My podcast plan is a “use it or lose it” fifty minutes a month. What do I do with the tiny spare minutes at the end of each month? I save them up as microepisodes. This week three very brief episodes, instead of one long one.
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Enormities: a new class of ghosts
I was listening to the MonsterTalk podcast, and Blake Smith mentioned his examination of the SS Watertown ghost photograph. You may know the story: two sailors were buried at sea, and their ghostly faces followed the vessel for weeks. Smith arranged to receive deck plans of one of the Watertown’s sister ships, and took photographs from…
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Acedia: the shattered mirror plague
Gaze no more in the bitter glass The demons, with their subtle guile, Lift up before us when they pass, Or only gaze a little while; For there a fatal image grows That the stormy night receives, Roots half hidden under snows, Broken boughs and blackened leaves. For all things turn to barrenness In the…
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Dunsany fragments : The Distressing tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller
Let us continue the thought experiment that the stories of Lord Dunsany are tales told by a retired redcap. This episode was accidentally released ahead of schedule, so there are two Dunsany stories this month. When Thangobrind the jeweller heard the ominous cough, he turned at once upon that narrow way. A thief was he,…
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Dunsany fragments: Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance
An episode went live before it should have, so there are two Dunsany fragments this month This tale is told in the balconies of Belgrave Square and among the towers of Pont Street; men sing it at evening in the Brompton Road. Little upon her eighteenth birthday thought Miss Cubbidge, of Number 12A Prince of…
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Thoughts on the Itinerarium
In Ars Magica, magicians have final tests for their apprentices. The fire magi drop them in a dangerous place with no gear, and wait for them to come back. The mystics have vision quests. The House most interested in mundanes has a written test, which I imagine was based on the Confucian tests in the…
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Goblin market: a special epsiode
This special, 50th, episode was composed in pdf, so check the link. Thanks to all the Patreons, listeners, reviewers and players. Also, thanks to Atlas for letting me play in their sandbox. Sample images
Read MoreLink to the Games From Folktales: Episode 50 Special transcript Goblin Market
Three plot hooks inspired by Norse Mythology
I’ve just finished the audiobook of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. It’s excellent. I know the stories already, but his method of telling is a joy. There are three tiny elements of his telling which struck me as novel plot hooks for Ars Magica. The Chains of Fenrir When Fenrir, the great wolf who will consume…
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Games From Folktales 