Tekumel Mojo

I’m working with several possible ideas for how the adventuring party will be constituted.

My favorite option is a “fresh-off-the-boat” scenario, where the players are members of a largish tribe who have washed up on the shores of Penóm after their homeland was overrun by the Hlyss. The setup would be much like the opening of the “Welcome to Jakálla” scenario. Since we’ll be playing Old School EPT, deaths may easily result, and having a tribe to provide new PC’s without additional backstory would be useful. This could also play into the New Orleans-style element of voodoo religions by using some sort of alternative Shaman class for priest/magic users within the tribe. The goal is to lift the tribe out of poverty in the Foreigner’s Quarter, which keeps a cohesive party goal.

On the other hand, this may make the magic using/priest sort of players less happy. I could see having a collection of disparate Tsolyani characters as long as they were all either adherents of Stability or all adherents of Change. While I know the layers of clan and imperial politics can make for strange bedfellows, it would be far easier on me if the party were more of a homogenous entity. I’m expecting what passes for a large party according to modern standards – as many as five or eight at the table – so hope to make things a bit easier on myself.

I’ve decided to locate the game in the city of Penóm at the mouth of the Chaigavra river, mostly because of the very limited published source material for this city. By what few accounts exist, it is a bug-infested, dismal backwater rising only slightly above the surrounding swamps of the river mouth; worse than a country cousin to the far more glamorous port city of Jakálla, the City Half as Old as the World.

To me, the oft-quoted cultural poverty and backwater nature of Penóm seem a bit overdone. The Chaigavra should* serve as the main transport route to several large cities including Urmish and Tumissa, from whence Butrus and the Chakas are a brief journey overland. Although no where near as noble in stature as Jakálla, it must have at least some importance as a trade route and hence will have an interesting melange of cultures and competing interests jostling together in the fetid, humid air.

So! What to use for inspiration for the setting?

I’m thinking of a mythical 19th Century New Orleans, of course. Gris gris and voodoo, old nobility in decaying manor houses out on the bayou; a rough city near the frontier, in the swamp, with profitable trade routes, and a byzantine mix of people and interests jostling shoulders on the crowded river front. A place from which raw materials obtained upriver are shipped to the busier and more populated regions to the south east in exchange for finished goods.

*Apparently, opinions differ as to the navigability of the Chaigavra, either due to the geography of the river or due to danger from a large population of river Akho. Hence my first declaration under the principle of “My Tekumel“. The Chaigavra is navigable and a trade route of some importance. Just watch out for the occasional river Akho! Any Undying Wizards who may object should visit the Temple of Dlamelish by the river for some Absinthe to calm their nerves.

First thought. I will be taking Professor Barker’s advice to heart and make this setting “my” Tekumel rather than his. Should any Tekumel purists find their way to this blog, they should comfort themselves that my Tekumel is but a tiny leaf on a small branch at the outermost limb of the Tree of Time, and such Undying Wizards must have more important things to do nearer the main trunk.

That is to say, I will depend on very little of the published material beyond what is in the original Empire of the Petal Throne rules. Indeed, I shall likely contradict it regularly.

So!

It has come to pass that I will be running a few sessions of Empire of the Petal Throne for a group of friends.  Over the past year or two I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a game of Tekumel with a talented bunch of players, but had not anticipated running a game for this highly experienced and creative bunch.

Let the reader understand that Msr. Le Gris Gris is a modest referee with much to be modest about.

Thankfully, Badger has put forth a wondrous introduction for the novice to get them started with a little work and minimal anguish.  This shall be my Beatrice.   If I be successful, then it will be self-evident that ‘You, too, CAN run Empire of the Petal Throne’, indeed!

I’ll be using this space to track campaign ideas and perhaps publish play reports.  I expect the game to begin in October 2012.