Wouldn't this type of start be good for most any game. Little or no prior knowledge needed by the player.
Not just for Legend of the Five Rings or Empire of the Petal Throne but even Greyhawk type settings.
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Quote from: Greentongue;723474Wouldn't this type of start be good for most any game. Little or no prior knowledge needed by the player.
Not just for Legend of the Five Rings or Empire of the Petal Throne but even Greyhawk type settings.
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/agreed.

having lived all over the world - I LOVE this kind of stuff. Likewise I love doing this to my players - but it takes a good GM to pull it off without getting lame. I find most GM's can't really do it justice especially in their home-brews because there's always the nettling details they hadn't thought of.

Quote from: Greentongue;722918If this was not a fantasy world it would remind you of Bombay, India back in 1,000 AD.
Hot, crowded and colorful.
As a player, how strange of customs and laws can you handle before it is not fun?
At what point is new and different just too much trouble to deal with?
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Any game that all but requires that players play characters from OTHER SETTINGS and just bring them over on a boat, because there's no way in hell they'll understand how to play characters from the locale itself, is too much trouble to deal with.

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Quote from: RPGPundit;725130Any game that all but requires that players play characters from OTHER SETTINGS and just bring them over on a boat, because there's no way in hell they'll understand how to play characters from the locale itself, is too much trouble to deal with.

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But what a terrific opportunity that would be for picking up a copy of Arrows of Indra and having your players step off the boat into the lands of "Ancient Indra" instead of just putting some Samurai off the map somewhere and rehashing the whole Kara Tur experience.  Alien cultures can definitely be part of the experience.

Quote from: RPGPundit;725130Any game that all but requires that players play characters from OTHER SETTINGS and just bring them over on a boat, because there's no way in hell they'll understand how to play characters from the locale itself, is too much trouble to deal with.

Heck, it's the fundamental premise of a lot of games, going all the way back to Empire of the Petal Throne.

Quote from: Greentongue;723474Wouldn't this type of start be good for most any game. Little or no prior knowledge needed by the player.

For the players, yes. But for the DM, that's another story. The setup from Empire of the Petal Throne, for example, has the players as barbarians dumped off in Jakalla. For the DM to accurately describe this, he not only has to know Jakallan culture but also barbarian culture in order to point out differences. If, for example, the barbarians bow instead of shake hands, then it won't be a surprise if Jakallans do likewise.

A better setup for introducing people to a complicated setting such as Tekumel or Glorantha, would be to start in a much more mundane area, such as the barbarian homeland, and gradually introduce more complicated setting material. That way both the DM and players can learn a decide what parts they like or dislike. The EPT setup is the primary reason I would never attempt to run a Tekumel game.

I prefer to set the mood of a new campaign in a more mundane situation, rural usually. This allows the players to get a feel for their character, before introducing the more complex and bizarre setting elements. Much like how Tolkien focus on the ordinary aspects of hobbit life first.

Quote from: hedgehobbit;725288A better setup for introducing people to a complicated setting such as Tekumel or Glorantha, would be to start in a much more mundane area, such as the barbarian homeland, and gradually introduce more complicated setting material. That way both the DM and players can learn a decide what parts they like or dislike. The EPT setup is the primary reason I would never attempt to run a Tekumel game.

Doesn't that assume you are going to run the game as an anthropological simulation?
If on the other hand you are going for a "Planetary Romp" is this level of detail even wanted?
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I agree it's a lot more work. BUT!!! Isn't that the hallmark of good GM's?

When a GM wants to introduce you to a new world/culture etc. - and is really into it, and has some good GM-chops, those... THOSE are the great campaigns.

I own every Forgotten Realms book, boxset, including all the stuff from Al-Qadim, Maztica, Kara-Tur, Spelljammer, 1ed through 3.5. My players were predominantly Americans with little experience outside of of traditional western culture - but I made them agents for Aurora's Trading Emporium - which allowed me to send them to far reaches of the world of Toril. Campaign lasted almost 9-years.

Sure they were fish out of water. But I lived in Asia for many years - so introducing them to the analogs of Phillippines in Kara-tur was easy, and fun. For them it was exotic and alien - just like it would be for any American to suddenly find themselves there (Especially being a party of renegade Drow who weren't immediately KOS with everyone).

Their characters ended up spending like 6-years in game living amongs the islands of Malatra, and eventually Kozakura and Wa. All the while between sessions I'd feed the players movies to watch, articles to read. When in Kozakura I'd bring over my tea-set and have Ocha prepared. Props that were all real (I'm part filipino and Japanese and lived in both places -among others). So it was awesome to introduce a bunch of Euro-Americans to a culture that was foreign to them. And yes it's a lot of work. But I feel as a GM if you're passionate about your world - even if you didn't create it - that little bit of extra effort goes an awful long way.

If it weren't for the seriously epic trek back to the Faerun - ON FOOT - through Shou Lung, Tabot, the Hordelands - on a real time 9-year hexcrawl I don't think I would have ever sold them on Talislanta later... Or half the other RPG's I've brought to the table.

There *are* some nice effects to this kind of gaming. Just gotta put a *little* bit of extra effort into it.

Quote from: tenbones;725313There *are* some nice effects to this kind of gaming. Just gotta put a *little* bit of extra effort into it.

Yup.  I do a private run where the PC is spending a year living with an analog to a Romany kumpania.  I won't say she gets startled by the cultural dissimilarities -- she's been friendly with the Rom for a long, long time, and she tries hard to assimilate -- but a lot of them still just don't sit well.

Quote from: Ravenswing;725437Yup.  I do a private run where the PC is spending a year living with an analog to a Romany kumpania.

Interesting...
Didactically edited information on Roma

Even within the Europe we think we know, are things that are not common knowledge.
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Quote from: Panzerkraken;725184But what a terrific opportunity that would be for picking up a copy of Arrows of Indra and having your players step off the boat into the lands of "Ancient Indra" instead of just putting some Samurai off the map somewhere and rehashing the whole Kara Tur experience.  Alien cultures can definitely be part of the experience.

Its one thing if you do this because you WANT to incorporate the Bharata Kingdoms into your existing campaign, moving your longstanding Greyhawk characters as travellers to a distant land. That's fine, that can be cool for sure.

But its another thing if as a GM you pretty much feel you MUST do this even with a fresh campaign, because the only alternative is teaching all the players a 16-hour course on setting anthropology and linguistics.

I specifically designed Indra so that it wouldn't be like that, by the way.  You should have no problem starting a fresh campaign with 'native' characters and have the players be able to engage with the setting and their pcs just fine.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;726248I specifically designed Indra so that it wouldn't be like that, by the way.  You should have no problem starting a fresh campaign with 'native' characters and have the players be able to engage with the setting and their pcs just fine.

RPGPundit

How has that been working out in practice? Are you the only one that can run the game without a struggle? No problems finding players due to intimation when they see what the setting is?
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Not trying to be "smart". If I didn't already have a game set in an exotic land that is hard to get people to try, I would really like to get Arrows of Indra.
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Quote from: Greentongue;726273How has that been working out in practice? Are you the only one that can run the game without a struggle? No problems finding players due to intimation when they see what the setting is?
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Well, I've had people run it at cons, people who are no relation to me and never even met me in person. I've had one person run it for a group that included teenagers, and had no problem with it.  So I think in all honesty that its achieved that particular goal (of being easily playable) really well.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Greentongue;726432Not trying to be "smart". If I didn't already have a game set in an exotic land that is hard to get people to try, I would really like to get Arrows of Indra.
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I think what you should sell it as is that its really just old-school D&D in an interesting and more exotic setting. But the play is the same: you're a pc party, you go on adventures. You go to ruins, jungles, the underworld, adventure in cities against crime lords or undead who stalk the night, you get treasure and gain power and magic.

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