Roleplaying games from historical research
The works of Lord Dunsany provided many dozens of plot hooks, and monsters, for the early episodes of this podcast. It also provided material for the longest. In my fossicking I took the easy pieces, in his short story collections, and left Dunsany’s novels alone. I thought them insufficiently fantastical. I was, however, mistaken. Time…
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One of our Isle of Man episodes. This story was originally collected by Sophia Morrison and was recorded into the public domain by Andrew Calvillo. Thanks to Andrew and all the people at LibriVox. After the story I’ll be popping up with a few observations. It was Midsummer Day, and the Peel Herring Fleet, with…
Read MoreTwo months worth of transcripts, July and August.
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This week, an extract from English Fairy Tales that calls back to a previous episode from the Cornish series. The tales of Jack the Giant-killer that I’m familiar with come from Cornwall so they deal with his early career and his retirement after he becomes a Knight of the Round Table, but it turns out…
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A quick episode this week, which is from our Isle of Man series, in which we learn the valuable lesson to not mock hellhounds. The recording which follows was released into the public domain by Larry Wilson through LibriVox: thanks to Larry and all the LibriVox. See a few plot hooks at the end ***…
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This week, one of our Isle of Man episodes. If your characters want to found a covenant they need somewhere that has an aura. Maybe this folktale can provide them with the perfect place and, if they can find the right spells to counter the Faerie Wizard’s petrification magic, they might have some brave and…
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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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Games From Folktales 