viriato

godsipclub, 2 months ago to Russia

Austeja¹ is one of the #Slavic goddesses of #Spring, known also as "The Weaver", "The Protective Goddess", or "The #Bee Goddess".

It was told that bees were her messengers, and here voice could be heard in their hum.
In Slavic customs, bees tell important news as births or deaths in the household. Also, the soul could take the form of a bee. In #Russia, it is a sacrilege to kill these insects.

The verb "austi" means "to weave": bees were thought to weave the honeycombs inside the hive as the goddess weaved the humans' fate.

About the etymology: Indo-European word "aus" means both "East" and "dawn".
The Proto-Indo-European name of the goddess is thought to be "auesos", which comes from the #Germanic Austron, goddess of dawn and spring.
Her name became Eastre/Eostre² in Old #English, which became… #Easter.

BONUS!
It could be that #Austria was named after the goddess, and Germany after Jarilo's³ "German" title (or maybe Jarila's "Germania")

¹ https://mythicalencyclopedia.com/austeja/
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarilo

TarkabarkaHolgy, 5 months ago to 13thFloor Hungarian

So here's a question I'm curious about today:

Do you remember how/where you first encountered Greek mythology?

(It took me a while to remember mine)

#mythology #myths #storytelling #books

andrewblasco, 5 months ago to random Spanish

Hoy un conocido, a raíz de que el año acaba en domingo y da comienzo así en lunes... me ha descubierto una cosa muy chula: el calendario fijo internacional.

Básicamente es un #calendario con 13 meses de 28 días, todos iguales. Me parece fascinante el tema de los calendarios y de cómo los organiza cada sociedad.

Proponen que el mes que se añade sea entre Junio y Julio y se llame "Sol". Me parece algo soso, ¿Cómo lo llamaríais vosotros?

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendario_fijo_internacional?wprov=sfla1

qurlyjoe, 6 months ago to random

If God wanted us to have unlimited free energy He’d have put a giant fusion reactor in the sky.

gmkeros.wordpress.com, 7 months ago to RPG

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/ab_b13.jpg

Let’s go through Das Schwarze Auge adventure B13 Der Streuner Soll Sterben (The Vagrant Shall Die)

It has the secondary title Das Blutgericht von Thalusa (The Blood Court of Thalusa) which is one of the few times when both titles are equally evocative.

Ok, let me preface this: I utterly adore this scenario, even though it has it’s problems (dare I say it? some parts are quite racist). But I would say this is where Ulrich Kiesow shows real promise.

Now at this point MOST (but not all) of the DSA scenarios were written by him, or in cooperation with him. This included A1 which I really liked, and A2 which I found at least ok. But it also included the whole rest of the scenarios which contain some bad railroads, even if their premise might be good.
But this one is one where I really see what he is going for. This is intentionally pulpy, in the way that 19th ct. adventure stories were.

Unfortunately this includes some rather unfortunate tropes that come with such stories. For one the setting is quasi-oriental. And of course it involves arranged marriages, beheadings at the drop of a stone, and an evil looking coal black executioner.

On the other there really aren’t any really bad people involved. The executioner just happens to be coal black from a magical accident and is otherwise doing his job, and the one actual antagonist is coded as German, and even he has reasons to behave like he does.

Lots of bad decisions that come with the choice of setting and NPCs. I guess for the 80s it was fair for its day, but even in the 90s I remember this module as being discussed as “the racist one”.

But anyway, the plot concerns Prince Selo of Khunchom who had the really bad idea to have just a small peek at his fiancée Shenny of Thalusa. [that name tho…]

You see it’s tradition in their culture that enfianced people are not to see each other until the marriage rites are concluded. Which is all fine for Selo, except he HAS seen her parents and now fears his future wife might take after either of them.
So he makes the plan of… sneaking into the palace of Thalusa and having a look at her.

And if it’s really bad, can a life as a vagrant on the roads of Aventuria be quite so bad?

Yes, Prince Selo is an idiot.

In any case he even is successful in sneaking in, and quite enamored with Princess Shenny.
And Princess Shenny for her side is quite enamored with that handsome stranger she just encountered.

Unfortunately while they are both very enthusiastically consenting with each other (at least that discussion we don’t have to touch), he is captured by the guards and immediately sentenced to death by his prospective father in law.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13caught.png

Your mission now, if you choose to accept it…

Well, you should accept it, the Prince’s father promises you riches if you manage to make it to Thalusa in time with a document of his hand that can rescue his son.
Unfortunately Thalusa is about 300km away, easily a 10 day trip over land, and the execution is set for in 14 days.

And even if you get there on time with the document (which is not a given), and hand it to the wrong person, then you are back at square one. Well, square whatever Thalusa is in.

The heroes are given the choice of going by sea, which might shorten the journey to three days, but has a problem: it’s a the stormy season right now, and it might make things worse. A single ship is willing to make the passage on the off-chance of arriving in one part at their destination to make a killing selling hard liquor.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13bysea.png

(I realized afterwards that I am not quite sure which season it is supposed to be, the text is talking about Frühjahr being a storm season in that part, so the early year. In our world this commonly would be spring. But in Aventuria the early year is autumn. But was this already established at that point? When does this actually take place?)

Despite Kiesow’s known fondness for railroads he does not actually go for them here. With a bit luck of the dice the PCs can indeed reach the halfway point, after which the storms become no problem anymore. It’s not likely, but it’s possible.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13game.pngThen they are attacked by pirates though. Which also can be circumnavigated with proper care (the scenario contains a specifically designed boardgame here), and even if they board your ship they only will steal the document.

(they are not actually real pirates)

If luck is not with them, or if they decide to go there from the beginning, they end up having to go by land. But at least they might have gained a day or two.

This would be the place where a DnD scenario would pull out the hexmap. And we saw a hexmap in B8 already. Kiesow instead decides to use squares, for a squarecrawl, basically.
There are also no permanently keyed encounters, all the encounters are on random tables.

This includes meadows which have an encounter on a roll of 7 on a d6.

Oh yes, did you see! Did you see?! He made a joke!

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13boars.png

What’s interesting about the encounters is how… stock medieval fantasy they all are. One would assume that with a setting where he uses all kinds of orientalist tropes he would do the same for the wilderness section. Instead it seems like he just took the monster descriptions from the rulebook: wolves, trolls, boars, a tatzelwurm. The closest to the Arabian Nights scenario you might be expecting is an Earth Spirit that can give you some healing.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13tatzelwurm.png

(I guess no budget for illustrations…)

But it’s really the city adventure part where this scenario shines.
For one: there is an actual city adventure part with an actual map of Thalusa.
For the second: you are given free reign how to actually deal with the situation.
Now you were supposed to deliver a document, but you likely lost it either on the sea journey or over land.
If you didn’t you most likely handed it to the wrong person at the palace and he lost it for you instead.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13prison.pngin the meantime the prince is in his prison in the middle of the market square of Thalusa and the players are left free reign in how to deal with the situation.

Springing the prince might not be easy, but can be possible. Sneaking into the palace is possible (it’s worked out), but finding the right person there is difficult. Dealing with the executioner and his tools is also another option (the tools need to be in top order according to tradition).

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13scribe.png

Here is when the bog standard fantasy scenario all of a sudden turns into a heist. most likely the heroes will have to do something to save the prince, but what and how is their own choice. The scenario gives some valid ideas, but I bet some players would have more.

You could have an infiltration/dungeon crawl through the palace, but you don’t have to.

For what it’s worth if you are breaking into the palace you might encounter a scribe you can blackmail by threatening his favorite calligraphy.

And if you break into the executioners house you might encounter a Ulmenknecht, which seems to be a treant kind of being? I don’t think this being is still canon in DSA. It’s not the proper treant equivalent (that would be a Waldschrat), more like a wood golem?

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13ulmenknecht.pngAnd then there is Dolguruk, the executioner of Thalusa.

Who is black.
Coal black even.

Which is the result of a rather sinister human sacrifice he and a druid wanted to perform on a magician who managed to hit back with a transformation spell. Which caused him to turn completely black.

For some reason this story is the longest of all the NPC bios, despite being otherwise a rather incidental character.
And one who doesn’t actually do anything bad as such while the PCs are around.

I think Kiesow is very much going very much for the image of Der Schwarze Mann here, a “Kinderschreckfigur” (character to scare kids with? Man, we Germans have weird concepts sometimes) that is quite widespread. I still remember playing both the associated kids game and the card game based on it.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13dolguruk.pngIn a wider sense it was a depiction of (black) death and/or the devil.

But here it manages to keep all the bad connotations that made this game… inappropriate in polite society.

Dolguruk is I think still an active NPC in current DSA lore, he usurped Shenny’s father at one point and became ruler of Thalusa, and being an elf he also doesn’t seem to be easy to get rid of. He also had his backstory modified to have gained his look from a pact with a demon.
Not sure if that’s better or worse.

So…what do I think about it?

I don’t think Kiesow intended for this to come across as it does, but he nevertheless managed to write some really unfortunate implications in here.

Which might explain why this adventure never got the re-releases that other adventures from him got, despite being, from a design standpoint alone, one of his best so far.
There is considerable freedom of choice both in the wilderness and the city sections, and room for player creativity, all under time pressure. I really like this and I want to play this with people. I might need to prepare people that it was written 40 years ago.

Other languages

This gets into the times when the DSA adventures were no longer translated into many languages. The only translation I can find is the French one, in both the Schmidt and Gallimard version.

Still not sure why there were two versions. According to one commenter on dice.camp one was the Schmidt version, like in German, the other was the same format as the Gallimard gamebook translations and would have been sold in bookstores instead of toy stores.

In any case they used the secondary title for that, Le Bourreau de Thalussa. Not the worst choice.

https://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13fr2.webphttps://gmkeros.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/b13fr1.webpRunning Tally (by quality, from best to worst):

1. A1 Die Verschwörung von Gareth
2. B13 Der Streuner soll sterben
3. B2 Wald ohne Wiederkehr
4. A2 Die Göttin der Amazonen
5. B6 Unter dem Nordlicht
6. B9 Strom des Verderbens
7. B1 Im Wirtshaus zum Schwarzen Keiler
8. B8 Durch das Tor der Welten
9. B10 In den Fängen des Dämons
10. B12 Der Zug durch das Nebelmoor
11. B3 Das Schiff der Verlorenen Seelen
12. B4 Die Sieben Magischen Kelche

Rate this:

https://gmkeros.wordpress.com/2023/11/12/the-dark-eye-retrospective-b13-der-streuner-soll-sterben/

#dasSchwarzeAuge #dsa #retrospective #Roleplaying #rpg #ttrpg

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image/png

juergen_hubert, 7 months ago to Germany

Taking company vehicles for a joyride without permission from the boss has often been a firing offense.

Flying around with the captain's ship was definitely a step too far.

#Germany #folktale #folklore @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/ride-of-walrider-33109119

RPBook, 8 months ago to random

I mean, it's not wrong.

archaeohistories, 8 months ago to random

Tibetan Buddhist Hand Painted Wood Panel; depicting symbols of Tibetan mythology such as Tigers Dragons and Lamas From Tibet, 1875-1900 CE.

(59X80cm)

MET Museum

#archaeohistories

ZachWeinersmith, 8 months ago to random

What are your answers to the three questions on the cover?

dgar, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

One Two Three Four!
I declare a meme war!
Do NOT neglect your #AltText!!

danirabbit, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

You are in a room with two buttons and an intercom. You hear a child call to you over the intercom. They are tied to tracks and they tell you a trolley is headed straight for them. You are in the control room and have the ability to divert the trolley, but you are unable to observe the situation yourself and from your trolley operating expertise you know there is a 1% chance the child is incorrect about which tracks the trolley is on. Luckily you also can consult an on-site engineer. You:

JHein, 9 months ago to TableTop

What's your favorite folklore that you've used in a tabletop game?

#tabletop #dnd #ttrpg #folklore

mekkaokereke, 9 months ago to random

This thread is for straight men only.

How to read the news about the head of the Spanish soccer Federation (a man) forcibly kissing a player on the Spanish women's team on the lips, after winning the world cup. You might be thinking:

• What's the big deal? They're European! It's their culture!
• And she smiled afterwards!
• It was just spontaneous! He was overcome with emotion!
• She released a statement saying that what's important to focus on is the victory!

Deglassco, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to history

In WW2, the movement of millions of American troops to Britain, known as the “friendly invasion,” brought to light stark differences concerning racial segregation. Many Britons struggled to understand or accept the institutionalized discrimination that Black soldiers faced in White America, leading to tensions between the two allied nations on the matter of civil rights.

1/

@blackmastodon @BlackMastodon #BlackMastodon #Histodons #History #StillWeRise #BlackHistory #WW2

robindlaws, 10 months ago to random

deleted_by_author

glennf, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to random

My httpd logs show that nearly all visitors are spiders or bots. The ultimate evolution of the web is that it will be nearly entirely written by AI and then also read by AI. We won’t be necessary for the process; what a relief!

viriato, 10 months ago to random Spanish

O compañeiro @daenvil estrenou por fin o seu blogue e é tan bo esperaba, que era moito. Bos temas, cousas útiles, bo contido, ben escrito... Todo! E en galego.

O seu artigo sobre o veganismo é conciso, moi informativo, claro, e con mil vías para seguir investigando. Todo o que un BO artigo de divulgación nun blogue ten que ser. E, ademais, en galego.
https://mastodon.gal/@daenvil/110847791117056014

aral, 10 months ago to twitter

Elon could change the name of Twitter to 💩 and some of y’all would still stay on it.

“But all my friends are on 💩!”

“I need 💩 for work!”

“I’m changing 💩 from the inside!”

“💩 is easy to use!”

#x #twitter #poop

stavvers, 10 months ago to random

A brief list of tools on mastodon which I really like and have kind of ruined other platforms for me:

1. Editing. I was always hostile to the concept of editing posts but my god it's useful as hell for when that post with a typo does numbers.
2. Choosing focus points on images. None of that algorithmic cropping, you pick the bit that doesn't crop, and you can use it to great comedic effect.
3. Annotating profiles. Feels great to write "boring cunt" on a profile while you block a boring cunt.

max_headroom, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to fediverse

What app are you using for the #Fediverse on #Android? (boost for visibility)

ZachWeinersmith, 10 months ago to random

Working on an abridged Beowulf and the explainer introduction is solid gold

Sheril, 11 months ago to science

About 109 billion people have lived & died. Each grain of sand represents 10 million.
This stunning data visualization of human life by Max Roser was published in 2022.

Today there would be 805 green grains representing 8.05 billion people living on Earth. #science #art

viriato, 11 months ago to random Spanish

> Googleo "post twitter alternatives" para saber sobre Post
> A primeira ligazón é unha comparativa sobre alternativas a Twitter en 2023
> Clico por curiosidade
> Sobre Threads: "[I]t has an advantage over other Twitter alternatives- it is owned by Meta, a social media mogul."

Wait what