Episode 269: Mythos Deities - Yig & Ghatanothoa

We’re back and we’re petrified. It’s bad enough that you can become mummified by standing near Ghatanothoa, but being imperilled just by looking at his image is simply too much. And then we learn that you could be at risk even from examining the eyes of someone who saw him? Yikes! We’ll stick to Yig, thanks. At least the worst he’s going to do is bite you. Oh, hang on… He might turn you into a snake? It’s beginning to sound like these Mythos deities may not be the friends we’re looking for.

Main Topic: Mythos Deities – Yig & Ghatanothoa

This episode is our latest exploration of the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. We have devoted previous episodes to DagonShub-NiggurathYog-SothothNyarlathotepHasturAzathothNodensUbbo-Sathla and MordiggianIthaquaCthulhuDaoloth and EihortGla’akiY’golonacTsathoggua, Atlach-Nacha and Abhoth, and Cyäegha and Byatis.

We’re turning back to Lovecraft himself in this episode, but Lovecraft as a collaborator. Well, it’s probably more accurate to call him a ghost writer with these stories, but we’ll be generous to his co-authors. The two deities we’re discussing — Yig and Ghatanothoa — both come from Lovecraft’s revisions. It wasn’t until the stories were collected that Lovecraft was even credited, however. Despite this, at least one of the deities has spawned many scenarios and stories, while the other has to be satisfied with hanging out behind a rest stop glory hole. But more about that next episode…

Things we mention in this episode include:

News

Paul at Gen Con

Paul gives us a quick summary of his visit to Gen Con 2023, where he ran “Full Fathom Five” with You Too Can Cthulhu. He also mentions that Chaosium had the new Pendragon Starter Set on the stall, alongside Rivers of London.

Matt and Paul at the Innsmouth Literary Festival

Matt and Paul will be attending the Innsmouth Literary Festival at the end of this month, running some games. The festival takes place on Saturday 30th September, between 10am – 5pm, at Kings House Conference Centre in Bedford.

We’re back and and we’re listening to our listeners. No, not in a creepy way. Well, not beyond our natural creepiness, anyway. We’re not even using our ears this time. Hmmm. That probably makes it creepier, doesn’t it?

Main Topic: Bride of Listener Suggestions

Late last year, we used Discord and Twitter to ask our listeners what kinds of things they’d like to hear us discuss. The response was overwhelming and we now have a massive list of possible topics. Although these suggestions were exceptional, there are a good number we’d struggle to turn into complete episodes. Rather than ignore these, we’ve decided to go through the replies and see what we can address succinctly.

We started going through these suggestions in an episode a couple of months ago, but we barely scratched the surface. Here, we delve into several more topics, including Gothic Horror, Espionage and the Cthulhu Mythos, White Dwarf and Dagon magazines, literary genres, potential strange NPCs, solo gaming, and Japanese Call of Cthulhu scenarios.

Thank you to Dirk the Dice, OrbitalAxolotl, Sarah D, OK Ghouls Hear Me Out, and DMBadWrongFun on our Discord server for the topics we discuss in this episode.

Please do let us know if you have any suggestions of your own. Well, apart from those ones.

Things we mention in this episode include:

Emperor Norton

News

Hounds of Tindalos Reading

Mike Perceval-Maxwell of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories recently released a reading of Frank Belknap Long’s weird tale “The Hounds of Tindalos”. Our very own Scott Dorward joined him to voice the character of Halpin Chalmers. We have put the episode out on the Good Friends feed as well. This follows our recent episode discussing Long’s tale.

Advert-Free Episodes on Patreon

As of a few months ago, we started putting commercial breaks in episodes of the Good Friends. These are just for our own products or other podcasts we like, but some people will still want to avoid them. If you prefer your podcasts without adverts, the releases on the Good Friends Patreon feed are completely free of interruptions.

We’re back and and we’re playing Jenga with that teetering pile of unread books, plucking out a few tomes for discussion and hoping we don’t get crushed in the attempt.

Main Topic: Media Catch-Up – Books

This episode is the latest in our ongoing series about the media we’ve been consuming recently and how they might influence our gaming lives. As ever, the selection is eclectic, taking in rats, horses, and a magical tattoo in which a horse might conceivably eat a rat for breakfast.

Things we mention in this episode include:

News

2023 Ennie Awards

We were delighted to learn that How We Roll won the silver award for Best Podcast and Rivers of London won silver for Best Rules at the 2023 Ennie Awards. Thank you very much to everyone who voted for us!

We’re back with another special episode. This time, we’ve teamed up with Mike Perceval-Maxwell, host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories, for a reading of Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos”. If you would like to know more about the story, we discussed it in a recent episode.

Regular listeners will have heard some of our other collaborations with Mike. He is the mastermind behind our annual Christmas ghost story readings. We also published an episode of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories in conjunction with our discussion of Robert E Howard.

This time, we’re following up our recent discussion of Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos” with a reading. Mike takes on the role of the narrator, while Scott plays Halpin Chalmers.

If you enjoyed this episode, we encourage you to check out Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories. Mike releases regular readings of classic weird tales on his podcast, including works by many authors we’ve discussed on the Good Friends.

You can find out earlier collaborations with Mike below.

The episode graphic for this special uses the image “Tindaloss” by Rodrigue Pellaud – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Episode 264: The Hounds of Tindalos

We’re back and we have an angle. Well, it started out as a curve, but then some bits fell off. It’s outrageous! We’re not sure if that was some kind of fall from grace, an earthquake, or just shoddy plastering. Or maybe we’re just being obtuse. Happily, the hounds of Tindalos will be along soon to put us right. Their sense of such things is pretty acute.

Main Topic: The Hounds of Tindalos

Following on from our time travel episodes, we thought we should find an example of how these tropes have been used in the Cthulhu Mythos. Happily, Frank Belknap Long’s seminal story, “The Hounds of Tindalos”, is about as good an example as we could ask for. As well as showing us a very genre-appropriate method for exploring time, it introduces one of the weirdest and scariest antagonists in the Mythos.

We explore the curves and angles of the story, and briefly discuss the life and works of Frank Belknap Long. In addition to his role as a core member of the Lovecraft Circle, Long has the distinction of being the first person after Lovecraft to write a Mythos story. But that was just a small part of a career that spanned over 70 years and multiple genres.

The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long

Things we mention in this episode include:

Frank Belknap Long and HP Lovecraft in 1931 Brooklyn
Long and Lovecraft in 1931

News

Paul in Bayt al Azif

Issue 5 of Bayt al Azif includes an article by Paul in which he discusses his favourite beginner scenarios for Call of Cthulhu.

Paul at Continuum

Paul will be at the Continuum convention in Leicester later this month, running games and propping up the bar.

Matt Interviews

Matt recently spoke to our good friends over at Illusion Horror & Con about his scenario “Judgment”, as part of their Ask the Author series.

He was also interviewed for issue 2 of Vaezine about the role of Gothic horror in Vaesen.

A Weekend With Good Friends

A Weekend With Good Friends starts this coming Friday, assuming you’re reading this shortly after the episode goes out. It runs between the 5th and 7th of July, around the clock.

This is the online RPG convention organised by our lovely listeners and hosted on our Discord server. While the main source of information is said Discord server, we also have a web page with important details and links.

Player signups have closed, but there will be pickup games running throughout the weekend. There are also a number of seminars about Call of Cthulhu and horror gaming. Check out our Discord server for more details.

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