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Barker makes extensive use of "percentile dice" - rolling two 20 sided dice and having one be decimals and one units. Conduct of the game goes very much like Dungeons and Dragons and is obviously modeled upon it. Professor Barker's rule book gives much of this background as well as an adequate discussion of the rules of the game. Most of the creatures and non-human races of Tékumel are unique, being either original inhabitants (mostly hostile) or remnants of extra-terrestrial races who had colonized the world with the original human settlers. The game takes place in the Empire of Tsolyani, and the players usually enter the game at the capital city of Jakalla. The catastrophe destroyed the human civilization and most of its technology and now, after 25,000 years or more, mankind has risen again to something one step ahead of barbarism. Here magic is possible and demons from other dimensions can enter Tékumel and influence the course of human events. The world then suffered some cosmic catastrophe, was dislocated in space and time, and is now isolated completely from the rest of the universe, alone with its sun and two moons in a continuum where the ordinary rules of physics no longer hold. Tékumel has been colonized, in the distant past, by humans and other races from far parts of the galaxy, suppressing the original inhabitants. Unlike most world creators, though, Professor Barker turned his creation not into a story (although there are rumors of a forthcoming novel) but into a game!Įmpire of the Petal Throne is a fantasy game in which the players take the role of adventurers in a completely unique world, and a very dangerous and exciting world it is, too. As the years went by, his fantasy world became more complete, an entire science fictional history developed as well as the geography, fauna and flora of one of the most exotic planets in all of imaginary literature. Like Tolkien he is fascinated by languages (he is a professor of languages at the University of Minnesota) and started with the written and spoken tongues of Tékumel. Tolkien's Middle Earth comes immediately to mind, as does Barsoom, Hyperborea, Islandia, Earthsea, Witch World or the Land of Oz.īarker began imagining his own world at the age of ten. Many greater writers of fantasy have created imaginary worlds or countries so elaborately detailed that their readers become half-convinced that they exist. It is a fully realized planet with a geography, ecology, history and bizarre civilization, all the invention of Professor M.A.R. The world of Tékumel is one of those rare creations of a single human imagination.
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Eric Holmes, part of Chapter 7 in Fantasy Role Playing Games (1981) I think it provides an excellent introduction to Tékumel for the uninitiated.īy J. As a tribute to Professor Barker and his work, I've transcribed Holmes' review of EPT from his 1981 RPG book. Today also marks two years since the passing of Dr. Barker, creator of the world of Tékumel and several RPGs based on it including Empire of the Petal Throne (TSR, 1975), passed away a few days ago.