Curse of Strahd 33: The Hussite Wars

In 1402 the Bohemian priest and scholar Jan Hus denounced the Catholic Church as corrupt and began preaching about reformation of the church in the land. The people listened as the church was indeed corrupt and so many, especially Czech’s, supported this cause that the pope ultimately had to declare a crusade against these “Hussites” who had even had the gall to occupy the castles of Prague.

Using modern weaponry like hand cannons and well thought out battle tactics the Hussites defeated five consecutive crusades sent against them and became a sort of spontaneous military power in the region.

The Hussite movement would ultimately fall from within when a moderate and radical faction, the Utraquists and Taborites, ended up fighting a war that weakened both sides, ultimately allowing Polish troops under Wladyslaw III to defeat the Hussites at the Battle of Grotniki in 1439.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Curse of Strahd 32: Blazer's Mill

The Lincoln County Regulators was a deputized posse that included the famous outlaws Billy the Kid and Charlie Bowdre. They had been sent to New Mexico to hunt down anyone involved in the murder of merchant and rancher John Tunstall.

A buffalo hunter called Buckshot Roberts had been implicated and caught the interest of the Regulators and on April 4th 1878 he ended up in a standoff with the Regulators, having barricaded himself in a building owned by the dentist Joseph H. Blazer.

Impatient, the leader of the Regulators, Dick Brewer, decided to attack. A violent gunfight ensued with Buckshot Roberts managing to wound three of the Regulators, including shooting off George Coe’s trigger finger and knocking Billy the Kid senseless with the butt of his rifle. He was also shot in the gut himself though and seriously wounded.

Dick Brewer tried to attack from the back of the house only to be hit in the eye. The Regulators were stunned by this turn of events and decided to retreat.

Roberts died the next day and he and Brewer were buried side by side near the house that the “Gunfight at Blazer’s Mill” had centered around.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Curse of Strahd 31: Claíomh Solais

The Sword of Light is an object that appears in many Scottish and Irish folktales. In the tales the hero is usually set upon a quest to perform three tasks to win his bride and is aided by animal companions, supernatural beings and also very often the woman he wishes to marry.

The blade is said to burn like a candle with a fiery blaze and is very often kept by a giant. This giant is usually invulnerable to conventional weapons and must be defeated through trickery or by attacking its Achilles heel. Oftentimes the secret of where to attack is given to the hero by his lady.

The radiant sword has also been connected with Excalibur from Arthurian legend, a sword that was said to have blinded its enemies when it was first drawn.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Fear Itself: Candlewood Crescent, with Robin D. Laws

Park your brooms at the door and come sit for a spell. It’s All Hallow’s Eve and we are delighted to present you with something special and truly ghastly to get you in the mood on this night of terrors.

We had the distinct pleasure and honor of being joined by game designer, writer and podcaster Robin D. Laws who came by to GM us through the adventure “Candlewood Crescent” for "Fear Itself", the horror game based on the GUMSHOE system that he has designed and that Pelgrane Press has published.

You may know Robin from the excellent "Ken and Robin talk about stuff"-podcast and as the creator of Feng Shui, HeroQuest, Trail of Cthulhu, Mutant City Blues, Hillfolk, Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering and much more.

Adventure: “Candlewood Crescent”, Fear Itself 
Music by: Atrium Carceri

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Curse of Strahd 30: Skull-face

Skull-face is a novella written by Robert E. Howard in 1929 and was published in the ”Weird Tales” magazine. The main villain of the story, the eponymous Skull-face, is a resurrected necromancer from Atlantis determined to awaken all of the remaining Atlanteans, sleeping in their submerged sarcophagi, and creating a new world order with them as the ruling elite. The hero of the story is Steve Costigan, a dope-fiend who has nightmares of Skull-face and is unwittingly pulled into his web of intrigue.

Skull-face is an early example in fiction of wizards and sorcerers returning from the dead more powerful than they were before. The term that has come to be used for this kind of being is “Lich”.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Curse of Strahd 29: Garuda

The Garuda is a massive eagle-like creature, described as the king of the birds, that appears in Hinduism and Buddhism. Portrayed as the god Vishnu’s mount or as a dharma protector in Buddhism it seems as though the myth about this powerful bird predates both religions.

Garuda can swiftly fly anywhere, appearing where it’s services as a protector are required. It is a sworn enemy of the serpent and is in various forms used in the state insignias of both India, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

The legend of Garuda has travelled west, morphing in to the middle eastern legend of the Roc; a similar eagle like creature that appears in “One Thousand and One Nights”.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Curse of Strahd 28: Terra Nova

In 1911 Captain Robert Scott led an expedition of adventurers that were dead set on being the first to reach the South Pole on Antarctica. They had received funding for the expedition from the public with the support of a government grant. The admiralty provided transportation and experienced seamen for the journey. It was supposed to be a heroic success proving to the world yet again the superiority of the British Empire. Hubris and arrogance was brought in great supply.

The preparations for the expedition were a complete disaster with Scott opting against using dogs to pull the sleighs, which was a proven method, instead opting for horses. Horses were a much more romantic way to travel after all, more fitting for a gentleman. He also brought a specially built motorized sleigh. The man who had built the sleigh was supposed to join the journey but was told to stay behind last minute, meaning nobody could fix it when it eventually broke down. He also brought five men instead of the four he had planned for, and messed up his calculation of the rations on top of that meaning they brought way too little food.

He also didn’t properly seal his fuel containers, in spite of having experienced that in a previous journey, making them leak and robbing the crew of the ability to cook and keep themselves warm. On top of all of this he only brought one navigator who wasn’t trained in reading latitudes. The expedition reached the South Pole, second after Amundsen’s expedition, missing them by 34 days. On the return journey they were unable to find their supply drops, due to their navigator having messed up the coordinates. All of the five men perished from the cold and starvation.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Curse of Strahd 27: Einstein-Rosen Bridge

A wormhole is a speculative structure that connects two points in space-time, either separated by vast distances or by time. Their existence is hypothesized based on a solution of Einstein’s field equations and a number of possible types of wormholes have been proposed to exist by different scientists.

If we imagine space-time as a sheet of paper, and draw two separate dots on one side of the paper, far from each other, we can fold the paper; folding space-time, to connect the two and thus create a direct route.

Schwarschild theorized that such wormholes would only allow for one-way travel, but Thorne proposed that using exotic matter one might be able to hold the “throat” of a wormhole open and allow for travel back and forth.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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The Witcher: A Part of our World, with Cody Pondsmith

We delve in to the world of Andrzej Sapkowski’s “The Witcher”, guided by gamemaster, and game designer, Cody Pondsmith from R. Talsorian Games showing off their new tabletop RPG set in this world. The adventure is called “A Part of our World” and we get to follow two dwarves, the Mahakaman man-at-arms Golan and the bard Sigurd from Skellige, as they travel to Kerack with a very dangerous cargo.

Check out more about “The Witcher” tabletop RPG here: https://rtalsoriangames.com/category/the-witcher/

Adventure: A Part of our World, The Witcher, R. Talsorian Games Music from: The Witcher games by CD Projekt Red

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Cody Pondsmith and The Witcher.

Curse of Strahd 26: Death Spiral

A shortcut in accounting is to book overhead costs based on sales volume of products rather than by activity the cost was related to. Through this, when analyzing profitability, high volume, successful products end up looking less profitable than they actually are, and low volume sellers inversely look significantly better for the profit & loss than they actually are.

This then tends to cause the management of the company in question to discontinue the successful product, try to outsource the product in order to reduce overhead or increase the price in order to increase profit margin. All of these actions have the potential to kill the popularity of the product, thus forcing the accountant to again move overhead costs to the remaining top sellers, with exactly the same results for them.

This is known as the “Death Spiral”.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

Web: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com 
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Coriolis - Last Voyage of the Ghazali 03: Molossus

The Molossus is a now extinct breed of dogs that are believed to be the ancestors of today’s Mastiff-type dogs. Originally a sheep-herding dog used in ancient Epirus (today parts of Albania and Greece) these vicious and muscular dogs were described by the poet Grattius thus ”...when serious work has come, when bravery must be shown, and the impetuous War-gods calls in the utmost hazard, then you could not but admire the renowned Molossians so much”.

The powerful dogs were used in Epirotan tribal wars and later also by the Roman Empire under Marcus Aurelius. The dogs were trained specifically for battle by the Romans and given spiked metal collars and mail armor. The Romans are even said to have gone so far as to arranging the dogs in attack formations before unleashing them upon their enemies.

Adventure: ”Last Voyage of the Ghazali”, Coriolis
Music by: Alphaxone, Sabled Sun and Stars on a Black Sea
Sound effects by: Syrinscape

This is the third episode of our first bonus campaign! The first three episodes will be released for free in the main feed over the coming weeks with the rest following on patreon bi-weekly at the 3 dollar level.  https://www.patreon.com/RedMoonRoleplaying

Web: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com
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Curse of Strahd 25: Tudós kocsis

The word “coach”, describing a covered horse-drawn carriage for passengers or mail, is derived from the name of the Hungarian town “Kocs” where the coach is believed to have been invented. Hungarian villages still today hold competitions for “Coachman of the Year” and the coachmen have even found their way in to Hungarian Folklore.

In the stories the “Clever Coachman” appears out of the blue during the hero’s journey, inviting him to enter the coach. The coachman will then end up not taking the hero where he wants to go, rather taking him where he needs to be; thus making fortunate turns in the plot more plausible and making unexpected twists possible.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

Web: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com 
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Coriolis - Last Voyage of the Ghazali 02: Suleiman

Under Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1522 to 1566, the Ottoman Empire reached its apex, conquering Belgrade and most of Hungary until finally being stopped at the gates of Vienna. The Ottoman fleets dominated the Mediterranean and reached as far the Indian Ocean. The empire also went through a golden age of culture and literature under Suleiman's competent watch.

He went against tradition and married a Christian woman from his harem, made famous in the west as Roxelana and said to have had red hair. At the time of his death the Ottoman Empire dominated much of the Middle East and the North African coastline and had made Moldavia, Crimea, Transylvania and Wallachia into vassals of the Empire.

Adventure: ”Last Voyage of the Ghazali”, Coriolis
Music by: Alphaxone, Sabled Sun and Stars on a Black Sea
Sound effects by: Syrinscape 

This is the second episode of our first bonus campaign! The first three episodes will be released for free in the main feed over the coming weeks with the rest following on patreon bi-weekly at the 3 dollar level.  https://www.patreon.com/RedMoonRoleplaying

Web: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com
iTunes: http://apple.co/2wTNqHx
Android: http://bit.ly/2vSvwZi
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/RedMoonRoleplaying
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Curse of Strahd 24: Caroline Test

Striking at an enemy before they can strike against you is known as ”pre-emptive self-defense” and traditionally two conditions, known as the “Caroline test” need to be fulfilled to justify such an action.

The "Caroline" was an American steamboat used to supply settlers rebelling against the British Colonial government in Canada in 1837. American sympathizers provided weapons and food to the rebels, effectively keeping them in a fight they would otherwise lose.

The British decided that enough was enough and a force entered the United States during the night, set the boat ablaze and spectacularly sent it over the Niagara Falls. One American was killed in the operaton.

The British argued that this was simply self-defense because A) The threat was imminent. B) No peaceful alternatives existed. C) The action was proportional with a clear goal that it achieved.

It has since become accepted as part of customary international law and was for example cited at the Nuremberg Tribunal.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons 
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Coriolis - Last Voyage of the Ghazali 01: Lacuna

Memories are believed to be stored in two separate parts of the brain, the hippocampus and the amygdala. While normal memories are stores in the hippocampus, the amygdala, which is an emotion center, is where memories created by traumatic events live.

If you are the victim of violence and your brain and hippocampus has been damaged, this means you might not be able to clearly remember the person that has caused you that trauma. However, the memories stored in the amygdala would most likely make you feel uneasy if you ever met them again, although you would not be able to put your finger on why...

Adventure: ”Last Voyage of the Ghazali”, Coriolis, Fria Ligan
Music by: Alphaxone, Sabled Sun and Stars on a Black Sea
Sound effects by: Syrinscape

This is the first episode of our first bonus campaign! The first three episodes will be released for free in the main feed over the coming weeks with the rest following on patreon bi-weekly at the 3 dollar level.

Web: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com
iTunes: http://apple.co/2wTNqHx
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Curse of Strahd 23: Capacocha

The ”solemn sacrifice” was a sacrificial rite conducted by the Incas on the order of the Incan emperor to celebrate important events in the emperor's life or to prevent natural disasters. It was a human sacrifice done with the intention of sending humanity’s best to join their deities. To ensure that the souls given were pure, children were typically used for this purpose. Until the sacrifice would take place the chosen children were fed well to ensure they would be happy when the time came. 

During the sacrifice they were dressed in royal clothes and paraded around the four statues depicting the Creator, the Sun God, the Moon God and the Thunder God. The murder was done by a blow to the skull, strangulation or by making them intoxicated and then leaving them to lose consciousness on a mountaintop where the cold and low oxygen conditions would lead to death by hypothermia.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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A royal obligation.

Interview with Anders Blixt

We had the honor of welcoming the Swedish RPG legend Anders Blixt on the show. Anders has 42 years of experience in the RPG business and is the man behind Drakar och Demoner Expert and a whole heap of fantastic Swedish games. In this interview we talk about the module “The Kin-strife” that came out in 1995 for Middle-earth Roleplaying (MERP) that he was the project leader for.

Mattiaz was joined by Andreas Lundström from Tärningen är Kastad, Sweden Rolls and Dungeons & Diceappointments for this interview.

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Anders Blixt.

The One Ring: The Kin-strife

We have something special for you today. We have played the short adventure “The distressed husband” from the classic MERP module “The Kin-strife” using the rules from The One Ring by Cubicle 7. "The Kin-strife" is a module about the civil war in Gondor between traditionalists and loyalists that took place about 1600 years before the events in “Lord of the Rings”.

“But Valacar far exceeded his father’s designs. He grew to love the Northern lands and people, and he married Vidumavi, daughter of Vidugavia…”
“Therefore when Eldacar succeeded his father there was war in Gondor. But Eldacar did not prove easy to thrust from his heritage. To the lineage of Gondor he added the fearless spirit of the Northmen. He was handsome and valiant, and showed no sign of ageing more swiftly than his father. When the confederates led by the descendants of the kings rose against him, he opposed them to the end of his strength. At last he was besieged in Osgiliath, and held it long, until hunger and the greater forces of the rebels drove him out, leaving the city in flames. In that siege and burning the Tower of the Stone of Osgiliath was destroyed, and the palantir was lost in the waters.”

Music by: Andreas Lundström and tracks from the compilation “Behind the canvas of time” by Cryo Chamber.
Loremaster: Andreas Lundström from “Tärningen är kastad”, “Sweden Rolls” and “Dungeons & Diceappointments”

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The One Ring.

Curse of Strahd 22: Orcus

Orcus is a god of the underworld in Etruscan mythology. He is often portrayed as a blind, bestial, gigantic, tusk-faced monster who eats human flesh; similar to the Cyclops, and is said to be the punisher of broken oaths. Primarily worshiped in the remote countryside people continued worshiping him well in to the Middle Ages.

His connection with the underworld has led to his name being connected with fairy tale monsters in popular fiction. Tolkien’s famous orcs for example have their name derived from Orcus.

Another fairy tale monster whose name comes from Orcus are the Ogres. Large giant-like beasts, they are said to have inhabited the British isles before humans settled there.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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Curse of Strahd 21: Damocles

At the tyrant Dionysius II of Syracuse’s court there was a courtier named Damocles. According to the story Damocles was flattering the king and telling him how great and fortunate a man he was to have so much authority and magnificence. The king seemed pleased and offered to switch places with Damocles for a day so that he could get a taste of that fortune himself. Damocles accepted and was sat down at the opulent throne surrounded by all the luxury the kingdom could offer.

But Dionysius had arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held only by a single hair of a horse’s tail, only a moment away from falling on Damocles and ending his life.

Damocles saw this and begged the king to switch back as he no longer wanted to be so “fortunate”; having realized that with great fortune and power comes great danger.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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