Paul Fricker

We’re back with another special live episode! Our own Paul Fricker recently attended the Dragonmeet 2021 convention in London. While there, he took part in a couple of panels. This first recording is of the Call of Cthulhu 40th anniversary discussion, with Paul, Mike Mason, Lynne Hardy and Lee Carnell. The panel look forward as well as back, talking about the future of the game line.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/12/07/gangsters-in-call-of-cthulhu/ We’re back and we’re trying to understand the attraction of these concrete boots. They’re not very stylish and even less comfortable. Apparently they’ll help us sleep with the fishes, but that’s how we got into trouble last time we were in Innsmouth. It’s a weird life being gangsters in Call of Cthulhu. Main Topic: Gangsters in Call of Cthulhu Our latest episode delves into the deadly underworld of gangsters in Call of Cthulhu. Given that the classic era of Call of Cthulhu coincides with the advent of prohibition and the rise of organised crime in the USA, gangsters have always played a large role in the game. In this episode, we talk about the influences we’ve drawn upon when presenting gangsters in our own games, as well as thoughts on how to use gangsters as protagonists and antagonists. This episode has the unfortunate distinction of being our first standard release not to feature all three of the Good Friends. Matt has been very ill recently after contracting COVID. Happily, he is on the road to recovery and should be back soon. For this and the next episode, however, we have called upon our good friend Dirk the Dice to stand in for Matt. You will know Dirk from his marvellous podcast The Grognard Files, as well as our live recording of “The Necropolis”, with How We Roll. News Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome There is still just time to secure a printed copy of Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. Anyone backing us by the end of the year at the $3 level will receive a voucher for a print-on-demand copy at cost, and backers at the $5 level or higher will receive a copy printed and signed by the Good Friends. This latest issue features an all-new modern-day scenario by Scott, called “Night Bus”, that leans heavily into the weirder side of the Mythos. Reissue of The Blasphemous Tome 1 Speaking of Tomes, we have recently reissued the first Blasphemous Tome. All backers can now download a PDF of issue 1 from our Patreon feed. Additionally, anyone backing us at the $3 level or higher before the end of 2021 will receive vouchers for print-on-demand copies of issues 1 and 7. Issue 1 features a rare thing — a scenario written by all three of the Good Friends. “The Thing From the Shed” can be run using Call of Cthulhu or any OSR game, and involves plenty of icky body horror. Issue 7 features Matt’s sun-drenched scenario, “The Blue”, uncovering horrors beneath the crystal waters of Bermuda. The Canterville Ghost on the Good Friends Discord Following the success of last year’s reading of “A Christmas Carol”, Mike Perceval-Maxwell is organising another Christmas ghost story on the Good Friends Discord server. Mike will be joined by Dom Allen, John Casey, Scott Dorward, Rina Haenze and Sue Savage for a spirited rendition of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost”. We will read the story live over three evenings — the 13th, 14th and 16th of December, at 22:30. Each reading will take approximately 30 minutes. If all goes well, we shall release recordings of each episode on the Good Friends podcast feed, for those who can’t make the live events. “We Will Remember Them” on Spectre in the Fog Our good friend Robin has been running an actual play of Paul’s scenario “We Will Remember Them” for the Spectre in the Fog podcast. This tense tale of heroism and body horror is plucked from the World War Cthulhu scenario collection Europe Ablaze. New Arcs on Grizzly Peaks and How We Roll And speaking of actual plays, two of the podcasts Scott appears on have begun new arcs recently. Grizzly Peaks Radio has just started a playthrough of a modified version of “Ghost Jackal Kill”, from an ancient issue of White Dwarf magazine, featuring the lovable old codgers from “The Surrey Enigma”. Scott has also just started running “Inheritance” — chapter two of the Flotsam and Jetsam campaign — for How We Roll. Our all-star cast of Joe and Eoghan from How We Roll, Veronica from Cthulhu and Friends, and Seth Skorkowsky has grown! We have now been joined by special guest Adrian Tchaikovsky, who has volunteered to steer our investigators through the deadly streets of Innsmouth.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/11/23/mythos-deities-daoloth-and-eihort/ We’re back and we’re clearing out all those pesky veils. They just clutter up the place, getting in the way of seeing how things really are. Also, somehow, they make things feel less spongy. We try not to think about that bit too much. Regardless, one simple application of Daoloth will clear up even the most persistent veil outbreak. Daoloth – safe when used as directed. Main Topic: Mythos Deities – Daoloth and Eihort This is our latest exploration into the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. We have devoted previous episodes to Dagon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Hastur, Azathoth, Nodens, Ubbo-Sathla and Mordiggian, and Ithaqua. This time, it’s the turn of a couple of Ramsey Campbell’s creations. Campbell is responsible for many of our favourite Mythos entities, so it’s long past time we turned our attention to him. His work deserves more than one episode, however, so this time we are limiting our focus to two of his more popular deities: Daoloth and Eihort. We plan to return to his deities some time next year. News Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome is almost ready to go to press. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. While we will send printed copies of the Tome to anyone backing us at the $5 level by the end of the year, you need to act fast if you’d like to receive one of our special Christmas cards as well. We shall only post these to people backing us before the end of November. Any later and our festive byakhee might pull a wing trying to get it to you before the solstice! A Weekend With Good Friends 2022 Following the success of the first two conventions, our lovely listeners are organising another Weekend With Good Friends. This online convention will take place on our Discord server between the 18th and 20th of February 2022. There will be plenty of horror gaming goodness throughout, mainly Call of Cthulhu, but with many other systems on offer too. Last time, there were the best part of 150 games on offer, including pickup games. We will keep you posted as things progress. For now, however, just keep that weekend clear! Paul at Dragonmeet Speaking of conventions, Paul will be attending Dragonmeet in London on the 4th of December this year. While there, he plans to sit on a panel about the forthcoming Rivers of London RPG with Ben Aaronovitch and Lynne Hardy, as well as a panel with our good friends from the Smart Party on a topic yet to be determined.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/11/09/media-catch-up-films/ This is the latest of our occasional discussions about the media we’ve been consuming recently. After our earlier episodes about television and books, we’re turning to the big screen. Well, not that big. We’re all still watching most of our films at home. The three films we discuss are: Paul: Free Fire (2016) Matt: No One Gets Out Alive (2021) Scott: Candyman (2021) As ever, we pick the films apart, looking for gaming inspiration. News Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome is almost ready to go to press. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. While we will send printed copies of the Tome to anyone backing us at the $5 level by the end of the year, you need to act fast if you’d like to receive one of our special Christmas cards as well. We shall only post these to people backing us before the end of November. Any later and the festive byakhee might pull a wing trying to get it to you in time for the solstice! October Horror Movie Challenge 2021 Scott has now finished his October Horror Movie Challenge for 2021, watching a horror film every day and posting a full review to this very website. His post mortem, discussing the best, worst and weirdest picks of the month, is now available. If you would like to talk about any of these, please join the discussion on our Discord server or on Twitter. HPLHS Kickstarter: Miskatonic Missives Our good friends at the HP Lovecraft Historical Society are in the last days of a new Kickstarter campaign. Building on their Voluminous podcast, Miskatonic Missives reproduces three of Lovecraft’s famously long and revealing letters in book form. Of course, this being the HPLHS, not only are the books beautiful, but they come with reproductions of all sorts of related ephemera. Act quickly, as the campaign ends this Friday, the 12th of November.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/10/26/the-tower-of-the-elephant/ We’re back and we’re preparing to pillage. This weird, shining tower looks like it should contain treasures, or at least an interesting story to discuss. There’s rustling in the undergrowth surrounding it, but we’ll just ignore that for now. If it proves to be something dangerous, Matt can rip up one of his rare Magic: the Gathering cards and blow the remains at it. And once we’re inside, we must find out why they call it Tower of the Elephant. Maybe there’s a petting zoo. Main Topic: The Tower of the Elephant After spending a couple of episodes discussing Robert E Howard’s life and works, we’re now exploring one of his stories. “The Tower of the Elephant” was the third Conan tale published and arguably the first to really pin down his character. As well as discussing the story itself, looting it for gaming inspiration, we use it as a springboard to talk about Conan in general. If you haven’t already done so, you may also want to check out our discussion of the sword and sorcery genre, of which “The Tower of the Elephant” is one of the earliest examples. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Conan the Cimmerian Weird Tales March 1933 Skull-Face and Others by Robert E Howard “The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E Howard “The Scarlet Citadel” by Robert E Howard “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E Howard “The Shadow Kingdom” by Robert E Howard Kull of Atlantis Conan RPG scenarios based on “The Tower of the Elephant” Conan the Barbarian (1982) “Red Nails” by Robert E Howard Chronologies for the Conan stories Drinking jacks Zamora The City of Thieves Texas oil boom A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard Black Lotus Black Lotus in Magic: the Gathering Ganesha The Whole Wide World (1996) Dumbo (1941) At the Mountains of Madness by H P Lovecraft “The Whisperer in Darkness” by H P Lovecraft “The Meat Trade” on Ain’t Slayed Nobody The Changeling (1980) Genre Emulation episode The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E Howard “Man-Eaters of Zamboula” by Robert E Howard Barbarians of Lemuria News 40th Anniversary Edition This Halloween sees the 40th birthday of Call of Cthulhu. Despite making us feel old, this is a cause for celebration! At Chaosium, the celebration is taking the form of a special 40th anniversary edition of the Call of Cthulhu rulebook. With its leather binding and sinister sigils, this looks like just the kind of tome we were warned would destroy us. Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome is nearing completion. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers, containing brand-new licensed material for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. The latest issue will contain a full-length, modern-day Call of Cthulhu scenario called “Night Bus”, by our own Scott Dorward. Ain’t Slayed Nobody Halloween Game Scott is running what seems to have become the annual Halloween game for Ain’t Slayed Nobody. Following the success of last year’s “The Green Pumpkin”, we are improvising another Call of Cthulhu scenario based on listener suggestions. The main theme this time is “Totally Not a Cult Gathering”, with cuppycup, Wes Davis, Rina Haenze, and Joe Trier from How We Roll as players. The stream goes out on the ASN Twitch and YouTube channels on Wednesday, 27th of October, at 3-6 PM EDT/8-11 PM BST. It will be available on demand at the ASN YouTube channel afterwards, and will eventually appear as a podcast episode too.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/10/11/the-work-of-robert-e-howard/ We’re back and we’re hitting the books. That’s probably not fair, though. Just because they’re full of boxing tales doesn’t mean they can hit back. And two-fisted stories don’t actually seem to have any fists of their own. We’re beginning to suspect that this fiction stuff is all made up. Main Topic: The Works of Robert E Howard This episode is the conclusion of our two-part look into the life and works of Robert E Howard. Last time, we offered an overview of Howard’s life. This time, it’s the turn of his work. As well as being the creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, Kull of Atlantis, and the Pictish king, Bran Mak Morn, Howard initiated both the sword and sorcery and weird western genres. In his sadly short career, Howard wrote horror, boxing yarns, comedies, historical adventures, and action stories. With the encouragement of his friend H P Lovecraft, he penned tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. And that’s without mentioning his voluminous poetry output. He was as versatile as he was prolific. While we cover the broad strokes of his career, we would need dozens of episodes just to catalogue his work. As a result, this is an incomplete and highly idiosyncratic summary of Howard’s career and legacy. Resources Our main research sources for this episode are: Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E Howard by Mark Finn A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H P Lovecraft and Robert E Howard edited by S T Joshi, David E Schultz and Rusty Burke Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E Howard edited by Robert M Price. Our next episode wraps up this series by exploring one of Howard’s most famous stories, “The Tower of the Elephant”. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Conan the Cimmerian Solomon Kane Robert E Howard’s poetry “The Sea” by Robert E Howard “Spear and Fang” by Robert E Howard Weird Tales “Red Nails” by Robert E Howard Sailor Steve Costigan Boxing pulp magazines Post Oaks & Sand Roughs by Robert E Howard “The Shadow Kingdom” by Robert E Howard Kull of Atlantis Bran Mak Morn Weird fiction “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E Howard Clark Ashton Smith Zothique Lord Dunsany Gods of Pegāna by Lord Dunsany The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany Dungeons & Dragons Oriental Stories/The Magic Carpet Magazine Red Sonya of Rogatino Red Sonja The Savage Sword of Conan Red Sonja (1985) Unaussprechlichen Kulten The Lovecraft Circle “Dig Me No Grave” by Robert E Howard “The Thing on the Roof” by Robert E Howard August Derleth E Hoffman Price “The Black Stone” by Robert E Howard “Pigeons From Hell” by Robert E Howard “The Hyborean Age” by Robert E Howard “By This Axe I Rule” by Robert E Howard “The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E Howard El Borak Top Notch Magazine Blazing Saddles (1974) Cactus Jack (1979) “The Horror From the Mound” by Robert E Howard Breckinridge Elkins A Gent From Bear Creek by Robert E Howard “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” by H P Lovecraft Skull-Face and Others by Robert E Howard Arkham House Gnome Press L Sprague de Camp Lancer Conan series Frank Frazetta Robert E Howard Library from Del Rey Books Comics Code Authority Karl Edward Wagner Delphi Classics Complete Works of Robert E Howard Edward de Bono Cheerful nihilism Sonia Greene News Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome We have started work on issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. While the issue is filling up fast, there is still space if you would like to submit an article of 500 words or under, or any black-and-white artwork. You can contact us at submissions@blasphemoustomes.com. This issue will include our usual year-end features, including “The Ludomancers” and “Episodes of Insanity”. We offer a few hints about what to expect in the news segment. Owlbear and Wizard’s Staff Paul recently attended the Owlbear and Wizard’s Staff convention in Leamington Spa, where he played Barbarians of Lemuria and ran Call of Cthulhu. October Horror Movie Challenge 2021 Scott is deep into the October Horror Movie Challenge, watching a horror film every day and posting a full review to this very website. If you would like to take part too, please join the discussion on our Discord server or on Twitter.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/09/27/the-life-of-robert-e-howard/ Note, once again Scott's recording was somehow beset by gremlins and went out of synch, so there's no unedited version of this show. Scott has looked at some ways to fix the problem, so fingers crossed for the future. By the way, do people like the unedited version? Do let us know. We’re back and we’re spoiling for a fight. Well, a boxing match at least. There’s this fellow we met down at the ice house who’s promised us a bout or two. We heard he’s some kind of writer, so his fists must be more used to hitting keys than jaws. Uh oh. Look at the size of him! Is it too late to change this to a different kind of competition, maybe something like writing a poem? What? He’s good at that too? Boy, it’s really not our day…. The Life of Robert E Howard Following our recent discussion of sword and sorcery, this episode is the first of a two-part look into the life and work of Robert E Howard. A close friend of Lovecraft (although the two men never actually met), Howard was a cornerstone of the success of Weird Tales. He not only added to the Cthulhu Mythos but created, arguably, two enduring subgenres of fantastic fiction: sword and sorcery and the weird western. Like Lovecraft, most of his success came posthumously, his books selling millions of copies. His creations have appeared in films, comics, video game and even the odd RPG. But who was Robert E Howard? We examine the man himself, looking at how his life might have shaped his writing. For someone who died so young and spent most of his short life in one town, Howard lived a fascinating life. The era of Texan history in which he grew up was a turbulent one, dealing with the fallout of recent conflicts and the shock of the oil boom. These unique circumstances, as well as the oddness of the Howard family, were fertile creative ground for the young writer’s imagination. We offer a brief overview of the key events of his life and some thoughts of our own. As a general content warning, this episode includes some brief discussion of Howard’s suicide. Our next episode builds upon this discussion, looking at Howard’s writing career and his most famous creation, Conan the Cimmerian. Links Our main research sources for this episode are: Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E Howard by Mark Finn A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H P Lovecraft and Robert E Howard edited by S T Joshi, David E Schultz and Rusty Burke Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E Howard edited by Robert M Price Other things we mention in this episode include: H P Lovecraft Clark Ashton Smith Texas oil boom Cross Plains, Texas There Will Be Blood (2007) Picts Bran Mak Morn Adventure “Pigeons From Hell” by Robert E Howard “The Dunwich Horror” by H P Lovecraft Weird Tales Boxing pulps “The Rats in the Walls” by H P Lovecraft August Derleth E Hoffmann Price Novalyne Price One Who Walked Alone by Novalyne Price Ellis The Whole Wide World (1996) Robert E Howard Museum Viola Garvin Michael K Vaughan’s YouTube channel L Sprague de Camp Fredric Wertham Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham Albert Fish Seabury Quinn Jules de Grandin “The Black Stone” by Robert E Howard News October Horror Movie Challenge 2021 It is that time of year again. Scott is preparing to embark on the October Horror Movie Challenge, watching a horror film every day and posting a full review to this very website. If you would like to take part too, please join the discussion on our Discord server or on Twitter. The Blasphemous Tome Some of you have contacted us asking about the print-on-demand version of issue 7 of the Blasphemous Tome. We've had a proof copy, but there are still a few issues to sort out, so apologies for the delay, but it is coming. Once we've been through this process once, hopefully getting future issues out through print-on-demand should be smoother. We have started work on issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. While the issue is filling up fast, there is still space if you would like to submit an article of 500 words or under, or any black-and-white artwork. You can contact us at submissions@blasphemoustomes.com. This latest issue will feature “Night Bus”, a brand new scenario from our own Scott Dorward. Prepare to enter the horrors of late-night public transport in Greater London. Things are going to get weird!

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/09/13/genre-emulation-in-rpgs/ Genre Emulation in RPGs This episode is our discussion of the role of genre emulation in RPGs. How do RPGs reflect the source material that inspires them? Should they even attempt to do so? And how do we even attempt to define genre? While we may not provide comprehensive answer to these thorny questions, they do at least act as springboards for some robust discussion. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Genre Sword and sorcery Avatar Legends RPG Kickstarter Dungeons & Dragons Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG The One Ring RPG Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Seinfeld Primetime Adventures All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein Billions Rivers of London RPG Dying Earth RPG Deadlands Doctor Who RPG Pulp Cthulhu Jaws of the Six Serpents Stranger Things Tales From the Loop Mad Max Dead of Night Monsterhearts Savage Worlds Blake’s 7 Appendix N Alien RPG Star Wars RPG Casablanca (1942) A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher Wild Cards by George RR Martin LitRPG Adrian Tchaikovsky interview News Submissions for Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome We have started work on issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. While the issue is filling up fast, there is still space if you would like to submit an article of 500 words or under, or any black-and-white artwork. You can contact us at submissions@blasphemoustomes.com.

Hi there - it's been a few years, so without going back and reading it through again my memory is a bit hazy! The intent is to provide a set-up that creates an in media res start to the campaign. Given it's a warzone, it's meant to be chaotic and confusing. In my mind, it was something like the confusion we see in Apocalypse Now. IIRC correctly, the team has some nurses and medical supplies with them? Given that it is Pulp, combined with what happens within moments of the game starting, all those details soon take a back seat to the action and excitement! As always, I think the best advice is to adapt the text through to suit your own thinking and approach, and if there are some elements that don't stack up, then feel free to adapt them. I hope that helps, and that you and your group have fun with the campaign!

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/08/30/the-changeling/ We’re back and we’re poking around in our dusty old attic. It’s usually the most convenient place to find ghosts. You’d think that with the number of people who have died over the years, ghosts would be a bit easier to locate. Instead, we end up looking into all the dark corners of our homes, hoping to catch a glimpse of something spooky. It’s mostly just cobwebs and lonely spiders, however. Maybe we’ll just give up and put on this DVD of The Changeling instead. The Changeling This episode is our discussion of the 1980 Canadian horror film, The Changeling. While horror cinema is hardly short of ghost stories, there’s always room for a well-made one. And there’s good reason why The Changeling haunts so many genre best-of lists. As ever, we pick the film’s bones for gaming inspiration. Links Things we mention in this episode include: The Changeling (1980) The Exorcist (1973) The Omen (1976) The Shining (1980) Henry Treat Rogers house in Denver The Amityville Horror (1979) Ed and Lorraine Warren The Conjuring (2013) Peter Medak The Babysitter (1980) Cry For the Strangers (1982) Species II (1998) Masters of Horror Hannibal The Babysitter (2017) The Landmark Trust Old Observatory House in Edinburgh Cryptomnesia Disappointments rooms The Disappointments Room (2016) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Microfiche Parapsychology Automatic writing Austin Osman Spare Spirit trumpets Cassadaga Electronic Voice Phenomenon White Noise (2005) “The Whisperer in Darkness” by H P Lovecraft Poltergeist (1982) Dracula (1931) Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu News Submissions for Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome We have started work on issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. While the issue is filling up fast, there is still space if you would like to submit an article of 500 words or under, or any black-and-white artwork. You can contact us at submissions@blasphemoustomes.com. A Weekend With Good Friends Thanks Another Weekend With Good Friends has been and gone. This is the online gaming convention organised by our wonderful listeners and hosted on our Discord Server. The weekend was a rousing success, with well over 100 games and 250 participants. Thank you very much to everyone who made this happen! Scott on Ain’t Slayed Nobody The finale of season one of the main “Y’all of Cthulhu” arc of Ain’t Slayed Nobody comes out the same day as this episode. If you listen to it, which you absolutely should, you may hear the mocking tones of one of the Good Friends, voicing an NPC. Recording this was suitably evil fun!

And Part 2 is now out: https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/08/16/sword-and-sorcery-part-2/ This episode is the conclusion our exploration of sword and sorcery. In our first instalment, we looked into the origins of the genre in the pulps. This time, we’re delving into films and games, seeing how they compare to their source material. While the 1980s were a boom time for sword and sorcery films, were any of them actually any good? We pick apart a few of the more notable films of the time, offering our usual range of conflicting opinions. In the second half of the episode, we do much the same with games. There have been any number of sword and sorcery RPGs published over the past 50 years, but which ones are worth looking into? And how do different games approach the genre, focusing more on swords, sorcery, or that atmosphere of sensual dreaminess that pervades some of the stranger tales?

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/08/02/sword-and-sorcery-part-1/ We’re back and we’re puzzling over the riddle of steel. Is it an enigma? Maybe some clever bit of wordplay? It’s probably safer if we stick to swordplay, especially with all these sorcerers around. They seem to be allergic to steel. It brings them out in stab wounds. There’s a reason why they call it “sword and sorcery” and not “word and sorcery”. Sword and Sorcery This episode is our examination of the genre of sword and sorcery. “But why are you doing this on a Call of Cthulhu podcast?” we hear an imaginary listener ask. While we hope the episode more than answers this, it’s probably worth explaining here too. Sword and sorcery and the Cthulhu Mythos were birthed from the same otherworldy womb and bear more than a passing familial resemblance. Not only were the first tales of each published alongside each other in Weird Tales, but they often sprang from the same pens. Some of the best-known entities of the Mythos slithered out of sword and sorcery tales, and other such stories borrowed from the Mythos in turn. But it’s not just the content of the stories we get into here. The structure, pace and sheer bloody weirdness can also inform our games. A good sword and sorcery story is quick and brutal. How can we bring that to the gaming table, short of punching our players in the face? Links Things we mention in this episode include: Weird Tales Michael Moorcock The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb Robert E Howard Conan the Cimmerian Sorcerer & Sword by Ron Edwards Fritz Leiber Solomon Kane Bran Mak Morn Kull of Atlantis Mervyn Peake Dungeon Crawl Classics Appendix N Clark Ashton Smith The Princess Bride (1987) C L Moore Jirel of Joiry Boris Vallejo Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Destroyer (1984) “The Hyborian Age” by Robert E Howard “The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E Howard “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E Howard Karl Edward Wagner Charles R Saunders The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber L Sprague de Camp “The Doom That Came to Sarnath” by HP Lovecraft Henry Kuttner Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons edited by Peter Bebergal Seth Skorkowsky interview Mordiggian Zothique “The Seven Geases” by Clark Ashton Smith “The Charnel God” by Clark Ashton Smith “Black God’s Kiss” by C L Moore “A Hero at the Gates” by Tanith Lee Tales From the Flat Earth by Tanith Lee “Lean Times in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber “Stardock” by Fritz Leiber “The Lords of Quarmall” by Fritz Leiber “Red Nails” by Robert E Howard The Wizard of Lemuria by Lin Carter The Conan Chronicles by Robert E Howard, L Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter Elric of Melniboné Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock Kane “Undertow” by Karl Edward Wagner Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer The Dying Earth by Jack Vance Cugel’s Saga by Jack Vance Imaro by Charles R Saunders News A Weekend With Good Friends GM sign-ups open GM sign-ups for the next Weekend With Good Friends are open until the 5th of August 2021. Player sign-ups begin on the 6th of August, and the convention itself starts on the 20th of August. A Weekend With Good Friends is the online gaming convention organised by our wonderful listeners and hosted on our Discord Server. Full details can be found on our website.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/07/05/scenario-structures/ We’re back and we’re seeking direction. While human lives are generally chaotic, we can at least bring order to our work. Pinning down good scenario structures can help us pretend that the world makes sense. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to paint the streets with nice tessellating hexagons. Main Topic: Scenario Structures This episode is our examination of how we structure RPG scenarios. While scenario structures are mostly important when writing your adventure up to share with other GMs, they can affect every stage of the development process. In this episode, we try to identify different types of structure and go into their pros and cons, challenging some of our own preconceptions along the way. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Horror on the Orient Express Masks of Nyarlathotep The Two-Headed Serpent Call of Cthulhu in Japan Replays “The Haunting” from the Call of Cthulhu Quick-Start Rules “Uncle Timothy’s Will” from Blood Brothers “Amidst the Ancient Trees” from the Call of Cthulhu rulebook D&D Paranoia Roll20 “Blackwater Creek” from the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen Pack The Appeal of Investigative Games “Crimson Letters” from the Call of Cthulhu rulebook Hot War “Jailbreak” from One Shots “In Media Res” from The Unspeakable Oath issue 10 Beginnings, Middles and Ends “Pinfeathers” from Unknown Armies 2nd edition “The Green Glass Grail” from Weep “The Horse of the Invisible” from White Dwarf 66 Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson “Hell is Other People” from Screams and Whispers The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Discord server News Flotsam and Jetsam on How We Roll Scott has just finished running “The Star Brothers”, Brian Courtemanche‘s opening chapter to the Flotsam and Jetsam campaign, for How We Roll. The first two episodes are now out, with several more following soon. The players include Joe and Eoghan from How We Roll, Veronica from Welcome to St Paxton, and Seth Skorkowsky, If you would like to run Flotsam and Jetsam yourself, simply join the Cult of Chaos. Paul on Storytelling Collective Paul has contributed a number of lessons to the Call of Cthulhu track for the Storytelling Collective‘s Write Your First Adventure course. Sign up to learn all his secrets! The programme encourages you to publish your new creation on the Miskatonic Repository. Call of Cthulhu Classic – 40th Anniversary Kickstarter Chaosium have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for a reprint of the 2nd edition Call of Cthulhu boxed set. This includes all the original booklets, with tidied-up layout and typos corrected. Extras include a newly designed Keeper Screen, ruby-coloured dice, and reprints of the Cthulhu Companion, Fragments of Fear, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Trail of Tsathoggua, and The Asylum and Other Tales. Follow the campaign for more goodies as further stretch goals are unlocked.

good-friends-211.mp3 We’re back and we’re flying the friendly skies. Well, maybe not that friendly. OK, they’re downright malevolent. Ithaqua may be one of the fastest ways to travel but the in-flight entertainment is chilling. And the less said about the landings, the better. At least we have these nifty little tokens to remember our trip by. If only we had the time to enjoy them before freezing to death… Mythos Deities – Ithaqua This episode is the latest in our series on the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos, looking at Ithaqua — the wind-walker. Previous entries include Dagon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Hastur, Azathoth, Nodens, Mordiggian and Ubbo-Sathla. In our discussion, we look at Ithaqua’s origins, how he has been developed over the years, and how we might use him ourselves. Additionally, we delve into the conflation of Ithaqua with wendigo legends and how we might untangle them. Thank you very much to everyone who suggested resources to help us understand the actual wendigo legends and how they have often been misused in horror fiction. Especially, we would like to thank Shane Hawk and cornysams on Twitter and Stephen Wall, Al Smith and Giles on our Discord server. Any misinterpretations of the materials they suggested reflect solely on us, not on these fine people or the resources they suggested. If you’d like to learn more about the background and misrepresentation of wendigo legends, the resources in question are: “Cannibalism in Contact Narratives and the Evolution of the Wendigo” by Michelle Lietz “The Appropriation of the Windigo Spirit in Horror Literature” by Kallie Hunchman “The Horror! The Horror? The Appropriation, and Reclamation, of Native American Mythology” by Joe Nazare “Incursion Into Wendigo Territory” by Jackson Eflin “The Mythology and Misrepresentation of the Windigo” by Elizabeth McCauley Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural edited by Barbara Walker Links Things we mention in this episode include: The Magnus Archives August Derleth “The Thing That Walked on the Wind” by August Derleth “Beyond the Threshold” by August Derleth Strange Eons by Robert Bloch The Ithaqua Cycle edited by Robert M Price The Outsider and Others by H P Lovecraft “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” by H P Lovecraft “The Snow-Thing” (AKA “Ithaqua”) by August Derleth The Mask of Cthulhu by August Derleth “The Dunwich Horror” by H P Lovecraft “The Wendigo” by Algernon Blackwood “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood “The Thing From — ‘Outside'” by George Allan England Leng Parachuting spiders “The Whisperer in Darkness” by H P Lovecraft Hastur Wendigo Wendigo psychosis Pet Sematary by Stephen King Malleus Monstrorum Djinn Alone Against the Frost “Born of the Winds” by Brian Lumley Spawn of the Winds by Brian Lumley Gnoph-Keh Rhan-Tegoth “The Horror in the Museum” by H P Lovecraft and Hazel Heald The Walker in the Wastes The Realm of Shadows The Two-Headed Serpent Florida Man Cassadaga The Last Winter (2006) Wendigo (2001) Blasphemous News! We have just sent out the first issue of our new email newsletter! If you would like to hear more about upcoming episodes, side projects, and other cool things, sign up now. Scott on Elder Sign and Grizzly Peaks Radio Scott has made a couple of guest appearances on other podcasts recently. Glenn McDorman of the Elder Sign podcast talked to him about one of the horror stories that influenced him in his youth — “The Werewolf and the Vampire” by R Chetwynd-Hayes. Scott also spoke to Andy Goodman of Grizzly Peaks Radio about creating atmosphere in horror games and whether actual play podcasts could be as frightening as audio dramas. This might lead to spooky things! Recent Special Episodes We have released some more special episodes. Scott recently interviewed award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky. They spoke about cosmic horror as science fiction, creating compelling non-human characters, and how gaming helps teach robust world building. We have also released the first of a two-part discussion with fan-favourite YouTuber and author Seth Skorkowsky. In this instalment, he and Scott talk about GMing tips, the constraints of genre, and UFO cults. The second part, in which Jon Hook joins us, goes into the Modern Mythos podcast Jon and Seth recently launched. Check your podcast feed for all these episodes. The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7 Issue 7 of The Blasphemous Tome will be creeping your way before the end of June. It features a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. This episode, we discuss the wonderful cover art created by our good friend John Sumrow. Everyone backing us on Patreon by the end of this month will receive a Tome. Please see our Patreon page for more details.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/06/08/the-endless/ We’re back and we’re back again. It feels like going around in circles. Or maybe the circles are going around us. It’ll all become clear in time. But few of us have experienced time in quite the same way since March 2020, however many years ago that was. Regardless, it seemed like the time had come round to watch a film that understood this. Not that time matters in The Endless. Except that it does. Don’t worry if this sounds confusing — you can spend a million hours working it all out. Main Topic: The Endless This episode is our look at the 2017 horror film, The Endless. A number of you recommended it to us when we released our series on cults, given some of the subject matter. As you can hear in this episode, however, we weren’t all convinced that the community at the film’s heart qualifies as a cult. And one of us just plain wasn’t convinced. So put this episode on repeat and prepare to enter the word of The Endless. Just don’t expect to be leaving any time soon. Links Things we mention in this episode include: The Endless (2017) Synchronic (2019) Moon Knight Resolution (2012) Spring Cults series Ant colony castings Groundhog Day (1993) Palm Springs (2020) Death in RPGs “The Jane Fonda Room” from The Panic Hand by Jonathan Carroll “A Nice Place to Visit” Twilight Zone episode RPG Nook Sound of My Voice (2011) Cadaver (2020) Repulsion (1965) Media Catch-Up – Books News Paul’s Polish Panel Paul and Mike Mason made a recent virtual trip to Poland for a convention run by the Krakowska Sieć Fantastyki. There, they were interviewed by Anna Mazur, author of the recent Call of Cthulhu scenario collection, Does Love Forgive? As Paul mentions in the segment, searching for this video led him to discover the Fricker’s Mason restaurant in Cincinnati. We hope they serve calamari. Full Fathom Five in French Paul’s Call of Cthulhu scenario “Full Fathom Five” is now available en français. “Sous Cinq Brassées“, translated by Secrets of the Masquerade is now available for purchase on DriveThruRPG. Bon voyage! The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7 Issue 7 of The Blasphemous Tome will be creeping your way before the end of June. It features a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. Matt spends a little time this episode telling us what to expect from it. Everyone backing us on Patreon will receive a Tome. Please see our Patreon page for more details. And for the first time we have a colour cover! John Sumrow has pulled out all the stops for this one. All I can say for now is, "The rat, the rat with a human face!"

Thanks @Nick Brooke! And thanks also @klecser. I'm super pleased with having it in print (many thanks to Nick for his help). Here's a couple of photos to show it off, especially the wonderful cover and (disturbing) internal images by John Sumrow. Link in Nick's post above to the Drivethru page.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/04/27/strange-npcs-albert-fish/ We’re back and we’re presenting a somewhat darker episode than usual. While The Good Friends of Jackson Elias is definitely a horror podcast, most of the horror we discuss is rooted in the fantastic. In this episode, however, we’ve decided to look into some real nightmares from the classic 1920s era for gaming inspiration and talk about Albert Fish. Main Topic: Albert Fish Originally, this episode was going to form a segment in one of our Great NPCs of History series. There were a couple of problems, however. The first was that once we had dug into the research, there was so much material that it would require a full episode. More important was that however fascinating we find Albert Fish, there is nothing about him we could describe as “great”. If you’ve heard the name Albert Fish before, you should have some idea of what to expect from the episode. Otherwise, be warned that he was a serial killer, sexual predator and cannibal who targeted children. He also delighted in taunting the families of his victims. His crimes are the stuff of nightmare. While we try to present the details soberly and without too much prurient detail, this episode will not be to everyone’s tastes. As ever, our motivation is to find inspiration for Call of Cthulhu. While the actual crimes of Albert Fish are too horrible for most games, details of the police investigation, newspaper reporting and trial that his crimes spawned should prove useful to Keepers of classic-era campaigns. Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Great NPCs of History More Great NPCs of History Albert Fish Deranged: The Shocking True Story of America’s Most Fiendish Killer by Harold Schechter Albert Fish: In Sin He Found Salvation (2007) Michael Fish William Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible by Barry Miles Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column by HG Cocks Walker in the Wastes Charles Lindbergh Lindbergh baby kidnapping Zodiac (2007) Fredric Wertham Bellevue Hospital Letter from Albert Fish to the Budd family Cosmic horror episode Captain Pugwash urban myths Piquerism Trephination Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham The Comics Code Edgar Laplante Ted Bundy News Chaosium Reprints Matt discusses some goodies from Chaosium that have landed on his front doorstep. Horror on the Orient Express and Beyond the Mountains of Madness are now available again in print-on-demand format. As Matt points in the segment, however, the binding quality is a lot higher than you might expect from POD. He also touches upon the new scenario collection, Does Love Forgive? The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7 Issue 7 of The Blasphemous Tome will be escaping into the wild before the end of June. It includes a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. Everyone backing us on Patreon will receive a copy. Please see our Patreon page for more details.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/04/13/the-willows/ We’re back and we’re going on our summer holidays! What could be finer than drifting down the Danube, marvelling at all the willows crowding these sandy little islets? Well, maybe not being consumed or driven mad by the unseen cosmic forces lurking within them. But that’s just the kind of risk you take when you go camping. The Willows Following on from our recent discussion of cosmic horror, we thought it might be helpful to look at an example of the genre. Dating back to 1907, Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows” is one of the earliest examples of cosmic horror. It was also a profound influence on the young HP Lovecraft, who later raved about it in Supernatural Horror in Literature. Unfortunately, as we explore in the episode, this admiration was not reciprocal. As usual, we dig into the story in detail, looking for inspiration for our Call of Cthulhu games. Also, as usual, we disagree about almost everything. Links Things we mention in this episode include: “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood Cosmic horror Algernon Blackwood The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn John Silence Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder “The Wendigo” by Algernon Blackwood Arthur Machen “Supernatural Horror in Literature” by HP Lovecraft Occultism in Lovecraft Blackwood’s opinion of Lovecraft The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame WB Yeats Celtic fairy folklore Tolkien and trees Body horror Ghosts Folk horror Survival horror Dark Young Folie à deux Quixotism and panzaism Planet Gong Sound of My Voice “The Whisper in Darkness” by HP Lovecraft Fairyland Jasper Carrott The Blair Witch Project (1999) “The Dunwich Horror” by HP Lovecraft Trypophobia Surinam toad Yog-Sothoth “The Willows” on Horrorbabble News The Meat Trade on Ain’t Slayed Nobody Scott has been running World War Cthulhu: London for our good friends at Ain’t Slayed Nobody. His scenario, “The Meat Trade”, delves into the underworld of wartime London, in more ways than one. The first episode will go out on the Ain’t Slayed Nobody Patreon feed towards the end of April. The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7 Issue 7 of The Blasphemous Tome will be escaping into the wild before the end of June. It includes a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. Everyone backing us on Patreon will receive a copy. Please see our Patreon page for more details. If you would like to submit a short (up to 500 words) article or piece of black-and-white artwork, please contact us on social media or email us at submissions@blasphemoustomes.com

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/03/30/cosmic-horror/ We’re back and we’re and we’re contemplating the secrets of the universe. People have warned us that it isn’t good for the human psyche to truly understand its insignificance in the wider cosmos. Luckily, as podcasters, our egos are robust enough to withstand such a spiritual winnowing. Cosmic horror is only genuinely horrific if your place in the universe isn’t secured by the occasional appearance towards the bottom of a niche podcast chart! Main Topic: Cosmic Horror This episode is our long-overdue look at cosmic horror. The term “cosmic horror” is often used as a synonym for Lovecraftian horror. Is there more to this relationship, however? For all his passion for the genre, how effective was Lovecraft at writing cosmic horror? How can we bring cosmic dread into our games of Call of Cthulhu? And what the hell is cosmic horror anyway? Links Things we mention in this episode include: Alien (1979) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trebuchet Magazine Buffer overflows “The Rats in the Walls” by HP Lovecraft “Supernatural Horror in Literature” by HP Lovecraft WB Yeats The Quatermass Experiment Azathoth The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by HP Lovecraft Yog-Sothoth The Gods of Pegāna by Lord Dunsany “The Music of Erich Zann” by HP Lovecraft Body horror The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay “Nyarlathotep” by HP Lovecraft “The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C Clarke Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Solaris (1972) Solaris (2002) Arrival (2016) “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang Event Horizon (1997) 2001: A Space Oddysey (1968) “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett The Last Mimzy (2007) The Leftovers (2014) “Black and White Sky” by Tanith Lee Uzumaki by Junji Ito Uzimaki (2000) News Patreon Changes We’ve recently made some changes to our Patreon tiers. These centre on how we deliver The Blasphemous Tome. As of the next Tome, we will send a PDF to $1 backers, a code for a print-on-demand copy to $3 backers, and hand-printed and signed copies to those at $5 and above. Check our Patreon page for more details. The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7 The reason for these Patreon changes is that we will now be putting out two full Blasphemous Tomes per year. While the .5 summer releases started life as an overflow for material we couldn’t fit in the standard Tome, they’ve proved very popular. As a result, we’re promoting them to full Tomes, which means they will be available in print as well as PDF. Issue 7 is due out in June and will include a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. We’ll have more details for you soon!

We’re back and we’re heading out for a night on the town, or at least what’s left of the town. Apparently, this new dinner theatre is to die for. Their menu is light on vegetarian options and the play is pretty incoherent, but you take what you can get in times like these. Unfortunately, one of the other guests keeps ranting about how meat is murder. People like her just eat us up inside. Still, we’re going to ignore her doomsaying and paint the town red! https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/03/16/cadaver/ Main Topic: Cadaver This episode is our look at the 2020 horror/science fiction film, Cadaver, currently available on Netflix. It’s the first feature from Norwegian writer/director Jarand Herdal. This grim post-apocalyptic tale of theatrics and cannibalism divided us at least as much as any film we’ve seen before. Be prepared for some spirited debate. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Cadaver (2020) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) The Shining (1980) The Cook. the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) Delicatessen (1991) The Donner Party GPT-2 and GPT-3 The King in Yellow Ready or Not (2019) Bunnies & Burrows Sound of My Voice (2011) Repulsion (1965) Midsommar (2019) City of Lost Children (1995) Amélie (2001) “Pickman’s Model” by HP Lovecraft “The Outsider” by HP Lovecraft Bone Tomahawk (2015) News A Cold Fire Within on Into the Darkness Matt has been getting to play games for a change! Into the Darkness is going through Christopher Smith-Adair’s wonderful Pulp Cthulhu campaign A Cold Fire Within. There have been weird hijinks aplenty and Matt shares some highlights.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/03/02/mythos-deities-ubbo-sathla-and-mordiggian/ We’re back and we’re contemplating the mysteries of life and death. Sure, we could read a lot of dusty old religious texts but we’d rather seek the wisdom of the prophet Klarkash-Ton. His visions of the origins of life and the final mysteries of death are enlightening, uplifting and thoroughly entertaining. Sure, most religions don’t describe our creator as “yeasty” or suggest that our passage to the next world will involve priests gnawing on our bones, but some truths are uncomfortable. While we’re not certain we’d worship either Ubbo-Sathla or Mordiggian, we’ll happily learn all their juicy secrets. There’s something comforting in the thought that the brackets of our lives are as absurd as everything that happens between them. Main Topic: Mythos Deities: Ubbo-Sathla and Mordiggian This episode is the latest in our series on the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. It is also a return to talking about Clark Ashton Smith, one of the key members of the original Lovecraft Circle. Smith was always the most imaginative and weirdest writer amongst Lovecraft’s correspondents, and the gods we discuss in this episode are no exception. Ubbo-Sathla, the unbegotten source, is at least as blasphemous a parody of creator deities as Lovecraft’s own Azathoth. And Mordiggian, the invisible eater of the dead, is a surprisingly sympathetic psychopomp, even if you have to watch out for his priests. Previous discussions about Mythos deities have covered Dagon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Hastur, Azathoth and Nodens. We have also had a general discussion of the gods of the Cthulhu Mythos and a look at the role of religion in all this yog-sothothry. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Clark Ashton Smith “Ubbo-Sathla” by Clark Ashton Smith The Lovecraft Circle The Book of Eibon The Fens Beowulf Azathoth History of the World, Part I (1981) Serpent people “The Hounds of Tindalos” by Frank Belknap Long “The Unbegotten Source” by Lin Carter Crypt of Cthulhu “The Dunwich Horror” by HP Lovecraft “The Seven Geases” by Clark Ashton Smith Abhoth Malleus Monstrorum At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft Lovecraftian Science blog on the origins of life Shub-Niggurath “The Charnel God” by Clark Ashton Smith Zothique Dying Earth genre The Dying Earth by Jack Vance Lost “The Dark Eidolon” by Clark Ashton Smith “The Infernal Star” by Clark Ashton Smith “The Looking Glass” by Peter A Worthy, Ian Davey, EP Berglund and James Ambuehl “The Prodigy of Dreams” by Thomas Ligotti The Realm of Shadows by John Crowe Fear’s Sharp Little Needles Europe Ablaze The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by HP Lovecraft The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) Blackwood Tear Them Apart Calla Cthulhu Patreon Update We have updated our Patreon backer rewards, so if you are already a backer, please check the email we sent out yesterday for details. And if you're new, then simply take a look at out Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/GoodfriendsofJacksonElias

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/02/16/media-catch-up-television/ We’re back and we’re sucking at the glass teat again. Like all lazy creative types, we watch a lot of TV and try to convince ourselves it’s research. There certainly is a lot that the structure of modern television can teach us about roleplaying games. Absorb too much, however, and you may find that your games become riddled with adverts for erectile dysfunction pills. Maybe not the kind of healing potion your party is looking for… Main Topic: Media Catch-Up: Television After the positive reception to our short run of lockdown specials for our Patreon backers last year, we thought it might be fun to carry the format into the occasional regular episode. This time, we each discuss some of the television we’ve been watching recently and how it’s informing our gaming lives. Even though none of the programmes we discuss are horror, we still manage to find plenty to borrow for Call of Cthulhu. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Patreon Lockdown Specials Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Discovery The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsythe Cheers Supernatural Buffy the Vampire Slayer Walker in the Wastes Masks of Nyarlathotep The X-Files Hot War World of Darkness The Wire David Simon Kult Sicario (2015) Justified Elmore Leonard Pronto by Elmore Leonard Riding the Rap by Elmore Leonard Raylan by Elmore Leonard “Fire in the Hole” by Elmore Leonard US Marshals Service The Fugitive Deadwood Breaking Bad On Death Row Star Trek: Voyager Quantum Leap News Matt at ConTingency Like so many other conventions, ConTingency moved from being a physical to a virtual event this year. As part of his ongoing mission to demonstrate his contempt for sleep, Matt ran an unwise number of games over the week. At least he didn’t need to change out of his pyjamas to do so. New Cthulhu Idol From Stephen Hickman Matt has also been busy backing Kickstarters. Not that he’s ever stopped. This time, he backed Stephen Hickman’s campaign to create a new version of his idol of Cthulhu. The horror in resin has now arrived and Matt has taken a picture to share with us. Full Fathom Five on Distant Grey Gaming The Australian actual-play podcast Distant Grey Gaming recently ran Paul’s 19th-century whaling scenario “Full Fathom Five”. They have also recorded an interview with Paul, which you will find in their feed.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/02/02/occupations-in-call-of-cthulhu/ We’re back and we’re job hunting. This makes a pleasant change. We’re more used to things hunting us. But how much does your occupation actually matter when you’re running around the globe, trying to save humanity from eldritch gribblies? Sure, you may be the best haberdasher in the West End, but it’s hard to collect your pay packet when you’re being eaten by a shoggoth in Timbuktu… Main Topic: Occupations in Call of Cthulhu This is our discussion of the role of occupations in Call of Cthulhu? Are they just character classes? How do they work? Are there any that can be difficult to fit into a game? How might we create some of our own? And are there any we find particularly appealing or off-putting? (Clearly, Author is the best profession in the game, only because of the ludicrously high Credit Rating bracket.) Links Things we mention in this 200th episode include: Call of Cthulhu Investigator Handbook Tatters of the King Masks of Nyarlathotep Walker in the Wastes A Cold Fire Within Into the Darkness Shadows of Yog-Sothoth The Fungi From Yuggoth Charles Babbage Ada Lovelace Deprogramming Cults episodes Call of Cthulhu subreddit Escape From Innsmouth The Two-Headed Serpent “The Dunwich Horror” Pugmire “The Whisperer in Darkness” News A Weekend With Good Friends The first Weekend With Good Friends took place a couple of weeks ago and went marvellously. This is the revamped version of the online convention formerly knows as Jacks-con, organised by our lovely listeners. There were well over 100 games run over the course of the weekend, including huge amounts of Call of Cthulhu, and a smashing time was had by all! Thank you so much to Bence, Chris and Martin for running the whole thing and to everyone else who helped out, ran games and generally joined in the fun! Kult on How We Roll Scott has been let off GM duties and is getting to play a game! Craig from Red Moon Roleplaying is running another Kult game for How We Roll, this time weaving a custom creepy narrative around equally creepy characters created by Joe, Dave and Scott. If you want to join in the horror, hop on over to the How We Roll Patreon page.

This is our big 200th episode celebration! Somehow, we’ve managed to keep the podcast going for 7 1/2 years, racking up a frightening number of hours of our words. Once you count all the special episodes, backer-only specials, story readings and the like, the total is probably closer to 250 episodes, but we’ll only count the full releases. It saves confusing ourselves even more than usual. We thought we might celebrate this milestone by opening ourselves up to interrogation by our listeners. You sent in something like 200 questions via Twitter, Facebook, Discord, Reddit and Patreon. We had to narrow this down to a dozen or so, otherwise we might still be recording this episode. Our audience proxy, asking your questions in his own voice, is Mike Mason, creative director for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Thank you again to cuppycup of the wonderful Ain’t Slayed Nobody podcast for his help in salvaging some damaged audio from this recording session! Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. We’re getting used to this. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Call of Cthulhu Temple Edition Kult Demiurge Edition Hot War Transmission Nameless Horrors Softcover AD&D Monster Manual Beyond the Mountains of Madness Tunnels & Trolls St Elmo Steak House Dah Bin Lo Fogo de Chão The Good Friends YouTube channel Ain’t Slayed Nobody Into the Darkness Necronomicon Providence Gen Con Con-tingency Continuum Miskatonic University Podcast Sons of Kryos The Grognard Files What Would the Smart Party Do? Aspic Durian World War Cthulhu: Cold War Covert Actions The Realm of Shadows The Two-Headed Serpent The Two-Headed Serpent Keepers Facebook group News The Surrey Enigma on Grizzly Peaks Radio Scott has been guesting on Andy Goodman’s wonderful Grizzly Peaks Radio podcast. Andy has dug out another old marvel from the glory days of White Dwarf, in the form of “The Surrey Enigma” by Marcus L Rowland. Episodes should start appearing in your feeds soon. Prepare for bloody chaos and some turns of events that must have Enid Blyton turning in her grave. News From Chaosium Elder Gods willing, the slipcase edition of the Malleus Monstrorum should now be available in print across the globe. The revised, publicly available version of the former organised-play campaign A Time to Harvest should be available very soon as well.

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/01/05/top-3-mythos-media/ We’re back and we’re hearing the call of Cthulhu from some unusual places. Most of our consumption of Mythos media comes via the printed word. Sometimes, however, it seeps out from the page and infects other formats. Unless we commit to slapping an elder sign on the cover of every book, we had better learn to embrace this, or at least let its pseudopods embrace us. Main Topic: Top 3 Mythos Media This episode presents a discussion of some of our favourite Cthulhu Mythos media, in the form of films, songs, musicals and comics. Anything, really, as long as it’s not a novel, short story or RPG. Obviously, there’s going to be a bit of debate as we never agree on anything. We are joined in the scrum by Mike Mason, creative director for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Thank you very much to cuppycup of the wonderful Ain’t Slayed Nobody podcast for his help in salvaging some damaged audio from this recording session! Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. We’re getting used to this. Links Things we mention in this episode include: Night Gallery “Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture” The Twilight Zone “The Return of the Sorcerer” by Clark Ashton Smith “Cool Air” by HP Lovecraft “Pickman’s Model” by HP Lovecraft The Corridor (2010) “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” by The Mountain Goats “The Whisperer in Darkness” by HP Lovecraft Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats Bletchley Park Berlin Airlift Return to Innsmouth (1999) The Yellow Sign (2001) The Two-Headed Serpent Call of Tutu (2006) The Void (2016) Underwater (2020) Midsommar (2019) The Dunwich Horror (1970) The Dunwich Horror Picture Show Absentia (2011) Oculus (2013) Hush (2016) Doctor Sleep (2019) The Haunting of Hill House (2018) Late Bloomer (2004) Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (1998) “Herbert West — Reanimator” by HP Lovecraft “The Statement of Randolph Carter” by HP Lovecraft In the Mouth of Madness (1994) The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll Prince of Darkness (1987) The Thing (1982) Children of the Corn (1984) The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows The HP Lovecraft Historical Society A Shoggoth on the Roof Voluminous The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast Greig Johnson The Mash Report The Call of Cthulhu (2005) A Very Scary Solstice Fiddler on the Roof News 200th Episode Special We’re about to turn 200. Well, maybe not us as people, but the podcast will hit the milestone of 200 episodes this month. We’re celebrating with a big Q&A session, in which we answer some questions sent in by our lovely listeners. Mike Mason joins us once again, acting as questionmaster. Also, thinking about it, if you add up the ages of everyone on this episode, the total isn’t far off 200… Call of Cthulhu 40th Anniversary As Mike reminds us in the episode, Call of Cthulhu turns 40 this year. Expect some major releases this year to celebrate this milestone! While it’s too early to offer specifics, keep watching the Chaosium social media feeds for announcements. A Weekend With Good Friends Following the success of Jacks-Con in July of 2020, our lovely listeners have organised another virtual convention. A Weekend With Good Friends will take place on our Discord server between the 14th and 18th of January 2021. Player sign-ups begin on the 6th of January. Full details can be found here.