d(sqrt(-1))

Yes, Middle-Earth, Glorantha, Tekumel and Forgotten Realms were the only large scale worlds from before RPGs I could think of that made the transition.

I have not - I shall away immediately to inspect it. Thanks.

I think that partly the problem with large scale detailed backgrounds, Middle-Earth, Glorantha, Tekumel, probably Forgotten Realms too (?), is that the very plausibility that makes them seem so real is also a problem in that it can be a real Mirror of Illusion(*). When I first started with RQ I felt I couldn't really run Glorantha (I had RQ1/2 and Cults of Prax) because it seemed that there was more going on that I didn't know the details of. After some years I realised that all those references and details did not necessarily exist in a concrete form. Now I almost feel like I can't run Glorantha because there's too much information (yes I know I can ignore it if I want). Well that and I'd like more info on Teshnos. The good thing with Glorantha is that Greg went to a lot of effort to make sure that other people had a solid grasp of its underlying principles and truths - Jeff, Sandy and others. With (e.g.) Tekumel, there are secrets of that setting that Prof Barker probably never told anyone (or they are somewhere in his massive archive of notes, written in Tsolyani/Urdu which probably only a few people could even begin to read even if the Tekumel Foundation would release them). I think Barker was much more completist in that he actually did have notes on all sorts of details and history, all written over a ~60+ year period, and we know that he had hundreds of NPCs that he would track and who had effects on the world as he ran it. In the end you have to consult your pineal gland and make stuff up. (*) Gratuitous Hawkwind reference.

Apparently Kevin Crawford does have a Tekumel version but he can't get permission from the Tekumel Foundation to publish it, so it has languished for a while. I'd really like to see it though, especially if he could do one of his extremely good Kickstarters for it with good artwork. There is a draft at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qCWY8UnLrcUG9WX1ZfcTJweTA/view There's also The Petal Hack (OSR) by Brett Slocum https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/187939/The-Petal-Hack which is free. Don't know about the C&S connection - you could ask Chirene at https://chirinebakal.proboards.com/ as he played with Prof Barker for many years and has a LOT of knowledge.

The PCs managed to rent a large run down multi storey place in the Foreigners Quarter for a medium rent on the understanding that they had to evict the current inhabitants who were not paying their rent. These proved to be a Salarvyani street gang who put up a spirited resistance. Once they had moved in they discovered that the place next door was occupied by Ayhogga who were prone to having large dance parties all night, and also had no compunction about doing their "business" anywhere it suited them, which caused horrible smells to waft around the place. The PCs decided not to upset the Ayhogga, who were on the whole a lively, friendly-ish bunch. The PCs moved in the rest of their clan, and the matriarchs immediately set about berating them for not getting a suitable place, not sorting out the Ayhogga, being lazy, not trying to better themselves, etc,etc in the best manner of matriarchs. Also the previous occupants' grandfather shaman had been overlooked (he lived underneath the place with a connection to the tsuru'um) so they spent some time exploring trying to find him as he would occasionally send occupants of the tsuru'um up to plague them. The Yeleth lover turned out to be a great boon as she was very strong and could hypnotise people, but because of her paper white skin they had to be very careful about going anywhere outside, hence the usefulness of the underworld connections. She was intensely loyal to the PC who had donated 3 POW to reawaken her, and the other PCs had to be a bit careful about upsetting her "friend". They did find a useful scroll in the underworld which they took to the temple of Sarku. The temple offered them money if they found any more and brought it to them. It was only after the evaluation that they realised the person they had seen in the temple wasn't actually breathing, although they had seemed very nice and understanding. We also ran a cross over game using Jeff Dee's Bethorm rules (which are also pretty good) with native Tsolyani rather than outsiders. One PC put everything into being wealthy, with higher status. He was carried everywhere in his palanquin with his teenage paramour and copious amounts of drugs. Because he was higher status he was often the person others wanted to/would only speak to, so there was a lot of grumbling (in a typical Tsolyani way) from the other PCs (not the players, they were all for it) when he "arranged" for them to do things for other people and got the rewards which he would magnanimously hand out afterwards. The same player also had a Livyanu PC who was quite secretive (as normal for Livyanu) and was suspected to be a member of a Shadow Gods temple unit, but no definite proof was ever found...

You can still get Sandy's version from https://www.tekumel.com/gaming_unofficialrules.html

I've just come across this post some 10 years later(!). Many thanks as the original was lost when the gamingtavern lost its .eu domain. We've not had much time on Tekumel lately as we've been playing other stuff. I do still have a large InDesign document with Sandy's text in it and some stuff I added from (mostly) Gardasiyal.

Well, you could say the same of D&D - lots of people know what Mind Flayers, Beholders, Perytons, Xorns, Kobolds are, and they are nothing like terrestrial creatures. Similarly for Hra, Jagji, Vringalu, Mrur, Serudla etc in Tekumel - once you know them you know them. Hard thing no do, Do thing no hard. EDIT: I just came across a long lost post I made on the gamingtavern.eu (before it lost its .eu domain) referred to in this post from 10 years ago (!):

I'd actually argue that Tekumel is not really that difficult - I've run it for people who know nothing about it before and they can pick it up quickly. It does need a GM who knows a bit about it and is prepared to say things like "Well you CAN do that if you want but your clan might object". I think it's a lot more accessible now than it was to people in the 1970s purely because there is more awareness of other cultures. The difficulty I have with Glorantha sometimes is that it's a bit of a big wobbly jelly where nothing is definite. That's a strength and a weakness.

Ok - I must admit I thought there was more to it than that...(although I didn't know who the couple were)

I know Duck Point and Nochet but I didn't know the others were puns - what are they?

Maybe they Doged a bullet there...

The problem I find is that it kills any sense of verisimilitude or suspension of disbelief. I looked at the Drivethru info for Rough Guide to Glamour when it first came out, and TBH I had no idea who the people on the front cover were except Elvis, and my first thought was "What's Elvis got to do with it?". But then I don't do pop culture. Now that may not reflect the content (although I suspect it does from the other references). I'm sure it's a good book, it's just that I won't get any of the references its making. I'd prefer things to be explicitly spelt out TBH.

Probably a charioteer or their horse/s - Scorpus is the only one that comes to mind for me, but the Romans were fanatical about their racing and gambling.

Anyone want to explain it then? I know the song slightly and read the lyrics - what's the context here?

Nothing to do with Gloranthan explanations but I can't help pointing out that IRL gravity has nothing much to do with spheres - it's the mass that causes the gravity. So a large cube of stuff will still exert a force. If you were using IRL gravity to explain it it might be a bit weird at the edges though...

No-one told me that! Does that mean I have to get rid of 17+ Billies?

Thanks for the summary. I ended up with a Zoom call that ran on until gone 8 PM GMT, then was interrupted by something else so I managed to miss most of it...upcoming stuff sounds good.

Is there? I've seen no mention of it.

Any chance of an Errata/Update document? I see there was a lot of conversation on reddit at one point, some of which seems to have disappeared, but something that collected together changes/suggestions etc would be quite helpful!

C'est vrai! Je parle un peu le Francaise, mais je connais espagnol plus que francias

Shame - the English translation of the French RPG for Vance's Planet of Adventure was cancelled due to not enough interest.

Any chance of an English version?

A few things I noticed on a read through. Not sure if there is a specific forum for questions other than here? Some general typos but not major ones e.g. "Encumbrance" vs "Encumberance" p52 : Weapons "Light melee and ranged weapons", I assume this is Light melee and light ranged weapons"? p52 : Light weapons gain +1 Clash point due to speed - this ought to be mentioned elsewhere either under Fighting Styles (p66) or Clash points (p69) as it's easy to miss here. p53 : Armour says "Soft armours provide less Protection but are less fatiguing to wear (p 74). p74 doesn't seem to say anything about this, I think it should be p 55 Encumbrance p57 : Is there a minimum chance of success? Modifiers could easily knock it down to 0% p63 : Initiative example, 18 rolled for Oritakan and 15 for the Norakan. On p 244/255 Norakan and Oritakan have Init 15, so the minimum would be 16 for Norakan. p65 : Attack. The section on Clash spending sounds like it applies to melee only but doesn't actually say so. So if someone shoots at me can I make it a Clash and shoot back, highest successful roll hits? What if I dodge, obviously I can't damage them then (p 70 sort of implies this) p66 : Criticals/Fumbles Jackal can spend Clash points for Power Attack after a critical for +6 damage (see p 66). This should be see p 70. Also maybe explain it is +6 because damage is maximised on a critical? p70 : Clash Point costs - Clash a charging enemy. Highest success deals the damage it would seem, but it doesn't stop the movement etc (there's no definition of charge?) p79 : Rite Defence/Save Effect - do I have to spend clash to resist a rite or is it just a normal opposed roll? p70 doesn't mention it as something to spend Clash on. p83 : Crack of Flame. Enemies suffer penalty to non-defence skills equal to twice Devotion. Is that maximum Devotion or current Devotion? p107 : Advanced Skill Talents (AST). Is it at 100% or 120% you get your first AST? Text here makes it seem like 120%, but p 117 under Rite and Fate talents says 100%. p208 Nahunum have Combat 120% and it says they get a talent, which implies at 120% p109 : Healing: Triage and Respite say limited to once per day. Is that 1/day total or 1/day/subject? p109 : Healing Arcana specialist says use acalana resin for 1 Clash instead of 2 in combat. where does it say 2 Clash points to do this? p70 doesn't mention it. p196 : Many creatures have a Corruption rating.Does this do anything or is it purely for the purposes of rites like Touch of Law (p82)? On the whole looks like a good system.

Mine arrived yesterday. Looks nice. I noticed a few typos especially "Encumbrance" vs "Encumberance" a few times. Haven't had time to read it in detail yet though.