All articles filed in Podcast transcripts

A Robinsonade is a type of story that takes its name from Robinson Crusoe. In the structure of the story a person from a technologically superior area is stranded in an area where they have limited societal support. Robinsonades are interesting as ways of starting Ars Magica sagas, because they force characters to use the…

In the dying days of her reign, Cleopatra VII Philopator made preparations to survive the Roman invasion. In our world, these came to nothing: Cleopatra entombed herself alive, and took poison in wine, by smuggling an asp in a basket of figs, or by biting her arm and smearing a fatal unguent over the wound. This…

Environmental determinism is an idea with classical roots, but was most popular during the colonial period. It suggests that the social development of a country is determined in whole, or in large part, by the resources that are available to that society. Listeners familiar with 4X computer games are aware of this style of thinking.…

In the weeks leading up to the recording of this episode a plague of scary clowns has appeared in many Western countries. The obvious question for Ars Magica players is : if the same thing happened in Mythic Europe what would people do. Strangely enough we know the answer to this question because in 1221,…

One of the earliest controversies I can remember from Ars fandom is this: given that magic can’t affect your essential nature, can it change your gender? The generally given answer is no, and this is because the way gender is affected by magic in other roleplaying games is so terribly, terribly juvenile. Basically being transformed…

Monster manuals are taxonomic. That is, they divide monsters by type so that you can get the statistics of the creature based on similar creatures. Medieval bestiaries didn’t work this way at all. Medieval bestiaries worked on the idea of significatos, that is, when you are reading about the creature the most important thing is…