Roleplaying games from historical research
This week is a hybrid episode where we show the difference between Ars Magica and Magonomia. If you are listening to this podcast episode when it is released, the Magonomia Kickstarter will be closing within a week or so. In Ars Magica faeries are liminal spirits. Fairies in Magonomia are Elizabethan spirits. The easiest way…
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This week, another episode in which we discuss fairy lovers that destroy their beloved. You will notice the lover sits plotting her hair beneath a whitethorn bush. In Irish mythology particularly white thorn bushes are gathering places for the fairies. It’s considered bad luck to damage or move, particularly solitary, whitethorn bushes, especially if they’re…
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I’ve been considering for some time the best way of rendering down the information found in “The Curious Lore of Precious Stones” by George Frederick Kunz for Ars Magica. A pair of plot hooks were shaken loose in an earlier article about gemstones that are possessed by tiny False Gods. For simplicity, I’ve carved his…
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Dorothea Mackellar is one of my favourite poets, and the reason why makes her useful for Ars Magica players. She was a young, rebellious Australian poetess, who wanted to smash through the tradition of idealising Europe. Her best-known poem, My Country, was written when she was nineteen, and was a glove to the face of…
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A brief poem this week. It is the statement of a woman englamoured by a faerie. Note that she is deliberately avoiding the traditional wards which would defend her from his influence. This poem was released into the public domain through LibriVox by Newgate Novelist. It was by yonder thorn I saw the fairy host(O…
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There’s a song recorded in “Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England” which details a serial killer. I think he may be a murderous lover, a sort of faerie we’ve described before in “Realms of Power: Faerie”. Plot hooks at the end. The recording which follows was released into the public domain…
Read MoreApologies if you came here looking for the statistics for the creature in episode 211. The audio went live early. The transcript and statistics will be published around August 29, when the episode was due to air.
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Another bonus episode to celebrate the release of the Kickstarter for Magonomia. This poem is called Renascence by Edna St Millay. I originally was going to use it for Ars Magica, as a hint to where the Criamon magi who disappeared from the Isles of Scilly went. You could instead use it as a description…
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This bonus episode isn’t an advert for Magonomia, which is a game of Renaissance wizardry, published by some of the Ars Magica authors, but you should check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shewstonepublishing/magonomia-the-rpg-of-renaissance-wizardry A note on conflict of interest: if it funds I will be writing some of their stretch goals. It’s a game of a Renaissance…
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The legend which follows comes from “Scilly and its Legends” by Reverend Whitfield. When I originally read it I just gave up and said “No, we obviously aren’t going to be getting anything more of value from the good Reverend.” I was mistaken because, superficially the following story sounds like a simple miracle. Simple miracles…
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Games From Folktales 