Roleplaying games from historical research
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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This is the third and last episode in our little series of witch stories by Linton. There was one story that I cut out because in the LibriVox recording the story took around 20 minutes, and I wanted it mostly for its Tolkienesque twist. Here’s the precis: There is a witch, a man, unusually, who…
Read MoreHello! The ashcan version of the players’ chapter is all but ready to be released. I accidentally gave unclear instructions to the cartographer about a map and he labelled it in Italian and English, so once he tidies that up I’ll have that ready to go out. The temptation, of course, is to put it…
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This is the second episode of poems from Goethe. Two of these will get stats eventually, and the middle is what happens when you fumble while selling your soul. Alan Mapstone pronounces “Erl king” in a way that I’m forced to admit is correct, but sounds strange to my ear. The word he’s saying is…
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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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Games From Folktales 