I missed something on the way through “The Three Sisters” so here’s an extra comment. The part that struck me on a relisten is “This is not a fever that will yield to medicine and diet, much less are these ordinary wounds which require lint and oil; for the charm that was on the broken…
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The Pentamerone 3
This month the three stories we have from the Pentamerone don’t need a lot of elucidation on plot, but they have been bowdlerised in ways of interest to Ars Magica players. XI: THE THREE SISTERS It is a great truth that from the same wood are formed the statues of idols and the rafters of…
Read MoreEleven reskinned monsters
When you need a monster quickly, the fastest way to stat them up is to reskin one that already exists. I’m going on a reskinning marathon get my backlog of creatures under control.. This was my attempt for the 30 posts in November challenge we try each year. I came nowhere close to winning, but…we…
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Hialmar Speaks to the Raven by James Elroy Flecker
This didn’t go live on time: happy belated New Year! Plot hooks at the end. Night on the bloodstained snow: the wind is chill:And there a thousand tombless warriors lie,Grasping their swords, wild-featured. All are still.Above them the black ravens wheel and cry. A brilliant moon sends her cold light abroad:Hialmar arises from the reddened…
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The Inchcape Rock by Robert Southey
An origin story for a reskin of the pirates in “Tales of Power”.
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The King of Elfland’s Daughter 5
CHAPTER VIIIThe Arrival of the Rune On a sunny May morning in Erl the witch Ziroonderel sat in the castle nursery by the fire, cooking a meal for the baby. The boy was now three years old, and still Lirazel had not named him; for she feared lest some jealous spirit of Earth or air…
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The Pentamerone 2
This went live in a slightly garbled way – if this was a professional podcast with a budget, I’d replace it, but…such is not our lot. The three stories this week survive much of the bowdlerisation found in the others. Goat Face is much the same. In Parsley, the child has a tuft of parsley…
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The King of Elfland’s Daughter 4
We spend a lot of time with the King of Elfland in these chapters. Here we discover he’s like the faeries in Ars Magica. The king is, in a very real sense, his land. CHAPTER VIThe Rune of the Elf King On the high balcony of his gleaming tower the King of Elfland stood. Below…
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Dunsany: A story from the Idle City
When we were going through Lord Dunsay’s short stories we missed one, because it was connected with a couple of others we could not use in a single larger frame story. I’ve chopped that top bit off, because I love how the end of it is a completely confused Realm Interaction Table. Stats aren’t necessary,…
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Venice : Teodora Selvo – where history diverges
This section doesn’t have a lot of folklore, because it doesn’t need it. This is the point where real history and Mythic European history diverge. The Doge, one of the richest and best connected men in the world, offers anything to save his wife, who is rotting to death. In the real world she dies.…
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Games From Folktales 