Roleplaying games from historical research
I found a little ghost story in my researches for Venice. It has what we’d call a revener in Ars Magica (see Realms of Power: The Infernal). I’m not usuing this story in the Venice material, although I suggest a valle, as described later, might make a good navigable point outside The Shoruded Glen ritual…
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The Birds of Nephelococcygia were first described for Ars Magica in Realms of Power: Magic. They didn’t really get much use after this, but they’re an interesting group, because they offer a soft Titanomachy, without all of the destruction required of the Viktir version in Deis Irae. These creatures are based on a play by…
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A couple of little stories from Linton. The creatures here are an infernal ghost and a succubus, both of which can be modelled using Realms of Power: Infernal. Thanks to the Librivox readers and production teams. Stats eventually. THE GHOST OF THE BLACK-BROWED MAID If bodies were safe after death, characters were not. Isabel Heriot…
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This is the first of a series of episodes based on ballads from Goethe. The poem given here is based on two ancient Greek stories. The story’s core is that of Machates and Philinnion from Phlegon’s “Book of Marvels”, but in that story the bride is not obviously a vampire. She’s a member of the…
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This time a story of (arguably not) dwarves from The Transylvanian Tribunal. The reading you’re about to hear is from LibriVox by J GO. Thank you for the recording. It was written by Edouard Laboulaye whose work isn’t seen a lot in English. On the off chance that some of the American listeners are going…
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A welcome to Games From Folktales’s first guest author, Angela Black. *** In the default conception of Mythic Europe, miracles of Faith are rare. Whether this is for game balance or simply due to our modern sensibilities, it doesn’t exactly fit the medieval mindset on divine intervention. Miracles – while still wondrous – were relatively…
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A bugaboo, or bugbear, is a variant of the faeries that scare parents into seeing to their children. In Realms of Power : Faerie this would be a variant of the ogre Gello. Thanks to Ann and her production team for the recording. *** THERE was an awful Bugaboo Whose Eyes were Red and Hair was…
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You’re getting your annual report early this year. There are some changes coming because of the Anno Magica. For those not up to speed, Ars Magica is going to enter a new season later in the year, when Atlas Games crowdfunds the Definitive Edition. As part of that project, parts of the Ars Magica system…
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For the Venice material I’ve hit a couple of additional plot hooks, based on the two most popular masks at Carnivale. The most popular male mask isn’t a character: it’s just a plain white mask, without a mouth. The chin bows forward sufficiently for the person to eat and drink in the mask. The mask’s…
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Padraic Colum was an Irish author who translated the Thousand and One Nights, although his translation is not much used anymore. In his book “The Boy Apprenticed to an Enchanter” he spends some time remixing material from other stories, and making it more palatable for readers of his time. For this episode I’ve extracted three…
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