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
their creation.
This is Part IV in a series on how to get started as a GM in the world of Tekumel. Part I was on jumping right in, Part II was on picking a rule set, and Part III was on some novels that you can use for inspiration.
By this point you have run a few dungeon scenarios, using the rule set of your choice (perhaps EPT), and you have started to flesh out the world beyond the Jakalla underworld for your players. Maybe you have started to dabble in some adventures in town or in the wilderness, but this can be overwhelming with the information you have access to. This week, I am going to discuss the best solution to a common problem in Tekumel gaming, the scarcity of immediately usable game material in the main source material. To me, the best source for that information is The Excellent Traveling Volume.
EPT details some locations in Jakalla, but it doesn't give the novice Tekumel GM much to work with when it comes to what that all means. What are these locations? Who is in them? What do they do? It is obvious that Jakalla is a big, cosmopolitan city where people from all over the empire, and beyond, can be found, but who are all those people?
In order to run a game, you need a scenario, NPCs, a setting, and good information about who the characters are so that you can understand what they do and why they do it. You can distill all of this out of the information available, but it can require a lot of work from the GM, and the uncertainty that goes along with it. The Excellent Traveling Volume is a consistently good source for all of this information. Since waiving generally in the direction of an eleven issue 'zine is not especially helpful, I am going to call out some specific articles that I think you should look at. The articles that I mention below have all seen direct use in my game, there are many other good articles in ETV, including additional settings, monsters, scenarios, and items. I will place the issue number in parenthesis after the article name.
PCs:
ETV regularly provides additional character classes and more detailed information on playing non-human races. EPT facilitates playing non-humans, but the information is presented in a confusing way and it is spread out in different sections of the book. While ETV is mechanically aimed at EPT, it will be fairly simple to move this information over to other old school gaming systems, since it is based in OD&D.
ETV has presented three different classes that I think might really help round out the options in EPT, especially for players more accustomed to later versions of D&D. I do not personally use any of these in my campaign because one set of characters started when I was using only the core EPT rules and the others are from spaaaaacccceeee so I had to make custom classes for them (I may detail these in a later article).
The Shaman (1): This provides for a magic using class that is not tied to Tsolyani background expectations. This is especially useful for "Fresh Off the Boat" campaigns. I will be using this class in future games that I run that have that starting conceit. As they become more experienced, your players are likely going to want to get more involved in temple life, and being a shaman will not be a hinderance here. It is not unusual at all for the Tsolyani to "realize" that a strange god worshipped by a foreigner was actually just a barbaric misunderstanding of one (or more) of Pavar's gods the whole time. That character can then be integrated into the appropriate temple.
The Adventurer (2): This provides a useful Thief/Expert class should you want one in your game.
The Martial Artist (7): This provides a Monk/Mystic class should you want one in your game.
ETV also presents articles on how to make characters from different countries or of non-human races. These articles are especially useful because much of the information on playing foreign and non-human characters is spread throughout different sources and different sections in those sources. These articles are a great way to get a good overview.
I do not currently have any foreign PCs in my game, but I have used these articles to help me get a better understanding of my NPCs. As my campaign is moving to a phase where a large amount of the action will center on adjoining temples of Avanthe and Dlamelish in the Sokatis region, the information on Shiringgayi found in the Salarvyani article has been especially helpful.
Salarvyani and Pechani Characters (3)
Yan Koryani and Sa'a Allaqiyani Characters (4)
Mu'ugalavyani and N'luss Characters (5)
Livyani and Tsoleini Characters (6)
My game currently features three non-human PCs: a Shen, a Pe Choi, and a Pachi Lei, so these articles have been very useful to me.
Pe Choi and Pachi Lei Characters (7)
Pygmy Folk and Swamp Folk Characters (9)
Tinaliya and Urunen Characters (10)
Settings:
ETV offers several fairly well detailed mini settings, not all of which are even in the Tsolyani Empire. These are very helpful, because EPT presents most locations in a far more zoomed out fashion. Once you get a feel for Tekumel, it is pretty easy to flesh things out yourself. But getting a good feel for Tekumel is the hurdle we are trying to overcome with this series of posts. I am currently using Sokatis and the nearby village of Kumashkekkur in my game. In fact, Kumashkekkur is the center of action for the game at this time. In an earlier phase of my campaign, Thraya was the main location, and I used the description of Sokatis in ETV to give me an idea of how to flesh that city out.
Sokatis, the City of Roofs (2): I find the description here to be more useful than the one found for Jakalla in EPT (really just a map key). It is also easily linked with NPCs provided in Patrons, some underworld locations, and other nearby villages and adventuring locations found in ETV. If you have not already started your game, and are willing to invest in a few issues of ETV, Sokatis is probably a better supported place to start your campaign.
Underworld of Sokatis (2, 3, 4, 5): My players have only dabbled in this so far. But, I expect there will be a lot more time spent here.
The Dry Bay of Ssu'um (6): The characters in my campaign had to make a long trip across the Dry Bay of Ssu'um after a mishap with a nexus point. There is enough information here that you could easily set a campaign in this area based on the conflicts between the various factions.
The Village of Kumashkekkur (6): One of the characters in my campaign has just been assigned to take charge of the Temple of Dlamelish here because of shared concerns by her her clan and temple about the sudden rise of Sa'aka, the priestess of Avanthe.
The Forest Ruins (6): A great location that has some very interesting connections with Kumashkekkur.
NPCs:
Patrons (1, 2, 8): These are a great resource for adventure hooks and even just random NPCs. They come equipped with assigned clans and religions, which is great when you need someone on the fly. One of the patrons, Tlakar from issue 2, has become a major NPC in my campaign.
The Mihalli (4): I have not yet used these shapeshifters... or have I?
The Shunned Ones (7): The Shunned Ones featured as the enemy in the Humanspace Empires portion of the game. They will be back.
Scenarios:
There are several complete scenarios presented in EVT. So far, I have only used one.
The Hidden Shrine (1): A good introductory adventure that also has links to the wider problem of the Ssu and the zu'ur trade. This was the first adventure for my Humanspace Empire survivors, and they have plans to revisit this location based on recent revelations about the local zu'ur trade.
Suggestion
If you have been following along with this series, but have not yet started your game, I think EVT offers a great path. I would suggest starting the game in Kumashkekkur, with occasional forays into Sokatis. You can easily use the Hidden Shrine and the Forest Ruins from this location. This location also lends itself to getting the characters involved in tensions with Salarvya and the interesting way that will be dealt with in a region of the empire that has some sympathies (especially in the temples of Dlamelish and Avanthe) with that country. The zu'ur trade offers chances for there to be common concern between the two countries. This could allow for NPCs that sometimes work with the characters and sometimes work against them. There should be plenty of opportunities to delve into the Sokatis underworld in support of these intrigues.
In support of this, I suggest grabbing Issue 1 (Hidden Shrine), Issue 2 (Sokatis, enough underworld for at least an adventure or two, and NPCs), and Issue 6 (Kumashkekkur and the Forest Ruins). I am convinced that EPT, The Introduction to Tekumel pamphlet, and those three issues are enough to run a long campaign. You may want to consider Issue 3 for the information on Salarvyani as well. You can grab other issues as races, countries, expanded underworld, or more NPCs interest you.
Next time I will talk about the Hall of Blue Illumination Podcast. Maybe we can figure out how to say some of these crazy words.
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