The Maniculum Podcast

Why’s the village priest suddenly involved in your legal contract — and does he have a concubine? Join us this week as we explore parish life in a medieval village and adapt it for your TTRPGs. Will your cleric spread the good word and educate the local priest, or have they decided to take up the tonsure for… other reasons? Parish life was messy — and the perfect setting for building customs, inst...

What did a year of farming look like in a medieval village, and what happens when a group of adventurers come into town during harvest season? This week, we explore the yearly ups and downs of farming in a medieval village, and the various reasons that an adventuring party might be called upon to help — or hinder — the lord and his fields. Join our discord community! Support us on patreon !  Get y...

What happens when the damsel in distress is really the one setting the trap? Eric and Enide continue to defy medieval stereotypes in this episode as Enide deals with a churlish knight who takes a liking to her, luring him into a ‘rescue’ from Eric, only to spring an ambush on him in the end. Join us as we cross-examine this perfect questing encounter and a fantastic example of medieval romance def...

The Voynich Manuscript has been a curiosity and mystery for hundreds of years - what can its strange history teach us about worldbuilding? This week, we’re joined by Lisa Fagin Davis, one of the world’s experts on this enigmatic text. Come along as we discuss the history of the text, its creation and contents, and how the sciences and humanities can come together using tools like latent semantic a...

We return to crafting a fantasy medieval village! This week, we cover a few staples: medicine, food, and death. What sort of medicines and ailments were common in a medieval village, and how did they handle death, whether it be from age or an accident? How can you add these details to your fantasy world to create a grounded, realistic feel, or use it in a quest and plot? Join our discord community...

This week, we are thrilled to host Muna and Leila Salloum, two scholars and chefs who introduce us to the medieval Arab world and its many culinary delights. As the European Middle Ages got under way, the Arab world was experiencing a Golden Age — a hub of trade, knowledge, and peoples through which many new foodstuffs and customs travelled to Europe. Apologies for the audio quality; there were mu...

This week, we're covering social life in the village: childhood, marriage, and having kids. What were these stages of life like, and what strange traditions and customs arose due to the harsh realities of daily life in the middle ages? And of course, how can we translate that into tabletop gaming and storytelling? Content Warning: child birth, child death, pregnancy loss, violence against badgers....

The Middle Ages are ever-present and oft-remembered in modern life, but… not very accurately, especially in fiction and TTRPGs like D\&D. How can we set that right, and why does it matter, even when you create fictional worlds? This week, we’re  hosting Professor Kristin Leaman as she walks us through medieval misinformation and why so many of us have incorrect ideas about the Middle Ages. Plu...

The Vikings have continued to capture imaginations in culture, entertainment, identity, and even branding - but what makes them so popular, and why? Viking expert and museum curator Adam Bierstedt ( Museum of Danish America ) joins us this week to discuss the cultural transmission of the Vikings in history, and how we can continue to tell cool stories about these sea-faring warriors. Join our disc...

How can one story become romance, myth, or horror just by changing how it’s told? This week,  we return to Eric and Enide, cross-examining its French chivalric romance, the classic Welsh, and the darker German version, to show how you can take a single plot and reshape it by tone, culture, and genre, giving you a powerful way to remix adventures and surprise your TTRPG players without reinventing...

This week, we return to building a medieval fantasy village! Come dive into medieval village court records to uncover bizarre taxes, petty fines, and inheritance laws you can drop straight into your game. We discuss how these laws can help your players craft characters with realistic backstories while giving GMs resources to build closed-door mysteries and plots in a world that feels alive instead...

Spells, magic items, and questing galore! What other fanciful tales were being constructed in Chaucer’s time? This week, we host special guest Roger Ladd and discuss Chaucer’s contemporary, John Gower – and the fanciful works he produced. Join us as we explore a witchy, alternative version of Jason and Medea, as well as a mortality tale turned on its head. Join our discord community! Support us on...

In this episode, Mac and Zoe discuss how medieval peasantry worked, the complexities of the system, what sort of peasants there were, and how world builders, writers, and game masters can both accurately represent and adapt the village system in their medieval fantasy worlds and TTRPGs. Join our discord community! Support us on patreon !  Get your copy of Marginal Worlds , a deck of 50 magic items...

How many versions of one tale can we tell? In this episode, we’re diving back into Eric & Enide, and Mac has found two more versions of this classic chivalric romance. We discuss how various cultural differences affect the manner in which these adaptations are written, and explore how we can use cultural difference in worldbuilding. Join our discord community! Support us on patreon !  Get your...

In this episode, Mac and Zoe discuss how medieval peasantry worked, the complexities of the system, unexpected laws, rights, and privileges, and how world builders, writers, and game masters can both accurately represent and adapt the village system in their medieval fantasy worlds and TTRPGs. Join our discord community! Support us on patreon !  Get your copy of Marginal Worlds , a deck of 50 magi...

In this episode, Mac & Zoe debunk medieval love advice and discuss common misconceptions around medieval love and marriage. Reading the philosophical dialogue of Sidrak and Bokkus as an advice column, can we really say whether attitudes toward romance have changed that much, centuries later?  Content Warning: discussions of medieval and modern misogyny and sexual explicitness Join our discord...

In this episode, Mac & Zoe host Sandra Hindman and Jacky Yao from Les Enluminures to discuss the craft and trade of manuscript illumination and creation in the Middle Ages, as well as the influence and popularity of the courtly romance Roman de la Rose. Point of correction: Sandra is not currently serving as chair of art history at Northwestern, but was previously. Join our discord community!...

This episode, Zoe and Mac begin a new series diving into life in medieval villages. This guide for world builders, writers, and game masters will introduce you to how life in medieval villages operated, from terminology to geography, laws and customs, and daily life -- and how to build one for your TTRPG or story. Join our discord community! Support us on patreon ! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds...

This week, we adapt three more medieval "morality" tales from the Gesta Romanorum, adapting them into unique puzzles, adventures, and scenarios for your tabletop campaign. Would YOUR party help you hide a body? Join our discord community! Support us on patreon !  Get your copy of Marginal Worlds , a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medieval manuscripts, built for any TTRPG sys...

While we may think of genre trends as a modern thing in fantasy literature, the chivalric romance of Eric & Enide paints another picture. We examine two versions of this tale: one gritty and grim dark, and the other an idealistic romantasy, and examine how we can use these story techniques in our own campaigns to tell the type of story we want to tell. Join our discord community ! Support us o...

Happy Halloween! The demon has become a fantastic villain (or patron) in many TTRPGs, but their legalistic nature can sometimes feel overused. Join us this week as we analyze real accounts of medieval demons, how they behave, and how to get rid of them so that you can spice up your TTRPG this Halloween. MOONSHOT NETWORK CHARITY STREAM: Streaming November 8-9 Watch the stream here: http://twitch.tv...

In this episode, we finish off the Lais of Marie de France and ask - what makes a medieval romance, and how can we apply that to our games and stories in fresh ways? How does medieval romance compare to modern fantasy romance? Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon ! Get your copy of Marginal Worlds , a deck of 50 magic items pulled directly from medi...

In this episode, we're joined by Chris and Wythe, the creators of Danse Macabre, to discuss their medieval horror TTRPG and how to create historical settings that feel both real and reasonable to a modern gamer. We discuss the concept of the "novum" in worldbuilding, medievalism, and why TTRPGs feel so set upon the Medieval Fantasy in this fantastic roundtable. Support the Danse Macabre...

When sovereignty myth declares that anyone who kills the White Stag can be king, stakes are high in King Arthur's Court. We're exploring the Welsh origins of Eric and Enide in the Mabinogion, and how two different versions of a text can bring to light important context in mythmaking and worldbuilding. Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon ! Get your...

This week, we're joined by author M.T. Anderson as we dive into the thrilling tale of Nicked , the true story of a medieval heist to steal the holy body of Saint Nicholas and save Bari from plague. We take a step-by step approach to the heist and use it as an example for how you can adapt real relic thieves and heists into your TTRPGS & stories. Check out Nicked here ! Find MT Anderson's works...