329: Cthulhu and Board Games, with Paula Deming
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re wiping ichor off our meeples. Cthulhu and board games can be a messy combination, but also a popular one. Cynics may tell you that this is because Cthulhu is in the public domain, so anyone can slap his tentacles on a game for a bit of brand recognition. We prefer to think the truth is more insidious than that, however. Every die roll, every card played, every token moved towards its inevitable doom is done in Cthulhu’s most terrible name, the terrible luck of the players and the curses they utter when they lose sustaining him deep beneath the waves. Plus, they’re...
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328d: The Great God Pan 4
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We are wrapping up our festive ghost story reading of “The Great God Pan” by Arthur Machen. This reading has been organised by good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of ), taking place on . Mike is joined by guest readers , , , , and , and . You can find the first three parts in your podcast feed, or right here on this very server. So invoke the name of Nodens, practice your knots, and dive into Queer Street with us. , arranged by Jon Fylling, is licenced under the . If you would like to read along at home,...
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328c: The Great God Pan 3
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We are continuing our festive ghost story reading of “The Great God Pan” by Arthur Machen. This reading has been organised by good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of ), taking place on . Mike is joined by guest readers , , , and , and . If you’re reading this shortly after release, you have time to join us for the conclusion at 22:30 GMT on Thursday the 18th of December. So shake the cobwebs loose with a bracing night-time walk, brush up on your Latin, and do try not to dwell on those unsettling illustrations. , arranged by...
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328b: The Great God Pan 2
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We are continuing our festive ghost story reading of “The Great God Pan” by Arthur Machen. This reading has been organised by good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of ), taking place on . Mike is joined by guest readers , Brian Murphy, , , , and . If you’re reading this shortly after release, you have time to join us for part 3 at 22:30 GMT on Wednesday the 15th of December. We shall be continuing at the same time on Thursday the 18th. So put down those Chinese boxes, open up a good bottle of chianti, and listen to our tale of...
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328a: The Great God Pan 1
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
It is time once again for us to all gather around the virtual hearth for another festive ghost story reading. This year, we present “The Great God Pan” by Arthur Machen, a weird tale of mad science, supernatural horror, and very human revenge. This reading has been organised by good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of ), taking place on . Mike is joined by guest readers , , , , , and . If you’re reading this shortly after release, you just have time to join us for part 2 at 22:30 GMT on Tuesday the 16th of December. We shall...
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328: The Birds, with Ross Bryant
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re watching the skies. You never know when some gannet might decide to kamikaze its way into your skull, or a mob of hawks take exception to your woodwork and peck it to splinters. We’ve decided to turn to two experts for advice, but their approaches don’t really mesh. Daphne du Maurier would have us hunker down and wait for the inevitable, while Alfred Hitchcock favours stalking your love interest, barely even addressing the avian threat. We’re beginning to think these so-called experts are for the birds. Main Topic: The Birds The Birds is one of Alfred...
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327: Narration in Call of Cthulhu, with Ross Bryant
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re talking to ourselves. Not everyone has an interior monologue, but apparently exterior ones are ever rarer. Describing your life in real time like the voiceover from some hard-boiled detective movie may raise some eyebrows, but it is damn good practice for narration in Call of Cthulhu. It’s also a good way of drowning out your interior voice. No one wants to listen to that. If they did, podcasts wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular. Main Topic: Narration in Call of Cthulhu Narration lies at the heart of tabletop roleplaying. The worlds we play in are all...
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326: We Are the Horror, with Ericka Skirpan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re scaring ourselves. Main Topic: We Are the Horror Most tabletop horror games revolve around the struggle between the player characters and one or more external antagonists. The concept of a “Big Bad Evil Guy” is at the heart of most of our gaming experiences. But what happens when we take all that away? How might games work when the horror comes from the interactions between the PCs? And what are some of the possible pitfalls of this approach? Our Guest Host We are delighted to welcome Ericka Skirpan back as our guest host for this episode! Ericka is a LARP...
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325: Using LARP Techniques at the Table, with Ericka Skirpan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re acting out. Main Topic: Using LARP Techniques at the Table Live action and tabletop roleplaying share common roots and many similarities, but they are also quite separate hobbies. Each has evolved in its own ways, developing a unique variety of forms and tools. So what can the world of tabletop roleplaying, particularly Call of Cthulhu, learn from LARP? What are some of the different types of LARP? Which LARP techniques lend themselves best to tabletop play, and how can they be adapted? Our Guest Host We are delighted to welcome Ericka Skirpan as our guest host...
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324: The White People, with Jared Logan
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re enjoying a night out under the hill. While the rest of you are clubbing, we’re trying a different kind of dancing. There’s even a singalong, plus some arts and crafts. Sure, some people might say this is all witchcraft, but we promise you it’s no more sinister than a children’s game. The white people have tried to offer their opinion, but our Aklo is a bit rusty. Maybe the nymphs can help translate, assuming we ever figure out what they actually are. Meanwhile, we’ll just enjoy another goblet of what may be the best wine we’ll ever taste. Main Topic: The...
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We’re back and we’re under the influence. Sure, the alien entity taking up residence in our heads may not technically be a demon, but that feels like an academic distinction right now. It’s little comfort to learn that the thing messing with your thoughts is a giant insect from another planet or a discorporate consciousness from the primordial past. If it walks like a demon and quacks like a demon, we’re happy to call it a badly mangled metaphor. Possession in Call of Cthulhu is a messy business, leading to madness and terror, and not even innocent clichés are safe.
Main Topic: Possession in Call of Cthulhu
Following last episode’s discussion of Late Night With the Devil, we thought we’d look at the role of possession in Call of Cthulhu. While there may not be any literal demons in the Cthulhu Mythos, that doesn’t mean there’s no possession. Between Yithians, shan, deathless sorcerers, and whatever horrors you create for your own games, there are plenty of entities that can take over a human host and drive them to do weird or horrible things.
But how do we handle all this in our games? Can having their investigator possessed be a fun experience for players? Is possession an all-or-nothing deal? And what inspiration can we take from horror media?
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- Mind Control
- Late Night With the Devil
- Ghosts
- The Exorcist (1973)
- Come Closer by Sara Gran
- Deadlands
- Discussion of werewolves in R’lyeh Roulette IV
- The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley
- The Devils (1971)
- Urbaine Grandier
- Miracle of the Gadarene swine
- Michael Taylor murder case
- “The Shadow Out of Time” by HP Lovecraft
- “The Thing on the Doorstep” by HP Lovecraft
- The Private Life of Elder Things
- Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys
- “The Insects From Shagghai” by Ramsey Campbell
- The Grand Grimoire of the Cthulhu Mythos
- The beings from Yekub
- “The Challenge From Beyond” by CL Moore, A Merritt, HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard, and Frank Belknap Long
- Sacraments of Evil
- The Cthulhu Cult
- Nyarlathotep
- Masks of Nyarlathothep
- “The Mangler” from Night Shift by Stephen King
- “Crouch End” by Stephen King
- Randall Flagg
- Desperation by Stephen King
- Grizzly Peaks Radio
- Y’golonac
- Vampire: the Masquerade
- Vampire: the Requiem
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Wraith: the Oblivion
- Dark Cults
- Strix
- World of Darkness: Inferno
- Angel Heart (1987)
- Sanity in Call of Cthulhu
- Vaesen
- Season of the Witch (2011)
- 30 Coins
- Get Out (2017)
- Blood Flower (2022)
- Incantation (2022)
- Satan’s Slaves (2017)
- “Gatsby and the Great Race”
- Necronomicon 2024
News
The Blasphemous Tome Issue 12
Issue 12 of The Blasphemous Tome will be going out in early August. This is the fanzine we produce for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias. The latest issue will contain “A New Dark Age”, a brand-new Call of Cthulhu scenario by our own Paul Fricker.
Every backer will receive a PDF of issue 12 as soon as it’s available. Anyone backing us at the $5 level or above by the end of June will also get a printed and signed copy.
Matt on RPG Reanimators and Roll to Save
Matt has recorded guest spots with a couple of podcasts recently. He appeared on the Acquisition Disorder series on RPG Reanimators, talking about Heaven and Earth. And then he took part in a roundtable discussion about Call of Cthulhu wit Roll to Save.
