Circle of Dar Janix

  Since I wrote this, new information has come to light about M.A.R. Barker, he was a Nazi . I no longer support playing Tekumel. I will keep these posts up, because I believe in preserving the past, even when it is ugly. There may be a time when sufficient time has passed that Tekumel has been examined and can be played in the right context (like Lovecraft), but that time is probably very far in the future. Due to the intricate interconnections between the setting, the religious themes in it, and the non-western derivations of its societies, I believe that a thorough examination by people far smarter than me will be required before I am comfortable that I understand which parts of it might be harmful. Like many, I was drawn to Tekumel because it seemed more open than other fantasy worlds, with greater representation of the diversity of humanity. Obviously, it is horrifying to learn this. I encourage others to seek out other fantasy worlds that have involved people of color in th...

This is part of an ongoing campaign. You can find the other sessions over on the sidebar. 10 Norui F.A. 15 The fellowship had asked the Stablemaster if they could get a set of backup horses to allow them to travel to Tharbad faster. The Stablemaster returned and told them that not only had king Eomer allowed their request for more horses after learning of Sindawe's help, but he had asked to meet them personally. During their meeting, Eomer confided in them that he hoped that they could help him with another problem. He was having issues arising out of a feud between Cenril, the Marshal of Westfold, and Feoril, the Warden of the Gap. Three years ago, Aerol, Cenril's cousin, killed Teomod, Feoril's nephew, in a fight over a horse. Cenril, always stubborn and cheap, refused to pay weregild to Teomod's family, claiming that Teomod had started the fight. Feoril, always one to hold a grudge, caught Aerol in the open right before last winter set in, and had him...

The spent some time exploring the various workshops, but decided that there was nothing here they could use immediately. After examining the elevator, they started to piece together that the symbols might be numbers, and developed a plan to determine what the numbers might be. They decided not to risk experimenting yet and that it would be safer to move between floors using the ladders and hatches. Tom Major (I know) decided to try the hatch going up, reasoning that it led outside of the ship. He was correct, the hatch led to a manual airlock which he entered. When he emerged from the other side, he found himself in a small open area inside of the folded solar collector. He was able to identify it and its function though. He reasoned that, since the ship seemed to have engines on the nacelles, that it was not a solar sail for propulsion, but a solar collector for energy. He further reasoned that it must be to charge the jump drive since the engines did not seem to be of a type th...

  Since I wrote this, new information has come to light about M.A.R. Barker, he was a Nazi . I no longer support playing Tekumel. I will keep these posts up, because I believe in preserving the past, even when it is ugly. There may be a time when sufficient time has passed that Tekumel has been examined and can be played in the right context (like Lovecraft), but that time is probably very far in the future. Due to the intricate interconnections between the setting, the religious themes in it, and the non-western derivations of its societies, I believe that a thorough examination by people far smarter than me will be required before I am comfortable that I understand which parts of it might be harmful. Like many, I was drawn to Tekumel because it seemed more open than other fantasy worlds, with greater representation of the diversity of humanity. Obviously, it is horrifying to learn this. I encourage others to seek out other fantasy worlds that have involved people...

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of being a player in a one-shot set in Harn's Orbaal region using the  Apocalypse World rules. While I have been reading up on Harn for a while, this was my first chance to actually participate in a game set on Harn. I have never played core Apocalypse World before, but I have run Dungeon World several times, so I was familiar with the basic rules concepts. The characters were: Taebaal: the Valkhar Bjaal: One of Taebaal's trusted men Molvid: An extremely mercenary viking (Me) Waede: A Jorin rebel against the Ivinian occupiers Fester: A healer Mycroft: An orphan who seems connected to Waede Molvid's adventure started while out on a boar hunt with Taebaal and Bjaal. While walking in the woods, he came across Waede, Fester, and Mycroft standing over a dead body laying in the snow. They were armed and there was a crate of swords next to the body. When questioned, they told Molvid that the dead man had jumped them and that the c...

This is part of an ongoing campaign. You can find the other sessions over on the sidebar. The next portion of the campaign is an adaptation of the classic Traveller adventure "ANNIC NOVA". This is one of the oldest Traveller adventures, having appeared in the Journal of Travellers' Aid Society Issue 1. I have used the ANNIC NOVA ship several times over the years, both as written and in heavily modified forms. I was inspired to use it again after watching Seth Skorkowsky's excellent video on the adventure . He provides some great suggested changes and some additional handouts. I highly suggest checking out any of his videos. He will be coming up more on this blog, especially when we get to Call of Cthulhu.  The characters made their way to Hermanville, which turned out to be much smaller than they were expecting. They decided to stay the night there before making their way to the nearest spaceport, Goldenwood. They asked around town about finding work and were ...