Podcast news

Games Discussion Ars Magica
82

So, I didn't get to ashcan stage. I do have a published rough draft that needs to be edited down, and I have a call out for cartographers (but they are -so- expensive I may need to do it myself).

The podcast uses Patreon, and Patreon's new method of calculating charges is designed to wreck people, like me, who want a dollar a month from a heap of Paetreons. Basically it's being moved from a percentage to a small percentage plus a straight fee of 35 cents per transaction. This means if you give $1 a month, you pay $4.20 a year, and if you pay $12 once per year, you pay 35 cents. (You also pay 5% either way). For now, I'm keeping the Patreon live, because it seems like there's a revolt on so that people may get this swapped back, but if people hate this and want to withdrawal their support I, of course, understand.

My previous position was that I'd reassess the project at Episode 100, and cancel it if it wasn't self-supporting. I won't do that now, because that's clearly not a fair measure. At the same time I'm leery of kickstarting it at the level of "Send me money and I'll write 52 episodes!" I can't promise I'll be able to do anything like that.

Here's the running sheet for the upcoming episodes. I'd like to note that the Cornish materials may be replaced if I finish the gazetteer. I'm also thinking of adding an extra, short episode each month, so that if you've been following the month of post per day you don't have a week of stale material when Cornwall comes up. The easiest way of doing that is to cannibalise the later episodes. At the same time, I've been neglecting my self-care routine to get the Cornish thing done, which was silly of me, so I probably shouldn't be pushing to do more than a post a week. Frankly, we'll see what I can manage in December.

December
14: Was phyllo pastry created by the Order of Hermes?***
21: Wittgenstein's lion as a model for Enigmatic Wisdom***
28: Cornwall: Saints and Holy Wells.***
(Extra: I've put together a brief thing on Jaynes's bicameral mind, but I may swap it out for a Christmas ghost story.)*
January
4: D - City on Malington Moor***
11: Hot crust pies
18: Belgian whetstones
25: Cornwall - Arthur*
February
2: D - The long porter's tale***
9: Cilantro
16: Forest glass
23: Cornwall - Witches*
March
1: D -Secret of the sea**
8: Wine slush and ice cream
15: Amalfi paper
22: Making Srendi Vashtar A Domestic God
29: C - Miners*
(Currently the 100th ep will be in this month. So far, no real idea but to push Sacnoth up, do the Swinburne poem here, or read into the podcast the fiction from the SH fiction competitions.)
April
5: D - The Exiles Club**
12: Eating utensils
19: Dolores of the Seven Sorrows by Swinburne / Octopus
26: Cornwall - Fishermen*
May:
3: D - The fortress unvanquishable save for Sacnoth (this is a longer story, about 41 minutes)**
10: Eels
17: Nagel's five centres of moral authority?
24: Clark Ashton Smith's Devil Plants
31: Cornwall: Death superstitions*

*** Ready (uploaded and statted)
** Uploaded on timed trigger. Stats still needed.

  • Written, not recorded.
83

Timothy, could you change your Patreon to charge $12 once a year instead of $1 once a month? I haven’t created a Patreon and don’t know what they’re capable of.

Regardless, I’m one patron who isn’t going anywhere!

84

Just recorded episode 100. It won't be out until March. I haven't done her stats, but it's the an evocation to the Infernal Saint of Sorrow, and her Mystery Cult. I may need to release a 100.5 when I stat out the cult, because the episode is just her poem (which is Dolores by Swinburne).

85

How do you go about getting a copy of the Cornish material? I'm just about to start playing in a campaign set in Cornwall, so it would be really handy for me.

Thanks,

86

Matthew...hi!

I haven't boiled it down yet, but all the rough material is at
timothyferguson.wordpress.com/?s=cornwall

The work in progress is at timothyferguson.wordpress.com/e ... ents-page/

It doesn't have the maps, though...timothyferguson.wordpress.com/?s=map

87

Splurged on a 250 MB month at Libsyn. Just uploaded the last if it.

So, the following are all uploaded and ready to go live. The podcast notes aren't done yet...

J25 Cornwall: Arthur
J25 Srendi Vashtar
F2 Dunsany: Long Porter's Tale
F9 Are casting tools placebos?
F16 Dolores (100th episode)
F23 Designing festivals
F23 Cornwall: Witches
M1 Dunsany: Exiles Club
M8 The omphalos hypothesis
M15 Microepisode week
M22 A demon from Chaucer
M22 Cornwall: Charms
M29 A com artist from Chaucer
M29 Cornwall: Miners
A5 Dunsany: Secret of the Sea
A19 Cornwall Death Tokens
A26 Cornwall Misc Stories
M3 Dunsany: Sacnoth
J7 MRJ: Canon Alberic's Scrap-book.

88

Quick sanity check, people?

The MR James material? Each story is about half an hour long. That makes the podcast a bit wonky: little 5 minute eps for most of the month and then a big whack of MR$ James? Are people OK with that? Do they just want the commentary, rather than the stories themselves?

89

That does seem a little out of balance, but I’m also happy to suck it and see. Certainly, I enjoyed Dunsany and the SV Saki story (totally agree with you that Saki is great), so I hesitate to be too fervent in my opinion.

90

I've especially enjoyed the Dunsany episodes. Thanks for the write-ups on your blog. I like to read the notes as I pick up details I may not have heard while listening to the podcast episodes during my commute.

91

A few additions.

Microepisode week will have 3 episodes.
Is there an n word for Magi?
Roosters in Chaucer
The Listeners

I've also added a micro on March 29 because the text of a con man from Chaucer went live early. It's about saffron.

92

Oh and Apr 19 is Time and the Tradesman by Dunsany.

93

Gah...

So, episode 100 has three minutes of silence at the start. Basically when I use Librivox recordings, my commentary is a separate track, and it seems the track was peeled off.

So, I'll send out a supplementary episode tonight. 8)

A profesional podcaster would pull the episode down and republish it, but I get 50 minute per month on my plan, and if I pull down and replace this, that's 30 minutes. I hope, instead, people will forgive me, and just enjoy the poem, then listen to the supplemental piece.

94

Update

I said I'd review the podcast at 100 epsidoes. So far, so good. Of course, if you'd like to chip in a couple of dollars, or rate and review on itunes...you could do that. 8)

Here's the running sheet as of now, but I fumble this so often you should expect changes.

F23 Designing festivals
F23 Cornwall: Witches
M1 Dunsany: Exiles Club
M8 The omphalos hypothesis
M15 Microepisode week (3 tiny episodes)
M22 A demon from Chaucer
M22 Cornwall: Charms
M29 A com artist from Chaucer
M29 Cornwall: Miners
A5 Dunsany: Secret of the Sea
A19 Cornwall Death Tokens
A26 No idea here yet, frankly my mind's been full of something else, which may be the November project for this year. Basically, would you like a set of postcards written by a redcap in a high-faerie aura city? I've written half a dozen of them, and I like them but they are getting in the way of this. I may instagram them when they are ready. Also, I've developed a Fallen London addiction. If I don't get something better I'll move up a Dunsany., or I'll record a Octopus by Hilton and stat it up as an Infernal Saint which happens to be a mollusc.
A26 Cornwall Misc Stories
M3 Dunsany: Sacnoth (this may need a supplemental)
J7 MRJ: Canon Alberic's Scrap-book.

Partially written and recorded

I've cut up Dunsany's 51 Tales into a series of episodes. Also, I've working up MR James.

May
17: Dunsany: Two stories of Fame.
July 15: MRJ: Lost hearts
19: Dunsany: Angels and Demons
August
2: MRJ: The mezzotint
11: Dunsany: Elementals
September
MRJ: The Ash-Tree
D: Tales of tree idols
October:
Dunsany: Two stories of Death

95

Quick suggestion. After talking with a friend about lots of Ars related things we came up with a closing line for the podcast.
"Your saga may vary"

96

Oh, that's perfect.

97

Hi all,

One of the Patreons asked me if there would be a compilation of the 2017 transcripts. I answered my software wasn't up to it, but I'd try again, and it worked this time.

So, here's a free, 235 page, pdf of Ars Magica ideas. See what you think. timothyferguson.files.wordpress ... annual.pdf

In related news, this year the look and feel of the transcripts will change each month. Last year I'd settled on a cover design and font set, but that meant I wasn't learning as much as I could, so this year things will be a bit more experimental in terms of covers. You can see what I mean in the January and February pdfs on the site.

I've been slacking off on the exercise regimen I need to follow to maintain my health, and so I've been unwell for months. This means that although GFF will continue, I'm going to prune it back toward the original goal, which was 1 episode a week. You've been getting a heap extra with the Cornwall material and me replacing mistakenly published episodes (about 7 per month instead of 4, I believe) and that's going to have to stop, although the podcast is recorded far enough in advance you'll only see it shift gear in April (where you'll get more Dunsany than you were expecting) or May (once the Cornish stuff is over.) The MR James material is really long, but it doesn't require the same amount of work as the Cornish material, so I think its something I can maintain.

I am thinking of collating just the monsters into one pdf, but I may let that go for a bit longer, to get some of the M R James creatures into it.

The November project for this year is in the planning stage. It's called "A Year in Serenissima" and is made up of 30 (or perhaps more - Ideally 365) postcards from a faerie kingdom that is leaking into and through Mythic Venice, sent by a redcap apprentice to her master. I haven't written much of it yet, but there's still time. 8) It';s got a high-fantasy feel to it and it may need me to follow it up afterward with statistics for the creatures and places.

98

Hi,

This week you'll get three episodes and a shout out to another podcast. It was about at this stage I noticed I was burning out, and so things will start getting a bit less prolific soon. 8)

The episodes currently loaded for release look like this:

M29 A com artist from Chaucer
M29 Cornwall: Miners
M29 Saffron

A5 Dunsany: Secret of the Sea
A19 Cornwall Death Tokens
A26 Angels with lead feathers: a Verditus mystery
A26 Cornwall Misc Stories (last bonus Cornwall episode)

M3 Dunsany: Sacnoth (this may need a supplemental, which I've yet to do)
M10 Heraclitus the Obscure
M17 Dunsany - Stories of Three idols

J7 MRJ: Canon Alberic's Scrap-book.
J21 Dunsany - The exhausted world

J5 MRJ - Lost Hearts
S20 Dunsay - Two stories of Death (I may move this one up - the temptation to just do a Dunsany month in May and have done is a strong one)

99

OK, so once again Libsyn putting the Publish Date and Expire Date buttons next to each other has done me wrong, and you had four episodes last week. It's my fervent hope you never again get a whole month's worth of content in one week. 8)

The patch in the running order is to move Dunsany : Death up to fill the hole left by Dunsany: the Exhausted World. I'll make the transcript of the Exhausted World live soon, and add it to the monthly collation for April. Death was going to be the last in the Dunsany stories. It is so late in the running order because there are two other Dunsany episodes that fill in that space ("Angels and Demons" and "Elementals".) As I've said, the temptation to just burn them through is strong. If I'd finished the Cornwall e43dit, I probably would, because after I've done that, I hope to group all of the Dunsany stuff together into a single PDF, filled with stories and monsters. It's not quite a free supplement, but...it's free, and it has a lot of monsters and plot hooks in it. What's not to love? As I say, it's mentally slotted in to after Cornwall. Cornwall is delayed because I keep wrecking my weekly schedule for the podcast, and that bumps everything along.

Also as noted in another thread, there's a post on fast magus design for new players that will slot into May 24 or 31. The other one is going to be about Meinhold's Jungle and Bertrand Russell's theory of names, if I can get my act together on it.

100

Running order up to the 2nd anniversary. All of these are written. The ones with stars need to be recorded and uploaded.

A19 Cornwall Death Tokens
A26 Angels with lead feathers: a Verditus mystery
A26 Cornwall Misc Stories (last bonus Cornwall episode)
M3 Dunsany: Sacnoth (this may need a supplemental, which I've yet to do. My notes say its uploaded, but I think it's a basic sort of thing where I have not really dug into it. In hidsight I should probably swap it out and use it to mark a major anniversary).
M10 Heraclitus the Obscure
M17 Dunsany - Stories of Three idols
M24 Simplified magi creation*
M28 (Two year anniversary: nothing planned for now. Possibly a poem called "Octopus" written to mirror "Dolores".
M31 Meinhold's Jungle*
J7 MRJ: Canon Alberic's Scrap-book.
J14 Was Bonisagus an Epicurean?*
J21 Dunsany - Death (The exhausted world (went live early - replaced)
J28
J5 MRJ - Lost Hearts (complete)
J12
J19 Dunsany: Angels and Demons (partially recorded from Librivox audio samples, but not scripted)
J26
A2 MRJ: The Ash Tree (not done)
A9
A16 D: Elementals (partially recorded from Librivox audio samples, but not scripted)

I'm a bit short on a central idea to give me a new "column" now that the Cornwall stuff is done, and the Dunsany stuff is winding down. I may start going through the Covenants book explaining each boon or hook at foolish length. I'm a bit concerned that "Was Bonisagus an Epicurean?" is so fanbase-knowledge it will scare off casual listeners, so I need to lighten up on the philosophers for a bit.

I really need more feedback on the MR James stuff. They seem like a long way to go just to get a plot hook or two, compared to Dunsany. That being said, there's no obvious swap-in. I don't want to do Andrew Lang, for example...

In the long term, I need to finish the Conrwall collection, and then I'd like to collect all of the Dunsany stuff together into a big book. There's no new Dunsany falling into the public domain in the US for at least 2 years, so it's ready to be put in some sort of order. Closer to November I may ask for help writing the statistics of the various creatures.

101

Going through covenants is a good idea. After all, many of the more exotic or high fantasy boons and hooks are only known to magi through a single example as related by Marco, a most dubious redcap. More examples, or other ways of using these fanciful ideas, would be most useful.

Many of the low fantasy ideas have the opposite problem - there are real world examples easily locatable through the power of the search engine, and so being told about the most interesting ones to go looking at or common misconceptions to avoid could be really valuable. "Natural fortress" got me looking at the phenomenon of "Spur castles" and such examples as Krak des Chevaliers, Kerak, Stirling castle, Chateau de Chinon. Many of the fortifications examples lead you into the history and culture of castles - why do English and northern French nobles like hall keeps, and why do German ones prefer a standalone Bergfried?

The external relations ones frequently reference the more colourful parts of history - meddlesome saints, local festivals, pagan ruins, heretics, war zones - things like this really play to your strengths in research.