Cosy Horror, with Holly from RPG Reanimators

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Main Topic: Cosy Horror

Horror is usually meant to scare us, but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes it can be oddly comforting — cosy, even. Maybe this is because it’s an old favourite, or perhaps it’s something non-threatening, even hopeful.

So how do we even start defining cosy horror? What are some of the defining works of this subgenre? And how might we bring a touch of cosiness to our own games?

There is some overlap between this and our discussions of horror for the nervous (episode 307) and gateway horror (episode 337), but we take things in a different direction.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Holly back to the Good Friends! 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.

Holly has previously joined us to discuss:

Things we mention in this episode include:

News

Patreon Changes

Patreon has announced that they are discontinuing the option for creators to charge per creation (per episode, in our case). This is the model we have always used, as it was the only option available when we started. Instead, we now have switch to a monthly subscription.

We are also taking this opportunity to change from US dollars to British Pounds, as, again, this wasn’t an option when we started.

From September 2026, our three basic tiers will be £3, £6 and £10 per month, replacing the old $1, $3 and $5 per-episode tiers. Higher tiers will simply be double the current cost, but in Pounds. This works out as roughly the same cost. The rewards for each tier will also stay the same.

Existing backers do not need to take any action. The update will happen automatically.

This change additionally allows us to enable annual subscriptions, although we are still looking into these. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please let us know.

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Alien, with Holly from RPG Reanimators

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345: Alien

Main Topic: Alien

Since its release in 1979, Alien has become a fan favourite, spawning any number of spin-offs across every medium. But what is the secret of its enduring appeal? How well does it stand up after almost five decades of imitators and pastiches? And what can we take from its strange DNA for our own games?

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Holly back to the Good Friends! 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.

Holly has previously joined us to discuss:

Things we mention in this episode include:

Tarantula hawk wasp paralysing its prey
(c)Marc Shandro [mshandro@yahoo.com]

News

Patreon Changes

Patreon has announced that they are discontinuing the option for creators to charge per creation (per episode, in our case). This is the model we have always used, as it was the only option available when we started. Instead, we now have switch to a monthly subscription.

We are also taking this opportunity to change from US dollars to British Pounds, as, again, this wasn’t an option when we started.

From September 2026, our three basic tiers will be £3, £6 and £10 per month, replacing the old $1, $3 and $5 per-episode tiers. Higher tiers will simply be double the current cost, but in Pounds. This works out as roughly the same cost. The rewards for each tier will also stay the same.

This change additionally allows us to enable annual subscriptions, although we are still looking into these. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please let us know.

Thank You to ENnie Voters

While we didn’t end up winning an ENnie award this year, we would still like to thank everyone who voted for us. Just being nominated was amazing, and we were moved by all the support from listeners. It’s all been rather wonderful.

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Why You Shouldn’t Learn to Roleplay From Actual Plays, with Zach Reeves

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Main Topic: Why You Shouldn’t Learn to Roleplay From Actual Plays

Actual play podcasts and streams have grown in popularity massively over the past 20 years, redefining and dominating the hobby. They play a huge role in bringing people into roleplaying games, and possibly an even larger one in teaching new players how they work. But is this always a good thing? What are the advantages and possible pitfalls of learning from APs? And what other approaches might we recommend?

This episode was recorded live at A Weekend With Good Friends 2026. While it mostly follows the usual format, we do spend a bit of time towards the end answering questions from people who were watching live. You can see the video for this and all the other seminars on the AWWGF YouTube Channel.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Zach Reeves back to The Good Friends of Jackson Elias! Zach is the game master, producer, and editor of Pretending to be People, a horror/comedy actual play podcast. Zach enjoys karaoke with his wife, dancing with friends, and creating elaborate scavenger hunts. He is afraid of losing his mind and Styrofoam.

Pretending to be People will be appearing live at Gen Con 2026, at 4 PM on Friday the 31st. Tickets are still available. There will also be meetups throughout the con, so keep an eye out for those.

Zach has previously joined us to discuss:

Things we mention in this episode include:

Critical Role
The Glass Cannon Network, with at least three Good Friends co-hosts

News

2HS on HWR

After 9 1/2 years, How We Roll have recorded the final episodes of The Two-Headed Serpent. This has been an epic journey, and Scott would like to thank everyone who took part, specifically Joe, Dave, Kuran, Camille, Liisa, Aron, Eoghan, and Mav. Oh, and Greg, of course.

These last episodes will come out over the course of the next few months. Expect death, destruction, and sheer bloody chaos.

Now for a short rest before the inevitable sequel.

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Reactive GMing, with Ross Bryant

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Main Topic: Reactive GMing

No game ever goes to plan. Whether you have prepared for every eventuality or are running off the cuff, players will always do the unexpected. Improvisation is a key skill for GMs, from spinning narrative on the fly to incorporating whatever chaos the players come up with.

But what are some of the key techniques in making this work? How do you learn to let go as a GM? And are there ever times when you might want to keep a grip on the reins?

We have discussed similar topics in earlier episodes on player-led games and improvisation.

This episode was recorded live at A Weekend With Good Friends 2026. While it mostly follows the usual format, we do spend a bit of time towards the end answering questions from people who were watching live. You can see the video for this and all the other seminars on the AWWGF YouTube Channel.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Ross Bryant back as our guest host for this episode. You may know Ross from The Improvised Shakespeare Company, Dropout TV, The Glass Cannon Network, or the many Call of Cthulhu games he and Scott have played together on Ain’t Slayed Nobody.

Most recently, Ross has launched his own podcast, called Push the Roll With Ross Bryant, where he runs fully improvised games of Call of Cthulhu, based on listener suggestions, for various friends from the worlds of comedy, improv, and tabletop gaming. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Ross is currently in residence with The Improvised Shakespeare Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts until the 27th of July.

Ross has previously joined us to discuss:

Things we mention in this episode include:

Play Unsafe cover

News

ENnie Nomination

We were delighted to hear that The Good Friends of Jackson Elias has been nominated for an ENnie Award in the Best Streaming Content category. This is exciting and entirely unexpected. The Good Friends has been running for over 13 years now and we’re just happy that people are still listening!

The awards themselves are decided through a public vote. If you are a fan of the podcast and you’d like to vote for us (and earn our undying gratitude), you can find the form here. Voting runs between the 10th and 19th of July 2026.

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Food and Horror, with Cuppycup

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Main Topic: Food and Horror

To live is to require sustenance. Food is not only nutrition but usually a source of pleasure. But our relationship with food is complicated and filled with potential horror. Can we trust that what we eat is not tainted? What happens when our relationship with food becomes dysfunctional? Should we blind ourselves to the horrors of where our food comes from? And how do we react when humans are on the menu?

We touched on some of these issues in episode 182, on Disgust and Body Horror.

Content Warnings

After our look at gore, we had requests for content warnings when we mention extreme or potentially upsetting subject matter. In this episode, we discuss contaminated food, coprophagy, factory farming, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, bullying, cannibalism, brain diseases, and parasites. There will probably also be other aspects that may be upsetting in ways we haven’t anticipated. Be warned.

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Cuppycup back to the Good Friends!

Cuppycup is the creator and producer of Ain’t Slayed Nobody and Push the Roll with Ross Bryant, both part of the Push the Roll umbrella. His work in actual play has earned an ENnie Gold Award, Golden Lobe, AudioVerse Awards, and a place in the EN World Actual Play Hall of Fame. Across his shows, Cup blends horror, comedy, and sound-rich production, with a special love for Call of Cthulhu and stories where bad decisions only make things better.

He can be heard as a player on Push the Roll with Ross Bryant. Find him on pushtheroll.com or via Instagram or Bluesky.

You can also hear Cup on other episodes of the Good Friends:

Things we mention in this episode include:

Arthur Rackham’s illustration of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”

News

Thanks for A Weekend With Good Friends

As we wrap up another Weekend With Good Friends, we would like to thank all the lovely people who made it happen. The convention organisers and staff did a staggering amount of work behind the scenes to ensure everything went smoothly, and we’d like to thank the individuals involved.

PT, Sue and Mike handled the organisational and technical work that underpins the entire convention, creating and maintaining code that handles everything from game signups with localised times to the lottery system that assigns places in games. Without their efforts, the convention simply would not have happened.

Miranda and Nate organised and ran the panels, wrangling guests, handling the technology on the day, and ensuring it all made it onto YouTube. This year, these panels included two live episodes of the Good Friends, which will go out in edited form on the podcast feed in July, and we couldn’t have streamed them without Miranda’s help and expertise.

Our wonderful volunteers and moderators helped tirelessly throughout the weekend, ensuring people got into games and that vacancies were filled quickly. Thank you to Dave, Wishmoon, AnalogFrog, Martin, Mav, Chris, and anyone I may have missed for answering tickets, offering advice, and generally providing moral support.

And I would also like to thank all of you who joined us this weekend, whether as a GM, a player, a panellist, or if you read a story on the bar stage. A convention is only as good as the people who attend it, and this was as wonderful a collection of attendees as we could have wished for.

A Weekend With Good Friends logo

Tools of the Trade

The book that cost Matt many sleepless nights and at least 1D20 points of Sanity has been announced! Tools of the Trade will be out later this year, containing the fruits of countless hours spent picking through old catalogues from the classic Call of Cthulhu era and converting the entries into gameable items. If you encounter Matt at a convention, please thank him for his efforts, commiserate for the toll they took, and wait patiently for the thousand-yard stare to leave his eyes.

For Whom the Taco Bell Tolls

Scott recently did a reading for our good friends at the Titterpigs podcast, relating Scott Joest’s sanity-blasting burrito experience at Chaosium Con 2026. Check it out below or on their podcast feed. You may never see a tortilla the same way.

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