Q&A with Jeff Berry

[Havard]

Thanks for sharing Chirine!

Who made those minis?

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Thanks for your comments!

Harchar, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, is a Garrison 'Swords and Sorcery' series "Merchant";

Staffswinger and his pal Swordswinger are basically the same figure; a Ral Partha miniature, one with a beard and a staff and the other with no beard and a sword in place of the staff;

Poor Fishface, who got her name because Dave rolled abysmally low on her 'Charisma' factor when he rolled her up, is also a Ral Partha;

Purser Hardtack, who's standing on Swordswinger's spot, is also a Ral Partha.

Ral Partha was selling lots of three, six, and eight figure pack at that time, and there would be one or more really good figures for Tekumel in each that I'd use for subjects like the twenty priesthoods or the wizards; that tended to leave a lot of 'generic' figures in the mix that I'd use for figures like Dave's crew. I can dig out catalog numbers, if you like.

Miniatures companies, back in the day (about 1976-79) were a lot fewer, and the selection of miniatures was a lot more limited. Minifigs and Garrison had small fantasy ranges, which had some very useful figures, and once Ral Partha hired Tom Meier they tended to produce a lot of very useful miniatures. Tom also did some actual Tekumel figures, and he also was in regular contact with Craig Smith, one of the earliest and best of the Tekumel artists; I used a lot of Ral Partha 'Elves' and other Meier fantasy figures for Tekumel.

And I did a lot of conversions; most of the twenty temples' figures are conversions.

Anything else I can add?

yours, Chirine

[chirine ba kal]

Oh! Should have said something about the game room, too...

Thirty feet by roughly fifteen feet wide (on average), and in my basement. Shelves all the way around the game room proper for books, miniatures, and scenery; there's a cork board for maps with a shelf for props underneath, because I like to hand an actual object to the players when I say "You find this...". There's a small fridge for refreshments and a sound system.

The game room continues into what we call "The Lounge", where there are more shelves for reference books and the group's party supplies; TV with VCR and DVD players; a sofa-bed for guests; the curtained-off alcove for large scenery and terrain items like Dave's big sailing ship we used in the April game event.

We can seat ten players very comfortably, and up to fourteen at a pinch; I try to limit game sessions to ten, though, as then everyone gets more of a chance to play. We can focus the track lights for either miniatures or RPG games, and they are on dimmers as well. The carpentry work is mostly mine; furniture by Ikea and our favorite industrial surplus store.

Not shown, due to space, are the Tekumel costumes on their mannequins; these are all in storage at the moment due to a lack of space.

yours, Chirine

[Havard]

Jeff, in another threadwe were talking about Toska Rusa and the Afridhi from the original Blackmoor campaign, when Greg Svenson said:

Toska Rusa was played by one of the guy's girl friend, but I don't even remember which guy never the less her name. I think she/they were more active in the EPT campaign at Dr Barker's. That may place it in 1975 rather than earlier. I think that is when he got started.

Do you know who this lady might have been? Someone playing in Dr Barker's campaign and dating one of the Blackmoor players?

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Jeff, in another threadwe were talking about Toska Rusa and the Afridhi from the original Blackmoor campaign, when Greg Svenson said:

Toska Rusa was played by one of the guy's girl friend, but I don't even remember which guy never the less her name. I think she/they were more active in the EPT campaign at Dr Barker's. That may place it in 1975 rather than earlier. I think that is when he got started.

Do you know who this lady might have been? Someone playing in Dr Barker's campaign and dating one of the Blackmoor players?

-Havard

Okay, I had a look at this thread; the only candidate that I can think of for Toska Rusa would be Deborah Naffziger, one of Prof. Barker's original EPT players and one of the early players in Dave's Blackmoor. (She also played in Greyhawk with Gary) She was the only girl in local Twin Cities gaming for many years, and the description of the character sounds pretty much like the one she had out at Porf. Barker's. I'll ask her, next time I see her.

yours, Chirine

(Please feel free to cross-post this to the other thread, too...)

[gsvenson]

Debbie sounds right to me, now that you mention the name, so I think that you are on the right track.

[chirine ba kal]

Debbie sounds right to me, now that you mention the name, so I think that you are on the right track.

I think she's the only candidate, as she was the only one with the right qualifications. The "Afridi" is also a give-away, as Prof. Barker was a specialist in that part of this world.

yours, Chirine

[Rafael]

This thread is like popcorn to me. PLEASE go on!

[Havard]

Jeff, how's things?

I just read the interesting interview with you over at the Hill Cantons Blog.

Here's another question:
What can you tell me about Giovanna Fregni? I understand that she was part of MAR Barker's group, but she is also credited as having played a dwarf in Arneson's campaign.

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Jeff, how's things?

I just read the interesting interview with you over at the Hill Cantons Blog.

Here's another question:
What can you tell me about Giovanna Fregni? I understand that she was part of MAR Barker's group, but she is also credited as having played a dwarf in Arneson's campaign.

-Havard

Things are starting to quiet down after a very bad summer; I have a new job, I am happy to report. The Aethervoxes are also now a formal non-profit corporation, which will assure the future of the archives and the collections; that's a huge relief for me, I can tell you!

Re Gio, I know she played out at Phil's starting in the early 1990's, and eventually became Governor of Sokatis after the end of the Tsolyani civil war. I don't have any information on her playing in Blackmoor; that was after my time, I'm afraid.

May I suggest contacting you through the Tekumel Foundation? She's one of the directors of same, and I think the website is:

http://tekumelfoundation.org/

Personally, Gio is a good artist; she's done a lot of F / SF art over the years, and has done a lot of Tekumel artwork since the middle 1990s. Her originals are very good, and I'd love to see them collected for an exhibition some day!

yours, Chirine