Super excited about all the good news in that last post!
I'm definitely looking forwards to Ep 33, since one of my players has a character he named 'Ishmael'.
I just heard a snippet on a podcast which has given me some extra ideas for this one...basically: whales are a specialist biome: you find all sorts of stuff eating whale carcasses that you don;t find anywhere else. I know I knew this because I mention bone borers in the idea of making a huge bone wall in Transforming Mythic Europe, but it didn't occur to me that the corpse might, for example, disgorge something like a giant Osedax.
Hi,
The Patreon for Games From Folktales is now live at patreon.com/TimothyFerguson
Patreon seems to encourage people to hussle their contacts, so please ignore all that when you are on the site. I started this so that I'd know the technologies, to teach them where I work. (The technologies being Canva, Libsyn, Patreon and Audacity although I was already fine on the last one.) so the process of setting up the Pateron is my "win" point for this project. I was also meant to learn kickstarter or indegogo, but 4 out of 5 will do.
The technologies I've been asked to work on this year are not Ars-related (Raspberry Pi and electronics*) but I intend to go for at least 52 episodes regardless of if anyone gives anything. It's a fun thing to do.
Basically GFF costs me $9 a month, valuing my time at zero. This pays for a hosting plan which allows me 50MB a month, which is basically 50 minutes of CD quality mono audio. It also includes Patreon, Paypal and currency conversion charges. The higher level goal is $27 a month, which is up to 250 minutes a month, and will mean I can be a little less careful about time.
The only Patreon level is $1 a month which is "name in the credits" because I think community involvement is really important for Ars right now, and I don't want to be making stuff that's not available to the general playerbase. Similarly there is no "goal" where if I get paid enough it ransoms something. I don't want that to be read as a criticism of the magazines, by the way: go buy them, or write for them. They are awesome.
I'm just being so public about the money on this because you can do this too. There's no reason some other people can't follow this model aside from time and this small financial outlay. I'm around, and can talk you through my process. CJ is around and he was doing this way before me.
If you have ideas for higher levels, have at it, but I'm desperate for episode ideas, and so you can still send me those for free! 8)
If it makes A Heap of Money I'd like to license other authors to record their stuff, but that's a sort of pipe dream. (Paying matters, at least under local tax law. Intention to make money makes a heap of stuff deductible against your earnings from your day job here, but that's too complicated to go into for something which will probably never happen. I'm not Amanda Palmer, eh?). I'm not intending to make a Heap of Money from this, though.
- Although I did get this one idea: you know how Verditus magi can make mecha? If you dug up the grave of Tomb Thumb (in Tatershall, England, BTW) and used his animated skeleton as a pilot, you could make a mech that was drone sized and infinitely reprogramable. He'd be like a small necromantic Raspberry Pi.
The 2016 omnibus transcript is up at timothyferguson.wordpress.com/2 ... s-edition/
(72 pages, so beware large file for people on limited plans.)
Thank you.
The audio episodes and transcripts are all out of whack. It will correct itself by the first episode in February,
There's been little progress recently, but I can say that the episode for the last week of February, 38 - Playing at Ghosts, is about an Australian folk custom of pretending to be a ghost so that you can scare people or commit crimes. I think 39 will be about if vis bioaccumulates. I've an idea for secular pilgrimages, so it might be the one after.
(added later: Oh! My Peripheral Code article will probably be an episode sooner or later.)
This is probably true, although I do love Sanctuary of Ice. Rather than chapter by chapter, I'd consider discussing more general subjects eg. the Alpine Redcaps and the thoughts behind them, the 2 covenants that missed the cut and why (I think you had some material for this posted on your old website?) and maybe even how you'd envision the locations on the map nowadays in terms of 5th edition.
Maybe Matt Ryan might offer to update the concepts to the 5th edition style Tribunal maps actually...
Actually, come to think of it an episode exploring "Updating SoI to 5th edition" would be interesting and quite useful.
Yes, I tend to agree with your approach. I juts did Labyrinth of Lanes and it didn't quite click. I think it is because in the new style, every paragraph needs to lead directly to plot, and this material is in the old style, so it doesn't. A better way would be to take a chunk of SoI and say "Plot A, B, C..."
So, Labyrinth will be the last chapter in the covenant to a chapter form. Basically I've done it and don't really want to do it again, even though I can see it could benefit from a complete rework to 5th edition standards of writing and research.
Hi gang:
The January pdf is timothyferguson.files.wordpress ... -20171.pdf
The playlist for February looks like this:
Recorded
35 - Moral luck
36 - Self made men are monsters
Scripted
37 - Playing at ghosts (with stats for Spring Heeled Jack)
38 - Sanctuary of Ice: Labyrith of Lanes.
For March
Scripted
39 - Does vis bioaccumulate?
Partially scripted
40 - Dunsany fragments: The Sack of Emeralds (with stats for the Highwayman)
41- Recreational habits of geniuses
42 - Pastoralis: the forbidden comedy by Silvester of Diedne
43- Does literary criticism exist in Mythic Europe?
In April I'll be doing something on ANZAC Day and House Tremere and in May I've already recorded
50 - Goblin market (with stats for the faeerie costamongers)
Thank you for collecting all your work in a single file. Excellent sources of stories.
That's OK. It turns out the software to do it is free (and called small pdf for anyone else wanting to make one.)
A note to subscribers: Playing at ghosts and Labyrinth of Lanes have swapped spots on the recording order, so next week is "Self made men are monsters", the "Playing at ghosts (including stats for Spring Heeled Jack) then Labyrinth of Lanes.
That gets followed in March by
39 - Does vis bioaccumulate?
40 - The sack of emeralds by lord Dunsany (with stats for the highwayman - who is going to be a demon)
41 - Pastoralis The forbidden comedy of Silvester of Diedne, which is a fiction piece with book stats at the end.
42 - Study breaks of the famous
43 - Does Literary criticism exist in Mythic Europe?
April is
44 - ? (probably Something about desert shrimp)
45 - ? (probably something about libraries lost to fire and shipwreck)
46- House Tremere and the ANZAC legacy
47 - (possibly the beaura d'change in Maux street)
May is
48 - ? possibly omething about secular pilgrimages
49 - ? possibly something about a bank run caused by a faerie bride
50 - Goblin market (stats for faerie costamongers)
51 - ? (probably something to do with jambutica trees)
June is
52 - Not sure. Possibly the vanilla covenants project read into audio? As an annual it is tempting to find some Big Project.
Keep the podcast going, Timothy. I thoroughly enjoy every episode as it sparks numerous ideas and hooks for my Saga.
Thanks for the support guys.
I'd like to think of a longer piece for ep 52, to mark the anniversary. Any suggestions?
Well I read the november pdf file and used the magpie queen idea to introduce a long-time new opponent in my saga (jealous magpie queen wants to ally with Morgane le Fay to fight a maga - the Flambeau one unknowingly stole the heart of said queen's faerie prince).
Thanks for the idea and keep writing 
Current state of play on the podcast:
The following episodes have been loaded to Libsyn and will distribute on Thursdays:
That gets followed in March by
39 - Does vis bioaccumulate?
40 - The sack of emeralds by Lord Dunsany (with stats for the highwayman - who is going to be a demon)
41 - Pastoralis The forbidden comedy of Silvester of Diedne, which is a fiction piece with book-as-creature stats at the end.
42 - Does Literary criticism exist in Mythic Europe?
43 - Study breaks of the famous. (I'm still not sure about this one. I wrote it in advance of all of the others and it doesn't quite seem to work, but I don't have time to oyster it out and put in an alternative.)
A pdf of these is also ready: now that I need to put the Patreons' names in, I wait until the last minute to upload the pdf. (PS: rate and review on iTunes! Patreon is a thing! You know the drill! Don't make me flog Casper matresses or Blue Apron boxes! (podcast listener in-joke))
April is more tenuous.
44 - ?
45 - ?
46- House Tremere and the ANZAC legacy (written, not recorded)
47 - The Bureau d'change in Maux Street by Lord Dunsany with statistics for the maker of change (partially written and recorded, could be moved up to 44 if need be.).
May is
48 -
49 -
50 - Goblin market (stats for faerie costamongers) This is a huge file.
51 - The Ghosts by Lord Dunsany: with statistics for the embodied sins.
I have another Big Project in mind, but I'll be holding my cards close on it for now, as I don't think I can get it done for the 52 episode in June., and I might want to distribute it on Patreon as a thanks.
Current state of play on the podcast:
The following episodes have been loaded to Libsyn and will distribute on Thursdays:
That gets followed in March by
39 - Does vis bioaccumulate?
40 - The sack of emeralds by Lord Dunsany (with stats for the highwayman - who is going to be a demon)
41 - Pastoralis The forbidden comedy of Silvester of Diedne, which is a fiction piece with book-as-creature stats at the end.
42 - Does Literary criticism exist in Mythic Europe?
43 - Study breaks of the famous. (I'm still not sure about this one. I wrote it in advance of all of the others and it doesn't quite seem to work, but I don't have time to oyster it out and put in an alternative.)
A pdf of these is also ready: now that I need to put the Patreons' names in, I wait until the last minute to upload the pdf. (PS: rate and review on iTunes! Patreon is a thing! You know the drill! Don't make me flog Casper matresses or Blue Apron boxes! (podcast listener in-joke))
April is more tenuous.
44 - ?
45 - ?
46- House Tremere and the ANZAC legacy (written, not recorded)
47 - The Bureau d'change in Maux Street by Lord Dunsany with statistics for the maker of change (partially written and recorded, could be moved up to 44 if need be.).
May is
48 -
49 -
50 - Goblin market (stats for faerie costamongers) This is a huge file.
51 - The Ghosts by Lord Dunsany: with statistics for the embodied sins.
I have another Big Project in mind, but I'll be holding my cards close on it for now, as I don't think I can get it done for the 52 episode in June., and I might want to distribute it on Patreon as a thanks.
Current state of play of the podcast:
The remainder of March is
42 - Does Literary criticism exist in Mythic Europe?
43 - Study breaks of the famous. (I'm still not sure about this one. I wrote it in advance of all of the others and it doesn't quite seem to work, but I don't have time to oyster it out and put in an alternative.)
April is scripted and recorded up to 47. For podcast plan reasons I need to keep 47 under 7 minutes.
44 - Lord Dunsany: The Exchange of Evils
45 - The Great Chinese Gold Sponge
46 - ANZAC Day
47 - Brewing in the C13th.
May is
48 - Lord Dunsany : The Ghosts (stats for lesser demons)
49 - ?
50 - Goblin market (recorded at 58 minutes, Stats for faerie costamongers in the notes, which are 22 pages long.)
51 - ?
June is -
52 - Dunsany: The Tale of the Jeweller (stats for the spider god)
?
I said I'd do it for a year, I believe, and I make good on that on May 28. I took a break for a couple of weeks for a Librivox challenge, so I'll do 52 episodes. Then I'll have a bit of a think, and a bit of a talk to people ,and see if I will keep doing this.
The March transcripts are up at timothyferguson.files.wordpress ... h-2017.pdf
This week's episode is one of those ones where I play an audio and inculcate comments, which is best represented in magazine format, so it's in the pdf, not the standard posts on the blog. Check it out, and thanks again to the three Patreons.
The current state of play is
April is scripted and recorded. For podcast plan reasons I need to keep 47 under 7 minutes.
44 - Lord Dunsany: The Exchange of Evils
45 - The Great Chinese Gold Sponge
46 - ANZAC Day
47 - Brewing in the C13th.
May is pretty much done. The following are recorded, uploaded, and written up in the blog and monthly pdf.
48 - Lord Dunsany : The Ghosts (stats for lesser demons)
49 - Three plot hooks based on Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology (stats for a huge gold elemental
50 - Goblin market (recorded at 58 minutes, Stats for faerie costamongers in the notes, which are 22 pages long.)
Currently working on: partly written
51 - Thoughts on the itinerarium
June
52 - Dunsany: The Tale of the Jeweller (stats for the spider god)
53 - Acedia the broken mirror plague
54 - Enormities (a new type of ghost: this will be a short one)
Not written, but researched
55 - Probably Cornish folklore. I'm thinking of doing 1 cornish folk piece a month to collect as a sort of gazetter for Cornwall.
56 - Miss Cubbage and the Dragon of Romance. I thought this was one of the least useful Dunsany stories, but one of the Patreons said something on Twitter about Malta and Atlantis, and although this has nothing to do with either, it gave me a Really Good Idea for this one.