Ep 8 - Bonfires from Sparks

Mythic Bastionland was created by Chris McDowall https://bastionlandpress.com/products/mythic-bastionland-hardback-book-plus-pdf Our intro music is "Medieval" by Ptibec https://openverse.org/audio/1f62fd74-2742-45de-b6eb-79f9dbbddb3a and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Our outro music is "The New Age" by Jesse. Mixed by Jesse from https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/. Timings: 00:00 Intro 01:03 Teaching / games crossover 02:34 Getting to the good stuff 05:12 The bone magnet saga 06:46 Leveling up 08:52 Early game designs 10:58 🎲 A Wanderer's Romance 13:50 Wanderer's code, knight's oath 14:46 100 Burdens 16:55 Playtesting 18:25 Breaking the oath 21:30 Extending the oath 22:10 🎲 Into the Odd (and Google+) 25:59 Imagined versions of games 27:57 Hacks of Into the Odd and Mythic 33:10 Writing myths 36:26 Random or selected myths 37:39 Adding to the stew 40:55 🎲 Electric Bastionland 43:50 Classes in Mythic Bastionland 45:30 Spark tables 46:34 The hex crawl 50:55 Why twelve? 52:27 🎲 Ask the stars 53:46 The first attempt at Intergalactic 54:42 The living stars 57:46 What is a Bastionland game? 01:00:04 FKR 01:01:52 🎲 Blighters 01:03:56 Lonely space to the big ship 01:07:12 🎲 The Doomed and MAC Attack 01:11:43 Evolution of Gambits 01:17:58 Bonus dice 01:20:35 Future expansions? 01:21:48 Mythic blog posts 01:24:44 (Unanswered) FAQ 01:27:41 No Romans, no roads 01:30:47 🎲 Intergalactic Bastionland 01:37:45 Outro Discussed on the show: Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland, Mythic Bastionland: https://www.bastionland.com/ gg no re playing Deep Carbon Observatory (and killing the Giant): https://fountain.fm/episode/9y9VZark2TsSVUVrEy2V Powergame by Mikko Kauppinen: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eqrkqgulee5ntjwRcNnFByH3qu74uJ7A/view A Wanderer’s Romance: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/92757/a-wanderer-s-romance Eco Mofos: https://davidblandy.itch.io/eco-mofos Maze Rats: https://questingbeast.itch.io/maze-rats Cairn: https://cairnrpg.com/ Tunnel Goons: https://tunnelgoons.com/ The apple sniffing horse: https://bsky.app/profile/bastionland.bsky.social/post/3mcyzqa4kqs26 Ask the Stars: https://www.bastionland.com/2020/12/ask-stars-minimal-solo-rpg.html 2400: https://jasontocci.itch.io/2400 Arkbound / Xenofringe: https://www.bastionland.com/2012/07/ Die Bonehead Die https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ffZhkW9kWlOhaDQsbjCfrg-4_or3xALR9FYEXJ4VF3I/ Cornetto Trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Flavours_Cornetto Blighters https://bit.ly/blightersrpg The Doomed https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/doomed-9781472854254/ MAC Attack https://chrismcdee.itch.io/mac-attack Impairing Impairing https://www.bastionland.com/2025/07/impairing-impairing.html Between the Ages https://www.bastionland.com/2025/05/between-ages.html Between Seasons https://www.bastionland.com/2025/05/between-seasons.html Mythic Rivers ttps://www.bastionland.com/2025/08/mythic-rivers.html A Mythic Calendar https://www.bastionland.com/2024/10/a-mythic-calendar.html Find the hosts at: William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/ Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/ Brian https://luckroll.blogspot.com/

Mythic Bastionland was created by Chris McDowall https://bastionlandpress.com/products/mythic-bastionland-hardback-book-plus-pdf Our intro music is "Medieval" by Ptibec https://openverse.org/audio/1f62fd74-2742-45de-b6eb-79f9dbbddb3a and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Our outro music is "Harbinger" by Jesse. Mixed by Jesse from https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/. Timings: 00:00 Intro 00:49 Refereeing experience 15:38 Primacy of Action 22:33 Action Procedure 55:56 Generalizable GMing Advice 1:06:39 You be the Judge 1:30:17 The Tree Root Hunger 1:32:06 Outro Discussed on the show: Crossing the Line: https://mightyatom.blogspot.com/2010/10/apocalypse-world-crossing-line.html Landmark information: https://diyanddragons.blogspot.com/2019/10/landmark-hidden-secret.html Reputation table: https://lukegearing.blot.im/reputation-tables Pondering Failure: https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/to-hit-or-no-to-hit-a-plea ICI Doctrine: https://www.bastionland.com/2018/09/the-ici-doctrine-information-choice.html Difficulty in Bastionland: https://www.bastionland.com/2020/03/difficulty-in-bastionland.html Find the hosts at: William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/ Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/ Jesse https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/

Show notes: Mythic Bastionland was created by Chris McDowall https://bastionlandpress.com/products/mythic-bastionland-hardback-book-plus-pdf Our intro music is "Medieval" by Ptibec https://openverse.org/audio/1f62fd74-2742-45de-b6eb-79f9dbbddb3a and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Our outro music is "The New Age" by Jesse. Mixed by Jesse from https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/. Timings: 00:00 The Intro 00:49 The Name 01:35 The Poem 03:21 The Illustration 06:54 The Table 11:10 The Cast 22:37 The Ruin 24:11 The Object 31:18 The Omens 42:34 The Checklist 59:22 The Resolution 1:06:32 The Failure 1:09:40 The Creation 1:14:44 The Holdings 1:22:00 The Judge 1:31:03 The Outro Discussed on the show:Sticky Goblins https://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/sticky-goblins.html Holding Threads https://www.bastionland.com/2025/09/holding-threads.html?m=1 Encounter Checklist https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/encounter-checklist The Game of Three Truths in the campaign https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-thrice-ninth-kingdom-xii.html William's explanation on his mechanism for A Game of Three Truths https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-game-of-three-truths.html

Show notes: We're joined by Kieron Gillen from https://oldmenrunningtheworld.com/ and designer of DIE: The Roleplaying Game https://rowanrookanddecard.itch.io/die-rpg This episode also features a previously-recorded segment from our episode 3 guest, Jesse from https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/. Mythic Bastionland was created by Chris McDowall https://bastionlandpress.com/products/mythic-bastionland-hardback-book-plus-pdf Our intro music is "Medieval" by Ptibec https://openverse.org/audio/1f62fd74-2742-45de-b6eb-79f9dbbddb3a and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Our outro music is "Medieval Victory Epic (Version 1)" by makesound https://openverse.org/audio/794859e7-c63c-466e-9f76-631e1e01e098 and is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Timings: 00:00 Intro 03:21 Setting up the realm 06:10 Sparks when needed 09:31 Blorbiness and characters 14:17 Ageing and legacy 15:29 Narrative and story 18:00 Protecting the reality 21:09 Seers 22:15 A generational saga 27:48 Unresolved situations 32:23 Prepping myths and sites 35:57 Succession 37:26 Turning the wheels 38:58 Pursuits 41:27 Planning time jumps 43:59 The knights' reputations 44:54 Batman creating supervillains 47:30 Myths as problems 48:41 Domain-level play 50:58 Questing knights 52:47 Skipping travel 54:29 Feasts and Seers 57:21 Talking to stones 58:41 Sparks and improv 1:00:55 Ending the campaign 1:04:25 Jesse: Story Game / OSR 1:06:29 Kieron: Story Game / OSR 1:11:07 The Oath as GM principles 1:13:00 You be the Judge! 1:19:16 Outro Discussed on the show:Kieron's comics https://bindings.app/shelf/1FLv6kLb Kieron's games https://kierongillen.itch.io/ Amiga Power https://archive.org/details/amiga-power Speedball 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyX4BPU-Bao Blorb principles https://idiomdrottning.org/blorb-principles Stephen R Donaldson: Mordant's Need https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant%27s_Need The Skim: Mythic Bastionland https://oldmenrunningtheworld.com/the-skim-mythic-bastionland/ Pendragon https://www.chaosium.com/pendragon/

Show notes: We're joined by Amanda P. from https://weirdwonder.bearblog.dev/ and https://weirdwonder.itch.io/ Mythic Bastionland was created by Chris McDowall https://bastionlandpress.com/products/mythic-bastionland-hardback-book-plus-pdf Our intro music is "Medieval" by Ptibec https://openverse.org/audio/1f62fd74-2742-45de-b6eb-79f9dbbddb3a and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Our outro music is "Medieval Victory Epic (Version 1)" by makesound https://openverse.org/audio/794859e7-c63c-466e-9f76-631e1e01e098 and is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Timings: 00:00 Intro 01:00 Amanda's writing 03:51 Horror 06:19 Pilgrimage of the Sun Guard 13:50 Capsule games 15:54 Mythical and Mundane 16:47 Preparing the realm 24:16 Campaign one-sheet 26:25 Player buy-in 28:03 Using OSR supplements 31:55 Two realms, many seasons 37:16 The next campaign? 42:46 The epilogue 45:14 The City Quest 50:58 You be the Judge! 57:45 Player theories 59:58 Outro Discussed on the show:Amanda P's blogpost Arthurian Mysticism and Violence: a Mythic Bastionland Analysis: https://weirdwonder.bearblog.dev/mythic-bastionland/ Pilgrimage of the Sun Guard: https://weirdwonder.itch.io/sunguard Chris Bissette's game jam https://itch.io/jam/wretched-jam d4 Caltrops blog https://blog.d4caltrops.com/ Armanda Haller https://armandah.itch.io/ Mythic GM Emulator https://www.wordmillgames.com/page/mythic-gme.html A procedure for playing group modules as solo adventures https://symbolic.city/misc/mastermind-solo John Harper: Lady Blackbird https://ladyblackbird.org/ Michael E. Shea: The Lazy GM's Resource Document https://slyflourish.com/lazy_gm_resource_document.html Capsule games https://riseupcomus.blogspot.com/2024/01/capsule-games-part-i-what-are-capsule.html