314: Analogue Horror, with Holly from RPG Reanimators
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
Release Date: 05/29/2025
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 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 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.
