Honestly this probably butterflies D&D entirely, but it probably does mean an earlier expansion of the tabletop RPG genre. However it must be noted that D&D itself was kinda the lucky survivor of a glut of RPGs back in the '70s; there was Gamma World (postapocalyptic), Boot Hill (Western), and Empire of the Petal Throne itself too. Plus, TSR itself nearly died due to the CCG boom in the '90s. With this alternate hyper-popular setting, they might avoid the setting glut and accidental devaluing of their own product that happened in the D&D 2e era OTL...
OK, just spitballing here, but this is probably going to lead to a more multipolar RPG scene developing earlier, maybe in the '80s. (the early non-D&D RPGs tended to be transparent adaptations of the D&D rules, later stuff like Vampire: The Masquerade dended to be a sort of a reaction to D&D's dominance, at least in part) TSR's bad business decisions are basically guaranteed butterflied but it's likely that those idiots will find some new and creative way to kill their cash cow.
Now, the biggest obstacle to Tekumel becoming super popular is simply that it looks very dense and hard to comprehend to the average bystander. It's so rich, so detailed, and such a passion project that it's not super easy to get into. D&D at least has always had a very simple presentation with very simple and easy-to-comprehend options. Tekumel likely would be a series of novels first and an RPG a distant second.
Just my thoughts on this anyway.
OK, just spitballing here, but this is probably going to lead to a more multipolar RPG scene developing earlier, maybe in the '80s. (the early non-D&D RPGs tended to be transparent adaptations of the D&D rules, later stuff like Vampire: The Masquerade dended to be a sort of a reaction to D&D's dominance, at least in part) TSR's bad business decisions are basically guaranteed butterflied but it's likely that those idiots will find some new and creative way to kill their cash cow.
Now, the biggest obstacle to Tekumel becoming super popular is simply that it looks very dense and hard to comprehend to the average bystander. It's so rich, so detailed, and such a passion project that it's not super easy to get into. D&D at least has always had a very simple presentation with very simple and easy-to-comprehend options. Tekumel likely would be a series of novels first and an RPG a distant second.
Just my thoughts on this anyway.