Roleplaying games from historical research
This week I’m taking time to get the backlog of monsters sorted. As a sort of filler, here’s a poem about a troubadour trying to rescue a maid, by W.S. Gilbert, of musical hall fame. *** A Troubadour he playedWithout a castle wall,Within, a hapless maidResponded to his call.“Oh, willow, woe is me!Alack and well-a-day!If…
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This section is where Dunsany starts paying off his earlier bits of folklore, so there’s not much new to discuss, but I do want to flag that Zironderel has the same attitude to magic that House Jerbiton does. Magic causes beauty, even natural beauty. Thanks again to Librivox and Michele Fry for the recording. CHAPTER…
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The story which follows seems folkloric, but the MonsterTalk podcast has done some digging and found the places mentioned don’t seem to accord with real geography. The original writer was a bit of a racontuer, known for great dinner stories, so this may have been his own work. For example the reaction of the young…
Read MoreThe transcripts are live. Once again, they are very minimal recording notes. I’m sorry they don’t have art in the way they used to, but I thought it more important to get them up to date than to polish them. Many of these episodes will eventually be recut into other forms (like the Cornwall material…
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This ends the main run of The Pentamerone. I won’t be recording “The Three Citrons”, the final story, because it’s a parallel to the deeply racist frame story. Following this, I’m going to upload the three Librivox stories I couldn’t find a use for as a bonus episode, and then I’m going to summarize the…
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This week a break from the historical work we are following, to shift over to a travel diary by the American consul of Venice during the Austrian occupation. It describes the centre of Venice, and notes that the seasons seem to alter the Personality Traits of the inhabitants. It also gives us the commercial structure…
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Two minor notes for this section. Zironderel says she disenchants then reenchants the sword, but instead I’d argue she just supresses its magic. Statistics for the lesser wisps are already found in Realms of Power: Faerie, but statistics for Greater Wisps and the Kennel Trolls will be added eventually. CHAPTER XXVI: The Horn of Alveric…
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In Second edition, there was a magus mentioned called Pendule. He refused to join the Order, but met with some members in secret, teaching them his techniques. The key sentence is that his magic was more sensual than Hermetic magic. He expected the magic to change the magus, not be dominated by the magus, as…
Read MoreThe transcripts for January to March 2021 are available. There’s no art, again, for which I apologise, but it seemed more important to catch up.
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This week, we continue our charge through the Pentamerone. Thanks again to Joy Chan for her recording. I’ll be popping in with bits of folklore, and a surprising amount of culinary lore. XXIII: THE TWO CAKES In the penguin edition, the word “pizza” is used wherever “cake” is used here. It’s not a modern pizza,…
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Games From Folktales 