Eberron = Tekumel?

[sotmh]

This has been on rpg.net and nothingland recently, does anyone know about this? I'm not familiar enough with Tekumel to say myself.

WOTC's new Eberron setting--Tekumel or Something New?

The new Wizards of the Coast setting, Eberron, on surface sounded like a breath of fresh air. Once this surface was scratched, though, we find that it's nothing more than a TSR/M.A.R. Barker rehash of Tekumel.

For those of you not familiar with Tekumel, think of the worst fantasy setting you could imagine. Then take your thoughts and give them to the most verbose, insipid, droning, melancholy writer you could find. For good measure, make sure the writer also has a touch of insanity, and a penchant for fake languages and silly, xenophobic alien races.

Like overpowered games? Eberron will have that! Just like Tekumel. Only in both games the player will be on the receiving end of the mismatched power.

To keep from boring the readers of this article, I will omit some of the greater details of Tekumel, but the quote from Dr. Barker regarding the subject seems to ring of excitement.

Barker stated the following. "I've always believed that if you cannot beat them, join them is a good approach. Wizards jumped at the chance to pile my setting 'Empire of the Petal Throne' into the new Eberron because the original contest winner's examples were uninspired. Since they're paying me, I was happy to oblige. Unfortunately the Tekumel d20 will never be released now, due to a non-competitive waiver I had to sign."

So is there something to this, or is it just the work of someone who was upset about how the setting contest turned out?

 

[the Jester]

Sounds like someone ranting about having ideas they were paid for integrated into something else by the same company.

Not much sympathy, but I don't know anything about this other than what you just posted.

 

[JPL]

No, there is nothing to this. It is a troll being spread by an idiot with too much time on his hands. You will note that the rpg.net thread has been locked for that very reason.

The rpg.net thread was locked hours ago, so I find it surprising that anyone would still take this seriously. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're asking an honest question, and not deliberately trolling.

 

[francisca]

I'd say it's rubbish.

 

[King_Stannis]

I saw this and my curiousity was aroused, too.

 

[JPL]

http://www.nothingland.com/showthread.php?t=2867

According to this thread here, Stannis, you're the aforementioned idiot from rpg.net called "Theocrat."

If so...you didn't just "see this" --- you started it.

What a great hobby --- insulting people and spreading lies while hiding behind multiple pseudonyms.

Interesting that sotmh and Cyberzombie, who started the thread at nothingland, both list Denver home base. Could just be a coincidence, though. Or something in the water.

A great way to get a rumor going, men. Go to rpg.net, post this nonsense, then hit another board using another name and say, "Yeah, I heard about this on rpg.net." Then show up here and say, "There must be something to this."

 

[King_Stannis]

Yeah, but do you think there's anything to this, JPL?

By the way I'm "The Theocrat of Poon-Tang". I thought too long and too hard on that name for you to shorten arbitrarily to "Theocrat". :\

 

[MDSnowman]

You know I'm glad that this is a message board... because if this message board were real life we'd need to rope off two seperate areas, whining about Eberron, and Non-Whining About Eberron.

 

[Hellcow]

This is great!

First, I'm *RICHARD* Baker. Now I'm Dr. BARKER. What will folks think of next?

First off, I have never read any Tekumel material whatsoever. So For all I know there are similarities between the worlds. Could someone give me a specific example as opposed to a vague "it's overpowered" (or for that matter, just say which part *is* overpowered and discuss that)? What's with the "alien languages"? And how do kalashtar, shifters, and warforged qualify as "xenophobic"?

But for the record, this is not only untrue, it's just plain silly. So, what this theory says is:
* WotC decided to hold a setting search.
* They received 11,000 ideas and spent untold hours (using salaried employees) sorting these down to one idea.
* They paid the finalists a total of $160,000 for these ideas.
* Then they threw them out, paid someone else for his idea, pretended they hadn't done it (thus losing any value of purchasing a licensed property), didn't make him sign an NDA, and on top of it, allowed him to sell his idea to Guardians of Order.

I like a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone, but the emphasis is on "good"!

-Keith Baker

 

[JPL]

Yeah, but do you think there's anything to this, JPL?

By the way I'm "The Theocrat of Poon-Tang". I thought too long and too hard on that name for you to shorten arbitrarily to "Theocrat". :\

Not arbitrary at all --- merely a concession to the rules of this board, and to good taste.

No, I don't think there's anything to this.

I think this is either something you made up for your own amusement, or something you have decided to propogate for your own amusement, despite the harm this sort of rumor can do to the reputations and the businesses of the parties involved.