Category: Inspiration

We’re back and we’re moist. Between all this chicken custard, cow spittle and milk, Gozu has left us downright sodden. We’ve seen films use 3D, moving seats, and even subsonic vibrations to enhance the viewing experience, but this is going too far. Maybe we can scrape some of the muck off using this convenient ladle. Hang on… Why is the handle warm?

Main Topic: Gozu

Following last episode’s discussion of gangsters in Call of Cthulhu, we now look at probably the strangest gangster film ever made. Gozu is a 2003 production from legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike, and it defies description. It may not precisely be a horror film, but it will probably make you more uncomfortable than most horrors. As in so many of his films, Miike sets out to shock and transgress, but does so here in a playful, surreal manner. There is some weird sexual content in the film, so be warned that the discussion may be more explicit than usual.

Once again, Matt is absent from this episode. COVID hit him hard and he has taken some time to recover. Happily, he is doing much better now and will be back for our next episode. Once again, we have called upon our good friend Dirk the Dice to stand in for Matt. You will know Dirk from his marvellous podcast The Grognard Files, as well as our live recording of “The Necropolis”, with How We Roll.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• The Grognard Files podcast
• Gozu (2003)
• Takashi Miike
• Audition (1999)
• Audition by Ryū Murakami
• Visitor Q (2001)
• Ichi the Killer (2001)
• The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
• One Missed Call (2003)
• Full Metal Yakuza (1997)
• Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
• Gozu urban myth
• The King in Yellow
• Keaw Yed City
• Masters of Horror
• “Imprint” (2006)
• Sakichi Sato
• A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
• Ring (1998)
• Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)
• Chawanmushi – savoury Japanese custard

• Chekhov’s gun
• The Wicker Man (1973)
• The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
• Red bean rice
• Fukushi Masaichi – Yakuza skin collector
• The Two-Headed Serpent
• Givenchy lingerie
• Brother (2000)
• Vagina dentata
• Robert Aickman
• Luis Buñuel
• Soluble Fish by André Breton
• Charlie Higson
• The Fast Show
• King of the Ants by Charlie Higson
• Stuart Gordon
• King of the Ants (2003)
• Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen by Charlie Higson
• Japanese urban legends
• The Lovecraft Tapes

News

The Canterville Ghost special episodes

As we mentioned last episode, our good friend Mike Perceval-Maxwell organised a spirited reading of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost” on the Good Friends Discord server. This followed the success of last year’s reading of “A Christmas Carol”. Once again, this was a full-cast reading, with Mike joined by Dom Allen, John Casey, Scott Dorward, Rina Haenze and Sue Savage. You can now find recordings of all three parts on the Good Friends podcast feed or on this very server.

The Blasphemous Tome issue 8

You still just have time to secure a printed copy of issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. Anyone backing us by the end of December 2021 at the $3 level will receive a voucher for a print-on-demand copy at cost, and backers at the $5 level or higher will receive a copy printed and signed by the Good Friends. This latest issue features an all-new modern-day scenario by Scott, called “Night Bus”, that leans into the weirder side of the Mythos.

As we mention in the news segment, Matt’s recent bout of COVID has knocked back our production schedule by a few weeks. The Christmas card is going out around now and the Tome will follow in early January. Thank you for your patience in what has been a rough month.

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We’re back and we’re trying to understand the attraction of these concrete boots. They’re not very stylish and even less comfortable. Apparently they’ll help us sleep with the fishes, but that’s how we got into trouble last time we were in Innsmouth. It’s a weird life being gangsters in Call of Cthulhu.

Main Topic: Gangsters in Call of Cthulhu

Our latest episode delves into the deadly underworld of gangsters in Call of Cthulhu. Given that the classic era of Call of Cthulhu coincides with the advent of prohibition and the rise of organised crime in the USA, gangsters have always played a large role in the game. In this episode, we talk about the influences we’ve drawn upon when presenting gangsters in our own games, as well as thoughts on how to use gangsters as protagonists and antagonists.

This episode has the unfortunate distinction of being our first standard release not to feature all three of the Good Friends. Matt has been very ill recently after contracting COVID. Happily, he is on the road to recovery and should be back soon. For this and the next episode, however, we have called upon our good friend Dirk the Dice to stand in for Matt. You will know Dirk from his marvellous podcast The Grognard Files, as well as our live recording of “The Necropolis”, with How We Roll.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• The Grognard Files podcast
• Grogmeet
• White Dwarf magazine
• The Godfather (1972)
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo
• Mafia
• Organised crime in old Hollywood
• Little Caesar (1931)
• Al Capone
• La Cosa Nostra
• American Italian Anti-Defamation League
• The Sopranos
• Triads
• Meyer Lansky
• Bugsy Siegel
• Jewish-American mafia
• Gangbusters RPG
• Irish Mob
• State of Grace (1990)
• Prohibition

• Gambling in Hong Kong
• Protection rackets
• Yakuza
• Cartel RPG
• Mexican drug cartels
• Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
• Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
• Blades in the Dark
• The Krays (1990)
• The Kray Twins
• Charlie (2004)
• The Richardson Gang
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Loaded magazine
• Young men driven to crime by a female Doctor Who
• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano
• Gomorrah TV programme
• Boardwalk Empire

• Scarface (1932)
• White Heat (1949)
• The Public Enemy (1931)
• Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
• The Roaring Twenties (1939)
• The Long Firm (2004)
• The Long Firm by Jake Arnott
• The Wire
• The James-Younger Gang
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
• Deadwood
• Three Views of the Weird West
• “Dockside Dogs”
• World War Cthulhu: Cold War
• Fiasco RPG
• Cults
• World War Cthulhu: London
• Wartime black marketeers
• The Two-Headed Serpent
• “Blackwater Creek”

News

Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome

There is still just time to secure a printed copy of Issue 8 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the semi-annual fanzine we produce for our Patreon backers. Anyone backing us by the end of the year at the $3 level will receive a voucher for a print-on-demand copy at cost, and backers at the $5 level or higher will receive a copy printed and signed by the Good Friends. This latest issue features an all-new modern-day scenario by Scott, called “Night Bus”, that leans heavily into the weirder side of the Mythos.

Reissue of The Blasphemous Tome 1

Speaking of Tomes, we have recently reissued the first Blasphemous Tome. All backers can now download a PDF of issue 1 from our Patreon feed. Additionally, anyone backing us at the $3 level or higher before the end of 2021 will receive vouchers for print-on-demand copies of issues 1 and 7.

Issue 1 features a rare thing — a scenario written by all three of the Good Friends. “The Thing From the Shed” can be run using Call of Cthulhu or any OSR game, and involves plenty of icky body horror. Issue 7 features Matt’s sun-drenched scenario, “The Blue”, uncovering horrors beneath the crystal waters of Bermuda.

The Canterville Ghost on the Good Friends Discord

Following the success of last year’s reading of “A Christmas Carol”, Mike Perceval-Maxwell is organising another Christmas ghost story on the Good Friends Discord server. Mike will be joined by Dom Allen, John Casey, Scott Dorward, Rina Haenze and Sue Savage for a spirited rendition of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost”. We will read the story live over three evenings — the 13th, 14th and 16th of December, at 22:30. Each reading will take approximately 30 minutes.

If all goes well, we shall release recordings of each episode on the Good Friends podcast feed, for those who can’t make the live events.

“We Will Remember Them” on Spectre in the Fog

Our good friend Robin has been running an actual play of Paul’s scenario “We Will Remember Them” for the Spectre in the Fog podcast. This tense tale of heroism and body horror is plucked from the World War Cthulhu scenario collection Europe Ablaze.

New Arcs on Grizzly Peaks and How We Roll

And speaking of actual plays, two of the podcasts Scott appears on have begun new arcs recently. Grizzly Peaks Radio has just started a playthrough of a modified version of “Ghost Jackal Kill”, from an ancient issue of White Dwarf magazine, featuring the lovable old codgers from “The Surrey Enigma”.

Scott has also just started running “Inheritance” — chapter two of the Flotsam and Jetsam campaign — for How We Roll. Our all-star cast of Joe and Eoghan from How We Roll, Veronica from Cthulhu and Friends, and Seth Skorkowsky has grown! We have now been joined by special guest Adrian Tchaikovsky, who has volunteered to steer our investigators through the deadly streets of Innsmouth.

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