Roleplaying games from historical research
Back in Episode 237, I discussed a piece of German folklore, about a bishop eaten by rats. These creatures were sent by God to punish the bishop for leaving his peasants to starve during a famine, or worse, for killing them. I though it was a bit later than the game period, but I’ve found…
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This is a poem that I was going to try and stat up a variety of ways, but it is just imprecise enough to make that more a work of addition than translation, so I can spend my time better on monsters made more concrete by their authors. The creature might be, according to the…
Read MoreHi, a brief note – this isn’t your episode for the week. There are two things involving my writing I’d like to highlight. David, who did the layout for the free Sabrina’s Rest material surprised me with a really beautiful bit of work on my Cornwall writing. Imagine my Cornwall supplement edited cleanly and then…
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Another little bit of Kunz’s “Curious Lore of Precious Stones“. Hematite Azchalias, as cited by Pliny… asserted that the hematite, when used as a talisman, procured for the wearer a favorable hearing of petitions addressed to kings and a fortunate issue of lawsuits and judgments. It is a red oxide of iron, which when abraded…
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Four goddesses described by Thomas de Quiincey. He was famous for his “Confessions of an English Opium Eater” and his time in Cambridge seems to coincide with his experiments with psychoactive substances. Statistics will arrive, once per month, for the next few months. Levanna appaears to be a Roman goddess. The three Ladies of Sorrow…
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Edgecumbe Stanley’s history if the dogeressas has a lengthy section on the election of the first doge, but it’s not of great interest to us. I’ve cut it down so it contains only the pieces which Ars Magica characters, six hundred years later, might interact with. “The Greek protection of Veneto and the lagunes was…
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In a return to Kunz’s “Lore of Precious Stones”, we find an interesting covenant site, we discover that the Pale Mountains are even more enchanting than we recall, and we discover how Roman soldiers kept their spirits up. Moonstone As a gift for lovers the moonstone takes a high rank, for it is believed to…
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There’s an odd little demon in Master Zacharius by Jules Verne. He’s a little too technologically sophisticated for 1220, but a similar idea may be used for any mastercrafter, or for a Verditus magus. The horological demon has sent a plague against the master clockmaker’s works so that, in defiance of physical laws, the springs…
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I’m recording a biography of the Dogaressas of Venice over at Librivox, and as I’m going I’m pulling out folklore which is of particular interest to Ars Magica players. In this episode, the author of the biography goes to some length to describe the militancy of the forebears of the Venetians. Venice’s history begins with…
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Vast oceans of time ago, I noted an almost-saint for Hermetic magicians. Cyprian was a student who sold his soul for infernal tutoring in spellcasting. He then turned on his tutor, and became a Christian martyr. In Hermetic Europe he became a saint. He’s the St Cyprian of Antioch after whom the church at Valnastium…
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Games From Folktales 