''Empire of the Petal Throne'' is a fantasy role-playing game designed by

M. A. R. Barker Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (born Phillip Barker, November 3, 1929 – March 16, 2012) was an American linguist who was professor of Urdu and South Asian Studies and created one of the first roleplaying games, ''Empire of the Petal Throne' ...

, based on his

Tékumel ''Tékumel'' is a fantasy world created by American linguist and writer M. A. R. Barker over the course of several decades from around 1940. In this imaginary world, huge, tradition-bound empires with medieval levels of technology vie for control ...

fictional universe. It was self-published in 1974, then published by

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

in 1975. It was one of the first

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

s, along with ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'', and was the first published RPG game setting. Over the subsequent thirty years, several new games were published based on the Tékumel setting, but to date none have met with commercial success. While published as

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, the game is sometimes classified as science fantasy or, debatably, as

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

History

Origin

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

professor

, a scholar of ancient languages, had spent decades crafting a fantasy world called

, writing thousands of pages of histories, describing its culture, and even constructing its languages. He served as adviser to the university's wargaming club, where a club-mate and role-playing game player Michael Mornard showed him ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Barker first self-published 50 copies of his own role-playing game, ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' in 1974, the same year that ''

'' was published. This version is now referred to as "Manuscript edition". "Empire of the Petal Throne" is a synonym for the Tsolyáni Empire in game. Barker also wrote another game based in Tékumel: a combat-oriented board game, ''

War of Wizards ''War of Wizards'' is a board game published by TSR in 1975. It was TSR's first publication for M. A. R. Barker's world of Tékumel. Development David M. Ewalt, in his book ''Of Dice and Men'', described how University of Minnesota professor M ...

'', in 1975.

1975 TSR edition

''Empire of the Petal Throne'' influenced

Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947Minnesota Department of Health. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known ...

and

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

, who were impressed with the game. Barker made his commercial game-design debut at

, the publishers of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', with ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' boxed set in 1975. TSR published Barker's game and setting as a standalone game, rather than as a "supplement" to the original ''D&D'' rules. The game brought a level of detail and quality to the concept of a

campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A '' campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and c ...

which had previously been unknown in the nascent RPG industry's publications. The game was the subject of articles in early issues of '' Dragon'' magazine, but factors such as inconsistent support from TSR led to its decline in popularity. TSR was locked into a deal that made the financial end of the game unpalatable to them. They had agreed to pay a "finder's fee" on sales in addition to royalties as well as to certain expensive overrides. As a result, the product was more expensive and thus less profitable.

Nightmare Maze of Jigrésh

In 1981,

Judges Guild Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials, but became best known during the late 1970s and early 1980s as one of the leadin ...

acquired the license to publish an ''EPT'' adventure, ''The Nightmare Maze of Jigrésh'', a 16-page booklet written by Michael E. Mayeau, with illustrations by Ken Simpson. In Issue 42 of ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the ...

'', William A. Barton gave a favorable review, saying, "if you have character of at least level 5 in your ''EPT'' campaign, and the players aren't the sort who lose interest quickly, ''The Nightmare Maze of Jigresh'' may prove to be an interesting change of pace for your Tekumelian excursions."

Later editions

''Empire of the Petal Throne'' was reprinted later as a single book by

Different Worlds Publications Different Worlds Publications is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements. History Tadashi Ehara used ''Different Worlds'' as the basis of a new company, Different Worlds Publications, although he only put o ...

in 1987. In 2005, the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

publisher

Guardians of Order Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Gua ...

produced '' Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne''. The game uses a variation of the

Tri-Stat dX Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired '' Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Gu ...

system.

Genre

''Empire of the Petal Thrones setting, Tékumel, used a mixture of fantasy, science fantasy and science fiction backgrounds.

Game design

''Empire of the Petal Throne'' introduced the concept of

critical hit In many role-playing games and video games, a critical hit (or crit) is a chance that a successful attack will deal more damage than a normal blow. Origin Critical hits originate from the Reiswitzian ''Kriegsspiel'', which they were added into sh ...

s with a 20-sided die. Using these rules a player who rolls a 20 on a 20-sided die does double the normal damage, and a 20 followed by a 19 or 20 counts as a killing blow. According to M. A. R. Barker, "this simulates the 'lucky hit' on a vital organ".M. A. R. Barker, ''Empire of the Petal Throne'', p. 32. (1975 edition); p. 34. (1987 edition)

Reception

Rick Mataka reviewed ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' in ''

'' No. 4 (1976). Mataka commented that "So, if you have enjoyed ''Dungeons and Dragons'' in the past, then this is the game of the future. ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' is the 'now' game for all fantasy gamers."

References

{{reflist Fantasy role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 1974 Science fantasy role-playing games Tékumel TSR, Inc. games