When you get lost in the dungeon...

On the OSR Google+ Community, someone was asking about difficulties getting lost in a mega-dungeon. I mentioned food and water being the most needed commodities. Then I was riffing on ideas, when I came up with what I feel is an neat one. So here goes.

Delver's Puffball

A large specimen ready to eat

A species of fungus called the Delver's Puffball grows in damp underground locations, like mines, caves, and dungeons. They are usually from fist- to head-sized, with rare specimens reaching the size of a small horse. Easy to identify by their white flesh and bulbous round shape. If the
puffball has turned brown, it is no longer fit to eat, as it is now a bag full of spores.

Brown and full of spores

The Delver's Puffball provides basic nutrients and some moisture. It's rather bland if eaten raw, but can be quite delicious if sauteed with a little butter. You can live on it for a couple of weeks with the only side effects being some mild hallucinations and a greenish tinge to the skin, which dissipates after four days in the sun.

There is a rumor that the spores are deadly and germinate in your lungs (dark and moist), so it is recommended that you don't disturb the brown ones. Another rumor says that bright light causes the hallucinations to intensify. Those four days in the sun might be quite a trip.

Ta-Da! TFT Tekumel v0.3 Beta released!

Today I release my The Fantasy Trip Tekumel rules for general perusal. I've had a chance to polish this up a bit. I'm not done with layout, but the text is sound. This is version 0.3. It's been through one playtest. Please read, comment, playtest, whatever you're willing to do with it. Don't hold back negative comments. Start a conversation. Ask my why I did certain things.

You may notice a lot of spell names from Empire of the Petal Throne. As I stated when I started this project, this conversion is based on EPT first, with some holes filled by Swords and Glory.

TFT Tekumel Manuscript

This is a conversion supplying Talents and Spells, as well as some equipment, weapons, and armor. It requires the TFT rules, as well as Tekumel setting information. Since TFT is out of print, try using Heroes and Other Worlds, a new TFT-clone, or Legends of the Ancient World from Dark City Games -- a programmed adventuring system inspired by TFT.

Star Trek TOS and Skimpy Outfits

A Google+ community I'm in is prepping to play Starships and Spacemen, a 1978 rpg published by FGU. Goblinoid Games of Labyrinth Lord fame bought the rights and crowd-funded a second edition. This game is basically a D&D clone for Star Trek TOS with the serial numbers filed off. It is also now compatible with LL.

So, I've been watching a few episodes of the original series. Netflix has them all. I haven't watched them in over a decade, so it's been fun. I noticed how many of the female outfits are very skimpy. So, I thought I'd present a few for your viewing pleasure.

Clothing of the 23rd Century (or lack thereof)

Shore Leave: Chorus girls from Rigel II

The Cage/The Menagerie: Vina as Orion slave girl

The Cloud Minders: Droxine

 

Mirror, Mirror: Lieutenants Moreau and Uhura

The Gamesters of Triskelion: Shahna

What Are Little Girls Made Of?: Andrea the android

A Private Little War: Nona

Whom Gods Destroy: Marta

That Which Survives: Losira

"I am for you, Sulu."

Tekumel on eBay

I think Phil would be flabbergasted and happy to see that a copy of The Book of Ebon Bindings, signed by Phil and given to Dave Arneson, would get a high bid of $390 on eBay this weekend.

Blue Room Archive returns

On the Tékumel Foundation blog, Chris Davis posted that the archives of the Blue Room Mailing List are back online. For those not familiar with it, the Blue Room Mailing List was a moderated list where participants could ask questions directly to the Professor, which ran from 1995 to 2000. It replaced the Tékumel Digest, a mailing list I ran from 1991 to 1993, in the days of FTP sites and Gopher (Hi, Bob!).

The Blue Room produced the best discussions (over 1000 messages) of Tekumelani society, the geography of the pocket universe, and other fascinating topics in any medium other than the authoritative Swords & Glory Sourcebook. The archives have been available in the past, but a number of messages from the final year were missing. Those have been restored to this archive.

Whenever I'm planning an adventure, I consult the Blue Room. Newt's Blueroom Archive Searcher is an invaluable tool for this. This app is a search engine into all things Tekumel. A few years ago, I wanted to send the group to Hmakuyal, a ruined city in southwestern Tsolyanu. I searched the Blue Room for information and compiled what I found, which helped me flesh out the city. It supplied the framework I could hang the rest of the scenario.

So, GMs, pick a topic, use the search engine, and see what gems you can find. I bet you can find an idea for an adventure in the results for a single search. I just did this while writing this post and got an idea for a scenario I'm going to run at U-Con 2013 in Ann Arbor. The Blue Room is that good. #tekumel