Roleplaying games from historical research
One of the cognitive fallacies which fuels real-world conspiracy theories is proportionality bias. This suggests that large effects need to have large causes. At the most extreme, Descartes suggested a God was necessary because there were minds, so something greater than a mind need to cause the mind. Hermetic magic says that there needs to…
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I was listening to the MonsterTalk podcast, and Blake Smith mentioned his examination of the SS Watertown ghost photograph. You may know the story: two sailors were buried at sea, and their ghostly faces followed the vessel for weeks. Smith arranged to receive deck plans of one of the Watertown’s sister ships, and took photographs from…
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Gaze no more in the bitter glass The demons, with their subtle guile, Lift up before us when they pass, Or only gaze a little while; For there a fatal image grows That the stormy night receives, Roots half hidden under snows, Broken boughs and blackened leaves. For all things turn to barrenness In the…
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Let us continue the thought experiment that the stories of Lord Dunsany are tales told by a retired redcap. This episode was accidentally released ahead of schedule, so there are two Dunsany stories this month. When Thangobrind the jeweller heard the ominous cough, he turned at once upon that narrow way. A thief was he,…
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An episode went live before it should have, so there are two Dunsany fragments this month This tale is told in the balconies of Belgrave Square and among the towers of Pont Street; men sing it at evening in the Brompton Road. Little upon her eighteenth birthday thought Miss Cubbidge, of Number 12A Prince of…
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In Ars Magica, magicians have final tests for their apprentices. The fire magi drop them in a dangerous place with no gear, and wait for them to come back. The mystics have vision quests. The House most interested in mundanes has a written test, which I imagine was based on the Confucian tests in the…
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This special, 50th, episode was composed in pdf, so check the link. Thanks to all the Patreons, listeners, reviewers and players. Also, thanks to Atlas for letting me play in their sandbox. Sample images
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Games From Folktales 