Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Ucon post 3.

Well, things got busy, and I haven't had a chance to finish this. So I will do so now.

In Dra, we eventually discovered that the purpose of the day was to get past all the things that might distract us from our purpose as priests of Dra, prior to formal indcution ceremonies. Several of the acolytes spent time carousing, and gambling. The Hlaka with the broken wing got healed. I scolded him for wanting to be healed, to which he replied by dropping a rock on my foot. I tried hard not to care. It was good training.

Th game ended earlier than expected, in part, because, as good acolytes we couldn't bring ourselves to get all worked up when some Moogs showed up, dissed dra, and challenged us to field a champion to defend him. We figured that if Dra didn't care, neither should we... over all, it gave me deeper insights into Dra, even if we got a little light hearted in our interpretations.

After Dra , lunch (an excellent food truck meal... I know, sounds like a contradiction, but it's true..) we were clansmen who had just had our contract for guarding the tombs outside  Thraya stolen by .. see what happens when I don't take notes.. ok, not going to go look it up.. we'll just say a lower class clan..A high Clan tomb had been robbed, and sundries.. yada yada.. 

Now, we weren't normally the tomb guards. Higher lineage clan brothers did that. But, smelling something rotten, aside from the Nakome body pits, one clan elder outfitted us to go investigate, and try to put things right. What we learned was more disturbing than if we had learned of a plot against our clan. The charges were true. Our tomb guards had been negligent. And there was also a plot against us.. clever ref.. So we spent way too much time trying to figure out how to get the plotters, before we finally figured out that we also had to make up for the negligence. My plan to seek reinforcements from Shedra in the Tsuru'úm never got off the ground. But it turned out we had a friend in Sarku.. so it did, eventually work out.

Then Sleep..

Morning led to my session of Microscope, a game of History creation. We tackled the Three States of the Triangle. I was impressed that we actually kept the game moving at a good clip, and made two full circuits for the position of Lens. I have a lot of work to do to make that all into a single document.. We tried to record the session, but I don't know if that worked out yet. It was on Geo's Iphone.. using an app intended for doing quick notes..

Again Lunch, and a delayed start, and off to save Lord Churasan, an adventure I had once read, and is published in Fight On, an old school revival magazine. Fortunately, I had an imperial Psychic for a character, and my job was, to  a large extent, just to add appropriate color. Outranked by everyone, I was the one guy who sensed the potential dangers that lay ahead, and I was continually stalling to prevent what I knew was going to be the death of us all. I was wrong, of course. Proved only to be the death of me.. and one other, but she had kinda been aiming at that end.. sooo... really, just me.. 

Long drive home, which we broke up over two days, with a stop at the Last Square (we had stopped at Noble Knight on the way down.)

The Tekumel Project sent a pile of figures to the Con, and they were much enjoyed, but, U-Con it appears, is not a big group of minis people. The Shen were distributed generally, to both Tekumelani and Nakome and every one spent time looking at the figs, but most don't use them for game sessions, being more of the Storytelling style of players/refs. In fact, Aside from the paint and take table(which also hosted a fair pile of shen), I don't think I saw any miniatures games being held at the con.. (I understand there were a few..  but I never saw them.). As a result, after people took what they felt they wanted, everyone  agreed that I, being a miniatures guy, should get any not claimed. Which I feel mildly guilty about..  But everyone seemed happy.. So my goal will be to get several painted up by a friend who has more skill than I do, and get pics for promo purposes. And then to find venues to take figs and get them in front of people who will be more likely to become Customers..Possibly back to U'con as well, and host a game..

One thing I bought at The Last Square was a copy of 5150, which uses the same rules system as Band of Joyous Heroes will use. This will give me a chance to familiarize myself with that system as while that system is being finished...


Saturday, November 12, 2011

And Dra does not care.

This AM, four of us took part in a session.. game... board meeting.. using the system "In a Wicked Age". Using the Oracles, we started working on a City for Tekumel, detailed enough to be useful, generic enough to be dropped into any campaign in most any part of the Tsolyani empire.  With a bit of work, it should become available to everyone.. or that was the Goal, of course. For now, I will only say, There are ancient secrets and modern rivalries, and an Annual Rooftop Garden Competition..

Now, we are wannabe temple acolytes for Dra, stranded, for unknown reasons, in the woods, 2 hours from the temple. We are having a lot of trouble getting home. I came up with the theory that, given that the sun rises over the front Gate, in the morning, walking towards the sun would move you away from the temple, walking with the sun at your back, would lead one back.. So long as it was morning. In the afternoon, this would lead you to the back gate, of course..


I am not too bright..  But, by chance, it has worked.. ( This has been an exceptionally silly adventure, remind me of paranoia at its most absurd..)

Our farm boy, turned acolyte has made it back to the Temple, for lunch, and returned. The rest just got past the wall. My view is that some of us aren't going to pass this test. Some people seem to care a bit too much.

We found a scroll with "See other side" written on both sides. Our current theory is that this means we must try wanting, before we don't want. We are not in 100% agreement on this.

I am not actually expecting this party to make it back before our ceremony..

Sunday, November 6, 2011

You are not Forgotten

We are meeting for Games now. We have only done a tiny bit of Tekumel, however. We time warped 3 months or so into the future, as the players engaged in some Clan and Temple obligations, and maybe a little study or recreation. Then they went to the Caves to look in on how things were going.  I will leave the details for a dedicated campaign post.  That is not this.. or this is not that...

Last week we played a game of Microscope, a game by Lame Age, that is about creating histories. There were problems, but the experience, I hope, will improve my event at U-con. Next weekend I will be running this game as a tool to expand upon a possible history of the Three States of the Triangle. I am nervous. Both because the Game is actually a bit tricky, and because I don't feel qualified to build tekumel history. I am hoping the players do.

Update, on my draft..

I am now at Ucon.. gave up my seat at the first game session to another who was pre registered for it, but, whose ticket for the event was lost in the shuffle. I am effectively Auditing the game, sitting in the back, prepping for Microscope.  The adventure is the follow up for one done a few years back, apparently.. members of the Clan Broken Reed are resolving internal clan personality conflicts while trying to address a dishonorable attack on the clans persons and reputation..


We have already gathered for the annual event, Joyful Sitting Among Friends.. in which we got a look at a box full of miniatures generously donated by Howard Fielding and the Tekumel Project, several figures of Shen, Hlutgru and H'laka will go to the paint and take table, to introduce non tekumellani to the line. Several will go to Tekumel track people. I will be getting some, to bring to a painter friend, for a really class treatment. Pics will go up, and will be sent back to Howard for his site and use as promo pics.

no pics yet. Not sure I will have any, but i will try to do kinda live updates over the weekend..