318: Metafiction and Horror, with Eleanor Hingley

Release Date: 07/28/2025

The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

We’re back and we’re trying to muster up some faith. Sure, we understand that the Mythos is utterly indifferent to crucifixes and holy water, but maybe we can still find some comfort in religion. But we’re also worried that the wrong kind of belief could end up doing more harm than good, especially if it all turns a bit fanatical. Maybe religious horror is more complicated than just muttering a few prayers and hoping for the best. We haven’t got a prayer, have we? Main Topic: Religious Horror From vampire hunters wielding crucifixes to Taoist priests battling jiangshi with talismans,...

331: Connecting Call of Cthulhu Scenarios, with Zach Reeves

The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

We’re back and we’re stringy Main Topic: Connecting Scenarios in Call of Cthulhu Call of Cthulhu is famous for its epic published campaigns. We’ve all played elaborate treks around the world, punching eldritch evil in the face. But what about the less formal approach where we string together often unconnected adventures into an ad hoc campaign? How do we adapt scenarios to this approach? What are some of the possible pitfalls? And are there any specific tips we’ve picked up over the years? Our Guest Host We are delighted to welcome Zach Reeves to The Good Friends of Jackson...

330: Cryptids and Call of Cthulhu, with Paula Deming

The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

We’re back and we’re blurry. Sure, your camera phone might have all the pixels, but we remain resolutely out of focus. You don’t get to maintain your status as a cryptid by being discernible. Mothman would never speak to us again. And before you complain, do you really want a clear picture of the Michigan Dogman’s notorious genitals? Actually, on second thoughts, don’t answer that one. Main Topic: Cryptids and Call of Cthulhu Call of Cthulhu is full of strange creatures that live in the dark corners of the world, only occasionally encountered by unlucky humans. But how does...

329a: Just One More Thing - sample episode

The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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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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 metafiction, how they’ve been used in various media, and how all this applies to horror gaming. As ever, we wrap things up with a few ideas about how we might bring all this into our own games. And then we look directly into the camera and wink.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Eleanor Hingley back to the Good Friends, following our recent discussion of small town horror. Eleanor is a lifelong horror fan, obsessed with Gothic and horror art since childhood. She has written for a bunch of tabletop roleplaying games, including Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game, Hollows, Aegean, Broken Weave, The Laundry, Heart, and many other game lines. She also writes interactive fiction for Choice of Games, and has had IF published in sub-Q magazine. Eleanor has released her own independent TTRPG zines, which you can find on her itch.io page: Ex Libris, Talking Thunder and Seed of an Idea. You can follow Eleanor on Bluesky.

News

Blasphemous Tome update

Unfortunately, issue 14 of The Blasphemous Tome has been delayed by ill health. We’re playing catch-up at the moment, however, and we hope to get it to backers before the end of August. Thank you for bearing with us!

The Two-Headed Serpent returns to How We Roll

Regular listeners to How We Roll will have noticed that our campaign of The Two-Headed Serpent has been on a short hiatus recently. Life has a way of intruding on recording schedules when you least expect it. Happily, we have resumed recording and the first episode of the penultimate chapter should be hitting public podcast feeds within the next week or two. The world is safe once more!

Main Topic: Metafiction and Horror

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Blasphemous Tome update

The Two-Headed Serpent returns to How We Roll

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