312: Comedy Horror, with Evan Dorkin
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re and we’re putting on our ponchos. They look a bit silly, but that works for us here. The important thing is that they’ll keep some of the gore off our clothes. Comedy horror can be a messy business, especially once you bring gardening equipment into play. We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry, so we’ll probably just scream. Main Topic: Comedy Horror This episode sees us delve into the bloody world of comedy horror, trying to pin down what makes the two genres work so well together, looking at some examples from media, and trying to work out how to perform...
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311: RPGs and Fiction, with Evan Dorkin
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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310: Something Wicked This Way Comes, with Cuppycup
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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309: Theme Parks and Horror, with Cuppycup
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re learning about protein spills. What sounded like an innocent sexual innuendo has turned out to be more scatological than any of us would have liked. The unpleasant realities of theme parks are well hidden behind twee language and cute costumes. Happily, once we strip them away, we can find some good horror inspiration. Although we do wish it all smelled a bit better. Main Topic: Theme Parks and Horror This episode, we visit the topic of theme parks, amusement parks, funfairs and the like, looking for Call of Cthulhu inspiration. As with so many things rooted...
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308: The Appeal of Vampires, With Josephine McAdam
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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307: Horror For the Nervous, with Josephine McAdam
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re hiding behind the sofa. Sure, the monsters, masked killers, and mutants can probably find us back here, but it still feels safer for some reason. Fear is rarely a rational thing, so why should our response to it be? Main Topic: Horror For the Nervous This episode came about when Scott was playing The Between with Josephine McAdam over on and she mentioned that she rarely watches or reads horror media because she finds it upsetting. Given how many horror projects Josephine has been involved with, this seemed like something worth exploring, so we...
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306: Quatermass and the Pit
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re digging up the past. Some of this excavation is purely physical, burrowing into the clay under London in search of the usual skulls and spaceships. The rest, however, is more atavistic in nature, uncovering the strange, alien memories buried within our minds. On reflection, we probably shouldn’t have used pickaxes for both jobs. Main Topic: Quatermass and the Pit This episode is our long-overdue exploration of the strange world of Professor Bernard Quatermass, and especially the 1967 film adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit. While we’ve mentioned Nigel...
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305: How to be an Investigator
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re blundering. That’s not to say that we don’t have a clue, but we’re not quite sure what to do with the handful we’ve managed to find. We’ve tried pinning them to a board and running strings between them, but the result is more abstract art than anything functional. Maybe we’ll just keep punching NPCs until one of them finally tells us what’s going on. Main Topic: How to be an Investigator This episode is our attempt to sharpen our own skills as investigators, or at least hope that others can learn from our mistakes. Scott and guest host Seth Skorkowsky...
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304: Haunted Landscapes
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re digging deep. While you might expect to find ghosts in these haunted landscapes, mostly we’re unearthing history. Oh, and carcinogens. On balance, ghosts seem like the healthier option. Main Topic: Haunted Landscapes Building on last episode’s discussion of Lovecraftian horror and detective fiction explored in Heather Miller’s , we’re delving into another part of the book, which lays out the idea of haunted landscapes. The landscapes in question are haunted by the past rather than ghosts, with layers of history transforming their geography and meaning. We...
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303: Call of Cthulhu and Detective Fiction
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re sifting through evidence. Being a good detective requires a keen eye for detail, an analytical mind, and a thorough knowledge of the genre. But that happens when you find yourself in a different genre than you were expecting? Is your uncanny ability to piece together disparate clues really an asset when it leads you to horrifying revelations? Maybe this new dark age thing we’ve heard about isn’t so bad after all. Main Topic: Call of Cthulhu and Detective Fiction This episode delves into the complex relationship between detective fiction and Lovecraftian horror....
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We’re back and we’re raising the dead. Well, sort of. After all that discussion about Joseph Curwen’s necromantic exploits, we thought we’d try something on a larger scale. Instead of tomes of forbidden knowledge, however, we’re poring over history books. Their visions of the past shall bring our historical games of Call of Cthulhu to shuddering, ghastly life! But can we get the details right enough to avoid subjecting our games becoming ye liveliest awfulness…?
Main Topic: Bringing Historical Games to Life
This episode delves into techniques and inspirations for enlivening our historical games of Call of Cthulhu. That said, the ideas we explore can be applied to any historical RPG scenario. We discuss why we’re drawn to historical settings, expanding on some of the media that influence us and how we can bring all this into our games.
Regular listeners will know that Paul has now left the Good Friends, and that this is our first episode without him. Matt and Scott are keeping the podcast going, inviting interesting people we know to join us as guest hosts, bringing fresh perspectives and their own personal expertise to our discussions.
Our Guest Host
We are delighted to welcome Ross Bryant as our inaugural guest host for this new era of the Good Friends. You may know Ross from The Improvised Shakespeare Company, Dropout TV, The Glass Cannon Network, or the many improvised Call of Cthulhu games he and Scott have played together on Ain’t Slayed Nobody. He is currently developing a new historical Call of Cthulhu actual play podcast called Walking Shadows, with Rashawn Scott, Becca Scott, and Zach Reino. The first episode will be out soon, wherever you find your podcasts.
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- Stream of Blood
- Masks of Nyarlathotep
- Pulp Cthulhu
- Cthulhu by Gaslight
- Cthulhu Dark Ages
- English Civil Wars
- Wars of the Three Kingdoms
- Conquistadors
- Regency Cthulhu
- World War Cthulhu: Cold War
- Bobby Fischer
- 1972 World Chess Championship
- “The Forcing Move” from Covert Actions
- Clipperton Island
- “Cerulean Halo” from Mythos Expeditions
- “Give Me Death” on Ain’t Slayed Nobody
- George Washington’s spy network
- Happiness by Laurie Anderson (mentioning Paul Revere)
- The Opium Wars
- All the President’s Men (1976)
- Klute (1971)
- MKUltra
- “The Threshold” on Ain’t Slayed Nobody’s Patreon
- A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
- Carbon footprint controversy
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Thomas Pynchon
- “Cadenza” From Covert Actions
- Turkish invasion of Cyprus
- Vaesen
- The Two-Headed Serpent
- The Bonanno Crime Family
- Plutarch
- Gladiator (2000)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- Quo Vadis (1951)
- Cthulhu Invictus
- The Okhrana
- Rome
- Heaven & Earth
- Into the Darkness
- Stranger Things
- The Goldbergs
- World War Cthulhu: London
- An Underworld at War by Donald Thomas
- Dunwich
- Nameless Horrors
- Dunwich Museum
- Imperial War Museum
- British Museum
- Hunterian Museum
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- The Philosophical Research Center
- Jack Parsons
- L Ron Hubbard
- Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller
- Aleister Crowley
- Cecil Sharp
- Louis Wain
- The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)
- John André
- Benedict Arnold
- Horror on the Orient Express
- HP Lovecraft on Supernatural
- Blue Sunshine (1977)
- Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
- Geodesic dome
- The Golden Age of Exploration
- HMS Terror
- Wilbur Smith
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Reign of Terror
- Master & Commander by Patrick O’Brian
- Captive Christmas
- The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe by Charles Nicholl
- Christopher Marlowe
- Good Friends Discord server
News
Blasphemous Tome Issue 13
We are hard at work on issue 13 of The Blasphemous Tome, the fanzine we put out twice-yearly for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias. This new issue will contain “A Social Responsibility” — a brand-new and gruesome Call of Cthulhu scenario from our own Matt Sanderson, set amidst the urban decay of modern-day Northampton.
Anyone backing us at the $5 level or higher by the end of this year can expect a printed copy of the Tome, signed by our own fair extremities. Backers at the $3 level will receive a voucher for a discounted print-on-demand copy, and everyone will receive the PDF.
Don’t forget that backing us also gives you access to the entire back catalogue of the Tome in PDF format, which includes a wealth of Call of Cthulhu scenarios you won’t find anywhere else.
Christmas Story Reading on the Good Friends Discord
With Christmas fast approaching, Mike Perceval-Maxwell of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories is once again organising a full-cast ghost story reading on The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Discord server. This time, we shall be reading two tales of William Hope Hodgson’s occult detective, Carnacki the Ghost Finder. Specifically, we will be reading “The Searcher of the End House” and “The Horse of the Invisible”.
So fire up your electric pentacle and join us by the fireplace at 22:30 GMT on the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th of December. Don’t despair if you can’t make the live performances, as we plan to record them and release them as special episodes on the podcast feed.
