Category: Film Reviews

We’re back and we’re seeking direction. While human lives are generally chaotic, we can at least bring order to our work. Pinning down good scenario structures can help us pretend that the world makes sense. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to paint the streets with nice tessellating hexagons.

Main Topic: Scenario Structures

This episode is our examination of how we structure RPG scenarios. While scenario structures are mostly important when writing your adventure up to share with other GMs, they can affect every stage of the development process. In this episode, we try to identify different types of structure and go into their pros and cons, challenging some of our own preconceptions along the way.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• Horror on the Orient Express
• Masks of Nyarlathotep
• The Two-Headed Serpent
• Call of Cthulhu in Japan
• Replays
• “The Haunting” from the Call of Cthulhu Quick-Start Rules
• “Uncle Timothy’s Will” from Blood Brothers
• “Amidst the Ancient Trees” from the Call of Cthulhu rulebook
• D&D
• Paranoia
• Roll20
• “Blackwater Creek” from the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen Pack

• The Appeal of Investigative Games
• “Crimson Letters” from the Call of Cthulhu rulebook
• Hot War
• “Jailbreak” from One Shots
• “In Media Res” from The Unspeakable Oath issue 10
• Beginnings, Middles and Ends
• “Pinfeathers” from Unknown Armies 2nd edition
• “The Green Glass Grail” from Weep
• “The Horse of the Invisible” from White Dwarf 66
• Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson
• “Hell is Other People” from Screams and Whispers
• The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Discord server

News

Flotsam and Jetsam on How We Roll

Scott has just finished running “The Star Brothers”, Brian Courtemanche‘s opening chapter to the Flotsam and Jetsam campaign, for How We Roll. The first two episodes are now out, with several more following soon. The players include Joe and Eoghan from How We Roll, Veronica from Welcome to St Paxton, and Seth Skorkowsky, If you would like to run Flotsam and Jetsam yourself, simply join the Cult of Chaos.

Paul on Storytelling Collective

Paul has contributed a number of lessons to the Call of Cthulhu track for the Storytelling Collective‘s Write Your First Adventure course. Sign up to learn all his secrets! The programme encourages you to publish your new creation on the Miskatonic Repository.

Call of Cthulhu Classic – 40th Anniversary Kickstarter

Chaosium have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for a reprint of the 2nd edition Call of Cthulhu boxed set. This includes all the original booklets, with tidied-up layout and typos corrected. Extras include a newly designed Keeper Screen, ruby-coloured dice, and reprints of the Cthulhu Companion, Fragments of Fear, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Trail of Tsathoggua, and The Asylum and Other Tales. Follow the campaign for more goodies as further stretch goals are unlocked.

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We’re back and we’re flying the friendly skies. Well, maybe not that friendly. OK, they’re downright malevolent. Ithaqua may be one of the fastest ways to travel but the in-flight entertainment is chilling. And the less said about the landings, the better. At least we have these nifty little tokens to remember our trip by. If only we had the time to enjoy them before freezing to death…

Main Topic: Mythos Deities – Ithaqua

This episode is the latest in our series on the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos, looking at Ithaqua — the wind-walker. Previous entries include Dagon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Hastur, Azathoth, Nodens, Mordiggian and Ubbo-Sathla.

In our discussion, we look at Ithaqua’s origins, how he has been developed over the years, and how we might use him ourselves. Additionally, we delve into the conflation of Ithaqua with wendigo legends and how we might untangle them. Thank you very much to everyone who suggested resources to help us understand the actual wendigo legends and how they have often been misused in horror fiction. Especially, we would like to thank Shane Hawk and cornysams on Twitter and Stephen Wall, Al Smith and Giles on our Discord server. Any misinterpretations of the materials they suggested reflect solely on us, not on these fine people or the resources they suggested.

If you’d like to learn more about the background and misrepresentation of wendigo legends, the resources in question are:

• “Cannibalism in Contact Narratives and the Evolution of the Wendigo” by Michelle Lietz
• “The Appropriation of the Windigo Spirit in Horror Literature” by Kallie Hunchman
• “The Horror! The Horror? The Appropriation, and Reclamation, of Native American Mythology” by Joe Nazare
• “Incursion Into Wendigo Territory” by Jackson Eflin
• “The Mythology and Misrepresentation of the Windigo” by Elizabeth McCauley
• Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural edited by Barbara Walker

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• The Magnus Archives
• August Derleth
• “The Thing That Walked on the Wind” by August Derleth
• “Beyond the Threshold” by August Derleth
• Strange Eons by Robert Bloch
• The Ithaqua Cycle edited by Robert M Price
• The Outsider and Others by H P Lovecraft
• “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” by H P Lovecraft
• “The Snow-Thing” (AKA “Ithaqua”) by August Derleth
• The Mask of Cthulhu by August Derleth

• “The Dunwich Horror” by H P Lovecraft
• “The Wendigo” by Algernon Blackwood
• “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood
• “The Thing From — ‘Outside'” by George Allan England
• Leng
• Parachuting spiders
• “The Whisperer in Darkness” by H P Lovecraft
• Hastur
• Wendigo
• Wendigo psychosis
• Pet Sematary by Stephen King
• Malleus Monstrorum
• Djinn
• Alone Against the Frost

• “Born of the Winds” by Brian Lumley
• Spawn of the Winds by Brian Lumley
• Gnoph-Keh
• Rhan-Tegoth
• “The Horror in the Museum” by H P Lovecraft and Hazel Heald
• The Walker in the Wastes
• The Realm of Shadows
• The Two-Headed Serpent
• Florida Man
• Cassadaga
• The Last Winter (2006)
• Wendigo (2001)

News

Blasphemous News!

We have just sent out the first issue of our new email newsletter! If you would like to hear more about upcoming episodes, side projects, and other cool things, sign up now.

Scott on Elder Sign and Grizzly Peaks Radio

Scott has made a couple of guest appearances on other podcasts recently. Glenn McDorman of the Elder Sign podcast talked to him about one of the horror stories that influenced him in his youth — “The Werewolf and the Vampire” by R Chetwynd-Hayes.

Scott also spoke to Andy Goodman of Grizzly Peaks Radio about creating atmosphere in horror games and whether actual play podcasts could be as frightening as audio dramas. This might lead to spooky things!

Recent Special Episodes

We have released some more special episodes. Scott recently interviewed award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky. They spoke about cosmic horror as science fiction, creating compelling non-human characters, and how gaming helps teach robust world building.

We have also released the first of a two-part discussion with fan-favourite YouTuber and author Seth Skorkowsky. In this instalment, he and Scott talk about GMing tips, the constraints of genre, and UFO cults. The second part, in which Jon Hook joins us, goes into the Modern Mythos podcast Jon and Seth recently launched. Check your podcast feed for all these episodes.

The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7

Issue 7 of The Blasphemous Tome will be creeping your way before the end of June. It features a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. This episode, we discuss the wonderful cover art created by our good friend John Sumrow. Everyone backing us on Patreon by the end of this month will receive a Tome. Please see our Patreon page for more details.

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