Potential

Hill Cantons' recent post on the possibility of a set of online Tekumel games got me thinking: what if this is the place where the old style of campaigns gets resurrected?  

I'm not telling those involved how to organize their game, but if they wanted to set up several referee's with their own sections of the Jakallan Underworld (or with various underworlds in various cities through the Empire as Barker suggests doing with multiple DMs) with an open pool of "barbarian" characters to slum around in each that would be pretty metal.

EPT is one of those things that I marvel at from afar.  I'm not one of those guys whose loved it forever but never played that Chris describes here.  I just found out about it a couple of years ago from this OS thing we've got going.  As glorious as Barker's creation is I'm more interested in using it to fuel my own project like Ilion* or Uz.  I must say though that I am looking forward to seeing what these groups who have caught the Tekumel bug are going to do with it.  I'd probably tinker with it myself if I didn't already have a game going.

Maybe they'll get enough referees that I could get in a slot as a player.

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* I take slight offense at Barker's lumping in "Greco-Roman" with the Medieval aspects of a standard D&D fantasy milieu.  Outside of my own interpretation of the Wilderlands, I haven't found a setting that has enough mystery cults in it.

Quick Book Recommendation

If you're looking for some inspiration for your D&D campaign it's hard to go wrong with The Art of Ray Harryhausen.  My (then future) wife gave it to me as a birthday present a couple of years ago, and it has largely served as the inspiration for my Hollow Earth stuff.

As a fan of his movies (particularly 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts) I can't help but wonder at what his unmade works would have been like.  I'm especially intrigued by his adaptation of The People in the Mist and the unmade King of the Genies both of which involve lost worlds with dinosaurs.

Earth Man: a Player Character Option from Ilion

Before I disappear into the either that is life without the internet (albeit for a short time) I decided to offer this up for your approval. It is intended for use with the White Box. Whether that means OD&D or S&W is up to the user.

Earth Man
Earth men are humans from the surface world.  Most come from our Earth in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.  Their method of entry may be decided in congress with the referee, or it may be left a mystery.  Almost without exception Earth men are explorers, archaeologist, or other occupations that the popular imagination has glamorized to the point of absurdity.  A referee may wish to begin a campaign using only Earth men characters.  This can help players to better accommodate themselves to the  wonders of the Hollow Earth, but they should begin making natives once they are familiar with it.  It can be extremely difficult to keep player knowledge and character knowledge separate, and the less this must be done the better the game will be.

Character Advancement: All Earth men begin as Fighting men with no money and randomized possessions (see below).  However, if they find a tutor willing to train them in the magical arts, they may advance as magicians.  Once such a tutor has been acquired, they must select each session whether they are advancing as a Fighter or as a Magician.  

Weapon/Armor Restrictions: Unless wearing magical armor, they are subject to all Magic-user restrictions if they wish to cast spells.

Languages: Earth men begin play knowing common.  They always perceive this as sounding like their native language -- usually English.  When encountering a new language they can understand it on a roll of 1 on a 1d6.  They gain a +1 on this roll for an intelligence over 12, +2 over 14, and +3 over 16.  These languages they also perceive as sounding like their native languages, and they can switch between languages easily.  This typically frightens inhabitants of the Hollow Earth who understand the massive differences between the various languages.

Technology:  Earth men automatically understand any technology that is roughly equivalent to something from their own time.  They also have a 20% bonus to any % chance to understand more advanced technology unless it is completely beyond the realms of imagination.  As this game is entirely about imagination, one must assume this bonus is usually in effect.

[insert random chart for equipment here]

Corrected Ilion Map

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Here is a slightly edited version of my earlier map.  Il Male of The Yaqqothl Grimoire pointed out that it was weird that the numbers were on the bottoms of the hexes, which prompted me to look at my old Wilderlands maps.  I've changed them to be more in accordance with tradition.

Which brings me to a couple of weird things about hexographer.  I don't really like the default numbering system, which starts at 0 on both ends and has a weird dot in the middle.  Also, for some reason some of the coastlines keep disappearing when I mess with the hex types, so I've tried to add them back in this version.

New Map

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"New" might not be the most appropriate word since I designed the first draft of this one while on my Might & Magic kick.  Still, I have repurposed it to serve as a map of the area surrounding Ilion.  I'm still not entirely happy with it, but thought I'd let you guys have a look at it.