318: Metafiction and Horror, with Eleanor Hingley
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re discussing metafiction and horror. More importantly, we’re getting the title of the episode in the first paragraph for SEO purposes. Main Topic: Metafiction and Horror Metafiction turns up in every genre from literary fiction to SF, breaking fourth walls, playing with storytelling conventions, and embedding fictional narratives within fictional narratives. Our focus here, however, is on the connection between metafiction and horror, whether this is self-aware slasher films or horror novelists who write about horror novelists. We look at various definitions of...
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317: Small Town Horror, with Eleanor Hingley
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re keeping to ourselves. You really can’t be too careful. The outside world is full of dangerous ideas and strange people. Some of them don’t even play Call of Cthulhu. Sure, they might find our ways odd too, especially if they hear the singing in our early episodes. Still, the real small town horror is always other people. Main Topic: Small Town Horror This is a local episode for local people. We explore small town settings and why they work so well for horror. Isolated, insular communities are a mainstay of horror, usually populated by sinister locals who shun...
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316: Art and the Cthulhu Mythos, with Kailas Elmer
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re pushing boundaries. Good taste has never come easily to us, but it’s downright impossible when talking about art that might inspire Call of Cthulhu games. From performance artists who mutilate themselves in inventive ways to photographers who raid the local morgue looking for models, it’s hard for horror writers like us to make this stuff any nastier. But still we try. Main Topic: Art and the Cthulhu Mythos This episode is the conclusion of our two-part look into the relationship between Lovecraft and art. , we looked at the artistic influences that...
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315: Lovecraft and Art, with Kailas Elmer
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re mulling over bas-reliefs again. Once you start looking into the relationship between Lovecraft and art, the damn things are everywhere. We would say that there’s no relief from them, but that would be beneath us. Main Topic: Lovecraft and Art This episode is the first of a two-part look into the relationship between Lovecraft and art, and how this shaped the Cthulhu Mythos and Call of Cthulhu. Next episode, we’ll be flipping things around and looking for inspiration from the world of art, but here we’re examining the influence it had on Lovecraft’s life...
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314: Analogue Horror, with Holly Buteau
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re twiddling the tracking knob. It’s supposed to help clear up the image on this old videocassette, but maybe that’s just missing the point. The static can be the most interesting part, filled with whispers, ghosts, and ancient secrets. Compared to such wonders, the film itself is a bit disappointing. Then again, analogue horror seems to be more of a vibe than a form of storytelling, so maybe we should just let the white noise wash over us. Main Topic: Analogue Horror This episode sees us explore analogue horror, trying to work out what exactly it is and how to bring...
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313: Horror in Space, with Holly Buteau
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re and we’re answering the call of the void. Really, it’s about the scariest call you can receive, regardless of what Cthulhu may tell you. The yawning darkness of infinity shouldn’t be as tempting as it is. For all our talk about horror in space, maybe the real horror was inside us the whole time. Main Topic: Horror in Space This episode heads into the cold and the dark, exploring just what it is that makes space so scary. We talk about some of the real challenges and dangers posed by space travel and how they can amplify horror, then move on to inspirational...
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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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We’re back and we’re twiddling the tracking knob. It’s supposed to help clear up the image on this old videocassette, but maybe that’s just missing the point. The static can be the most interesting part, filled with whispers, ghosts, and ancient secrets. Compared to such wonders, the film itself is a bit disappointing. Then again, analogue horror seems to be more of a vibe than a form of storytelling, so maybe we should just let the white noise wash over us.
Main Topic: Analogue Horror
This episode sees us explore analogue horror, trying to work out what exactly it is and how to bring it to the gaming table. It’s perhaps a harder genre than most to pin down, partly because it is relatively new, but also because it is arguably more of an aesthetic than a series of defining tropes. We ran into similar issues when discussing Gothic horror, however, that that didn’t stop us then!
As well as delving into the origins of the genre, we discuss notable media, and some of the RPGs that have drawn upon it all. And, of course, we talk about some of our own ideas for how to let it infect our games.
Our Guest Host
We are delighted to welcome Holly Buteau back to the Good Friends, following last episode’s discussion of horror in space! Holly co-hosts RPG Reanimators, a podcast focusing on providing resources for GMs and players of horror RPGs. She’s also a regular on Into the Darkness, an actual play YouTube channel. In addition to RPGs, she’s an avid board gamer, space nerd, and all-around trivia enthusiast. You can find Holly over on the RPG Reanimators Discord.
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- Found footage
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- The Last Broadcast (1998)
- War of the Worlds radio broadcast
- Hysteria around War of the Worlds broadcast debunked
- Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
- Snuff films
- Cannibal Holocaust murder trial
- Blair Witch website on the Wayback Machine
- Butterfly Kisses (2018)
- House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski
- Urban legends
- Creepypasta
- Kris Straub
- Candle Cove
- Channel Zero
- Local 58
- Gemini Home Entertainment
- SCP Foundation
- There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
- Alternate Reality Games
- Lost marketing ARG
- Swamp Motel
- Isklander
- Too Many Cooks
- This House Has People In It
- Unedited Footage of a Bear
- This House Has People In It ARG
- Marble Hornets
- The SMILE Tapes
- Smile (2022)
- Gothic horror
- Goosebumps by RL Stine
- Fear Street by RL Stine
- The Ring (2002)
- J-horror
- One Missed Call (2003)
- Ring (1998)
- Ring by Koji Suzuki
- Spiral by Koji Suzuki
- British Board of Film Classification
- Video Nasties
- The Evil Dead (1981)
- Unknown Armies
- Archive 81
- Archive 81 podcast
- Scanlines by Todd Keisling
- Budd Dwyer
- Max Headroom signal hijack
- Satanic panic
- Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M Bartlett
- Matthew M Bartlett interview
- Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell
- “Cigarette Burns” from Masters of Horror
- A Child Across the Sky by Jonathan Carroll
- The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
- In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
- Sapphire & Steel
- “Signal to Noise” by Colin Richards
- Liminal spaces
- The Backrooms
- Videodrome (1983)
- AM1200 (2008)
- Oxenfree
- Electronic voice phenomenon
- White Noise (2005)
- White Noise: The Light
- Horror in Space
- The Fourth Kind (2009)
- A24 Backrooms
- Late Night With the Devil (2023)
- Ghostwatch
- We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021)
- I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
- Impossible Landscapes
- The Yellow Sign
- Unfriended (2014)
- Host (2020)
- Summoners for Mage: the Awakening
- Numbers stations
- Five Nights at Freddy’s
- Stories Untold
- Alone Against the Static
- Alone Against the Static on How We Roll
- Press Play
- Public Access
- The Between
- Ain’t Slayed Nobody
- It by Stephen King
- It (2017)
- It Chapter Two (2019)
- Rainbow “unaired” episode
- In the Mouth of Madness by Sutter Cane
- Sinister (2012)
- “Lux” on Doctor Who
- Public Information Films
- “The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water”
- “Apaches”
- “Ministry of Fear” on Ain’t Slayed Nobody
News
A Weekend With Good Friends
Player signups for A Weekend With Good Friends will close very soon. If you are reading this shortly after the episode goes out, you just have time to sign up, but act quickly!
AWWGF is, of course, is the online convention organised by our lovely listeners, taking place on the Good Friends Discord server.
Key dates are:
- Player signups: 22nd of May – 5th of June
- A Weekend With Good Friends: 13th – 15th of June
Games and panels will run throughout the weekend.
We shall share more details are they become available.
Cosmic Dark Kickstarter
At the time of posting, the Kickstarter for Graham Walmsley’s new game, Cosmic Dark, has two weeks left to run. The campaign is fully funded and well into stretch goals. One of the planned goals is a scenario from our own Scott Dorward, a heart-warming piece about cute furry animals, titled “Warm Fuzzies”.
If you want to hear Cosmic Dark in action, Graham ran a campaign of it for Ain’t Slayed Nobody. Scott was one of the players, along with Good Friends guest hosts Cuppycup and Ross Bryant. The full campaign is now out, so it’s the perfect time to catch up with it all.
