Tékumel part 2 The Empire of the Petal Throne 1975

#rpg
This is the second of my Tékumel videos
I take a peek at the Print on Demand version of the Empire of the Petal Throne, originally released as a deluxe box set in 1975. Laying claim to the title of being first published campaign setting in rpg history. This is the original game released, detailing the universe of M.A.R. Barker's weird and wonderful sci fi fantasy creation of Tékumel. A rich setting bolted onto rules that are heavily derived from Original DnD (white box edition). However, it does have differences that make it an interesting look at how DnD could have evolved if it had embraced skills and a d100.

The pdf is available from Drivethrurpg
TSR Empire of the Petal Throne (1975 DnD reskin and an excellent resource)

Other products you can purchase or download, providing more information about the setting or providing alternative rule sets

Béthorm rules available from drivethurpg

Information about the Tsolyani language

Intro to the setting

The World map and Info

Early access to this video until 22nd May
#Tékumel #rpg #Empire of the Petal Throne

[TheRyujinLP]

Both the percentile stat rolls as well as needing to roll a percentile chance to set off a spell are hold overs from Dave Anderson's "Blackmoor" (though technically Blackmoor was the name of the setting, Dave didn't have an official name for the rules at the time. The ppl who played it or at least knew about it though called it a "dungeon game" and the many spin off rules would go on to all have the word "Dungeon" as part of the title and yes, this includes Dungeons and Dragons).

Magic in Dave's system, while based partly on the spell list in the Fantasy Supplement for Chainmail, was not based on Vancian style magic. He used a magic point based system were the spell level was also the points needed to caste it and like in Empire of the Petal Throne spells only had a certain perfect chance of working based on their level; though in this system practice made perfected and that chance would get better the more you used a spell. Dave also tried out using a percentile based roll system in general for his game at some point but it's unknown how long that lasted as he was constantly tinkering with his rules (so sadly there is no one set of rules you could use to recreate his style of play over all but we do know at least some of them).