users. As you level there is a chance your Basic Talents increase, as well.
Strength adjusts your to hit and damage rolls.
Intelligence adjusts your to hit & damage rolls; your ability to use spells of higher levels, Eyes (like magic wands), and other forms of technology; and abilities to find and detect secret doors and traps.
Constitution adjusts your to hit and damage rolls; chance of being revivified; chances that a healing spell/Eye will work on you and maybe adding to healing dice.
Psychic Ability adjusts whether or not you can even cast spells and the chances to successfully cast spells (you roll to cast).
Dexterity adjusts your to hit and damage rolls as well as giving you a chance to hit the wrong target if your dexterity is low enough.
Comeliness is how attractive your character is and is mainly a social stat. If you roll 96-100, there’s even a chance that people seeing you will attempt to kidnap you and gift you to a noble unless you cover your gorgeous self!
If you’ve kept track, strength, intelligence, constitution, and dexterity all can adjust your chances to hit and damage! This means someone with max stats can get up to +6 to hit and +4 to damage at level 1! This adds to the swords & planet feel because there are less rounds of everyone missing and more rounds of things progressing (for better or worse!).
This is the very first skill system released in any RPG! You roll to see how many skills and in which category they are: Plebian, Skilled, & Noble. These skills are actually defined, as well, so if you are an Animal-trainer, you can train any creature not totally hostile to man, taking from 1-3 months depending on the intelligence of the creature and the nature of the task being trained. There are 25 Plebian, 14 Skilled, & 17 Noble. As you level it is possible to gain new skills or to be trained during play by a teacher/master.
Some examples:
Plebian: cook, glass-blower, perfumer, bootmaker, and barber.
Skilled: mountaineer, scribe-accountant, ship-captain, and swimmer-diver.
Noble: geologist, alchemist, assassin-spy-tracker, and botanist.
These skills further reinforce that your character came from somewhere and existed before deciding to go adventuring one day. Gardasiyal, a later RPG fro mthe 1990s, even came with quite a few solo adventures you could use to role-play out your character’s “origin story”, so to speak.
These are skills that your character gained in the training for their profession. For warriors it is the ability to use different weapons (commonly houseruled to give bonuses, allowing you to use any weapon from the start), for priests you get spells or extra languages, and for magic-users you also get spells.
Some examples:
Warrior: spear, mace/flail, axe, sword, sling, etc.
Priest: produce light spell, detect evil/good, cure light wounds, ESP, telepathy, or known 2 ancient/modern languages.
Magic-Users: control of self, illusion, telekinesis, astrology, the Grey Hand, and control undead creatures.
These are spells above and beyond the starting Profession Skills you can learn as you level up or throughout adventuring. They are divided in to 3 Groups, though the power level is relatively flat compared to old school D&D spell levels. They vary from Cure/Bless to the Hands of Krá the Mightyto The Demon. There are 18 Group I & II spells and 21 Group III. They can each be cast only once, though if you learn them further times they can be cast multiple times. Professional spell can sometimes be cast multiple times before you “lose” the spell.
1 gold Káitar recovered = 1 XP. Also, each HD of monsters slayed gives 50XP to the character who slayed the beast! A frequent houserule spot again, is to divide XP among all characters. If the monster was slayed with a magical/tech device, only 25XP/HD is awarded.
EPT also has the unique challenge of not only increasing XP requirements to level that old school D&D has, but also lessening the XP awarded. So, a level 10 Warrior needs 240,001+ XP but only revieves 5% of the normal XP due to their high level. Needless to say this is frequently ignored haha!
All HD are in d6s just like 3lbb OD&D with most weapons using 1d6 for damage with a +1 or +2 here and there as standard. Daggers and small missiles are the one exception using 1d4 (the first instance of variable dice damage in an RPG).
EPT uses the basic “roll 1d20, add modifiers, refer to the attack matrix to see what AC you hit”, but also adds the wholly unique Damage Dice Matrix. You would then refer to this matrix to see how many damage dice you roll vs your opponent. Say you hit with a 2-handed sword that does 1d6+2 damage as a level 10 Warrior vs a 1HD monster. Instead of the usual 1d6+2 the 2-handed sword would do, you would roll 5d6+2 vs that pipsqueak monster who dared stand before your blade! That, of course, is the most extreme example. Typically you only roll the normal damage up until level 4 where you get 2d6+2 vs a 1HD monster. So that increase happens in the mid-game vs the mooks and scales upwards.
Combat is done in phases that are familiar: movement, magic, missiles, and melee. There are a couple rules that may be interesting as houserules in your game:
Dying Blows: Any creature that hasn’t had a chance to attack in the round that it is killed gets a Dying Blow
Natural 20s: A roll of a natural 20 gives double damage and another roll of the d20. If that second roll is a 19 or a 20, that creatures is automatically slain!
As said before, to cast a spell you must roll to see if your spell fails. At level 1 with average ability scores that chance is 60%. Fear not, your spell isn’t wasted, it just fails to cast. You can try, try again. Psychic Ability adjusts this, as well. For every level above 1 that chance to fail falls by 10% until level 6 where it drops by 5%.
For all of you people out there that have ever complained about coins being too heavy at 1/10 per pound, here is your solution! EPT uses coin weight, keeping with OD&D, but gives each coin a weight of 3 grams (there are 454 grams to the pound for us Americans). That means a metal sword would weigh 900 coins, a dagger 325, a shield 2000, a waterskin 500, etc. etc. Leather armor weighs 4,324cn, chainmail 8,650, and plate mail 13,000. Light movement rate (12”) is 0 - 13,000cn, heavy foot (9”) is 13,001 - 17,300, and armored foot (6”) is 17,301 – 26,000. See, never again need you worry about that silly gold coin as large as your hand. Revel in your realism! (I’m being sarcastic, of course. This system is pretty “of its time” in my opinion, but fun to point out).
1 torch per 5 people in a dungeon partsy must be lit or the group fights as half strength.
Opening stuck doors happens on a 2/6 with a 1 rolled meaning the door opens easily and the party may surprise who/whatever is on the other side while a 2 rolled means it is forced open and no surprise chance exists.
3 beings max can open a stuck door needing 3/6 but having no chance to surprise who/whatever is on the other side.
Determine day’s route of travel.
Determine wind speed (1d6) & daily movement allowance:
1 = becalmed wind, no movement.
2 = light breeze, move 1 hex (~83 miles)
3 to 4 = moderate breeze, move 1 hex (~83 miles)
5 = strong wind, move 1 hex (~83 miles)
6 = gale, move 2 hexes (~166 miles)
2a) if strong wind/gale, ship travels in the wind’s direction:
1 = NE, 2 = E, 3 = SE, 4 = SW, 5 = W, 6 = NW
2b) For each gale-force wind roll, 15% chance exists for storm damaging ship. After 4 damages, ship sinks! Crew must make saving throws based on dexterity to avoid drowning.
2c) Unfamiliar shallows/tidal flats: 15%/ day of wrecking. Regularly traveled waters only 10%/day. A captain familiar with the ares only has 5%/day.
2d) Ship going aground: if wrecked, saving throw of 12+ must be made. If saving throw is failed, crew must save vs drowning. If the drowning saving throw is failed they find themselves stranded on the nearest shore.
open water: 2/6. Shallows/tidal flats: 1/6
open water: 1/6. Shallows or tidal flats: 2/6
5a) time encountered:
1-3 = day, 4-6 = night
5b) number of ships encountered:
1-4 = 1 ship, 5 = 2 ships, 6 = 1d4+3 ships
5c) Encounter type (see appropriate table)
Becalmed = 0%, light breeze = 10%, moderate breeze = 20%, strong wind = 30%, gale = 50%.
7a) If evasion failed: resolve encounter (combat, parley, trade, etc.)
7b) If evasion successful: move hexes according to wind.
Rounding out the book is a short section on the Tsolyáni script used the Tsolyáni Empire. It is actually relatively simple and a great script if you need something for a puzzle or magical script for your games. It writes right to left like arabic and there are well-done examples in the book.
Hopefully there are some rules here you can steal or work out for your games/systems. Empire of the Petal Throne is tremendous system and rulebook for the setting of Tékumel and probably the easiest way to get started without being overwhelmed. It is still in print as a print as a print on demand book over at DriveThruRPG in a very good quality book, in my opinion.
As always feel free to join us over on r/Tekumel for discussions or whatever questions you may have and check out the Tekumel wiki over there as well as the New to Tékumel? wiki page.
Welcome back to Tékumel Thursday! This week I’ll cover the various magical/technological items of Tékumel and give a few examples of each! These items will be great to steal for your games or maybe entice you to check out the weird and alien sword & planet setting of Tékumel! The items are from Empire of the Petal Throne, the first system set in Tékumel, which is essentially an OD&D hack, so compatibility will be very easy/minimal.
Tékumel is a sword & planet setting, which means the old quote of sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic very much is the norm! Both its inhabitants and us, the players, can sometimes have hard times in figuring out which is which, to great enjoyment. Feel free to visit r/Tekumel and see what’s going on or post any question about the setting or systems (we love helping new folks!) and check out the Tekumel wiki for some very brief overviews or the New to Tékumel? Wiki page for a quick guide to starting playing in Tékumel.
We begin with what is probably Tékumel’s most iconic magic item, Eyes! Eyes take the place of wands and potions in Tékumel & look just like you probably imagine: small, dull gem device shaped like an eyeball made by the Ancients. There is an “iris” on the danger side and a small stud that activates the Eye on the rear. If you’re lucky there will be an inscribed dial that indicates the remaining charges in the Eye and/or an inscription by a scribe of eons past that details the function of the Eye so you actually know what you’re dealing with.
The procedure of generating an Eye is as follows:
- 50% of all Eyes found have an inscription in one of the ancient languages of Tékumel with the function of the Eye noted. Otherwise, the Eye must be tested for its function to be found out.
- Once the function of the device is found out, the referee rolls 1d100 to determine the amount of charges in the Eye.
- 50% of all Eyes have a tiny dial indicating charges remaining just below the operating stud that changes whenever a charge is used. If there is no charge indicator, the referee keeps secret record of charges remaining.
- There is a 5% chance that any Eye found is defective as the eons have taken their toll on the small devices. If the Eye is defective, roll 1d100: 1-50 = the Eye is completely inactive; 51-80 = the Eye only has half the charges (even if the dial says otherwise); 81-90 = the Eye has the opposite or a distorted effect (have fun, referee!); 91-100 = the Eye explodes upon use, dealing 4d6 to the user and 2d6 to anyone within 10’ of the user!
Some examples of Eyes:
The Excellent Ruby Eye
A fairly common Eye, as far as Eyes go, this device “freezes” 1d6 beings (saving throws allowed) at their specific moment in time. Another charge of the Excellent Ruby Eye is needed to “unfreeze” the victim, or else the effect is permanent. The victims has a red “sheen” over them while frozen. Range: 5” (50’ indoors, 50 yards outdoors). Duration: permanent unless another charge is used to “unfreeze” victim.
The Eye of Being an Unimpeachable Shield Against Foes
This Eye provides immunity from all edged or blunt weapons, magical or not, to 1d4 beings. Duration: 2 turns.
The Eye of Joyful Sitting Amongst Friends
This Eye turns 1d3 human or nonhuman enemies into devoted allies (saving throw allowed). Range: 2” (20’ indoors, 20 yards outdoors). Duration: 4 turns.
The Thoroughly Useful Eye
The rarest of all Eyes which has the power to recharge other Eyes. One charge may be restored per day simply by putting the Eyes in front of each other and pressing the stud on the Thoroughly Userful Eye. This Eye, itself, never requires charging. There are only four known specimens in the Tsolyáni Empire and two known in other lands
Next, we will discuss Books! What are more than likely the inspiration for D&D’s various manuals and magical books, the books of Tékumel contain incantations to the Gods and their Cohorts, are instruction manuals, etc. Reading a book gives the character the benefits immediately, provided the character knows the language the book is written in. Sages may be able to identify the book without the character reading it for a fee of 1d100x20 gold Káitars.
Examples:
The Book of Qiyór (“Korúnkoi hiQiyór” in Tsolyáni)
This treatise is written in modern Tsolyáni, translated by the Wizard Qiyor, and consists of spells and incantations useful for Magic Users only. A “good” (stability) aligned Magic User gains 1 level, an “evil” (change) aligned Magic User also gains 1 level but takes 2d6 damage upon reading it.
The Tome of Black Mold (Hnéshtlaw Kéq Yóssu” in Tsolyáni)
Written in ancient N’lýssa, this tome can only be used by a Priest or Magic User of level 5+, any lesser characters take 2d6 damage and the book collapses into a pile of dust. This tome transports the reader to the Tomb of the Lord of Black Mold in the Secret City of Schyák in N’lýss, where he or she can gather treasures filling this tomb. The referee rolls two Type I treasure sets and the character must choose from among these items, stuffing them in his or her pack or pouches, taking as much as they can carry in 1 turn, after which they are transported back to their former location.
The Book of Sending Forth the Servant of Great Ksárul (“Li’ób Miffánsa Missrábchi’i MikKsárulkchi” in Tsolyáni)
This book, written in modern Livyáni, summons the demon Origób, a hideous serpentine creature with six sucker-tipped mouths, which is controllable by the reader (provided they make their saving throw!). Levels 1-3 must roll 17+ on a d20. Levels 4–7 must roll 14+ on a d20. Levels 8+ need a 12+ on a d20. If the save is not made, Origób turns upon those who would dare disturb him. Origób stays for only 2 turns before disappearing.
Origób; 15HD; AC1; Atks x6 (poison); MV 15”
Finally, the Miscellaneous Magic items of Tékumel are an ecclectic mix being made bby ancient sorcerers and totally unique (with rare duplicates existing).
Examples:
The Chariot of the Gods
An ancient air car capable of carrying 1d6 persons and flying for 30” per turn. 1d100 charges and able to be charged with the Thoroughly Userful Eye. The vehicle is armored against any missile smaller than a catapult stone, yet various spells and Eyes may penetrate it. In ages past the ancient Dragon Kings used these “chariots” to conquer vast swathes of the known continent. A “stable” of these “chariots” are rumored to still lie beneath the great city of Tsámra in Livyánu…
The Clockwork Automaton of Qiyór
A robot which fights for 10 combat rounds before needing 1 round of rewinding. It has two broadsword weapons. According to the book “Básrimyal hiMazák” (Men of Power) by Tlékku Beshyené, ten of these robots were created by the wizard Qiyór for his master. Two are known with one of them being recently destroyed in Milumanayá and the other in the hands of the Mu’ugalabyáni.
Clockwork Automaton of Qiyór; 10HD; AC1; Atks x2 broadswords (1d6+3 damage)
The Cup of Súbadim the Sorcerer
A device from which any liquid the user wishes can be emited at a range of 1” (10’ iindoors, 10 yards outdoors), lasting 1 combat round per charge. It has 1d100 charges.
The Wondrous Enhancer of Jewels
An automatic gem cutter and polisher, this device adds to the value of any jewel placed inside the aperture. Multiply the value of any gem placed inside by 10. 1d100 charges taking 1 charge per gem and a charge indicator in Ancient Tsolyáni. It can be recharged with the Thoroughly Useful Eye.
There ya go! A small taste of the variety of magic items Tékumel has in store for you. There are 36 total Eyes, 12 Amulets, 24 Miscellaneous magic items, and 24 magic Books in Empire of the Petal Throne with a host of other magical weapon effects and spells you can quite easily add to your games. Again, feel free to visit us at r/Tekumel, check out the Wiki or the New to Tékumel? wiki page in the sidebar.
Hey, everyone! Just letting y'all know that I have finished my Empire of the Petal Throne Master Generator. It takes all of the random tables of EPT and puts them in one convenient page for all of your game prepping needs with the results output to a field where you can easily copy them.
The only thing I haven't added are details for the Eyes, Books, Miscellaneous Magic Items, & monster descriptions as those can be easily found in Empire of the Petal Throne.
Also missing are monster statblocks and the wilderness monster encounter specifics, but I will get to them later. They are easily found in the book in the meantime.
There are auto-character creators of each level (which I am frantically using to make pre-gens for my convention game!), Underworld encounters, wilderness encounters, encounters by monster type (men, flyer, swimmer, etc.), patrons with missions and magic items that NPC will be in possession of when you meet them.
Then you've got the various treasure types, magic items, gems, and jewelry.
Go visit the four Palaces of the Empire (Palaces of the Realm, of Ever-Glorious War, of the Priesthood, and of Foreign Lands) to see who and what await your hiring needs, be them craftsmen, nonhuman species, or Priests.
Finally, the miscellaneous tables await. Roll up a ship's nationality if your crew every gets blown off course and runs into another ship. Roll up a random deity, and don't forget your Reaction Rolls.
Hope everyone gets some use out of these. I have made several more of these which I will link below. There are also buttons to download each of these generators at the very bottom of the page, that way you can use them offline. As always, if you see a bug or have a suggestion, let me know! I am keeping things fairly strictly to the Empire of the Petal Throne rules, but will eventually make a section with some tables from the other Tékumel systems to add some flavour to your prep. Thanks!
OD&D 3lbb Master Generator
OD&D + Supplements Master Generator
OD&D autoshopper
Metamorphosis Alpha Generators
Gamma World 1e Generators
I am working on the Empire of the Petal Throne character generator and am having trouble figuring out the table that you roll on to see if you gain a bonus spell upon leveling up.
I have previously seen where the EPT rules have you roll *over* the number given on percentiles to see if something happens, which is the inverse of how d100 rolls are done today where you roll *under*.
I am not sure if this is a consistent thing in the rules or a one off and whether or not to apply it to this table.
EPT Sec. 500, pg 20. The main parts of the description that are relevant are the following:
- "...he or shee rolls percentile dice to see whether an extra spell or spells has been learned." This shows that you can learn more than one spell by rolling on the table.
- "A person rolls only ONCE for this privilege..." You roll once, but can get multiple spells.
- "A person can choose TWO or more of the SAME spell, if his dice score indicates an additional spell from the same Group." So you can get results that duplicate in case you have all of the Group I spells, for example.
- "The following table gives the percentile dice scores needed to obtain a bonus spell..." Nothing really helpful here.
What I *think* happens, is the numbers given for each level are the numbers you must roll *over* in order to get that spell(s) that result gives.
An example: I am a level II priest who just attained level III. I shake 1d100 for a 32. I fail to reach the minimum 70 required for a Group I spell.
Another example: I am a level VI priest who just attained level VII. I shake a 61, which means I roll over the 60 threshold but below the 70. I receive 1 spell of Group III.
This seems the cleanest answer, but I question whether you get the results *above* the threshold you meet, as well. That would really dole out a lot of spells as my second example above would go from 1 spell of Group III to 2 spells of Group I, 2 spells of Group II, and 1 spell of Group III.
If anyone else knows of any other tables that work akin to this but are more explained, please let me know!
It’s another Tékumel Thursday, where I show off some of the cool stuff in the strange sword & planet setting of Tékumel! As always, check our r/Tekumel and, if you’re new, our New to Tékumel? section of the r/Tekumel wiki there which covers getting into the awesome setting of Tékumel.
For part 4, we’ll be taking about 3 of the intelligent nonhuman species of Tékumel that are hostile to humans; inimical species that seek to work against & destroy humans. Like everything in Tékumel, exception abound to the stereotypical broad brush strokes.
Tékumel is a setting which embraces a more mature, “realistic” take on things and less a cartoony, caricatured take. You won’t really find that species are irredeemably “evil” like, say, orcs or goblins are typically shown. The species that are hostile to humans typically have very good reasons to be so, though exceptions to the norm always exist. Even the dreaded Ssú, Enemy of Man, has seen some of its members cooperate with humans and vice versa. The Ssú are not covered here as I have already covered them here.
It’s always good to remember that Tékumel is typically shown through the lens of the human-centric Tsolyáni Empire, with its obvious biases.
The species shown here are stated for Empire of the Petal Throne, essentially an OD&D hack, being very compatible with most OSR systems based on old school D&D.
Check out the species friendly to humans and the species neutral to humans.
Hlutrgú (welsh “ll”-ootr-gOO or hlootr-gOO), “the Swamp Frogs”
NA 1d6x10
AC 7
MV 12”
HD 2
Treasure Type C (30%)
% in Lair: 40% (1d6x100 Hlutrgú in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: D (60%)
Ships: 1d6x12 Hlutrgú aboard with Treasure Type C (50%)
Description
A 4’ tall frog-like species with four legs capable of being used as arms & rubbery skin. Raiding parties of Hlutrgú are feared for their spear, javelin, & dart attacks. Hlutrgú mainly keep to their own territory, seemingly uninterested in territorial expansion. Each year, though, thousands of Hlutrgú set out in small, round leather boats into the Sea of Sóngyal where most do not survive for some unknown reason.
Hlutrgú; NA 1D6X10; 2HD; AC7; MV 12”; TT D; 40%% in lair (TT D); SD fight to the death (need not check morale)
Hlýss (welsh “ll”uh-ss or hluh-ss), “the Spawn of the Old Ones”
NA 1d10x10
AC 3
MV 9”
HD 2
Treasure Type H (40%)
% in Lair: 50% (1d6x100 Hlýss in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: H (40%)
Ships: 2d6x10 Hlýss aboard with Treasure Type G (30%)
Description
These six-legged insectoid are the aquatic cousins of the dreaded Ssú. The Hlúss take to the waves aboard their hive-like ships covered in stony bodily secretions from their island homes where their Hlýss Mother lives. The Hlýss are wont to send expeditions forth in search of technological devices of the Ancients, magical items, weapons, gems, & jewelry of which they set in their body armor. High level Hlýss will be adorned in glittering gems, a valuable prize.
Hlýss; NA 1d10x10; 2HD; AC3; MV 9”; TT H; 50% in lair (TT H); SA stinging tail (save vs poison or be paralysed), SD terrifying (Levels I-IV attack at -1 to hit a Hlýss)
Shunned Ones, (name unpronounceable by humans)
NA 2d100
AC 2
MV 12”
HD 2
Treasure Type D (30%)
% in Lair: 40 (4d100 Sunned Ones in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: E (50%)
Description
One of the most feared species of the humans, the Shunned Ones loom 5’ 6” to 7’ tall, with long, bony limbs. Their withered heads, to humans, resemble a rotting fruit adorned only with two solid black eyes. The Shunned Ones are one of the more mysterious species, living in cities sealed from the harmful atmosphere of Tékumel where their natural, yellow atmosphere allows a more hospitable environment. Skilled sorcerers and fighters the same, Shunned Ones are masters of the underworld tubeway car system of the Ancients, venturing forth in search of technological devices of the Ancients. Their body odor is highly repulsive to humans, being smelled at 200’ away and causing a morale check to avoid fleeing in terror.
Shunned Ones; NA 2d100; 2HD; AC2; MV 12”; TT D; 40% in lair (TT E); SD stench (smelled up to 200’ away, morale check to avoid fleeing in terror), fight to the death (need not check morale)
I am making some characters for an Empire of the Petal Throne and I've got to say that the process is such a treat. For those unfamiliar, that base system is original 1974 D&D, essentially the barebones of modern D&D.
roll percentile for the following stats: strength, intelligence, constitution, psychic ability, dexterity, and comeliness. With percentile there is no bell curve like 3d6/4d6 drop lowest gives you, so the scores are all over the place!
write down your adjustments that the skill stats give you. You also get an explanation of the stats and then a little description of your score, so if you roll a 1 through 40% strength, you're "weak". If you roll a 96-00 intelligence, you're a "genius". Some are pretty funny, as you can be stupid, a weakling, all thumbs, or hideous on the low end or agile, robust, or wildly handsome on the upper end.
Lots of stats adjust your to hit roll (called, confusingly, your "hit dice" as the dice you roll for hit points is also called the "hit dice") and damage, so you could end up having upwards of +6 to hit and +4 damage! Really gives that pulp feel when there's way less whiffing and rounds after round of missing hits.
then you roll for your Original Skills, which are skills you've gained during your childhood, apprenticeships, or whatever. Bootmaking, carpentry, swimming-diving, don juan, botanist, astronomist, or even assassin-spy-tracker! Lots of flavor to flesh out a person there. These are ranked Plebian, Skilled, or Noble from lowest to highest.
Finally you choose your class & get your Professional Skills, skills you've learned in your profession (duh). The classes are Warrior, Priest, & Magic-User and the skills relate to those.
Warriors get weapon skills (which are left undefined, some people give further +s to hit/damage, others don't allow you to use a weapon if you don't have that skill).
Priests/Magic-users get spells (produce light, detect evil/good, control of self, illusion, etc.) or some non-spell abilities (extra languages, astrology to predict the future/read someone's stars). The spells in EPT seem to be much more "flatter", power-level wise as even these basic Profession Skill spells can have big effects and nullify the much higher level spells (Calm seems really fun!). Lots of these aren't one-and-done like old school D&D, you can cast them multiple times per day, too, though not all.
Write down your experience needed to level, title (depending on your culture) and get to playing!
A couple examples I made are below in the form of a small squad of members of the Omnipotent Azure Legion for my adventure that the party will meet:
Kási (Captain) Tirí hiKritál; Warrior III; HP:12; 3HD; AC1 (Chlén-hide plate + iron shield); MV 9”; sword (1d6, +1 to hit/dmg)
S90 I42 C70 P89 D12 CM21
Prof. Skills: swordsman, spearman, axeman, mace user, slinger
Skills: Plebian: potter, butcher. Skilled: smith-armourer, slaver, don juan
Languages: Tsolyáni, Livyánu, Salarvyáni
Kurutháni (Heavy Infantry) Kaldhá hiBólu; human male Warrior II; HP:10; 2HD; AC2 (Chlén-hide plate & shield); MV 9”; mace (1d6+1,+1 to hit/+2dmg, 10% to hit wrong target)
S84 I53 C88 P63 D33 CM38
Prof. Skills: mace user, swordsman, slinger, axeman
Skills:Plebian: carpenter
Kurutháni (Heavy Infantry) Týnesh hiKolúl;human maleWarrior II;HP:7;2HD;AC2 (Chlén-hide plate & shield); MV 9”; spear (1d6, -1 to hit/dmg)
S15 I8 C48 P65 D67 CM08
Prof. Skills: axeman, swordsman, spearman
Skills: Plebian: dyer; Skilled: wheelwright
Kuruthúni (Heavy Infantry) Tlakýr hiKálu;human maleWarrior II; HP:9; 2HD; AC 2 (Chlén-hide plate & shield); MV 9”; spear (1d6, -2 to hit/-1 dmg, 20% to hit wrong target)
S23 I10 C91 P90 D17 CM02
Prof. Skills: spearman, axeman
Skills: Plebian: tailor; Skilled: animal-trainer.
Shárto (Priest) Katlí hiVríddi; human female Priest II; HP:7; 2HD; AC4 (Chlén-hide chain & shield); MV 12”; mace (1d6+1, -4 to hit/-2 dmg, 20% to hit wrong target) or spells (+15%)
S07 I13 C3 P98 D15 CM90
Prof. Skills: Detect evil/good x1/2t, Production of Light x1/3”/10t, ESP x3/2”/2t, Lang.: Ancient Tsáqw & N’lýssa, modern Miluminayáni & Livyáni
Skills: Plebian: carpet-maker, fisherman, dyer, bootmaker; Skilled: swimmer-diver, smith-armourer, jeweller-goldsmith; Noble: dancer, artist-sculptor, astronomer-navigator
Changadésha (Soldier) Tlatlú hiVríddi; human female Warrior I; HP:6; 1+1HD; AC4 (Chlén-hide chain & shield); MV 12”; spear (1d6, +3 to hit/dmg)
S98 I90 C14 P96 D66 CM86
Prof. Skills: slinger, mace/flail, axewoman, spearwoman, bola-slinger
Skills: Plebian: tanner
These characters already have so much character to them.
The Kási (Captain) of the unit is a strong & hardy man with middling intellect and ugly, so probably scarred from battles. Lots of Professional Skills show his training and his Original Skills add flavor. A don juan who probably regales his lovers with tales of his exploits, but also a slaver and smith-armourer, so a rough person in business and probably not socially accepted.
The Changadésha (soldier) is a damn strong, intelligent, and beautiful woman, though not hardy. She is well trained in a variety of Professional Skills, yet only a tanner in her Original Skills, so maybe she is young and a go-getter in the unit, being the lowest ranking.
Just from those few spark-table style results the whole unit's dynamics can play out. I've decided to give them each gods and how zealous they are in their worship, as moderates and zealots exist side by side in Tékumel. We'll see how it works out in play when I get to playtesting it!
I plan on doing a Tékumel Thursday post solely focused on the differences between EPT and OD&D to share around for people to maybe steal houserules for and to see how fleshed out these rules were back in 1975. Really great design.
Hey everyone, I am working on my adventures for ArneCon this October 9-11 and I just want to share how easy it is to make these adventures. I'm working on two, the first being an extension of James Maliszewski's Hidden Shrine in The Excellent Traveling Volume #1 in the form of a pursuit and the second being a wholly original Underworld chase/crawl in the wake of Captain Harchar's failed scheme in Arbála as seen in the distance in Flamesong.
Making normal D&D adventures or dungeons can be difficult for me as I have to make the world whole-cloth and then weave in typically disparate pieces. How does the order of knights in the nearby castle relate to the frogmen of the swamp? Do these pieces even fit together for this dungeon, or is the dungeon something wholly self-contained? Say, an evil lich buried for millenia?
This isn't the case with Tékumel. We're given enough context and pieces that making the adventures is very easy for me! You've got established relationships between the different species, yet still lots of wiggle room because Tékumel always keeps the door ajar for new exceptions (see the friendly Black Ssú!). Having those possible lore offramps allows the referee to subvert expectations and still keep the players guessing the entire time.
Making the dungeons physically is easy, too, since we are given information about the different ancient kingdoms/empires/peoples from which we use to build our dungeons. Level I could be an ancient Bednálljan tomb of one of Queen Nayári of Silken Thigh's lovers who managed to escape his doom and live peacefully on the far-flung island. Even with that tiny bit of information I can begin to decorate the dungeon with tons of little clues and pieces of detail that aren't just generic or bland. That actually show something about the greater setting. I could go a step further and have a mosaic depict this man also being a lover to a "barbarian" queen of the southern continent, a beautiful hook for a further adventure.
It's things like this that make me really appreciate just how gameable Tékumel is. It is deep and broad, but at the end of the day you only need to know enough to keep one step ahead of your players (or maybe 2 or 3 ;) )
It is time for another Tékumel Thursday! This post will hopefully have more stuff for players to steal from for their games or even entice you to check out Tékumel as a setting for your own games. Check out r/Tekumel or the New To Tékumel? page of our wiki. I am slowly building it up and these posts will be added to it as I write them.
Check out part 1 here for 4 species that are friendly to humankind.
For part 2, we’ll be taking about 4 of the intelligent nonhuman species of Tékumel that are neutral to humans; sometimes working with and sometimes against humans in their plots and intrigues. They are from Empire of the Petal Throne, essentially an OD&D hack, which makes them easy to use in the system of your choice.
Ahoggyá (aho-gyAH), “the Knobbed Ones”
NA 1d12x10
AC 4
MV 9”
HD 3
Treasure Type F
% in Lair: 40% (2d12x10 Ahoggyá in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: G
Description:
Preferring swamps, these 4-5’ tall creatures resemble squat, hairy barrels with 4 arms, 4 legs, 4 eyes with a mouth on either side of their carapaces. They are famed for their strength, boisterousness and desire to be left alone, typically ignoring humans entirely.
Ahoggyá; NA1d12x10 ; AC4; MV 9”; 3HD; TT F; % in lair 40% (TT G)
Hláka (the welsh “ll”AH-kah, or just hlAH-kah), “the Furred Flyers”
NA 1d6x10
AC 5
MV 15/30”
HD 2
Treasure Type B
% in Lair: 30% (50-100 Hláka in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: F
Description:
Dwellers in the mountains and other high places not easily accessible by those limited to walking, Hláka have leathery wings covered with grey fur and three eyes on flattish heads with a small bony crest. Their tails are fitted with a poisoned blade which they use to great effect. Hláka are often used as scouts for many different empires, though they are quick to flee from danger.
Hláka; NA 1d6x10; AC5; MV 15/30”; 2HD; TT B; % in lair 30% (TT F); SA poisoned tail (additional attack, save vs poison or die).
Páchi Léi (pAHchee lAY), “the Forest Dwellers”
NA 1d100
AC 4
MV 12”
HD 1
Treasure Type A
% in Lair: 30% (6d6x10 Páchi Léi in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: H
Description:
Doughy, 8-limbed creatures that live in the trees of the jungle homes from which they are hard-pressed to leave. Páchi Léi tend to ignore humans, but on occasion take part in human affairs with notable Páchi Léi rising to become famed generals. Páchi Léi are good at detecting secret doors and passages as they pass by (4/6) and their large, plate-like eyes bestow nocturnal vision.
Páchi Léi; NA 1d100; AC4; MV 12”; 1HD; TT A; % in lair 30% (TT H); SA detect secret doors & passages (4/6) & nocturnal vision.
Shén (shEHn), “the Demon Warriors”
NA 1d12x10
AC 2
MV 9”
HD 3
Treasure Type D
% in Lair: 80% (1d12x100 Shén in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: H
Description:
This reptilian species enjoys the hothouse nature of Tékumel, basking in the volcanic region south of Livyánu. Their black scales gleam ebon and give a dragon-like appearance. A glittering spiny crest sits atop the head with a long, beak-like snout. A muscular tail with a mace-like ending makes a formidable weapon. The Shén will on rare occasions help humans, but tend to neutrality or even hostility. Shén make terrifying shock troopers and rise quickly in the ranks of empires who desire their cohorts.
Shén; NA 1d12x10; AC2; MV 9”; 3HD; TT D; % in lair 80% (TT H); SA mace tail (30% chance of additional strike per round as mace).
In Empire of the Petal Throne, players are allowed to play as intelligent nonhuman species and any species can be any class. If choosing to play as any of the races, the following HD adjustments are necessary: Páchi Léi begin play with 1HD, Hláka begin play with 2HD, and Ahoggyá and Shén begin play with 3HD.
Next week I will spotlight the hostile intelligent nonhuman species of Tékumel. Again, feel free to join us over at r/Tekumel or check out our wiki if you’re interested in the awesome sword & planet setting of Tékumel for your games. There's a lot to steal!
It is time for another Tékumel Thursday! This post will hopefully have more stuff for players to steal from for their games or even entice you to check out Tékumel as a setting for your games. Check out r/Tekumel, too, as we have recently renovated it! We have a quick guide in our sidebar now for those interested in the sword and planet setting of Tékumel!
For this week, we’ll be giving the first of a few overviews of the different “intelligent nonhuman species” as they’re called. These are truly weird, alien species that work as NPCs, extra-planar aliens, or just monsters in your games! I am using Empire of the Petal Throne stats which is essentially an OD&D hack, so fairly easy to rework for your own system of choice. While there are many more species on Tékumel, this is just a brief glance at the more iconic and common intelligent nonhuman species.
These are 4 species friendly to humankind & typically involved in their affairs of war, politics, religion, trade, etc. In the far distant past, these were the intergalactic allies of the humans in Tékumel’s Humanspace who were stranded when Tékumel’s solar system was shut off in its own pocket universe.
Pé Chói (pAY chOY), “the Listeners”.
NA 2d6
AC 2
MV 12”
HD 1+3
Treasure Type A
% in Lair: 70 (1d6x100 Pé Chói in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: C
Some of the best friends of humans who are renowned as fighters & for their psychic abilities. These insectoid creatures stand 7’ tall and have either black (males) or white (females) chitin and are known as subtle, self-controlled, and often overly intellectual.
Pé Chói; NA 2d6; AC2; MV 12”; 1+3HD; TT A; % in lair 70% (TT C); SA supra-senses (60% to detect invisible/inaudible creatures within 200’).
Pygmy Folk, (real name unpronounceable by humans)
NA 1d100
AC 6
MV 6”
HD 1-1
Treasure Type A
% in Lair: 70 (1d100x10 Pygmy Folk in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: C
These 3’ tall, rodent-like beings have dark fur, sharp noses & teeth, large ears, and 3 fingered hands. They are prodigious traders and just as keenly perceptive of their environment. They are counted among the friends of humans even though their trading skills borders thievery!
Pygmy Folk; NA 1d100; AC6; MV 6”; 1-1HD; TT A; % in lair: 70 (TT C); SA auto-detection through doors/walls.
Swamp Folk, (real name unpronounceable by humans)
NA 2d100
AC 5
MV 9”
HD 1+1
Treasure Type D
% in Lair: 20 (4d400 Swamp Folk in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: E
As their name indicates, these squat, rubbery, and rotund beings are at home in the water, leery to venture far from ashore. They have blubbery white-skin and stand 4-6 feet tall. They notably do not use magic and can use no spells, though they have the ability to detect sloping passages, traps, and dimensional nexus points with 80% certainty. Swamp Folk dislike fighting and value self-preservation. Their ships are prized among the Mu’ugalavyáni navy.
Swamp Folk; NA 2d100; AC5; MV 9”; 1+1HD; TT D; % in lair: 20 (TT E); SA 80% to detect slopes, traps, and dimensional nexus points.
Tinalíya (tin-ahlEE-yah), “the Gnome-like Ones”
NA 1d100
AC 7
MV 9”
HD 1
Treasure Type D
% in Lair: 40 (1d6x100 Tinalíya in lair)
Treasure Type in Lair: E
Standing roughly 2’ tall, these creatures are covered with horny skin. Renown as scholars and a learned folk, Tinalíya don’t really yearn for adventurous lives unless knowledge can be found. They are vicious fighters when push comes to shove, using poisoned blades and arrows to great effect.
Tinalíya; NA 1D100; AC7; MV 9”; 1HD; TT D; % in lair: 40 (TT E); SA poisoned weapons.
In Empire of the Petal Throne, players are allowed to play as intelligent nonhuman species and any species can be any class. These four intelligent nonhuman species all use the HD progression of their human counterparts in your system of choice, so no conversion needed.
Next week I will spotlight the intelligent nonhuman species of Tékumel that are neutral to humankind. Again, feel free to join us over at r/Tekumel!
Just wanted to drop in and give an update on our efforts of blowing the dust off this place and getting it a community again.
Since we got access to r/Tekumel 1 week ago today, we've seen pretty dramatic growth for our little niche community!
Some metrics:
We have grown to 304 members, making 17 posts, and 44 comments. All pretty much in the last 7 days.
We are sitting at 2,500 views of our little subreddit, which is great! I have no illusions that we are going to be a million+ member community, but I think we can help get the word out about Tékumel to enough people to have a healthy community here.
All in all, I think we've got a great community here that is growing and y'all get to be some of the first who help get it back up and running.
Thanks to everyone who has taken part in this first week and commented, posted, shared, and otherwise contributed. Together we can make this a cool place to share stories and experiences with this great setting!
I finished reading Flamesong a couple weeks ago. Man, what an amazing set of books!
Man of Gold had a slower start, diving into the world a little bit much for my taste, but once Harsan & company hit the Sákbe road, things really picked up. A really well-paced and well done travelogue of sorts, showcasing the day to day life on the giant Sákbe roads that criss-cross Tsolyanú and are the arteries of the Empire.
The part that stood out, and which I will be revisiting to take plenty of notes from, was the section of the underworld. Just a very claustrophobic and well written dungeon crawl that highlights what makes Tékumel underworlds so different (and better, imo) than those of standard D&D fantasy.
All in all, a solid 4/5, only docked for the slower start & the overuse of Tsolyáni words.
Flamesong was followed quickly after and I took my time reading this one, I just wanted to soak in all the details. It hits the ground running with action and very quickly gets to my favorite part of Tékumel, the buried tech of the Ancients.
My favorite part was the planar travel. It really does show that Tékumel games don't have to be limited to Tékumel's plane, and that there are many, many, many planes out there that are ripe for a quick plunge of adventure. The alien extra-planar entities were so absolutely foreign and even more than just normal science fiction aliens.
A solid 5/5, one of my favorite books that I will definitely reread for inspiration in gaming on Tékumel.
Thankfully I was able to grab my copies on half price books' online store for like $5 each for mass market paperbacks in OK condition, but the Tékumel Foundation has them reprinted and with the proper accent marks to help with pronunciation here.
There are three further novels, Lords of Tsamra, Prince of Skulls, and A Death of Kings that haven't been reprinted yet and are exorbitantly expensive on ebay, unfortunately.
For those who have read the novels, what parts stood out to you? Anything you've taken and used in your games?
Does anyone have any favorite Tekumel adventures or adventures you've reskinned to work in your Tekumel game?
I'm looking through the Excellent Travelling Volume issues I have and issue #1 has the Hidden Shrine which looks like a fun adventure site as well as Issue #9's Sunken Sanctum.
It's interesting the apparent lack of published Tekumel adventures, or maybe I'm not looking in the right places?
ArneCon 4 is upon us this October 9-11 in Minneapolis! Anyone planning on going? I went last year (my after action report) and had an absolute blast. Played with awesome games and met some cool folks. Dave Weseley's Braunstein was a standout and I plan on playing in his much-hyped Banania game. Jaffrey Talanian of Hyperborea fame will be there and I hope to get into one of his games too.
https://www.arnecon.com/
Welcome to Tékumel Thursday (or Tuesday, depending on my schedule)! I hope to make a quick post each week to spotlight all of the fun and crazy things that Tékumel has to offer in a way that's useful and gameable. If you're new to Tékumel I hope the bite-sized nuggets are things you can steal and use in your old school games, add to your settings, or even convince you to try out gaming in the setting of Tékumel! For those who are already experienced in gaming on Tékumel, please take the time to share experiences and stories of your adventures on Tékumel with the subject of the post! Show the newcomers that gaming on Tékumel doesn't involve studying the languages and scripts so much as running from the Ssú back to the nearest tubecar station and hightailing it back to your clanhouse with the magic items and strange ancient tech that you've found!
Starting off, we will begin with the dreaded Ssú, "the Enemies of Man"!
Name: Ssú (pronounced like "shoe" with more of a whistle) aka “The Enemies of Man”
NA 10-120
AC 2
MV 12”
HD 2+3
Treasure Type: A
% Chance in Lair: 50% with 20-240 Ssú present near their own territory
Treasure Type in Lair: H
Ssú; NA 1d12x10; AC2; MV 12"; 2+3 HD; TT A; % in Lair: 50% (NA 2d12x10, TT H); Atk: weapon or hypnotism (20%/round); SA Hypnotism (command 1d3 enemy persons, save negates, until hypnotiser is killed)
Description: Ssú have a central torso with two upper arms that end in 3-fingered hands set upon a narrow abdomen from which four legs extend. Their heads resemble that of a man with two eyes, nostril slits, and a vertical oval mouth. Ssú prefer soft blue light, have skin akin to grey papery shrouds which frequently sheds or pulls loose, are known for their strong smell of musty cinnamon, and high sweet chiming language. All telegraphs of Ssú activity (and a sign to run!).
The Ssú are also very feared sorcerers. Ssú traveling outside of their territory with always possess one priestly (cleric) and one magic-user spell. Parties of 10+ Ssú will have one magic-user accompany the party who will probably possess magic items. Every Ssú of level 4+ has the power to hypnotise 1d3 persons per day. In combat there is a 20% chance per round of using this hypnotism. A saving throw is given and, if failed, the victim will fight as the Ssú commands, only being freed with the death of the hypnotising Ssú.
Ssú are one of the native intelligent species to Tékumel, having been forced into reserves by the colonizing species in the Times of the Ancients. After Tékumel was thrown into its pocket universe and the colonizing spacefaring societies collapsed in the Time of Darkness, the Ssú were finally freed and have remained inimical to those invaders that remain upon their native homeworld. The Ssú send expeditions in search of magical items and weapons. Their ability to slip past human defenses is uncanny, with many rumors suggesting the Ssú have mastered the tubeway system of the Ancients that run far below the surface of Tékumel.
Ssú can learn the languages of other races and are cousins to the also-native Hlúss. There are several sub-species of Ssú currently known: Grey Ssú are the smaller variety (1.7-1.9m) & Black Ssú the larger variety (1.8-2.4m). Rumors abound of other sub-species – Red, Green, and Blue – but brave adventurers have yet(!) to bring solid evidence of their existence back.
I am slowly working on building out a fairly basic wiki for the subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Tekumel/wiki/index/) as well as a beginner's guide to help newcomers figure out how to get started (http://reddit.com/r/Tekumel//wiki/index/new-to-tekumel). Both of these can be found in the sidebar to the right, just above the rules. Please post here if there is anything you think would be good to add. I think I have the broad strokes for now. I think you have to be logged in to reddit to see the wiki, unfortunately.
Some things Tekumel veterans can help with is by writing/copying from wherever some of the existing sections of the wiki and posting them here for me to add and helping me with the following: what are some of the best "big mysteries of Tekumel" that can catch the attention of newcomers and provide some attention grabbers? I'm talking stuff like demons being afraid of the moon, what are the gods really, questions regarding the pariah gods, etc. Stuff that sort of hints at some of the more fun goings-on in the background that Tekumel has to offer. I don't know the deep lore so that's a blind spot for me.
Some thing newcomers to Tekumel (if you're here, welcome!) can help with is by asking questions about the setting! I am by no means a longtime gamer on Tekumel and have questions of my own, but other perspectives could help me figure out what to add to the wiki that will help give the broad strokes for newcomers.
That's all for now. I'll be slowly plugging away with what i've got outlined for now. I won't go too in depth, so it shouldn't take long (knock on wood). The first of the Tekumel Thursdays goes out tomorrow, so i'll post it around to a few places and hope for some positive reactions.
Hey everyone! I'm u/InsurgentInchworm, a moderator of r/Tekumel.
This is our new home for all things related to the sword & planet World of Tékumel. We're excited to have you join our clanhouse!
Tékumel has 80+ years of lore. DO NOT PANIC! You do not need to know everything! In fact, most of us don't really know much beyond our own games. Please read the wiki for a quick overview, check out the rules in the sidebar, see what has been talked about already, check out the resources if they interest you and then dive in!
Feel free to post question, concerns, feedback cool art, play reports, whatever follows the rules. We absolutely love to read stuff and see people playing in this strange, alien world. Have you explored an uncharted island? Charted the coast of the poles? Met any Ssú lately? If so, report to your local Omnipotent Azure Legion office IMMEDIATELY! 😄
Community Vibe
We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.
How to Get Started
Thanks for being here, we really do appreciate it. Together, let's make r/Tekumel our own!
Just letting folks know that the Tékumel Foundation will be at Arnecon this October 9-11 in Minneapolis, MN with their awesome booth and running some games. I will also be there running some Empire of the Petal Throne, so swing by and visit the Tékumel booth and come game with us!
