Central Casting
Most GMs, in most games, interfere only minimally with character generation --
you let players come up with whatever they like, subject perhaps to house rules
against particularly-abused skills or admonitions to avoid "embittered loners"
because we are, after all, trying to put a party together. I wouldn't recommend
such a laissez-faire approach in Tekumel, unless your major form of entertainment as a GM comes from watching campaigns self-destruct in an orgy of duels,
Shamtla payments, and mass defections... that is, assuming your characters are
willing enough to speak to each other to trigger one.
Tsolyani society is not only extremely stratified but, at the time the AoT
books take place, bitterly divided. Tsolyani think of themselves as members
of whatever clans, legions, or temples they belong to first, and as individuals
second. Thus, your characters will have strong loyalties to various factions
within the society that should come before "adventuring party loyalty." The
key is to make sure they can all get along well enough to work together.
There are several ways to do this. Some GMs require all the characters to be
members of the same Clan, which is probably the strongest loyalty in every
Tsolyani's life. In a military-based campaign, you can make the characters
members of the same Legion which, at least when they're on duty, is generally
good enough (though see Flamesong for an understanding of how class,
clan, and religious loyalties can play out even in that setting). One method
I've toyed with, though I didn't actually do it, is to make all of the
characters members of a group marriage arranged when they were younger.
I didn't do any of these, because I wanted a diverse group of characters. I
felt that I could keep them together through involvement with one of the
player characters (Shekkara Tlakotani), through the repeated intervention
of a powerful patron (her clan-uncle, Prince Rereshqala),
and through shared hatred of the Worm. I didn't mind a bit
of tension; in fact, it can liven things up. There are, however, some things
I made certain of:
The characters had to be close enough in social standing to befriend each
other. Once Lisa rolled a member of the Imperial family, I allowed the other
players to try to roll that -- but, failing it, had them roll on the Very High
clans table, on the theory that a mere member of a High clan wouldn't be able
to deal with a Tlakotani effectively.
Nobody was a Sarku worshipper. If you're not running in the time of Emperor
Dhich'une, or all your players want to align with that side, ignore this one.
But if the rest of your players are given to intense dislike of the forces of
the Worm, a Sarku worshipper would be too divisive. (I've actually had some
problems with Ksarul worshippers, though the stability folks in the party
seem plenty pleased with the Dlamelish-worshipping contingent. Gee, wonder
why...)
If you're using the Adventures on Tekumel books to generate characters, you
need to be a little careful about allowing too many similar character concepts,
or you'll run out of adventures (or have to do something creative). You'll
see what I mean. (If you have two players who absolutely have to play military
folks in the same Legion, consider running them through the solo adventures
together, as inseparable army buddies.) Ideally, you may want a good
spread across the AoT adventures, so that you wind up with a correspondingly
broad base of Tekumel knowledge among your players.
