The Smiling Fox

Show notes:
Mythic Bastionland was created by Chris McDowall https://bastionlandpress.com/products/mythic-bastionland-hardback-book-plus-pdf
Music: I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire (Benjamin, Durham, Marcus, Seiler: 1938)
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.
Mixed by Jesse from https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/.
Timings:
00:00 Intro
00:55 Example Spark Table results
03:47 Sparks for special contexts
04:52 Mixing and matching
06:49 The squire wager
07:40 Changing the purpose
08:12 Under time pressure
13:31 Rerolling
15:59 Elaborating later
17:39 Myth-like results
20:24 Chains of associations
22:06 Themes for interpretation
23:58 Woland - a collaborative mythic realm
34:16 Lasting effects
36:38 40+ sessions
37:25 Threads that aren't myths
44:12 Adding extra omens
45:10 More example Sparks
48:24 You be the Judge!
55:24 Q+A Branching omens
58:40 Q+A Environmental challenges
1:02:47 Q+A Non-interactive omens
1:07:17 Outro
Discussed on the show:Blorb principles https://idiomdrottning.org/blorb-principles
Oddpocrypha on Landmarks (Mythic Bastionland page 199)
Tale of the Manticore - season 3 using delayed interpretation of Mythic Game Master Emulator spark table results https://www.spreaker.com/episode/episode-1-s3e01--62324279
Woland project - launch and collection of all articles https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/2026/01/woland-collaborative-mythic-realm.html
Beardmancer’s method for blending sparks for prep https://beardmancerbungalow.blot.im/one-method-to-prep-for-improvisation
d4 Caltrops’s d100 – Absent Adventurer: Where Have You Been? https://blog.d4caltrops.com/2026/01/d100-absent-adventurer-where-have-you.html
Bastionland Discord - source of questions for the Q+A section https://discord.com/invite/Y6sGBra

Find the hosts at:Brian https://luckroll.blogspot.com/
William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/
Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/

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/

Find the hosts at:Brian https://luckroll.blogspot.com/
William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/
Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/

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

Books mentioned:Louisa May Alcott: Little Women https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37106
Sir James Knowles: The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12753
Sir Thomas Malory: Le Morte d'Arthur https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1251
Chrétien de Troyes: Perceval, the Story of the Grail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceval%2C_the_Story_of_the_Grail

Find the hosts at:Brian https://luckroll.blogspot.com/
William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/
Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/

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 "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.
The music "(Bossa Nova Loop) Thank You for Shopping!" by plasterbrain https://freesound.org/people/plasterbrain/sounds/464924/ is licensed under Creative Commons 0.
Timings:
00:00 Intro
01:00 Decisive combat
02:54 Combat rules and characters
04:33 Narrating combat
06:00 Bad rolls
08:28 Combat environments
11:15 Mortal wounds and scars
17:06 Leaving characters exposed
18:48 Impairing weapons
24:16 Creative gambits
27:30 Focus
29:24 Warband combat
32:36 Bonus attack dice
38:45 Memorable fights
46:14 You be the Judge!
54:44 Outro
Discussed on the show:Decisive combat https://www.bastionland.com/2017/05/decisive-combat.html
Held Kinetic Energy in Old School Combat Arenas https://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2017/07/held-kinetic-energy-in-old-school.html
Impairing Impairing https://www.bastionland.com/2025/07/impairing-impairing.html
House rule idea: Giant creatures as Warbands (u/Jack_Shandy) https://www.reddit.com/r/MythicBastionland/comments/1oycio1/house_rule_idea_giant_creatures_as_warbands/

Find the hosts at:Brian https://luckroll.blogspot.com/
William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/
Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/

Show notes:
We're joined by Thomas Manuel to discuss his recent actual play. You can find Thomas at:Yes Indie'd Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/1B1W6XzutFweJPW88L3Pxk
Indie RPG Newsletter https://ttrpg.in/
Rascal https://www.rascal.news/

His Mythic Bastionland games:First story arc: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNuXiEYyM4itTXztUsIXmD6JG4w_FGWXc
Second story arc: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNuXiEYyM4isMPsTSspN-mdScWt2E9l2T

His referee, Judd Karlman https://githyankidiaspora.com/mythic-bastionland/
His liege, MadJay https://playfearless.substack.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 "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
01:52 Thomas' campaign
06:19 Connections and relationships
10:15 Rolling a knight
12:23 Being a good player
15:50 The Smiling Fox play by post
17:51 Play style
19:57 Improv
23:57 Myths for challenge and flavour
31:59 Combat!
37:19 Fostering player creativity
41:23 Sharing the map
44:09 Collaborative descriptions
47:21 First time GMs
51:36 Duelling as a highlight
52:30 Preferred number of players
54:41 You be the Judge!
1:02:58 Outro
Discussed on the show:Interview with Prismatic Wasteland https://open.spotify.com/episode/6hsUWciOWZ7MKivI0KWRsm
Sticky encounters https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/encounter-checklist

Find the hosts at:Brian https://luckroll.blogspot.com/
William https://halfawormandabittenapple.blogspot.com/
Horst https://blackcitygauntlet.blogspot.com/