tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post1515805290150413124..comments2024-03-25T21:52:03.310-05:00Comments on Hill Cantons: Tekumel and the Use of the Weird in Campaign SettingsChris Kutalikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-66889048280743674752012-12-07T14:09:51.111-06:002012-12-07T14:09:51.111-06:00Even in my Empire of the Petal Throne campaign, I ...Even in my Empire of the Petal Throne campaign, I try to build some sense of civilization and weirdness. Most of city life is mundane with people just making a living and getting through life without adventures. There are certainly areas in the city where one will find adventure, in the temple of Sarku at certain times of the night, for instance. I try to demarcate between normal and weird areas by traditional devices: finding a cave with a stairway down, walking down a tunnel created in an earthquake (Tekumel-quake?), seeing shimmering lights in the woods just outside the rural clan house, etc. <br /><br />But now I will be more aware of giving players a conscious separation.Brett Slocumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09240226222507995367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-30873816703029793402010-10-20T16:14:37.938-05:002010-10-20T16:14:37.938-05:00@Norman
I missed your Mythic Wilderness post, than...@Norman<br />I missed your Mythic Wilderness post, thanks for posting the link as I am a big fan of the Mythic Dungeon idea from our Houstonian comrade. When did Texas become such a hotbed of the OSR?Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-12910061915293745782010-10-18T18:11:44.830-05:002010-10-18T18:11:44.830-05:00If I understand you correctly. Exactly!
Gotta b...If I understand you correctly. Exactly! <br /><br />Gotta be mundane for the fantastic to be noticed. A concept repeated throughout many genres and mediums of storytelling. for example Horror isn't scary all the time cause then it never would be. <br /><br />This is one idea I picked up from Philotomy (sp) Mythic Dungeon and extended to the <a href="http://trollandflame.blogspot.com/2009/11/mythic-wilderness.html" rel="nofollow">Mythic Wilderness</a>. A distinct separation between civilization (boring, no adventure) and the wilderness (wild, unknown, dangerous, were the fun is). If I were running a city campaign rather than exploration one I'd surround the city with boring, peaceful cropland. Even within the city there'd be safe humdrum areas (residential) and tense dangerous ones (the prince's court, sewers)Norman J. Harman Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01319655075997712313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-54633071090000535322010-10-18T02:58:04.654-05:002010-10-18T02:58:04.654-05:00Indeed! I may have, at that. (I deleted my previou...Indeed! I may have, at that. (I deleted my previous comment, it sounded unintentionally condescending. Sorry.)Piperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770517741281593733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-5207520345596634012010-10-17T21:30:31.395-05:002010-10-17T21:30:31.395-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Piperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770517741281593733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-30411140457937877182010-10-17T21:10:15.340-05:002010-10-17T21:10:15.340-05:00You've lived a sheltered life, Cameron, what c...You've lived a sheltered life, Cameron, what can I say.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-31862140368875757652010-10-17T21:01:31.356-05:002010-10-17T21:01:31.356-05:00>An often-heard complaint about the Empire
>...>An often-heard complaint about the Empire <br />>of the Petal Throne setting is that the <br />>thing is just too damn exotic<br /><br />I've never heard that. Ever. And I've been gaming since the mid-1970's. Just sayin'.Piperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770517741281593733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-17565583766310467212010-10-17T11:13:19.377-05:002010-10-17T11:13:19.377-05:00It's one of the things that caught my fancy ab...It's one of the things that caught my fancy about your project, taking the somewhat comfortable and familiar setting of the Wilderlands and injecting infusions of the weird. <br /><br />In general I enjoy reading about people taking published settings and turning them on their sides. One of the more interesting things I read in the Dragonsfoot forums recently was one feller's Greyhawk blank-slate revamp project. He basically took those beautiful Darlene maps photocopied them and then erased all the cities and countries keeping some of the geographic features and names. Then he penciled in his own countries, cities and other sites and re-colored the thing. Nice.<br /><br />Good points on the rest of your post. Yes CAS had entire volumes of work like Zothique that are plenty-ass weird. Averoigne with its medieval French gothic feel is likely closer to the mark of what I'm thinking. I would hazard a guess that this is why it was chosen as the mini-sandbox departure in Castle Amber, rather than some of the more exotic (although they would have been hella fun). <br /><br />I hadn't thought about player familiarity as being one of the key points in a meaningful contrast. Even in a quite mundane setting if players aren't given enough signposts about the boundaries (cultural, geographic, or what not) then you also lose the ability to contrast the normal and abnormal.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-9749840707784270602010-10-16T17:32:05.458-05:002010-10-16T17:32:05.458-05:00I favor "weird" settings, although I'...I favor "weird" settings, although I've reined it in with the Wilderlands, which is fantastical but probably the most "naturalistic" setting I've done in some time.<br /><br />I understand where James and Geoffrey are coming from (although many of CAS's stories were weird from the bottom up). Obviously, they're not saying it's the only way to do things, especially seeing as Geoffrey wrote Carcosa.<br /><br />I think the big thing for gaming purposes is to make one's setting internally consistent, no matter the commonality of weirdness. Players require some level of predictability to make intelligent decisions.<br /><br />Glorantha, for instance, is as weird at every level of existence, from the cosmology to the way people live their everyday lives. But at least within a single culture, things make sense. An Orlanthi knows that certain actions produce certain results under normal circumstances and can make rational decisions accordingly. (Once Chaos and differing worldviews enter the picture, matters get more complicated, but even then there's a reason behind disruptions of the usual order.)Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00155926145150934199noreply@blogger.com