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Tales from the Sanctum

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Welcome

The Sanctum Secorum podcast plumbs the depths of Appendix N as it applies to DCC RPG. Each show reviews one piece of Appendix N media — be it literature or film — and then discusses how to bring aspects of it to the table for your DCC game. We explore how the selected piece might already easily fit into particular modules and DCC settings, and we highlight one specific DCC module that really ties into the Appendix N material.

Enter the Sanctum Secorum… and be inspired.

News: The Bachwezi

Sanctum Media, in its partnership with Ugandan game designer, Ashraf Braden, is pleased to announce the third in our line of DCC micro-releases. Issued monthly, these mini-zines cost only $1, and are appropriate for printing and folding.

This month we present the Bachwezi, a tribe of invisible herdsmen who roam the African plains. Descended from the ancient Batembuzi gods, the Bachwezi have strange powers that allow them to remain unseen and to force others to do their bidding. This release brings them to your table as a fully playable character class for your campaign. Also included with your drivethrurpg purchase are pronunciation notes and audio clips by Ashraf himself, providing the Ugandan pronunciation for 4 new terms.

Ashraf has been working on the next few months of releases, and there are other potential projects in the works, beyond the scope of we here at Sanctum Media, that are all quite exciting. So, join us in celebrating new content from a new voice in the RPG community.

All of Sanctum Media’s proceeds from the purchase of this, and future releases created by Ashraf, go directly to the author. You can purchase it here!

Sanctum Secorum #49 – The Charwoman’s Shadow

Tonight the Keepers of Mystery discuss a work by Lord Dunsany, The Charwoman’s Shadow. Published in 1926, before the term “fantasy” had ever been used to describe the genre.

An old woman who spends her days scrubbing the floors might be an unlikely damsel in distress, but Lord Dunsany proves once again his mastery of the fantastical. The Charwoman’s Shadow is a beautiful tale of a sorcerer’s apprentice who discovers his master’s nefarious usage of stolen shadows, and vows to save the charwoman from her slavery.

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Sanctum Secorum #42 – Arena

Get the free Sanctum Secorum #42 Companion HERE!

Amid escalating conflict between Earth and mysterious alien Outsiders, massive armadas from both sides are set to meet in what looks to be an evenly matched battle. Bob Carson, the pilot of a small one-man scout ship blacks out while engaging with an Outsider counterpart. When he awakens, he finds himself naked in a small enclosed, circular area about 250 yards (230 m) across. In the distance is an Outsider, which Carson labels a “Roller” because its form is that of a red sphere about 1 yard in diameter with several dozen tentacles.

Carson hears a voice in his mind that identifies itself as an evolved intelligence that has decided to intervene because the upcoming war would utterly destroy one side and hurt the other so badly that it would not be able to one day advance into an evolved intelligence like itself. This Entity therefore chose one individual from each species to fight in single combat. The loser will doom its kind to instant extinction. Carson and his opponent discover through trial and error that there is an invisible barrier between them, and that only inanimate objects can cross it. Carson tries to communicate with the Roller, to see if a compromise is possible, but receives a mental message of unremitting hatred. The battle is joined.

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we look to the past while we discuss Fredric Brown’s classic story, Arena.

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Sanctum Secorum #40 – A Martian Odyssey

Get the free Sanctum Secorum #40 Companion HERE!

Early in the 21st century, nearly twenty years after the invention of atomic power and ten years after the first lunar landing, the four-man crew of the Ares has landed on Mars in the Mare Cimmerium. A week after the landing, Dick Jarvis, the ship’s American chemist, sets out south in an auxiliary rocket to photograph the landscape. Eight hundred miles out, the engine on Jarvis’ rocket gives out, and he crash-lands into one of the Thyle regions. Rather than sit and wait for rescue, Jarvis decides to walk back north to the Ares.

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we turn our gaze to the red planet, Mars, while we discuss Stanley A. Weinbaum’s, A Martian Odyssey.

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News: Free RPG Day Companion – Third Party Sampler

In keeping with that holiday spirit, the Sanctum Secorum is releasing another digest-sized, print-copy companion – available from a number of participating judges. Much like the GFA, those Judges have printed those companion issues out on their dime, as an extra bit of awesome for your Free RPG Day. We think that those folks deserve a round of applause.

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Sanctum Secorum #35 – Hundra

Get the free Sanctum Secorum #35 Companion HERE!

Born in a tribe of fierce warrior women, Hundra has been raised to despise the influence of men. An archer, fighter and sword fighter, Hundra is superior to any male. Hundra finds her family slain and takes a vow of revenge until one day she meets her match.

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we discuss the 1983 film Hundra and pair it up with The Trolls of Mistwood!

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Sanctum Secorum #33 – The Powder of Hyperborea

Get the free Sanctum Secorum #33 Companion HERE!

Retired master-thief Satampra, Zerios of Uzuldaroum recounts an adventure from days gone by when he and his two companions (Vixeela and the dubious magician/alchemist Veezi Phenquor) endeavored to rob the temple of the moon god Leniqua, and steal away with the Thirty-Nine girdles of virginity by means of stealth, cunning, and a little bit of hyperborean chemistry. Originally published in the Saturn Science Fiction & Fantasy, it is the last of Clark’s Hyperborea cycle.

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we look at a work by Clark Ashton Smith, The Powder of Hyperborea and match it up with Edgar Johnson’s delightful Street Kids of Ur-Hadad.

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News: February Contest Winners!

As rolled at random, our winners are

1st Place – R.S. Tilton’s The Huntsman
* 1 copy of Super No. 1 Food Tower
* 1 sheet of pregen characters

2nd Pace – Ari-Matti Piippo’s Ancient Hyperborean (in Companion #32)
* 1 copy of Cthulhu’s Reign edited by Darrell Schweitzer
* Sanctum Secorum and DCC swag

Look for R.S. Tilton’s winning entry in the forthcoming Sanctum Secorum Companion #33!

 

News: February Contest Deadline Approaching

Just 36 hours remain to submit your original DCC Character class for the Sanctum Secorum’s February drawing. Some lucky winner is walking away with a copy of Super No. 1 Food Tower while the runner up receives some great fiction to continue inspiring them.

Send your entries to TheHub@Sanctum.media

We need at least one more entry else we are forced to roll the February entry over into March…and you wouldn’t want that right? So get that entry in and win yourself some swag!

http://sanctum.media/blog/index.php/2018/02/09/news-february-contest-information/