What can animals teach us about TTRPGs? Join us in this episode as we explore the world of Medieval Fables and just what they can teach us about life, death, and min-maxing with fables & medieval animal specialist Linnet Heald!

Check out our Kickstarter! Check out Sam's DEATH OF THE AUTHOR on Backerkit here!

Check out Linnet's Blog posts & her new work! (Website coming soon!)

• The Raven’s False Greeting: Animal Language and Medieval Fable - link
• Learning to Fear in Two Medieval Fables - link
• The Stag and the Dogs: A Medieval Fable - link
• Imagining the Medieval Bestiary - link
• Linnet Heald, "Wicked Wolves, Culpable Sheep: Animal Lessons in Medieval British Fables," New Medieval Literatures 25 (2025) . (Forthcoming)
• Medieval Panther Woodcut: link

Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Check out our merch!

The Beastiary Challenge! (<-- Don't miss it!)

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Citations & References:

• Caxton’s Aesop ed. by Joseph Jacobs, 1889 - link
• TEAMS Middle English Robert Henryson, The Complete Works: Fables - link & the Modern English Translation
• Loeb Library's BABRIUS, PHAEDRUS, Fables - link
• Davide Ermacora, “The Comparative Milk-Suckling Reptile,” Anthropozoologica 52, no. 1 (2017): 59–81.
• Lion Symbolism: Nigel Harris, "The Lion in Medieval Western Europe: Toward an Interpretive History," Traditio 76 (2021), 185–213.

This week, we're delving into Empress Theodora's early life and rise to power as empress of the Byzantine era. From her breathtaking performances as a prostitute to her love-at-first-sight romance with Justinian as a young guard, we gather that Theodora was one hell of a woman, regardless of Prokopios' distaste for her.

Check out our Kickstarter!

Also, check out Gals and Goblins podcast here, and check out their TikTok and other cool content here! They've been gracious enough to share the pod and Kickstarter with their audience, and we're sharing the love - their actual play is goofy, lighthearted, and fun to listen to on commutes, in the kitchen, or while pruning your garden of poisonous plants you're planing to use to poison your evil overlord.

Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Check out our merch!

The Beastiary Challenge!

Socials: Tumblr Website Twitter Instagram Facebook

Citations & References:

• The Secret History and another version

It's our 100th episode! Come celebrate with us as we host our second tournament - Mac and I compete with each other to see who has the best approach to listener submitted quests, with parties compiled of the characters we've collected from each episode.

Special thanks to all the listeners who submitted quest ideas and questions for us to answer!

WHO WON? VOTE HERE!

Check out our Kickstarter!

Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Check out our merch!

The Beastiary Challenge! (<-- Don't miss it!)

Socials: Tumblr Website Twitter Instagram Facebook

Citations & References:

• Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. “Vertuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735.” American Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 1, 1976, pp. 20–40.
• Richard Keikhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages & Forbidden Rites - find both here!
• Bailey, Michael D. ‘The Disenchantment of Magic: Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft Literature.’ The American Historical Review, Vol 111, No. 2. April 2006. pp. 383-404.
• —. ‘The Age of Magicians: Periodization in the History of European Magic.’ Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, Vol. 3. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. pp. 1-28.
• —. ‘The Disenchantment of Magic: Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft Literature.’ The American Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 2. University of Pennsylvania Press, April 2006. pp. 383-404.