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.
With all the talk about mediums in recent episodes, we thought it might be helpful to examine one from media. Guillermo del Toro’s 2021 adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s novel Nightmare Alley may not lean into the Spiritualist elements of the source, but it still presents a gripping story of a predator who uses the techniques of stage mediumship. Moreover, the film’s setting in the worlds of carnival sideshows and mentalist acts are rich inspiration for games of Call of Cthulhu.
As well as discussing the film itself, we talk a little about del Toro’s career, focusing on some highlights.
Paul will be at Gen Con in August. He’ll be signing at the Chaosium stand on Thursday at 1:30 PM. On Thursday evening, he will be running what he has dubbed “Full Fathom Five-Point-Five” with You Too Can Cthulhu, riffing on his Miskatonic Repository scenario “Full Fathom Five”. And if you’re not sick of him by then, you can see him on the panel about Horror on the Tabletop on 12 PM on Friday.
We’re back and and we’re in the dark. While we’re told that darkness is essential for séances, it does make it tricky to watch when the medium starts dancing. Also, if the spirits are going to start shooting pistols near us, we’d prefer to be able to see where the guns are pointed. Happily, Napoleon is here to offer some practical military advice to these otherworldly gunmen. We just hope that he doesn’t leave us quite as wet and sticky as last time. It plays hell with our zithers!
Main Topic: Séances
As a belated coda to our discussions of Victorian Spiritualism, we thought we’d go through some contemporary accounts of Victorian séances, looking for inspiration. Our earlier discussions glossed over the details of what actually happens in a séance and how they differ from what we see in popular media. The truth turns out to be far weirder than any fiction.
Our goal, as ever, is to offer inspiration for games. If you do decide to include a séance inspired by these accounts in one of your games, we’d love to hear about it!
Paul will be at Gen Con in August. You can see him on the panel about Horror on the Tabletop. He will also be running what he has dubbed “Full Fathom Five-Point-Five” with You Too Can Cthulhu, riffing on his Miskatonic Repository scenario “Full Fathom Five”.
Back Issues of the Tome
All back issues of The Blasphemous Tome are now available as PDF downloads for our Patreon backers. This is the fanzine that we produce for our backers, which largely existed only in physical form until recently. Each issue contains a full scenario written by the Good Friends.
Anyone backing us at any level on Patreon can now download the entire back catalogue as PDFs. People backing us at the $3 tier or higher before the end of July can also get a discount voucher for a print-on-demand copy of issue 6.
We would like to thank Chris, Martin and Bence, the convention organisers, for all the amazing work they put in to make the convention happen. Thank you as well to all the convention staff for keeping the convention running smoothly throughout. And thank you to everyone who attended!
This was also the first Weekend With Good Friends to feature panels. Thank to David for organising them and watching over all eleven of them throughout the weekend! And thank you to all the panellists who joined us for the weekend.
Voting is now open for the 2023 ENnie Awards. A number of projects we are involved with are up for awards and we would love it if you considered voting for them.
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.
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.
We’re back and we’re going round in circles. Driving around Milton Keynes has prepared us for such eventualities, although these are temporal loops rather than roundabouts. Then again, what is a time loop but a four-dimensional roundabout? Let’s just hope we can work out how to find an exit before we go around yet again. This is murder on our tyres. And our watches.
Main Topic: Time Travel in Call of Cthulhu part 2
As we mentioned last episode, we ran out of time to discuss time. This means we’ve gone back to the discussion, delving into psychic time travel as well as different varieties of time loops. We also spend a bit of time (it’s really hard not to make jokes here) talking about the way time travel has been presented in Mythos fiction and the Call of Cthulhu RPG.
The next issue of The Blasphemous Tome will soon be ready to creep its way across the globe. This is the fully licenced Call of Cthulhu fanzine we produce for Patreon backers of the podcast. Issue 11 features a gorgeous full-colour cover from John Sumrow and a brand-new Call of Cthulhu scenario from our own Scott Dorward, titled “Blackshade”. Anyone backing us at the $5 level or higher will receive a print copy of the Tome, signed by our arthritic hands.
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. We will update this as things progress.
Don’t worry if you missed the cut-off for GM signups. There will be pickup games running throughout the weekend.
The important dates are:
Friday 2nd – Thursday 15th June — GM signups
Friday 23rd – Thursday 29th June — Player signups
Friday 30th June — Lottery results announced
Friday 7th – Sunday 9th July — AWWGF
The Murder Shack and Blackshade on Ain’t Slayed Nobody
As if that weren’t enough, a recording of “Blackshade”, Scott’s scenario from issue 11, will be available on Ain’t Slayed Nobody next month. Watch your feed for more details.
Sean F Smith Interview
Following our recent episodes about Victorian Spiritualism, Scott interviewed Sean F Smith for a follow-up special. Sean is a stage magician and mentalist, with a lifelong interest in the techniques of fraudulent mediumship. The discussion goes into the psychology of trickery, along some history of how Spiritualism and stage magic evolved together in Victorian Britain.
Scott on Bud & Griff’s RPG Creepshow
Bud and Griff recently invited Scott onto their (relatively) new gaming podcast. As well as discussing horror gaming and podcasting, the duo asked Scott about his weirdest uncanny experience. This gave Scott the perfect opportunity to talk about that time he got roped into performing an exorcism.
The episode will be released on their public feed this coming weekend.
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