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Tag: Terry Olson

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

Sanctum Secorum #51 – The Broken Sword

April 12, 2023Written by Gatekeeper

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Tonight the Keepers of Mystery discuss one of the novels of Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword. Specifically cited on Appendix N, it has also been cited by author Michael Moorcock as having greatly influenced his stories.

The book tells the story of Skafloc, elven-fosterling and originally son of Orm the Strong. The story begins with the marriage of Orm the Strong and Aelfrida of the English. Orm kills a witch’s family on the land and later half-converts to Christianity, but quarrels with the local priest and sends him off the land. Meanwhile, an elf named Imric, with the help of the witch, seeks to capture the newly born son of Orm. In his place, Imric leaves a changeling called Valgard. The real son of Orm is taken away to elven lands and named Skafloc by the elves who raise him. As the story continues, both Skafloc and Valgard have significant roles in the war between the trolls and the elves as things escalate until the restoration of…the Broken Sword.

podcast Alexander James Adams, Ashraf Braden, Beyond the Black Gate, Colin Brodd, Dan Osarchuk, David W. Fisher, Divinities & Cults Vol 1, Doom of the Savage Kings, Dying Earth, Ed Stanek, Glowburn, Greg Oppedisano, Harley Stroh, Heather Alexander, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Isles of the Celts, James Spahn, James Walls, Källa, Kamila, Lankhmar, Lukwata, Magnús Þór Sigmundsson, Marc Bruner, Michael Curtis, Poul Anderson, Rafn R. Jónsson, Ragnarök Nordic Viking Folk, Sequentia Ensemble, Sigur Rós, Skáld, Steindór Andersen and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Terry Olson, The Bachwezi, The Broken Sword, The Isle of Fury, The Kakondo, the Old Gods Return, The Purple Planet, The Sorcerer’s Tower of Sanguine Slant, The Tale of Halfdanur the Black, The Trolls of Mistwood, Thieves of Cold Corner, Tribes of the North, Twilight of the Solstice, Týr, Valkyrik, Viking Crawl Classics, Warrior Horde of the Einherjar

Sanctum Secorum #43 – The Carnelian Cube

February 21, 2019Written by Gatekeeper

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The carnelian cube of the title is a small red “dream stone” confiscated by archaeologist Arthur Cleveland Finch from Tiridat Ariminian, one of the workers on the dig he is supervising in Cappadocia. It bears an inscription in Etruscan that appears to identify its original possessor as Apollonius of Tyana, a wandering ascetic/philosopher/wonderworker who lived from 15-100AD. Supposedly, the stone allows the bearer to attain the world of his dreams. Arthur Finch is a man who *thinks* that he knows what he wants… until he has it. Once he has it, the task becomes how to get rid of it.

To sleep, perchance to …. create a new reality!

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight, the Keepers of Mysteries boldly explore the dream world of The Carnelian Cube by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.

Sanctum Secorum #33 – The Powder of Hyperborea

March 2, 2018Written by Gatekeeper

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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.

Additional Content, Classes, Magic Items, Men and Magicians, Monsters, NPCs, Patrons & Deities, podcast, Spells Adam Muszkiewicz, Appendix N Book Club, Ari-Matti Piippo, Carl Bussler, Clark Ashton Smith, Crawljammer, Dak Ultimak, DCC Lankhmar, DCC RPG for BOSS, Dead Can Dance, Derek Scott, Diogo Nogueira, Edgar Johnson, Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box, Eric Hoffman, GAMA, Gamestorm 20, Gary Con, Gen Con, Harley Stroh, Harry Gregson-Williams, Hyperborea, Jason Sholtis, Jon Marr, Keith A. Garrett, MACE West, Madhouse Meet, Masks of Lankhmar, Matthew Goiffon, Mepacon, Michael Bolam, Michael Curtis, No Small Crimes in Lankhmar, Operation Unfathomable, Paul Wolfe, Perils of the Sunken City, Ravi Shankar, Red River RPG Con, Sari Galin, Street Kids of Ur-Hadad, Super Number One Food Tower, Terry Olson, The Cromcast, The Curse of Cragbridge, The Jeweller Who Dealt in Stardust, The Orm Lies Down in Punjar, The Powder of Hyperborea, The Treasure Vaults of Zadabad, Zakir Hussain

Sanctum Secorum #32 – Attack from Atlantis

February 20, 2018Written by Gatekeeper

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At age seventeen Don Miller is already an accomplished electronics technician, helping his uncle, Dr. Edward Simpson, with the testing of a new kind of submarine, the Triton I. Accompanied everywhere by his dog Shep, he is aboard the boat for its sea trials. The test run is successful, in spite of some problems with the control systems and stress on certain crew members that has made them believe that they have seen, on the television screens that give a view of the outside of the submarine, men encased in form-fitting bubbles.

For the full test run the Triton will descend into the Milwaukee Deep, north of Puerto Rico. As they descend they find that they are losing control of the boat and, further, that they are being rammed by a whale. Unable to maneuver, they come down on an undersea plateau, twelve hundred fathoms (7200 feet) below the surface.

When the bubble-men attack openly in full force, cementing rocks to Triton’s hull, they drive her down to the bottom.

Three miles below the surface they come to a town of about 20,000 people that they call Atlantis. Lying under a larger version of the bubbles that enclose the people surrounding the submarine. The Atlanteans take the crew captive. Can they free themselves and save the surface world?

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we look at a work by Lester Del Rey, Attack from Atlantis and match it up with Michael Curtis’ classic adventure, The Sea Queen Escapes.

Sanctum Secorum #25 – The Fallible Fiend

June 2, 2017Written by Gatekeeper

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He looked like a cross between a dragon and a catfish, and he could bend iron bars into pretzels with a flick of his hand. But what Zdim the mild-mannered demon really was, was a scholar of logic and philosophy. That’s why when Zdim was drafted for a year’s servitude on the mortal plane, he felt that a monumental administrative error had been made. And even though Zdim resolved to be absolutely obedient and to do exactly what he was told, the wizard who employed him (Dr. Maldivius) soon agreed…

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we discuss L Sprague de Camp’s satirical fantasy novel The Fallible Fiend as well as Terry Olson’s adventure Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box.

Sanctum Secorum #18 – The People of the Pit

November 5, 2016Written by Gatekeeper

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“People of the Pit features a pair of prospectors, Starr Anderson and the narrator, Frank, who are exploring the North, looking for gold. There are hints of a backstory between the two men, painting them as more than mere prospectors and it creates an anticipation for oddness to come. We are then introduced to a secondary narrator. A man who, in classic fashion, crawls (near-dead) into the men’s camp. And the manner of his crawling is horrific in itself. This is no collapsing half-stagger, no dragging himself along the floor, but as the narrator says, ‘it was like a baby crawling upstairs. The forepaws lifted themselves in grotesquely infantile fashion’ . On top of this, he wears a band of gold round his waist, and a chain. Gold, of course, is what has brought the explorers to this place, but when they remove it, ‘it was like no gold I had ever handled. […] it had an unclean, viscid life of its own. It clung to the file. […] It was – loathsome’ . Something is clearly not right when a man in search of gold actively throws it away.
The story then turns to the tale of the narrator, telling a story of a lost civilisation in the bottom of a ravine. Not any old ravine, however, but ‘Imagine the Grand Canyon five times as wide and with the bottom dropped out’. As one can expect, it gets a lot weirder from there…”

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast where even attending a convention cannot disrupt things. While the Keepers of Mysteries attend Gamehole Con I, the Gatekeeper of the Sanctum, bring you the latest episode. Tonight the Keepers discuss a story by Abraham Merritt and bring it to your DCC table!

Sanctum Secorum #17 – A Night in the Lonesome October

October 7, 2016Written by Gatekeeper

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“A Night in the Lonesome October is narrated from the point-of-view of Snuff, a dog who is Jack the Ripper‘s companion. The story reveals that once every few decades when the moon is full on the night of Halloween, the fabric of reality thins and doors may be opened between this world and the realm of the Great Old Ones. When these conditions are right, men and women with occult knowledge may gather at a specific ritual site to hold the doors closed, or to help fling them open. Should the Closers win, then the world will remain as it is until the next turning… but should the Openers succeed, then the Great Old Ones will come to Earth, to remake the world in their own image (enslaving or slaughtering the human race in the process). The Openers have never yet won. These meetings are often referred to as “The Game” or “The Great Game” by the participants, who try to keep the goings-on secret from the mundane population.
Each Player has a familiar – an animal companion with near-human intelligence that helps complete the numerous preparations for the ritual. The majority of the story describes the interactions and discussions of these animals, all from Snuff’s point of view. Throughout the book, the Players slowly take sides, form alliances, make deals, oppose one another, and even kill off their enemies. The plot accelerates until the night of October 31st, when the ritual takes place and the fate of the world is decided.”

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. No storm can breach the Sanctum Secorum’s walls and once again the doors open to give shelter and to provide enlightenment. In this, special length anniversary episode, we prepare for Halloween with a work by Roger Zelazny. In addition, we have bonus content to bring to your DCC RPG table!

Sanctum Secorum #13 – Down to a Sunless Sea

June 3, 2016Written by Gatekeeper

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Brant’s life had been hard after the courts had sent him to the penal colony on Trivium Charontis on Mars. Since working his way to freedom, he had run guns to the High Clan princes, sold them liquor and forbidden tobacco, and peddled narcotics to the soft, timid Earthsider clerks. He had stolen, he had cheated at cards, he had killed a man more than once…
Now, fleeing from justice across the ancient dust oceans of Mars he had no way of knowing that he was running toward the most fantastic adventure and man had ever lived – toward refuge more absolute that any man had ever dreamed of – by the banks of secret rivers, in caverns yet unmeasured by man, on the shore of a sea the sun had never seen!

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. In this episode we cast our gaze skyward to the Mars of Lin Carter’s Down to a Sunless Sea and to Harley Stroh’s Peril on the Purple Planet.

In addition, we have bonus content to bring to your game: items, monsters, and so much more…after the jump.

Episode #12 – Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman

May 6, 2016Written by Gatekeeper

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From the world beyond–or past–time Kothar comes. From out of the deepest, most violent recesses of mankind’s collective memory, Kothar the gigantic barbarian strides, the enchanted sword Frostfire glittering in his mighty hand. Lusty, hot-blooded, masterful, unafraid of things real or unreal, Kothar dominates the misty, bloody world before recorded time. Yet, though Kothar’s world existed in another age–perhaps another dimension–it springs vividly to life. Mapped, charted, chronicled, Kothar’s fantastic world suddenly becomes real–the sorcerers, dragons, witches, evil potions, unspeakable monsters. And Kothar, an epic hero for any age, overshadows everything.

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. In this episode we look at the world of Gardner F Fox’s Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman.

In addition, we have bonus content to bring to your game: classes, magic items and so much more…after the jump.

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Welcome

Tag: Terry Olson

Sanctum Secorum #52 – The Hounds of Skaith

Sanctum Secorum #51 – The Broken Sword

Sanctum Secorum #43 – The Carnelian Cube

Sanctum Secorum #33 – The Powder of Hyperborea

Sanctum Secorum #32 – Attack from Atlantis

Sanctum Secorum #25 – The Fallible Fiend

Sanctum Secorum #18 – The People of the Pit

Sanctum Secorum #17 – A Night in the Lonesome October

Sanctum Secorum #13 – Down to a Sunless Sea

Episode #12 – Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman

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