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Episode 263: All Seven Spleens

October 13th, 2017 | Robin

 

Some monsters we want to kill. But others we want to figure out, then kill. The Gaming Hut looks at designing creatures that make for good mysteries.

Then at the behest of Patreon backer Fridrik Bjarnason we journey across route revealed by codes and numbers to the Eliptony Hut, where we consider the theory that Dante and da Vinci snitched out the location of Templar treasure, looted from the Holy Land, in that most obvious of places, Iceland.

Patreon backer Sean McCauliff pops a question over the Ask Ken and Robin transom: how do you transform your home town into a Trail of Cthulhu setting?

Then, following a prophecy laid down to us by Patreon backer Rafael Pabst, the Consulting Occultist looks at the career of poet and illustrator William Blake, with a special focus on the visionary, angel-seeing part.

Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your Support for the KARTAS Patreon!

Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.


In Unknown Armies, Atlas Games’ modern-day, occult roleplaying game, you play the heroically broken people who conspire to fix the world. That conspiracy just got easier, with the arrival of the game on store shelves near you!

The book has been written.The book has been read. Now it rewrites you. Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities. And you’re in all of them. Robin’s epic new GUMSHOE project, The Yellow King Roleplaying Game has concluded its Kickstarter run, but is now available for pre-order at the Pelgrane Store for those who missed it.

Do intervals between episodes plunge you into Hite withdrawal? Never fear! his brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.

John Scott Tynes’ Puppetland is ready to knock the stuffing out of a game store near you in its gorgeous new full-color hardcover edition. Join the good folks at Arc Dream in battling the horrific forces of Punch the Maker-Killer!

11 Responses to “Episode 263: All Seven Spleens”

  1. Anders Gabrielsson says:

    This is not in response to this specific episode since I haven’t had time to listen to it yet, but it seems like the sort of thing gaming should be made of:

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-interesting-random-facts/answer/Antti-Vanhanen?srid=dGsg

    “In 1989, Pepsi had the world’s 7th largest submarine fleet. It received 17 submarines from the Soviet Union in exchange for its products.”

  2. Steve Dempsey says:

    Bunhill Fields is a great place to visit and includes the grave of Dame Mary page. It is inscribed thusly: “In 67 months she was tap’d 66 times, Had taken away 240 gallons of water without ever repining at her case or ever fearing the operation.” This appears in the Book of the Smoke.

    Also, just to expose my own Blakean visions:
    http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/fearful-symmetries/

  3. Jim Roberts says:

    So, I’m catching up from episode one in the podcast and am up through March 2014, but I was hoping either Ken or someone in the podcastnoscenti could help me with something: I’m setting a FATE game in mythic Buffalo. That whole area has a ton of cool mystic stuff happening, but having trouble finding mystic connects that either began in or were unique to Buffalo.

    Is there a Consulting Occultist segment that addresses this area or someone from this area? Any books or references to recomment?

    • Tim Emrick says:

      After living in Boston for a few years, I ran a couple of modern-day Cthulhu Mythos GURPS campaigns set there. That may have given me an unfair advantage compared to GMs running Mythos games set elsewhere, but Ken and Robin’s advice about exploiting the players’ familiarity with the location still holds true even in Lovecraft country. The most effective scenes from my games disturbed the PCs because their *players* felt the events’ wrongness that much more acutely for knowing the places I used.

      For example, when two PCs were waiting at a subway station late at night, they saw some rats moving along the tracks–a common enough sight in Boston. But then they noticed that the rats were working together to drag an old book down the tunnel. One PC’s curiosity was piqued, so she nerved herself to chase off the rats–one of which, seen up close, acted (and looked) disturbingly human-like. I was so successful at setting the uncanny mood for that scene that my wife refused to get off the subway at that station for *years* afterward!

    • Steve Dempsey says:

      Buffalo was in the Burned Over District: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned-over_district

      Also, John Murray Spear, with his electric Messiah, seems to have spent some time there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray_Spear

  4. Friðrik Bjarnason says:

    Man that’s an old question. I did love to hear your take on it.

  5. gav melville says:

    Jerusalem….
    This is English not British.
    This nonsense verse has nothing to do with any other part of Britain.
    But I agree, Billy Bragg (who thinks it should be the English National Anthem) does a good version.

  6. Fridrik says:

    Original links to templar story that I sent ken and Rob

    t turns out that the “Hidden Treasure of the Templar Knights” (TM) is hidden in the Icelandic highlands…
    …Well at least that is the opinion of the Italian cryptographer Giancarlo Gianazza. And he’s not just talking about it. He’s been mounting digs since 2004 and is coming back this summer.

    I can imagine at least 5 different ways to use this in game.

    Some articles:
    http://www.historicmysteries.com/the-holy-grail-in-iceland/
    http://stuckiniceland.com/icelandic-culture-and-people/finding-the-holy-grail-in-iceland/

    Some great images to use in the game:
    http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/g145/photos-of-giancarlo-gianazza-iceland-expedition/?slide=12

    A kickstarter for a documentary about the dig (Finished)
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13 … escription

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