Looking at the rest of Jakálla outside of the Foreigners Quarter, let’s note where the other armories are located (all reference numbers are taken from the key to the Jakálla city map): 57. Armoury and Marine Outfitting Workshop of Grékka the Yán Koryáni.58. Armoury and Smithy of Ghrý of the Vermilion Helm.59. … Continue reading Tékumel Thursday: The Rest of the City
In my previous Tékumel Thursday, I talked about understanding the map of the city of Jakálla, and one of the questions I did not answer was “where are the marketplaces of the city?” That is a very good question, and one that needs direct attention. But I want to start with two observations to act… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday: In the Foreigners Quarter
One of the interesting aspects of Empire of the Petal Throne is that it includes the first city map for a roleplaying game, the map of the city of Jakálla. (The first fully-detailed city setting, The City-State of the Invincible Overlord, was published by Judges Guild in 1976, a year after Empire of the Petal… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday: The City Half As Old As The World
The chocolate chip cookies were exactly golden-brown and hot from the oven. Using an oven mitt, I took the cookie sheet out, slipped the parchment paper and the dozen cookies onto a cooking rack. In another few minutes we’d have cookies and tall glasses of cold milk. For now, though, we would wait until they… Continue reading Learning How to Bake
The Morrow Project is one of my favorite tabletop roleplaying games. Some of this is clearly nostalgia; I played it when I was in college back in the 1980s, and I met my partner Lynn through my gaming group. Some of it is related to my academic and personal study of nuclear war – something… Continue reading Revisiting The Morrow Project
The range of combat additions made in the “mimeo” Empire of the Petal Throne is fairly remarkable, given that it was written in March and April 1974, just after OD&D was released. [NB: all section references in this blog post are to the sections as listed in the mimeo EPT.] A summary of the combat… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 14: EPT Rules Updates-Combat Additions
I sat down with the fellows from Black Lodge Games at North Texas RPG Con, and they interviewed me about some of the projects currently in the works. Full disclosure: just met them at the con and do not know really anything about the rest of their work, but they were friendly and interested in… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday: Interview at North Texas!
Zach Howard, over at the Zenopus Archives, has posted the Table of Contents for Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons, which is very exciting. I have cross-posted the TOC from his blog (see below). It is particularly exciting to see the article he and Tony Rowe have written, alongside the article written by Gary Alan… Continue reading Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons Table of Contents
Some time ago, I had a discussion with a friend and fellow academic about the OSR — the Old School Revival, Renaissance, or possibly Rules. Coming at this from an indie games perspective, he said he had never encountered any sort of theory behind the OSR, any attempt to provide an explanatory framework for what… Continue reading OSR Theory 1: Introductory Thoughts
Okay, this blog post has been delayed for a day, due to taking my cat Dorian to the vet. He’s doing much better now, so I can finish this post. I have also decided to split this post into two posts, because there is just so much to talk about when it comes to combat… Continue reading Tékumel Thursday 13: EPT Rules Updates-Combat Sequence
