I’m listening to the Librivox version of “On Architecture” by Marcus Virtuvius Pollio. I’ll note anything interesting (beyond, by the way, a very detailed guide on how to design Roman and Greek rooms, which are fun for people who like high-detail sagas.) I knew, and I presume we all knew, that Romans, before founding a…
Read MoreSorry for the delays
I have four books which have hit dealine points at the moment, so I need to keep up with my paid writing. I’ll be back to the blog within a couple of weeks. 8)
Read MoreRPGs I’d write if I had more time
Posting it on the web is the ghost of “done”, so: An Ancient Egyptian game. I’ve been looking at Ancient Egyptian Ars for quite a while, and I’ve never really been able to find the time to assemble it as an alt setting. I don’t want to do it as a hard precursor setting (no Aegis, different…
Read MoreBritish Goblins Chapter One: an example of stripping down text.
The text to be mined For this first chapter, I’ve decided to quote the complete text and colour code it to show what I’m looking for. In future chapters I’ll just publish my condensed notes. The idea here is to show you how the mining process works. The colour code is as follows: people or creatures, places,…
Read MoreBritish Goblins Project: first steps
I’m going to work with British Goblins in much the same way I would if I were writing a brief piece for an Ars book, or for the Sub Rosa fanzine. I’m not saying all of the authors work this way: I know that most of the ones I’ve collaborated with have different techniques. The…
Read MoreBlood Tragedy: A Game Chef 2011 entry
Blood Tragedy Blood Tragedy is an entry for the 2011 Game Chef competition. My inspiration was the desire to not rewrite Measure For Measure. It also owes not a little to MC Lars’s “Hey There Ophelia” from the This Gigantic Robot Kills album. Thanks to the Librivox Shakespeare players for a crash course in the…
Read MoreNow that its crashed and burned I can discuss this project
Have you ever wondered what might have happened to Ars Magica’s faeries if the old style of thinking (“The Celts Were Right!”) had continued, and been coupled with our modern research techniques? I was trying to do a “two great tastes which taste great together” thing, mixing my Ars Magica writing and Librivoxing by recording…
Read MoreArs Magica Note: Nettles
According to Mick on Time Team, nettles are attracted to potassium, which is found in some areas as a result of ancient dung heaps or toilet pits. This means you can find a lost settlement in a forest by looking for nettles. For Hermetic magi, finding nettles is ridiculously easy: Hunt The Wild Herb, for example,…
Read MoreWhat Freebie Next?
Bar a little tidying up, I think Escape to the Tin Islands is done, and so its time for a new poll to see what new freebie people want. The winning option from last time (intro adventures for cons) has been taken out, because I don’t want ot write the same sort of stuff over…
Read MoreDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire : odd little note I’ll be using for Ars Magica
In Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire there are two little pieces I tthink will be very useful for Ars Magica. The first is this: some ancient Romans apparently had cloaks made of the beards of shellfish. Ars has always lacked an Aquam founder, although one pre-Hermetic maga who was a water specialist was…
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Games From Folktales 