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21 February 2025

Claude of the Rings

We're going back to Middle Earth to have a word in Boromir's ear

Arthur the Bard arrives in Middle Earth on his pet warg George

We’re throwing off the shackles of reality and returning to Tolkien’s Middle Earth, this time under the watchful eye of Game Master Claude.

Tan, assuming the identity of ‘Arthur the Bard’, crashes the party with his harp and friendly pet warg George, just as Boromir is about to go crazy.

Can Tan calm the warrior down with a song? Can Boromir guess Tan’s favourite colour? Will Frodo just grow up a bit and stop being such a baby?

Find out on Monday 24th February when the episode drops.

PS: in case you missed it, this is why Gandalf was delayed on his way to Rivendell…

Jamming with my crew in Middle Earth


Why stop at a horse?

The Trojan Diplodocus: friendly

One of the joys of making PastMaster is coming up with ideas for our future episodes. Ryan’s been thinking how we can stage a two-player game and suggested reenacting the Greeks’ war against Troy, pitting two players against each other to see who could make a better Trojan Horse.

Naturally the mind goes to alternatives - why stop at horse? Why not a bigger animal with more room for hidden soldiers?

As you can see, our AI artist’s impression of a Trojan Diplodocus looks so friendly it’s hard to imagine the Trojans turning him away.

Stay tuned later this season to see whether Tan or Keon can make a more convincing gift from the gods.


AI in the news

Man 0 - 1 Machine

A knotty problem that took a decade for microbiologists to solve has been cracked by an AI programme in just a couple of days.

Professor José R Penadés had spent years working out why some superbugs are immune to antibiotics, but Google’s “co-scientist” came to the same answer based on just a short prompt.

His research had not been published, so could not have been found by the AI system in the public domain. In short it had solved the problem on its own. And a few more besides.

It’s nice to have a bit of good AI news. But spare a thought for poor old Prof Penadés. Must be a bit deflating to have your life’s work independently duplicated by a robot over the course of a weekend.


PLAY YOUR OWN GAME OF PASTMASTER

Are you ready to step through the portal?

As a thank you for your support, we'd like to invite you to play your own game of PastMaster.

Follow the link here to get the actual prompt we designed to launch the game.
We'd love to hear what adventures you go on so please do send us your funniest explorations!


UNTIL NEXT TIME

Tan and the PastMaster crew.

PS if you’ve got any suggestions for what you’d like to see the PastMaster team try next, get in touch:

Instagram: @PastMasterPod

TikTok: @PastMasterAI

Bluesky: @pastmasterpod.bsky.social

X: @PastMasterAI

Email: pastmasterpod@gmail.com