Ancient Academy Games

30/08/2025

Coming just six weeks from now; Arnecon 3 - Tekumel Events! I will be there running Empire of the Petal Throne, and there will be other Tekumel events!

Arnecon™ is a gaming convention honoring the creative genius of Dave Arneson and his game group, The Blackmoor Bunch. It is a panoply of game experiences - featuring miniatures war-games, board games, and role playing games. Come game with the people who were there when Role Playing was invented. ...

29/05/2025

A new post on The Sandbox of Doom: https://www.sandboxofdoom.com/2025/05/29/tekumel-thursday-in-the-foreigners-quarter/
A closer look at the armories in the Foreigners Quarter of Jakálla!

advice · blog · EPT · Tekumel Tékumel Thursday: In the Foreigners Quarter May 29, 2025May 29, 2025 Victor Raymond In my previous Tékumel Thursday, I talked about understanding the map of the city of Jakálla, and one of the questions I did not answer was “where are the marketplaces of the cit...

27/05/2025

Question for the sages: if you use a GM’s screen, what categories of information do you want to see on the screen, e.g. encounter tables, combat rules and tables, price lists, reaction tables, etc. Put another way, what do you think is essential for a good GM’s screen? I know this will vary from game to game, but I’m really interested in general categories – thank you in advance for your thoughts and ideas!

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24/05/2025

A new post on The Sandbox of Doom: Tékumel Thursday: The City Half As Old As The World.

campaigns · EPT · Tekumel Tékumel Thursday: The City Half As Old As The World May 23, 2025May 19, 2025 Victor Raymond One of the interesting aspects of Empire of the Petal Throne is that it includes the first city map for a roleplaying game, the map of the city of Jakálla.  (The first fully-det...

21/10/2024

Another Gamehole Con finished, and it was amazing! My thanks to Alex Kammer, Josh Hoyt, and the rest of the Gamehole Con committee - it was an honor to be a special guest this year, and I worked to make sure that I made it worthwhile: 2 AD&D 50th Anniversary 1-hour events, 3 Tekumel events, and 1 Traveller event. I am fatigued but very happy. Looking forward to next year! (More photos to follow)

11/07/2024

After two months and three conventions, I'm back working on my blog. Here is the latest blog post - check it out:

So what did the mimeo Empire of the Petal Throne add to combat? The answer is A LOT!
https://www.sandboxofdoom.com/2024/07/11/tekumel-thursday-14-ept-rules-updates-combat-additions/

29/06/2024

In other news, I completed the first round of editing The Egg of the World with my fantastic editor!

16/05/2024

The Table of Contents for Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons is now available! I have posted about this on my blog (link in comments), with thanks to Arch Zenopus from the Zenopus Archives for extracting the TOC to share with all of us! (All I am doing now is waiting for my copy of the book to arrive!)

15/05/2024

Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons is now available! My friend Dimitri Del Castillo had me sign his copy last night at Noble Knight Games. If you are interested, you can order now from MIT Press. (Link in comments!)

13/05/2024

What is the OSR and how do we develop decent theory to talk about it? Some introductory thoughts on my blog - your comments are welcome!

Games Theory · history · OSR OSR Theory 1: Introductory Thoughts May 13, 2024May 13, 2024 Victor Raymond Some time ago, I had a discussion with a friend and fellow academic about the OSR — the Old School Revival, Renaissance, or possibly Rules. Coming at this from an indie games perspective, he ...

11/05/2024

Something arrived in the mail! It is a proof copy of a new print product - there are a few adjustments which need to be made (but that is to be expected). Coming soon!

10/05/2024

Just how DO you do combat in Empire of the Petal Throne? If you thought it was just like OD&D, you might want to think again! This is the next part of my series of blog posts about issues that need attention for EPT to work better as a means of introducing newcomers to Tékumel.

campaigns · EPT · Tekumel Tékumel Thursday 13: EPT Rules Updates-Combat Sequence May 9, 2024May 10, 2024 Victor Raymond Okay, this blog post has been delayed for a day, due to taking my cat Dorian to the vet.  He’s doing much better now, so I can finish this post.  I have also decided to spli...