“Patience
is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
—
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
Those
who’ve followed
James
Maliszewski’s for a while know
he’s quite
knowledgeable about
M.A.R. Barker’s Tékumel
setting, having run a continuous campaign for nearly a decade and
published a host of wonderful fanzines about the esoteric roleplaying
game setting. But Barker’s creation — and its host of different
game editions — carries
the stain of his anti-Semitic novel Serpent’s
Walk,
published under a pseudonym in 1991 (as discovered through
research by the Tékumel
Foundation established to perpetuate
his creative legacy). Fans have had to wrestle with this unearthed
reality, some walking away from Tékumel,
others continuing to embrace it, and many in between trying to find
some acceptable balance between the creator and his creation.
Maliszewski
has discussed
his betrayal at learning about Barker’s shocking past before,
making many points no doubt shared with Tékumel
fans
grappling with this issue. Maliszewski has since channeled his
creative energies into developing Secrets of sha-Arthan,
a
game
evocative of Tékumel
with
his own interpretations and embellishments into a wholly original,
more
accessible
setting. Who knows when it will be ready for release? All good things
take time...and I am willing to keep my embers of enthusiasm burning
as I wait however long to see it published.
