Roleplaying games from historical research
Fitz-James O’Brien monsters are great for Ars Magica, but he was extremely racist. In this story, for example, goes after Jews, Romani and Neopolitans, and that’s just in the first four sentences. That means I can’t record them for Librivox, because we have a policy of not bowdlerising the text we are recording and I’m…
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You’d be be amazed how bad tradecraft is in Elizabethan England., Seriously, some of the techniques they used are now games for children. Let’s think about what they were doing, and what your character can do about it. The basic technique of sigint that Walsingham uses is interception of mail. There’s no postal system as…
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Sapia the Glutton, as Burton calls it, has the following faux Jacobean summary “Sapia with her ability maintaineth herself in all honour, in spite of the bad example of her sisters, their father being away. She laugheth at her lover, and foreseeing the danger which overshadoweth her, she surpasseth it; and at last the king’s…
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Cellini was a Florentine goldsmith who lived during Elizabeth’s reign. He wrote a lengthy biography in which he confesses to serial murder and necromancy, but its the little boasts which make him particularly charming. If you’re an Ars Magica player his petty pride is perfect for a Verditus magus, and if you play Magonomia, his…
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A ghost story with a cheat at the end, which could still be a great Ars Magica monster. Statistics eventually. Thanks to Dale Grothman and his team at Librivox. *** “Happy” Bill Ransom of struggling Medical College days is now Dr. William Ransom, world renowned surgeon, and collects thousands in fat fees every year. But…
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Some simpler stories this time. The creatures from a version of the Seven Pork Rinds were used in Realms of Power: Faerie, so no new stats. I like this because its a very early, particularly successful, confidence trick. Let’s start with some Burtonish faux-Jacobean. Seven Pork Rinds An old woman, a beggar, giveth a good…
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Thinking about stories of spycraft in Elizabethan England, there’s a question that needs to be discussed at each gaming table. Are your agents more like George Smiley or like James Bond? Either’s a fine choice, ands so long as you flag it properly, players can mix these types, but it needs to be discussed. Let…
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So, this audio went live six months early. The episode that I meant to schedule will come out next week in audio. The Face Burton’s faux-Jacobean on this story is “Renza is shut in a tower by her father, it having been foretold that she would die through a big bone. She falleth in love…
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Taking this poem literally, there’s a woman here with a regio inside herself, and the things people do in there affect her personality traits. I love this as an idea for a non-player character, and it seems similar to the Dream Magic rules we have for people who are turned into memories. Thanks to Andrew…
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A missed transcript. This is a cutdown of a story from Black Spirits and White. Thanks to the Librivox team! Statistics eventually. *** The last room fell to me, and I looked it over carefully. It seemed innocent enough, a commonplace, square, rather lofty Parisian sleeping-room, finished in wood painted white, with a small marble…
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Games From Folktales 