Post originally by martin at 2005-06-18 22:10:05
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LOL. I myself happen to be a fan of Tekumel, have been for maybe 20 years or so. Sad thing is I've only been able to play it once in all that time simply because my friends weren't into it. I think it's interesting that this "review" has gotten so many people riled up. I mean, I may have been a little harsh when I said that the reviewer sounded like a junior high school student frothing at the mouth but I have to say that to me, in my personal opinion it does sound like he is whining. When someone decided to post a review of my comment of the review I knew things were going to get out of hand quickly. I see now that they certainly have. I don't see what the big deal is, there are many games out there that are implausible, heck I'd say the great majority of them are. I guess it boils down to what your tastes are and how much you are willing to suspend your disbelief. Just look at the threads for Mutants and Masterminds, no one's complaining about the fact that grown men in tights flying through the air and shooting light beams through their eyes is not realistic. M & M is a game of super-heroes so we go into with that frame of mind. Tekumel is a game of fantastic science and sorcery on an alien world, likewise, we go into the game drawing from that context. Now the back cover of the game pretty much tells you what the heck to expect and if that isn't enough the first couple of pages certainly do to the point of spelling it out; Tekumel is a very different experience than what most gamers are used to. Some people can get behind that and some can't. It doesn't mean anybody is smarter than anyone else, it just means that tastes differ. I have a copy of the new game and I found it to have a solid set of rules (finally) with an excellent introduction to the world of The Empire of the Petal Throne. My friends still don't want to play it and I am not going to try and shove it down their gullets (I am hoping that sooner or later they will become curious enough on their own to give it a try, my girlfriend keeps wanting to look at my copy so that's a good sign). I also hope that instead of listening to this reviewer you try taking a look at the game yourself if playing in a truly alien setting is interesting to you because this particular reviewer seems not to have liked the game based on all the things that make Tekumel what it is. Either way Tekumel isn't out to win any popularity contests, it's pretty much a niche product and the number of books printed is probably enough to satisfy the fans and a few hundred or so newcomers. So if you don't want to buy the book then don't buy it. No one is going to cry if you don't, I doubt anyone really cares.
The fans and the fan-boys and girls will have their copies and there will be enough left over for those willing to try something new. All I'm saying is take a look at it yourself you may be pleasantly surprised.