Tekumel: On Ramps (Updated)

  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. 

 
What are the on ramps to introducing a new player to Tekumel? There is no denying that there are some barriers to get passed for a new player (GMs too, but I deal with that here) when they start Tekumel. While any new campaign setting is likely to have some barriers, I think that Tekumel's are often seen as especially steep due to its reputation for not hewing to traditional western fantasy tropes, having very dense and detailed lore, and having hard to pronounce words.

Getting past that first barrier really just takes time. No one is going to get it right all the time, even after several years of playing. Some times you will forget that your sword isn't metal, or that there are no chairs. You might accidentally declare that you are going to the inn, or some other place that does not exist on Tekumel. M.A.R. Barker's world discards many of the short hands that we are used to having in fantasy roleplaying games, and it just takes adjustment time. I find it is best to just have an agreement at the table that these mistakes will happen, and that we are all going to make them and move on.

The second issue, the deep and detailed lore, has given rise to the popularity of the "Fresh Off the Boat" starting adventure. I take this further. I tend to lean in to the pulp science-fantasy roots of Tekumel, so why just have them be new to Jakalla? Why not have them be new to the whole world? Dimension hopping and time travel are clearly not off the table in Tekumel, many of the most famous stories of Barker's games involve these kinds of things in what is referred to as "graduate level Tekumel". Why not leverage that by giving the players permission to not know anything about Tekumel, because their characters don't either. My current campaign has characters in it that arrived on Tekumel through two different methods:

1) Professor Thompson's Basement: The players take the roles of college students in early 1976 Minnesota. They are invited to play a game at their physics professor's house. He is very excited about this game after learning about it from another professor at a nearby college. When they arrive at Prof. Thompson's house they enter his basement through he storm doors around back. They are surprised to find his basement walls are lined with miniature soldiers wearing strange, brightly-colored armor, and to find the professor seated at a table, dressed in an elaborate outfit. He explains the game to them, they will be taking on the roles of warriors in the magical world of Tekumel. He gives each of them a character sheet, lights some strong incense, and begins describing their arrival in the harbor in Jakalla. As his description gets more vivid, the incense seems to get stronger and they start to nod off...

Of course, I stole this setup from the old novel "The Sleeping Dragon", but it serves its purpose well. This origin story has expanded outward in my campaign to include inter dimensional drug-running and secret heirs, so you don't have to just leave it behind.

2) Space Rangers of the Humanspace Empire: The players take the role of Space Rangers and Space Marines in the service of the Humanspace Empire. They are patrolling the space around the jewell of the empire, the pleasure planet Tekumel in their ship, Anxiously Standing on the Precipice of Tomorrow. While interdicting a Ahoggya garbage sow, The Uplifiting of Castoff Treasures, suspected of smuggling, they are interrupted by a ship with several Shunned One terrorists. As they fight the cloaked foes, one of them throws a switch and the universe goes crazy. Navigation systems fail, the stars disappear from the sky, orbits are disturbed, and the planet below is in the throws of a cataclysm. They rush back onboard their ship, but it is badly damaged and spiraling towards the surface below. As a last ditch effort, they engage the emergency cry systems, freezing themselves with temperatures beyond imagination. Their craft is blown out of its planned orbit, they crash into Tekumel, and do not wake up until thousands of years later.

The final issue, the difficult to pronounce words, can be handled by one simple table rule: If we know what you meant, you said it correctly. Tekumel is a large place, heck the Tsolyani Empire is a huge place, there are going to be lots of local pronunciation variations and accents. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding what people from South Carolina are saying, and I lived there for a decade. But this rule doesn't need an in-game explanation, because it is just a variation on "don't be a dick". Just make it clear to your players that no one needs to feel self conscious about pronouncing Tsolyani words, and there should not be a problem. I use very little Tsolyani in my game, because I am unsure of most of the pronunciations myself, but there is no avoiding proper nouns and some other uses. So, don't be a dick.