M. A. R. Barker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker
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| Born | Phillip Barker November 3, 1929 Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | March 16, 2012 (aged 82) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place | Pleasant View Memorial Gardens (Burnsville, Minnesota) |
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| Period | 1949–2012 |
| Genre | Linguistics, role-playing games, fantasy, science fantasy |
Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (born Phillip Barker; November 3, 1929 – March 16, 2012) was an American expert in languages. He was a professor who taught about Urdu and South Asian cultures. He is also famous for creating one of the very first role-playing games called Empire of the Petal Throne.
Barker wrote several fantasy and science fantasy novels. These books were all set in his own made-up world called Tékumel. He also wrote one novel under a different name that caused some controversy later on.
Contents
Early Life and Interests
Phillip Barker was born in Spokane, Washington. His family had lived in America since 1626. He grew up in Washington and Idaho. As a young boy, he loved "fairy stories, history, and literature." Movies like The Thief of Bagdad also inspired him.
These interests turned his simple games with toy soldiers into fantasy adventures. This is how his fictional lands, which later became Tékumel, started to form. He continued to build on this world in middle and high school. During this time, he even carved his own figures to represent his characters and armies. Barker also became interested in languages at a young age. This happened because his neighbors, who were Basque, could talk in their own secret language.
Studying Languages and Connecting with Writers
Around 1950, Barker was a student at the University of Washington. He started writing for small publications called fanzines. He wrote articles, short stories, and reviews for magazines like Fanscient and Sinisterra. In Sinisterra, he reviewed a book by Jack Vance called The Dying Earth.
During this time, Barker also wrote letters to other authors. One of them was Lin Carter. Barker was very interested in Carter's writings and language experiments. Together, they started to write down the story of Barker's own created world.
In 1951, Barker received a Fulbright Scholarship. This allowed him to study the languages of India. During his first trip to India that year, he became a Muslim. He said it felt like a "more logical religion." He also felt a deep sense of wonder when he heard the 99 Names of Allah recited at the Taj Mahal.
Teaching Career and Research
Barker continued his studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He wrote his main research paper about the Klamath language. He collected many traditional stories and histories from the Modoc people. Later, he published a grammar book and a dictionary for the Klamath language.
From 1958 or 1959 until 1972, he taught at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. For two years starting in 1960, he worked at Punjab University. There, he helped create materials to teach Urdu and Baluchi to English speakers. Some of these materials were still used in universities as late as 2010.
In 1972, he moved to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He became the head of the Department of South Asian Studies. He retired in the early 1990s, after the department closed due to less funding.
The World of Tékumel
Even while studying at Berkeley, Barker kept working on his created world. He wasn't as active in science fiction fandom anymore. Instead, he started "proto-gaming" with other science fiction fans. This group included fellow language expert Bill Shipley. They created detailed documents to explore their shared world.
When Barker moved to Minneapolis, he saw people playing Dungeons & Dragons. He decided to create his own game rules based on his world and the ideas from D&D. After six weeks, he published his game in August 1974. It was called Empire of the Petal Throne. People started playing it right away. Even Dave Arneson, one of the creators of D&D, sometimes joined. Arneson said Barker was his favorite Dungeon Master and Tékumel was his favorite role-playing game.
Gary Gygax, another D&D creator, noticed Barker's work. His company, TSR, decided to publish a new version of the game. This version included a shorter guide to Barker's world. TSR's Empire of the Petal Throne came out in 1975. It was TSR's third role-playing game.
In 1976, Tim Kask, the editor of The Dragon magazine, compared Tékumel to J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. He said that Tékumel had amazing detail in its setting, myths, and languages. He felt it was even more detailed for gamers because Barker was a "wargamer" himself.
Barker felt that TSR did not support his world enough. After 1977, he took Tékumel to many other publishers. These included Imperium Publishing, Adventure Games, Gamescience, and others. His novel The Man of Gold, set in Tékumel, was published in 1984.
Even though Tékumel was very detailed and published many times, it was only known to a smaller group of people. A German magazine called Der Spiegel wrote an article about Barker in 2009. It was titled "The forgotten Tolkien." Some friends thought Tékumel might not have become more popular because its world was very different from Western culture. Also, it might have been released too early, when players were just starting to create their own game worlds.
In 2008, Barker started the Tékumel Foundation. He created it with many of his long-time players. Its goal is to "support and protect the literary works and all related products and activities" of Tékumel. The Foundation now manages his writings.
Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker passed away on March 16, 2012. He was survived by his wife, Ambereen.
Controversial Work
Barker wrote another novel called Serpent's Walk. He published it in 1991 under the pen name Randolph D. Calverhall. This book was released by National Vanguard Books. This publisher was known for putting out material with controversial views.
Serpent's Walk tells an alternate history story. In this story, soldiers from World War II start a secret resistance. A century later, their descendants take over the United States. The book's description on the back cover states that the "good guys" lost World War II. It suggests that the war was a victory for "communists, democrats, and Jews," and that "everyone else lost." It also says that a century later, these descendants are ready to challenge "democrats and Jews" for the minds of White Americans.
From 1990 to 2002, Barker was also part of an advisory group for the Journal of Historical Review. This journal promoted ideas that denied or changed historical events, including the Holocaust.
In March 2022, the Tékumel Foundation confirmed that Barker wrote Serpent's Walk. They also confirmed his connection to the Journal of Historical Review. The Foundation stated that they disagreed with the views in the novel. They do not receive any money from it. They also apologized for not sharing this information sooner.
See also
In Spanish: M. A. R. Barker para niños
- Tsolyáni language
