Tékumel

Tékumel is a fantasy world created over several decades by M. A. R. Barker, now a retired professor of Urdu and South Asian Studies. In this world, huge medieval empires contest each other using magic, large armies, and ancient technology. Professor Barker began creating this world in his imaginative play as boy, and as a setting for short stories he wrote as a young man. In a 1984 interview, Barker states that the Tsolyani language and its writing system had taken their present forms by the time he was twelve years old -- long before his professional career as a linguist began.

Barker's own role playing rules for Tékumel developed over many years. In 1975, TSR released the first published rule set for this setting as Empire of the Petal Throne. Articles on Tékumel have appeared in general RPG magazines such as Dragon, The Space Gamer, Different Worlds, in dedicated magazines and fanzines such as Seal of the Imperium, and as postings by Professor Barker and his gamers to online forums and mailing lists.

Barker and his co-authors have published five role playing games for the world of Tékumel:

• Empire of the Petal Throne, published as a box set in 1976 by TSR; this was published in a single volume in 1987 as a "second edition" as Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne (Second Edition) by Different Worlds Publications
• Swords & Glory, published in 1983 by Gamescience and republished by Tita's House of Games
• Gardásiyal, published in 1994 by Theatre of the Mind Enterprises, Inc. as part of their Adventures on Tékumel series
• Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne (Tri-Stat System), published in 2005 by Guardians of Order
• Béthorm, published in 2015 by UNIgames (I)

Tékumel is also the setting for several board games and miniature warfare rules. Barker has published five Tékumel novels:

• The Man of Gold (1984)
• Flamesong (1985)
• Lords of Tsámra (2003)
• Prince of Skulls (2002)
• A Death of Kings (2003)

Source: Wikipedia, "Tékumel", available under the CC-BY-SA License.

User summary:

The setting (or pieces of it) also has been adapted to numerous other game systems (generally "unauthorized"). These may be:

• porting the setting to another game system (for example, Fudge Tékumel, The Petal Hack, Runequest Tékumel, Tékumel Player's Guide, TFT Tékumel),
• implementation of the setting as a complete game system (for example, Heroic Age of Tékumel, Tirikélu, Tsóludhàliyal: Cinematic and Social Adventuring on Tékumel), or
• reimagining the setting as a complete game system (for example, Humanspace Empires)

Too, a large variety of adventures and sourcebooks have been created that are system agnostic.

Many of these efforts have been undertaken by fans - the quality of these products ranges from exceptional to mediocre.