Roleplaying games from historical research
A brief episode this week, because I was busy writing the index of creatures with Might in the 5th edition. It’s useful for authors working under the Open License, but terrible copy for a podcast. In the Venetian book there’s always been a column sized gap at the end of the magical humans chapter. I…
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Richard Morse was one of the circle of people H.P. Lovecraft traded letters with. This was recoded by Ben Tucker. Thanks to him and his production team. I’m attracted to this because it has a certain Venetian feel, particularly because I’ve recently been writing about theriac, their plague medicine. *** The city lay stricken, in…
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The first book I wrote for Ars Magica was Sanctuary of Ice which was based heavily on Karl Felix Wolff’s The Pale Mountains. As a matter of personal joy, that book entered the public domain in 2024 and KirksVoice at Librivox recorded a small excerpt. Thanks to the reader and production team. *** To the…
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Do you ever read a piece of media and say “I want to use that in a game, but don’t know how?” That was how I’ve felt about “The Riddle” by Walter de la Mare. I’ve used his material on this podcast before, but this eerie little story, written for small children, deliberately doesn’t tell…
Read MoreThis week an odd little familiar that turned up while I was looking at some Venetian material. I’ve been reading “Venice is a fish” and there’s a section in it which, to me, seems to be a perfect origin story for a. familiar Here’s the quote: “Apart from the inevitable mess left by man’s best…
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Our last episode of ballads from Goethe. Thanks again to the Librivox recorders. Shall we start with a potential candidate for cursed treasure? The King in ThuleA King there was in Thule,Kept troth unto the graveThe maid he loved so trulyA goblet to him gave.And ever set before himAt banquet was the cup And saddening…
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“Wonderful London” was published in 1878 and has a little fragment which is useful in roleplaying games. The anonymous narrator is talking with a late-night coffee seller about his most unusual customers, and there’s an odd little Satanic pact mentioned. Over to Peter Yearsley, from Librivox, with thanks to him and his team. *** Why,…
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The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus The Seven Sleepers has some deep links in Ars Magica lore., because an Infernal variant of them appears in Tribunals of Hermes: Rome. The Islamic version of this story has a sleeping dog that guards the door of the cave, which has made its way to Goethe. That character entered…
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An ashcan, by way of an explanation, is a proof of concept piece of work. In terms of the public facing part of this, it now pauses until the Atlas license goes live. I don’t want to do substantial layout work and then find, for example, that the character of Tytalus is off the table.…
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Games From Folktales 