The Medieval Prisoner's Dilemma: Gesta Romanorum

Looking to craft your next dungeon delve for your campaign? Want a few puzzles your player have never seen before? We've found a few medieval tales with tantalizing puzzles and twisting dungeons, ready to be used in your next TTRPG. Sit back as we do the work to show you how to adapt these dungeons into your game. Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: Read the Gesta Romanorum here Francis Carmody. Physiologus, The Very Ancient Book of Beasts, Plants and Stones. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1953. Read an online version here. Neri, Elisabetta, et al. “Unveiling the Paint Stratigraphy and Technique of Roman African Polychrome Statues.” Archaeological & Anthropological Sciences, vol. 14, no. 6, 2022, pp. 1–11. Dull, Robert A., et al. “The Columbian Encounter and the Little Ice Age: Abrupt Land Use Change, Fire, and Greenhouse Forcing.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 100, no. 4, 2010, pp. 755-71. Faust, Franz X., et al. “Evidence for the Postconquest Demographic Collapse of the Americas in Historical CO2 Levels.” Earth Interactions, vol. 10, 2006. Kopczynski, Noémie, et al. “Polychromy in Africa Proconsularis: Investigating Roman Statues using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy." Antiquity, vol. 91, no. 355, 2017, pp. 139-54. Additional music for this episode from freesound.org; created by, in order of appearance: liezen3, Merrick079, holizna. Maps referenced re: Roman elephants are the ones on Wikipedia.

What does a goodly knight do when he's taken prisoner and asked to collect his own ransom? Comply, of course! Join us on another dive into the Gesta Romanorum and pull out a few puzzles and dilemmas for your next TTRPG! Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon!  Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials:  Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References:   Read the Gesta Romanorum here!

In our final episode about Irish werewolves, we compare medieval Arthurian romance tales to this Irish Arthurian tale from the 1700s. How has the genre changed, and what werewolf adventures can you bring to your table? Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: The Crop Eared Dog . Link.

This week, we dive into two examples of Irish werewolf tales that you can adapt into your TTRPG! Learn a different story about the werewolf than the 21st century beast, and bring a few new traditions - and twists - to your table. Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: Gerald of Wales' Topographia Hibernica. Link. Amanda Hopkins. Biclarel and Melton: Two Old French Werewolf Lays. University of Liverpool. Link. Karl Steel. Wisdom, Freedom, and Animality: A Small Point on Gerald's Werewolves. Link.

A cheating wife plots with a her lover, a necromancer, to kill her husband, a knight on pilgrimage... what could possibly happen when another necromancer decides to protect the knight? We're breaking down tales in the Gesta Romanorum to learn more about medieval law and necromancy! Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon!  Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials:  Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: Gesta Romanorum link

Sometimes, internet lore takes on a life of its own. Join us this week as we debunk the popular internet myth of the Irish faoladh, and dive into the true history of the Irish werewolf and its medieval origins! Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: Bane, Theresa. “Wulver.” Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. Link. Bettini, Jessica Lynne. “The Rage of the Wolf: Metamorphosis and Identity in Medieval Werewolf Tales.” East Tennessee State University, 2011. Link. Boyle, Elizabeth. “On the Wonders of Ireland: Translation and Adaptation.” Authorities and Adaptations: the Reworking and Transmission of Textual Sources in Medieval Ireland, ed. Elizabeth Boyle & Deborah Hayden (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2014), pp. 233-6. Link. Briggs, Katherine. An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. Pantheon Books, 1976. Link. Boyd, Matthieu. Melion and the Wolves of Ireland. Springer, 2009. Link. Bernhardt-House, Philip. Philip. Werewolves, Magical Hounds, and Dog-Headed Men in Celtic Literature: A Typological Study of Shape-Shifting. Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. Link. Coir Amann (The Fitness of Names); CELT- Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition - link Coir Amann: A Middle Irish Treatise on Personal Names, Part Two. Ed. Sharon Arbuthnot. Irish Texts Society, Vol. 60. Carey, John. “Werewolves in Medieval Ireland.” Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies. Carey’s profile link. Faoladh art post Faoladh pronunciation post Maegen Stebbins’s website, tumblr, & Arthur and Gorlagon post Stebbins’ debunking the wulver post “The Story of the Crop-Eared Dog,” Two Arthurian Romances, compiled by Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart, 1908 - link Smith, Brian. “The Real Story behind the Shetland Wulver.” Shetland Museum and Archives. Link. Lady Wilde. Ancient legends, mystic charms, and superstitions of Ireland. Link. Saxby, Jessie. “Wulver.” Shetland Traditional Lore. Summers, Montague. The werewolf in lore and legend. Dover Publications, 1933. Link. Melion and Biclarel: Two Old French Werewolf Lays. Edited and translated by Amanda Hopkins. University of Liverpool. Link. McCone, Kim R. Werewolves, Cyclopes, Diberga, and Fianna: Juvenile-Delinquency in Early Ireland. Cambridge medieval Celtic studies, 1986, p. 1-22. Source link. Jakobsen, Jakob “The Old Shetland Dialect.”The dialect and place names of Shetland: two popular lectures. Link. Gerald of Wales. The historical works of Giraldus Cambrensis. Containing the topography of Ireland, and the History of the conquest of Ireland, translated by Thomas Forester. The itinerary through Wales, and the Description of Wales, translated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Rev. and ed. With additional notes, by Thomas Wright. Link. West, Marie. “Aspects of diberg in the tale Togail Bruidne Da Derga.” Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, vol. 49-50, no. 1, 1997, pp. 950-64.. Link. “Wulver.” The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. 2004. “Wulver.” An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. 1976. “Wulver.” Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. 2013. “Wulver.” The Encyclopedia of Vampires & Werewolves. 2011.

Can you think like a medieval philosopher? In this episode, we're challenging our guests -- medievalists and non-medievalists alike -- to answer the riddlesome questions presented in the medieval philosophy dialogue of Sidrak and Bokkus! Can you divine the reasoning behind why birds fly, or why some people are short? Join us this episode for weird wisdoms to put in your TTRPGs. CHECK OUT OUR GUESTS' COOL WORK: All guests are part of the Moonshot Network, just like us! All shows can be found here. Check out HB's free games on gm36.itch.io, and check out the pod Indie Mixtape! Check out Wheels' work on Very Random Encounters and The Disappearances of Lydia Fountayne You can find Juliet at @follypersist.bsky.social, and their shows I’ll Be Pod for Castmas, the patreon shows Moonshot Office Hours, and Bath & Butler Works Find Emma on twitter at @ematsca, and check out their work Unnatural Selection! Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: Sidrak and Bokkus can be read here

What do postal service routes have to do with the national spy network, and how can it improve your worldbuidling? Find out this week as we conclude the Secret History of Byzantium! We conclude this epic text with a few final tales of vice, corruption, and an epic heist that you can set up for your players, too. Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: The Secret History and another version Wikipedia: Byzantine Coinage Prices and Wages in the Byzantine World by Erion Hoxha - Link Prices and Wages in the Byzantine World by Cecile Morrisson - Link

What happens when a wandering knight fails in his quest to get the girl? He needs a therapist, of course! Join us in this guest episode with Georgian lit scholar James Baillie as we walk through the Georgian poetic epic "The Knight in Panther's Skin" and come away with a thousand new ideas for your next TTRPG. Check out James' work here: The Exile Princess on Steam The Exilian Articles Find him on Mastodon and Bluesky Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Bluesky Instagram Facebook Citations & References: Amiran-Darejaniani, trans. Stevenson, R.H. (Oxford, 1958). Shota Rustaveli trans. Wardrop, Marjory , The Man in the Panther’s Skin, (Tbilisi 1966). Shota Rustaveli trans. Vivian, Katharine, The Knight in Panther Skin (London, 1977). Visramiani, trans. Wardrop, Oliver. (London, 1914).

A lot of you want to bring medieval necromancy to life in your D&D and TTRPG games, so we delivered! In this ep, we break down the formulae for medieval exorcisms and conjurations, and provide some tips on how you can conjure safely at home - in your game or otherwise. Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds, a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG system here! Socials: Tumblr Website Threads Instagram Facebook Citations & References: The Munich Manual of Demonic Magic: info and get one yourself here! Forbidden Rites: a Necromancer's Manual online version here! All of Richard Keikhefer's books on magic here!