Episode 320: The Broadsword, Laird Barron, and Old Leech

We’re back and we’re checking the vents. They’re long overdue a service, but that doesn’t mean they should be talking about eating people’s kidneys. While we might dismiss that as a load of hot air, the vents don’t even provide that most days. We would ask the building supervisor to sort them out, but he’s either been eaten by the vents or tumbled through the alien portal in the basement. That portal is a safety hazard, and if it did swallow him that’s his own fault for not slapping some Polyfilla in there sooner. The cosmic nightmares of living at the Broadsword Hotel are bad enough, but it’s the slipshod maintenance that really gets to us.

Main Topic: The Broadsword, Laird Barron, and Old Leech

We’re following our discussion about how to roll your own Mythos with an exploration of Laird Barron’s Old Leech cycle and how it relates to Lovecraft. In particular, we’re focusing on Barron’s story “The Broadsword”, using it as a springboard to discuss the broader themes of his work. We bring in elements from some connected stories too, including “The Jaws of Saturn”, “Hand of Glory”, “The Men From Porlock”, and Barron’s novel The Croning.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Andy Goodman back to the Good Friends! Andy is the mastermind behind Grizzly Peaks Radio, an actual play podcast focusing on Call of Cthulhu. It’s impressive enough when a podcast manages to play Masks of Nyarlathotep to completion, but Andy has balanced running that alongside The Two-Headed Serpent, Berlin – the Wicked City, and a pulped-up version of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, not to mention numerous one-shots and an ad-hoc campaign made up of scenarios from the early days of White Dwarf. Our own Scott Dorward is a regular player in many of these games, as well as the two crossover campaigns with The Apocalypse Players, dubbed The Apocalypse Grizzlies.

News

Push the Roll, With Ross Bryant

There is a new podcast coming soon from Ain’t Slayed Nobody, called Push the Roll. This is a series of completely improvised Call of Cthulhu sessions, with Ross Bryant as Keeper, and featuring a number of special guests from the worlds of comedy, improv, and gaming, and especially from Dropout TV.

Confirmed guests include Abu Salim, Ashly Burch, Becca Scott, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Paula Deming, Chris Grace, Colton Dunn, Ify Nwadiwe, Matt Young, Matthew Lillard, Mark Meer, Mary Lou, Noura Ibrahim, Rashawn Scott, Rekha Shankar, Rob Kerkovich, Vic Michaelis, and Zach Reino. You will also hear a number of Good Friends hosts, including Jared Logan, Josephine McAdam, Mav Haenze, Seth Skorkowsky, and our own Scott Dorward.

The first episodes are due out on the 10th of September. Check out the podcast website for more details.

Dark FM

Our good friend Hilmar Firestarter has launched his own podcast. Dark FM stands out in the actual play arena by being a German-language podcast, as well as a nicely produced one. The main focus is Call of Cthulhu, but Hilmar has run other games including Hot War and Jaws of the Six Serpents. A number of the scenarios have been plucked from the pages of The Blasphemous Tome, so you may hear some familiar games there. Well worth checking out if you speak German!

Scott on the Innsmouth Book Club

Scott recently talked to Rob and Tim from the Innsmouth Book Club podcast, chatting about everything from Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu to the history of Milton Keynes and how Nigel Kneale shaped modern horror. This was such a fun discussion, and it’s now available to be inserted into your ears.

Remembering William “Bud” Baird

Unfortunately, we have some awful news to wrap up this episode. Our good friend William “Bud” Baird, the voice and hands behind the Bud’s RPG YouTube channel, died just over two weeks ago. His passing was unexpected, and has left a hole in the British gaming and online RPG communities that no one else could ever fill.

Bud was simply a lovely person — insightful, funny, and generous. He had a gift for building communities, bringing together gamers from across the world and kindling new friendships. A great many people will miss him, including us. Our thoughts go out to his other friends and especially to his family. We shall not see his like again.