Music – Sanctum Secorum

This week, the Keepers of Mystery discuss a work by the Queen of Space Opera, Leigh Brackett, as they dive into The Hounds of Skaith.

In this second volume of Leigh Brackett’s exemplary trilogy The Book of Skaith, Eric John Stark, having expelled the Lords Protector from their northern Citadel and released his friend and mentor galactic ambassador Ashton, heads south to find the wise woman Gerrith, to foment rebellion, and –in spite of the Wandsmen and the Lords Protector’s wishes—to open the dying planet to star travel. Although he is outnumbered, he possesses one extraordinary advantage: he now holds mental mastery over the Hounds of Skaith, fierce mutant beasts that paralyze their enemies by the power of fear alone.

This show originally aired live on the Goodman Games twitch channel on May 23, 2023.

Additional Content, Audio, Men and Magicians, Monsters, Music, podcast Ashraf Braden, Beyond the Black Gate, Black Sun Deathcrawl, Blessings of the Vile Brotherhood, Brendan LaSalle, Crawljammer, Doom of the Savage Kings, Dying Earth, Electric Wizard, F'tagn on the Purple Planet, Harley Stroh, James MacGeorge, Jim Wampler, Jobe Bittman, John Carter OST, Julian Bernick, Jupiter Ascending OST, Lawrence of Arabia OST, Leigh Brackett, Let Us Pray, Marc Bruner, Maurice JArre, MCC RPG, Michael Giacchino, Mind Games, Moon-Dice Games, Mutant Crawl Classics, Neon Knights, Penumbra of the Polar Ape, Pilgrims of the Black Obelisk, Sanctum Secorum Quarterly, Scott McKinley, Shield of Faith Studios, Sky Masters of the Purple Planet, Star Crawl, Terry Olson, The Hounds of Skaith, The One Who Watches from Below, The Purple Planet, The Rock Awakens, The Synthetic Swordsmen of the Purple Planet, Umerica Unnatural, Ummerica, War for the Planet of the Apes OST

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May 2, 2020Written by Gatekeeper

Sanctum Secorum #45 – The Mound

June 12, 2019Written by Gatekeeper

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The story is narrated by an ethnologist who visits the town of Binger, Oklahoma in 1928 to investigate certain stories related to a certain nearby mound, which is said to be haunted by a strange Indian man by day and a headless woman by night. The local people avoid the place, and there are strange stories of those who dared to venture there either disappearing, or returning insane and inexplicably altered. Being initially quite skeptical, the narrator brings some archaeological tools and visits the mound, noticing that the man pacing it appears closest to the native Indians, but cannot be identified with any known Indian tribe. Through a talisman made of a strange metal given to him by a local chieftain, he unearths a strange cylinder made of the same unidentifiable metal full of hideous engravings and strange hieroglyphics.

Upon discovering a scroll written in Spanish in the cylinder, the narrator returns to his host and begins to translate it. The contents of the scroll, covering a large part of the narrative, describe the travels of one Pánfilo de Zamacona y Nuñez, an asturian explorer, almost 400 years prior. Zamacona recounts how he was a part of an expedition from Mexico to North America, and how, through the help of a native Indian, he discovered a vast underground world filled with grotesque temples, and populated by strange beasts and a highly advanced telepathic civilization who worshipped Cthulhu, Yig, Shub-Niggurath -and, until a certain incident, Tsathoggua. The members of the underground race -who lived in what they called the kingdom of K’nyan- welcomed him, but the more Zamacona learned about them, the more fearful he became.

The narrator is shocked by this scroll but remains skeptical, so the next day he goes to the mound again for further investigation, repeatedly telling himself that this is an elaborate hoax. Upon digging in a depression on the mound, he discovers a staircase leading deep underground…

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight, the Keepers of Mysteries saddle up and head West to explore H.P. Lovecraft’s The Mound.

What’s that? What about episode #44? Well, its coming folks – just like those missing companions but, as you can see, one of our own having a Kickstarter takes precedence. 😉

Seriously, the Dark Trails Kickstarter is live, Pledge NOW!

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Music: Saint Karloff

December 30, 2018Written by Gatekeeper

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Recently, it came to our attention that there was a song on Spotify entitled “Spellburn” by the band Saint Karloff. We gave it a listen and had to reach out to them to see if there might be a DCC RPG connection (because “spellburn” isn’t that common of a term).

Well, guess what? At least one of the members of Saint Karloff is one of us!

The term spellburn is something I found in the roleplaying game Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, or DccRpg. It is an ability that wizards have, where they can sacrifice a physical part of their body to call upon the magic energy of the cosmos make their spell stronger.

And the lyrics in Spellburn is about a wizard who goes too far with this ability, and drains the universe all it’s magical energy, making his spell so strong that it destroys the rest of the universe. Except he’s not really a wizard, he’s a suicidal alcoholic who has distroyed the positivity in his own little universe, and is now going to release the negative energy which will destroy his small universe, by suicide.

The music feels like early Black Sabbath with a decent amount of acid thrown in. With songs like “Spellburn”, “All Hail the Dark God”, and “Radioactive Tomb” (a personal favorite) this is some music to add to your library.

You can check out the video for “Spellburn” HERE
You can check out the rest of Saint Karloff’s music HERE

Music Saint Karloff, Spellburn

Category: Music

Sanctum Secorum #52 – The Hounds of Skaith

Music to game by

Sanctum Secorum #45 – The Mound

Music: Saint Karloff

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