Yes, yes, I know -- it only took ten days of summer vacation before I had a coherent thought, but hey! So here goes:
The Maze needs more traffic, Maze Tuchuks need to start migrating, and we haven't had an exciting Gor-wide role-playing event since the Wildwoods Forest Event. Why not catch all three tumits with one bola and host a Tuchuk Migration Event?
Temporary Role-playing Characters (TRCs) might include skilled Tuchuk Outriders, dour female defenders, wild young women raised to be fit prizes in the games of Love War, or bold young men seeking to earn their Courage Scar; daring Kataii, Kassar, or Paravaci raiders; Turian Tarnsmen bent on destroying the wagons; merchant-branded traders seeking riches; non-merchant-branded traders stupidly wandering the Plains; recently captured slaves; or sleen, black larls, tabuk, tumits, bosk, kailliauk, and kaiila.
The twist: All of MTC's members would participate in-character and react to the TRC-created mayhem in the same way we handle whatever plot twists the Story Teller throws our way. Heck, the ST can still create weather conditions and narrate for everyone, TRC and "real" character alike. (And if MTC members also wanted to pick up a TRC to add to the fun, no problem.)
In the past, all TRC events are null and void once the one or two week period is over. In this case, I say let only the actual deaths and dismemberments of "real" MTC members be null and void, but let all plot lines and less severe injuries stand as testament to the tolls of any migration.
An example of what I mean: TRC Turian flies in from above on his screeching tarn, firing a crossbow through the neck of RAGNAR's kaiila. The kaiila falls dead, crushing RAGNAR's leg and leaving him an easy target for the tarn rider, who again fires his cross-bow -- hits a "bullseye" on the room's time stamp -- and places the cross-bow bolt through RAGNAR's eye. Owies. Dead Ubar. RAGNAR is forced to take a TRC character for the rest of the Tuchuk Migration Event. Camp mourns the loss of its leader. The role-play becomes very intense and emotional. At the end of the Event, RAGNAR arrives... his leg is still crushed, and he has a nasty groove near his temple from the cross-bow bolt, which almost got him in the eye. RAGNAR was simply left for dead by a stupid Outrider who has since been slain for his incompetence, 'cause you can't keep a good Ubar down.
So... While any TRC created for the event would be null and void once the event was over, "real" MTC characters would accept non-lethal, non-permanent damage, minimize what WOULD have been lethal/permanently crippling once the Event is over, and roll with the punches. The same would go for MTC females being captured. They would role-play their capture and their submission or lack thereof -- and then we will assume for the purposes of life moving on that all captives were bartered/bought back at the end of migration.
What do you guys think? Could this work?
