Simon is back to finish our look at the final instalment in the first Corum trilogy… The King of the Swords… and, as it runs ramraid style into the conclusion of The Vanishing Tower, we roped in Miles too, because he’d only recently read it!
This is another pivotal book in Moorcock’s oeuvre, and for this podcast, because it means that the second sequence of eternal champeen books we’ve managed to complete in the last six years. Yes… This pod has been going for six years.
Simon, as well as being behind lots of the visual stylings of Breakfast in the Ruins, is also the co-host of Can I Pod With Madness… and they have a Patreon Page!
For the first time in several years I recently managed to make it to one of the UK’s premier RPG gatherings, GROGMEET, a joyous celebration of roleplaying games hosted by Dirk of The Grognard Files. And this time… I TOOK PHIL… so we decided, ‘what the fluff!’ and recorded our reflections on a cracking weekend and, into the bargain, I also gamed with Stormbringer RPG fan and GM Andrew Beck so I roped him in to reflect on gaming, whether Newcastle Brown is really beer and some other stuff. Mostly gaming though.
Join us!
That re-bound Stormbringer RPG we talked about, put together from a knackered GW 3rd edition:
Pig-bombs, priests in daisy dukes, dressing down the Theocrat of Pan Tang and getting torn apart by dogs are just some of the highlights as I’m joined in D&Ts once again by Steve Round to talk Stormbringer gaming and this time he’s brought the whole damn party.
The wandering beer table returns and, as a reward to the gang, we debut an all-new lazily assembled table of rubbish demon-bound quest goodies.
So join Steve, Chloe, Sara, Roddy, Jay, Richie and Ceirun as we board the Merciful Servant and reflect on what it takes to save the Young Kingdoms from the overbearing and stagnant forces of Law!
Content warning: The Void campaign is Moorcockian and therefore spicy. And Steve tries a smoked beer. Horrific!
You can find the full write-ups of The Void campaign and more on Steve’s blog – Cruising For a Musing
For our latest exploration of multiversal gaming, friends of the show Dave and Steve bring games mastering knowledge and expertise to Derry and Toms (as well as a couple of afternoon libations of course).
Whilst we consider whether Stormbringer is the Moorcockian RPG to rule them all, we also yak about the lineage of the Stormbringer RPG (see terribly boring powerpoint slide below), gaming as shit-kickers, when games get too meta, cat character sheets, how to nail the dream realms, playing games in Littlewoods cafe, and memories of Oyster Stout (all bad).
You can catch up with Dave and Steve’s gaming escapades at:
Also, I refer to Ted’s Stormbringer modifications in the intro to this show and you can read his latest thoughts on the games application of Sorcerers and Summoning over on the Tomb of Tedankhamen.
Simon Perrins joins me in Derry and Toms to discuss Moorcock, art, comics, Tolkien, TV adaptations, role-playing games, tortured poet musicians we adored in our youths and generally go totally fugazi.
Simon is the man behind our banner art, logo, Gerard Arthur Connelly portraits and pretty much our entire visual identity. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store.
Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.
Imagery and stuff we discuss along the way:
White Dwarf #57
Thrud and Eric of Boneymaloney – Carl Critchlow
Fighting Fantasy Book 9 – Caverns of the Snow Witch
Imagine Magazine January 1985 – Cover by Rodney Matthews
The Nomad of Time – Grafton Edition – Cover by Melvyn
The Tolkien Bestiary – David Day – Illustration of The Fall of Numenor by Ian Miller
Ted AKA @tedankhamen joins me in Derry and Toms for the second leaf of our Summer diptych musing on Moorcock, gaming and whatever else enters our eyeline.
Some choice cuts in here including miniature bashing, Tolkien (again), a shock Strongbow appreciation story, chaosium-isms… but mostly some good, chewy thinking on modelling Moorcockian worlds and cosmology. I also bang my BoL drum again.
You can check out the Tentacled Whisperer of Secrets Discord by making an offering to… THE TENTACLED WHISPERER… or just check out his profile. He’s pretty lax on gatekeeping for an ancient deity of unspeakable power.
Check out and subscribe to Jim Kirkland’s newsletter and read his spoiler-free review of The Citadel of Forgotten Myths.
Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store. Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.
Moorcock and RPGs Part Four – Sandboxing the Multiverse
We’re back in Derry and Toms to talk gaming again, this time with CLARKY THE CRUEL.
Dave gets shocked by the crap number of TV channels we had in the UK as kids, Clarky tells us about his sandboxing adventures beyond the ultraworld, and I get inspired. And we digress. Obviously.
You can find Clarky’s Dissecting Worlds podcast archive and all of his game logs on his blog (including entries by yours truly describing the action from the perspective of post-apocalypse fiction powerhouse Roy Saveloy).
In the third and final part of our Moorcockian RPG triptych Rob (aka OldShabbyGamer), host of the Confessions of a Wee Tim’rous Bushi podcast, joins me at Derry & Toms to talk Moorcock, D&D, when a beer is not a beer, and Tolkien!
Graham, Neil and Norman also drop by to talk Stormbringer 3e, ploons, shit sailors & what would make our own ideal Moorcockian RPG. It’s a really Deep Fix. No prizes for guessing who provides the soundtrack!
We’re back in Derry and Toms and returning to Moorcock’s influence and presence in RPGs in the company of Ralph Lovegrove, host of the Fictoplasm Podcast and designer of STORMHACK!
We talk Moorcock (obviously), gaming, podcasting and other bits n bobs, as well as Ralph’s own take on the Moorcockian role-playing game… STORMHACK!
We also mention Appendix N and other recommended reading lasts from RPGs such as RuneQuest.
Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast 