Roleplaying games from historical research
I’m a huge fan of Clark Ashton Smith, but have not been able to record his material for two reasons. First, he died after the US public domain year, which prevents me using his work. Second, TSR had a license for his work, and even used in in Dungeons and Dragons. It’s in X2 Castle…
Read More
This trio of stories doesn’t need a lot of work. I shall, therefore, laze about and let you listen, breaking in for minor notes. XVII: CANNETELLA It is an evil thing to seek for better than wheaten bread, for a man comes at last to desire what others throw away, and must content himself with…
Read MoreA little poem by Robert Bloomfield, read for Librivox by Colleen McMahon. Thanks to the Librivoxians. I was going to save it until Halloween, but I’m sure I can find other ghosts before then. The Fakenham Ghost A Ballad. The Lawns were dry in Euston Park; (Here Truth [1] inspires my Tale)The lonely footpath, still and…
Read MoreThis is a short bonus episode, to wish you a happy April Fool’s Day. There’s a brief part of Edgcumb Staley’s work, which I’m using as the current main text for the Venetian material, which suits our purposes on this day. Here’s the quote: “It was in the days of Doge Vitale Michielo II. that…
Read More
This section is made up of a series of small chapters, and they are light on folklore. In the original plan these were cut out, but that would make the rest of the story skip about oddly. so I’ve included four this time. Dunsany waxes metaphysical in the story, so there’s not much need for…
Read More
We’ve covered this ritual in City and Guild, but time for some extra material. I thought this ritual was a pagan survival, but no, it was begun by the Pope himself. Ah, Catholics, doing pagan-sounding things right up until you research. We’ve reached the dogado of Sebastian Ziani. He’s from the richest family in Venice,…
Read More
Happy Samhain dear listener. You may be thinking “Timothy, you have gone mad. Samhain is Hallowe’en, and that is in October.” to which I answer “Ah, but I am in the Southern Hemisphere. Summer’s end is this weekend.” Also, I have too many Hallowe’en poems, and some extra space in my data plan for the…
Read More
Strap in for a long one, listeners. We hit some juicy folklore in these three stories. If we can’t find a use for a dragon cruising the streets of a town in a car powdered by by four golden elephants, what are we even doing here? The unbowdlerised story is very similar to the one…
Read More
We need an idea of why the Order of Hermes has developed so oddly in Venice. It’s all very well to say it’s because a powerful Faerie being is there, creating a regio, but why go into his realm in the first place? Why did several separate sets of magi set up little chapter houses…
Read More
Edna St Vincent Millay was an was an American poet prolific in the 1920s, but her characters studies are brilliant for roleplaying games. I’m not sure if I want them more for Ars Magica or Magonomia. The second one, the Singing-Woman, seems to cross the realm alignment table one time too many. So, the first…
Read More
Games From Folktales 