Main Topic: New Takes on Classic Monsters

It’s probably safe to say that every horror fan loves monsters. While we regularly see new creations breaking free from the laboratory, so many monsters in media are old favourites. Whether they’re vampires, werewolves, or Deep Ones, there are certain archetypes we’re drawn to over and over.

But what are some ways of making them feel fresh? How have we seen others do so in films, stories, or other media? And how might we come up with some new takes on old favourites in our own games?

Our Guest Host

This episode we’re welcoming Sasha Sienna back to the Good Friends! Sasha is an award-winning writer, voice actor, and tabletop game designer with a love of genre fiction, unexpected worldbuilding, and horrible monsters in spaceships. They’re best known for their work on The Magnus Archives, Doctor Who: Redacted and Re: Dracula’s Carmilla. Along with Jonathan Sims, they make smart TTRPGs for cool weirdos as MacGuffin & Co.

Sasha can also be heard in our recent episode about gateway horror.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• Universal Monsters
• Gothic horror
• Vampires
• Nosferatu (1922)
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Carmilla by J Sheridan Le Fanu
• King Sorrow by Joe Hill
• Vaesen
• Jaws (1975)
• Leviathan
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
• The Shape of Water (2017)
• Hammer Horror
• Count von Count
• Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

• The Company of Wolves (1984)
• Dead of Night
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
• The Twilight Saga
• Vampire: the Masquerade
• The Thing From Another World (1951)
• New England vampire panic
• What We Do in the Shadows
• What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
• Comedy horror
• The Monster Club by R Chetwynd-Hayes
• The Monster Club (1981)
• Zombies
• 28 Days Later
• In the Flesh
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)

• “Destiny of the Daleks” from Doctor Who
• Elder sign
• Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
• Crimson Peak (2015)
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
• I Am Legend (2007)
• The Last Man on Earth (1964)
• Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
• The September House by Carissa Orlando
• Beetlejuice (1988)
• Music From a Darkened Room
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
• Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims
• The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims
• A Manhattan Ghost Story by TM Wright
• The Waiting Room by TM Wright
• A Spider on My Tongue by TM Wright

• Haunted by James Herbert
• The Books of Blood by Clive Barker
• Expiration Date by Tim Powers
• DIE RPG
• A Folklore Bestiary by The Merry Mushmen
• Old School Essentials
• “Camp Sunny” by Keary Birch
• “The Wild Hunt” from Unseen Masters
• “Blackshade” from The Blasphemous Tome issue 11
• “Casting the Runes” by MR James
• “The Colour Out of Space” by HP Lovecraft
• Sapphire & Steel
• “Skeleton” by Ray Bradbury
• Pepper’s ghost
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

News

A Weekend With Good Friends returns!

GM signups are now open for A Weekend With Good Friends! This, of course, is the online gaming convention organised by our lovely listeners, hosted on The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Discord server.

We shall be recording live episodes of the Good Friends during the convention, with Ross Bryant on the 12th and Zach Reeves on the 13th. See the panels page for more details.

Key dates for the convention are:

• GM signups: 29th April – 13th May 2026 — GM signups
• Player signups: 21st May – 4th June 2026
• A Weekend With Good Friends: Friday 12th June – Sunday 14th June 2026

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