Cosmic Horror

30 March, 2021

We’re back and we’re and we’re contemplating the secrets of the universe. People have warned us that it isn’t good for the human psyche to truly understand its insignificance in the wider cosmos. Luckily, as podcasters, our egos are robust enough to withstand such a spiritual winnowing. Cosmic horror is only genuinely horrific if your place in the universe isn’t secured by the occasional appearance towards the bottom of a niche podcast chart!

Main Topic: Cosmic Horror

This episode is our long-overdue look at cosmic horror. The term “cosmic horror” is often used as a synonym for Lovecraftian horror. Is there more to this relationship, however? For all his passion for the genre, how effective was Lovecraft at writing cosmic horror? How can we bring cosmic dread into our games of Call of Cthulhu? And what the hell is cosmic horror anyway?

Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. Although, on a cosmic scale, we’re practically in the same room.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

Alien (1979)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Trebuchet Magazine
Buffer overflows
“The Rats in the Walls” by HP Lovecraft
“Supernatural Horror in Literature” by HP Lovecraft
WB Yeats
The Quatermass Experiment
Azathoth
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by HP Lovecraft
Yog-Sothoth
The Gods of Pegāna by Lord Dunsany
“The Music of Erich Zann” by HP Lovecraft
Body horror
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

“Nyarlathotep” by HP Lovecraft
“The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C Clarke
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Solaris (1972)
Solaris (2002)
Arrival (2016)
“Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang
Event Horizon (1997)
2001: A Space Oddysey (1968)
“Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett
The Last Mimzy (2007)
The Leftovers (2014)
“Black and White Sky” by Tanith Lee
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
Uzimaki (2000)

News

Patreon Changes

We’ve recently made some changes to our Patreon tiers. These centre on how we deliver The Blasphemous Tome. As of the next Tome, we will send a PDF to $1 backers, a code for a print-on-demand copy to $3 backers, and hand-printed and signed copies to those at $5 and above. Check our Patreon page for more details.

The Blasphemous Tome Issue 7

The reason for these Patreon changes is that we will now be putting out two full Blasphemous Tomes per year. While the .5 summer releases started life as an overflow for material we couldn’t fit in the standard Tome, they’ve proved very popular. As a result, we’re promoting them to full Tomes, which means they will be available in print as well as PDF. Issue 7 is due out in June and will include a brand new Call of Cthulhu scenario, licensed by Chaosium, written by our very own Matt Sanderson. We’ll have more details for you soon!

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Media Catch-Up: Television

16 February, 2021

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We’re back and we’re sucking at the glass teat again. Like all lazy creative types, we watch a lot of TV and try to convince ourselves it’s research. There certainly is a lot that the structure of modern television can teach us about roleplaying games. Absorb too much, however, and you may find that your games become riddled with adverts for erectile dysfunction pills. Maybe not the kind of healing potion your party is looking for…

Main Topic: Media Catch-Up: Television

After the positive reception to our short run of lockdown specials for our Patreon backers last year, we thought it might be fun to carry the format into the occasional regular episode. This time, we each discuss some of the television we’ve been watching recently and how it’s informing our gaming lives. Even though none of the programmes we discuss are horror, we still manage to find plenty to borrow for Call of Cthulhu.

Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. Chatting over Google Meet is like watching each other on television, only with worse scripts.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

Patreon Lockdown Specials
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Discovery
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsythe
Cheers
Supernatural
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Walker in the Wastes
Masks of Nyarlathotep
The X-Files
Hot War
World of Darkness

News

Matt at ConTingency

Like so many other conventions, ConTinegncy moved from being a physical to a virtual event this year. As part of his ongoing mission to demonstrate his contempt for sleep, Matt ran an unwise number of games over the week. At least he didn’t need to change out of his pyjamas to do so.

New Cthulhu Idol From Stephen Hickman

Matt has also been busy backing Kickstarters. Not that he’s ever stopped. This time, he backed Stephen Hickman’s campaign to create a new version of his idol of Cthulhu. The horror in resin has now arrived and Matt has taken a picture to share with us.

Full Fathom Five on Distant Grey Gaming

The Australian actual-play podcast Distant Grey Gaming recently ran Paul’s 19th-century whaling scenario “Full Fathom Five”. They have also recorded an interview with Paul, which you will find in their feed.

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200th Episode Special: Ask Us Anything

19 January, 2021

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We’re back and we’re turning 200. Please be gentle. We’re tired and our feet hurt.

John Sumrow captures the dark, fishy heart of the podcast better than we ever could. Check out his Patreon for many more eldritch wonders: https://www.patreon.com/JohnSumrow

Main Topic: Ask Us Anything

This is our big 200th episode celebration! Somehow, we’ve managed to keep the podcast going for 7 1/2 years, racking up a frightening number of hours of our words. Once you count all the special episodes, backer-only specials, story readings and the like, the total is probably closer to 250 episodes, but we’ll only count the full releases. It saves confusing ourselves even more than usual.

We thought we might celebrate this milestone by opening ourselves up to interrogation by our listeners. You sent in something like 200 questions via Twitter, Facebook, Discord, Reddit and Patreon. We had to narrow this down to a dozen or so, otherwise we might still be recording this episode. Our audience proxy, asking your questions in his own voice, is Mike Mason, creative director for the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

Thank you again to cuppycup of the wonderful Ain’t Slayed Nobody podcast for his help in salvaging some damaged audio from this recording session!

Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. We’re getting used to this.

Links

Things we mention in this 200th episode include:

News

The Surrey Enigma on Grizzly Peaks Radio

Scott has been guesting on Andy Goodman’s wonderful Grizzly Peaks Radio podcast. Andy has dug out another old marvel from the glory days of White Dwarf, in the form of “The Surrey Enigma” by Marcus L Rowland. Episodes should start appearing in your feeds soon. Prepare for bloody chaos and some turns of events that must have Enid Blyton turning in her grave.

News From Chaosium

Elder Gods willing, the slipcase edition of the Malleus Monstrorum should now be available in print across the globe. The revised, publicly available version of the former organised-play campaign A Time to Harvest should be available very soon as well.

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Top 3 Mythos Media

5 January, 2021

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We’re back and we’re hearing the call of Cthulhu from some unusual places. Most of our consumption of Mythos media comes via the printed word. Sometimes, however, it seeps out from the page and infects other formats. Unless we commit to slapping an elder sign on the cover of every book, we had better learn to embrace this, or at least let its pseudopods embrace us.

Main Topic: Top 3 Mythos Media

This episode presents a discussion of some of our favourite Cthulhu Mythos media, in the form of films, songs, musicals and comics. Anything, really, as long as it’s not a novel, short story or RPG. Obviously, there’s going to be a bit of debate as we never agree on anything. We are joined in the scrum by Mike Mason, creative director for the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

Thank you very much to cuppycup of the wonderful Ain’t Slayed Nobody podcast for his help in salvaging some damaged audio from this recording session!

Once again, the pandemic means we recorded this episode remotely. We’re getting used to this.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

Night Gallery
“Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture”
The Twilight Zone
“The Return of the Sorcerer” by Clark Ashton Smith
“Cool Air” by HP Lovecraft
“Pickman’s Model” by HP Lovecraft
The Corridor (2010)
“Lovecraft in Brooklyn” by The Mountain Goats

“The Whisperer in Darkness” by HP Lovecraft
Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats
Bletchley Park
Berlin Airlift
Return to Innsmouth (1999)
The Yellow Sign (2001)
The Two-Headed Serpent
Call of Tutu (2006)

The Void (2016)
Underwater (2020)
Midsommar (2019)
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
The Dunwich Horror Picture Show
Absentia (2011)
Oculus (2013)
Hush (2016)
Doctor Sleep (2019)
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Late Bloomer (2004)

Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (1998)
“Herbert West — Reanimator” by HP Lovecraft
“The Statement of Randolph Carter” by HP Lovecraft

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
Prince of Darkness (1987)
The Thing (1982)
Children of the Corn (1984)
The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows
The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows
The HP Lovecraft Historical Society
A Shoggoth on the Roof

Voluminous

News

200th Episode Special

We’re about to turn 200. Well, maybe not us as people, but the podcast will hit the milestone of 200 episodes this month. We’re celebrating with a big Q&A session, in which we answer some questions sent in by our lovely listeners. Mike Mason joins us once again, acting as questionmaster.

Also, thinking about it, if you add up the ages of everyone on this episode, the total isn’t far off 200…

Back when we celebrated our first birthday. Didn’t we look young?

Call of Cthulhu 40th Anniversary

As Mike reminds us in the episode, Call of Cthulhu turns 40 this year. Expect some major releases this year to celebrate this milestone! While it’s too early to offer specifics, keep watching the Chaosium social media feeds for announcements.

A Weekend With Good Friends

Following the success of Jacks-Con in July of 2020, our lovely listeners have organised another virtual convention. A Weekend With Good Friends will take place on our Discord server between the 14th and 18th of January 2021. Player sign-ups begin on the 6th of January. Full details can be found here.

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Patreon Backer Special 12 – Yet More TV

8 September, 2020

We’re back with the last of our current run of lockdown specials. As COVID restrictions are lifting and people are emerging from their homes, blinking at the light like molemen, we thought we would at least pause production.

This episode is another scan through the dial on our televisions, looking for ideas for games. Not that our televisions have dials. Or, in the case of one of us, that we even own televisions.

These lockdown episodes have been a way of thanking our Patreon backers for sticking with us through these difficult times. We are releasing them on the off-weeks between our normal episodes.

If you would like to gain access to these special episodes, simply back us on Patreon at any level. We will continue to release our standard episodes every fortnight as usual.

If you are already a backer, you will find a post in your Patreon feed with a download link. The episode will also appear in our special Patreon RSS feed.