“Grandfather…” “Yes, Rosa?” “It’s tomorrow. It’s time for one of your stories.” “Oh, have I told you about the time I destroyed a crusader fleet by accident?” “No…I don’t think so.” “Well, I was delivering a message to a covenant in the Alps, you know. They kept a sort of shared sanctum, for their covenant…
Read MoreHow Marco Obtained The Finest Shoes A Redcap Ever Wore
“Grandfather. It’s almost time for supper.” “Ah, that must be why I’m so tired. I need a nap.“ “Story first, naps later old man!” “Yes little miss! Now, what sort of story do you want? A spooky one like yesterday?” “I’d like a spooky one, but unlike yesterday, in the sense that I’d like it…
Read MoreHow Marco Was Almost Executed by The Tremere (The Third Time)
“Grandfather, before your nap: you promised me a story!” “Certainly. What sort?” “Spooky, please.” “Very well. So, when I was a young redcap I was stationed in Istria, which is near Italy, but in the Transylvanian Tribunal. It’s a strange and history haunted place. There was a storm, and I’d had to leave the barn…
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The First Story of Marco, Who Has Often Been Accused of Telling Lies, To His Grand-Daughter
“All right, one story, but none of your lies and obfuscations!” “Lies? Me? No! You can check with her.” “Leave me out of this, old man. I’m going to make some supper while you tell her her story.” “Really? Such cowardice. All right. How do we begin?” “I believe “Once upon a time” to be…
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The Stories of Marco the Liar
Marco the unreliable redcap was first introduced to Ars Magica in Covenants, where his role was to let us explore ideas without making them canonical in the setting. While setting up for National Gaming Design Month this year, I was asked to provide some more game fiction, so I’ve bought Marco back, with a series of short…
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Ars Magica Note: Ancient Egyptian magicians used formulaic and spontaneous magic
Note from Magic in Ancient Egypt, by Geraldine Pinch Possibly two types of magic coexisted in Ancient Egypt: an intuitive, improvised magic, transmitted orally: and a literary tradition in which the formulae became fixed so that their exactness and antiquity were thought to give them power.
Read MoreA new cover, and a note about the theme songs for my parts of some upcoming books
This is the cover for Antagonists, which is scheduled for early 2013. A group of us have another book coming out before then, but I wanted to share this. I like it, although the technique is very different to the woodcut style of many other Ars covers. Just a quick note about the upcoming books.…
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The Habits of The Witches of Thessaly
What were Trianoma’s ancestresses doing before they joined the Order? Here’s a quote from the Golden Ass, in which the witches do many other magical things. The text comes from Project Gutenberg. When I was a young man I…fortuned in an evil hour to come to the City Larissa, where while I went up and…
Read MoreJust a quick note to mention the cover of the new book
Brace youself for some seriously cool art.
Read MoreNot Dead, Just Sleepng
Hi! No updates for three months, but don’t worry, the blog’s not dead. Basically I’ve been commissioned to write four book contributions, split between two publishers. That’s at the upper edge of what I can manage, with my current writing time. I have been tackling it and two are in the bag, and one is…
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Games From Folktales 