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Episode 158: Mythos Deities: Hastur
For the past few episodes, we’ve explored the Carcosa Mythos of Robert W Chambers. Its most famous elements — The King in Yellow, the Yellow Sign and Hastur — are usually seen as part of the Cthulhu Mythos, but we worked hard to keep these elements separate. Well, this is the episode in which we mash it all up again. Hail Hastur!
We go on a deep dive into... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 159: Martyrs
We’re back and we’re putting ourselves through torments. Watching Pascal Laugier’s 2008 horror film Martyrs is not necessarily a pleasant experience. This is not to say that it is a bad film — quite the opposite. It is, however, a gruelling one. The unrelenting cruelty and torture it depicts make it highly divisive. Not only is Martyrs viscerally nasty but it is emotionally... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 160: Keeping Cthulhu Scary
This episode is our look at what makes a game of Call of Cthulhu scary. We focus on Call of Cthulhu because that’s what we do, but the elements we discuss could apply to any horror game. Fear is a pretty universal thing.
When we say that fear is universal, we mean that there are some main strands of fear that run through us all. The specifics and triggers may... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 161: Top 3 RPG Mechanics
We each choose three of our favourite individual game mechanics from some very different RPGs, explaining how they work and why they appeal to us so. There is a fair bit of variety, taking in games published between the early ’80s and the present day. Some may give you ideas for things you can borrow for your own games. RPG designers are always feeding on what has... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 162: Lovecraft and the Occult
We’re back and we’re casting protective circles around our microphones, burning incense that smells like Cthulhu’s armpits and waggling our wands for all they’re worth. No matter how fevered our incantations, however, the songs always seem to break free. Some magic is too foul to be contained.
Main Topic: Lovecraft and the Occult
This... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 163: Lovecraft and the Occult (part 2)
This is the second part of our look into the relationship between Lovecraft’s work and real occult practices. Last episode, we looked into how Lovecraft drew upon his superficial knowledge of the occult to add verisimilitude to his stories. This time, we’re exploring something far weirder: occultists who have incorporated Lovecraft’s... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 164: Occult Horror
After spending a couple of episodes discussing how Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu relate to real occultism, we thought we’d get a little more lurid. This is our look at the genre of occult horror, which is something quite different than occultism. It is the blood-drenched, Satan-worshipping, virgin-sacrificing insanity that you would encounter in more disreputable... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 165: A Dark Song
This episode wraps up our recent look at the occult by discussing a recent occult horror film, seeing what angelic inspiration it can offer. A Dark Song is a British/Irish co-production from 2016 that has developed something of a cult following. While it does exaggerate aspects for dramatic effect, it may be the most realistic and sympathetic portrayal of... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 166: At the Mountains of Madness (Part 1)
At the Mountains of Madness is one of Lovecraft’s longest works and one of the most important to the development of the Mythos. It tells an epic tale of an ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic and their encounter with forgotten horrors from the distant past. Plus penguins. Lots of penguins.
As ever, we drill deep into the story... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 167: At the Mountains of Madness (Part 2)
This is the second part of our expedition through Lovecraft’s short novel, At the Mountains of Madness. Our Antarctic journey is going to be a long one. Now that we’ve actually recorded all the episodes, we can safely reveal that there are going to be five installments in total. This will take us up to the end of November, when... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 168: At the Mountains of Madness (Part 3)
This is the section of At the Mountains of Madness in which Lovecraft tells us of the decline and fall of the Old Ones. While we’re experiencing the story at two degrees of remove, it’s still quite gripping. More importantly for Call of Cthulhu players, this is probably the largest history of the Mythos Lovecraft offered us in... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 169: At the Mountains of Madness (Part 4)
We’re back and we’re nearing the end of our expedition. The tunnels below this ancient, pre-human city are full of penguin droppings but somehow these aren’t the foulest things down here. Something has been polishing these floors like a giant protoplasmic Roomba. We’re not sure what it is yet, but it does seem to have a lovely... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 170: At the Mountains of Madness (Part 5)
This is the final part of our discussion of Lovecraft’s epic, At the Mountains of Madness. After all the geological, biological and historical explorations of previous chapters, we find ourselves caught up in something almost mystical. The story ends with another infodump, but one born of madness. As ever, we pick this apart... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 171: Mythos Tomes
It’s taken a long time but we’ve finally tackled one of the most important topics in Call of Cthulhu: Mythos tomes. Hell, our website takes its name from the most famous one of all.
We spend a little time talking about how we might use Mythos tomes in our Call of Cthulhu games, how they work mechanically and what new and interesting tomes we might create.... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 172: The Appeal of D&D
Dungeons & Dragons may seem a little off-topic for a horror podcast, but we stand by our decision. As Paul is so fond of reminding us, it’s where all the other games we love ultimately came from. Our discussion mainly takes the form of a highly subjective exploration of what we do and don’t like about D&D, and some thoughts about its... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 173: Great NPCs of History
This is our attempt to find interesting and overlooked figures from history and explore how they might make great NPCs for our Call of Cthulhu games. We had a great deal of fun preparing and recording this episode, so it may become a regular format. We will at least have to record one more episode anyway, as we ran out of time and couldn’t include... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 174: Midsommar
This episode is our look at the 2019 American/Swedish folk horror film, Midsommar. It is an unusually sun-drenched horror, long in running time and short on action. As you might imagine, this led to some disagreement amongst us as to whether it is the best film of the year or slightly less fun than root canal.
Runtime: 63 min
Previous episodes include discussions... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 175: Best of the 2010s
In many respects, the 2010s were a terrible decade. We’ve seen political upheavals that will affect the world for generations, an ecological crisis that will affect it for even longer, and, worst of all, David Bowie died. It’s all been a bit shit, really.
But there has been some good stuff too. The 2010s were a boom time for media in general, and... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 176: Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu
This is the first of two episodes looking at ghosts and how they tie into Call of Cthulhu. Our original plan was to do it all in a single episode, but we talked too much.
As a result, this first part is largely us exploring what we think ghosts might be, as well as discussing what we do and don’t like in a ghost story. If you think... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 177: Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu part 2
This is the second of two episodes looking at ghosts and how they tie into Call of Cthulhu. The first focused on ghost stories and folklore. This time, we discuss how (and if) ghosts might fit into Call of Cthulhu and the wider Cthulhu Mythos.While Lovecraft wrote a handful of tales which might be considered ghost stories, these were usually... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 178: A Warning to the Curious
This episode explores M R James’ classic English ghost story, “A Warning to the Curious”. England has an enduring love for ghost stories, and James is the towering figure in the field. We spend some time talking about the man himself and how his work has retained its appeal. Then we go digging for treasure in one of his best-known tales,... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 179: More Great NPCs of History
In this episode, we once again seek out historical personages who might make interesting Call of Cthulhu NPCs. We have restricted ourselves to the classic 1920s and Gaslight time periods to best fit your games.
This is a follow-up to our first Great NPCs of History discussion in episode 173. That time, Paul and Scott got so carried away (mainly... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 180: Azathoth
This is the latest instalment in our series on the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. Earlier episodes have covered Dagon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep.
This time, the focus is on the blind idiot god at the centre of it all, Azathoth. We dig into Azathoth’s origins and how he changed throughout Lovecraft’s work. Then we move on to exploring how... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 181: Making a Monster
This episode is a discussion of how we go about creating new monsters for Call of Cthulhu. Is it enough (or even safe) to reskin a Deep One or a shoggoth? How do you decide how deadly your monster should be? What kind of stats should you assign? What is the monster doing in your scenario in the first place? And why not just pick something out of the rulebook... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 182: Body Horror
This episode is our exploration of the linked topics of disgust and body horror. We were originally going to cover disgust in our episode about Making Call of Cthulhu Scary, but ran out of time. And body horror has been on our list for some time. It seemed logical to send the two topics through the telepods, melding them into a twitching, mewling hybrid of... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 183: The Fly
Following on from our episode about body horror, we thought we should discuss an example of the genre. And what better-known body horror film is there than David Cronenberg’s 1986 classic, The Fly? Despite being almost 35 years old, it still has the power to make people squirm and go a little green around the gills. Assuming you have gills, that is. If not,... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 184: Character Advancement
This episode is our typically idiosyncratic look at the subject of character development in RPGs. We look at different ways in which characters can change through play, from gathering XP by killing monsters to resolving their messy character arcs. Not every character improves over time, however, and we discuss our expectations, as well as how all... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 185: Cults (Part 1)
This is the first of a multi-episode look at cults in the real world and how (and even if) they relate to what we see in Call of Cthulhu. Over the course of this series, we will discuss what kind of person forms a cult, how cults recruit, how they indoctrinate their members and what kinds of things they might believe.
This episode is largely taken up with... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 186: Cults (Part 2)
This is the second of a multi-episode look at cults in the real world and how (and even if) they relate to what we see in Call of Cthulhu. Over the course of this series, we will discuss what kind of person forms a cult, how cults recruit, how they indoctrinate their members and what kinds of things they might believe.
We are continuing our discussion... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 187: Cults (Part 3)
This is the third of a multi-episode look at cults in the real world and how (and even if) they relate to what we see in Call of Cthulhu. Over the course of this series, we will discuss what kind of person forms a cult, how cults recruit, how they indoctrinate their members and what kinds of things they might believe.
We are continuing our discussion of... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 188: Cults (Part 4)
This is the fourth of a multi-episode look at cults in the real world and how (and even if) they relate to what we see in Call of Cthulhu. Over the course of this series, we will discuss what kind of person forms a cult, how cults recruit, how they indoctrinate their members and what kinds of things they might believe.
We are continuing our discussion... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 189: Unusual Places
We thought we’d take you on an audio tour of some of our favourite unusual places. Sure, at least one of them isn’t actually there anymore, but given that we’re used to making places up entirely, this is still a step up. It just means that you’ll have to source your own overpriced souvenirs.
After the last few episodes, we thought we’d leave... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 191: Mythos Deities: Nodens
This is the latest instalment in our ongoing series about the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. Previous subjects include Dagon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep and Azathoth. This time, we’re delving deep into the abyss to learn about hoary Nodens, charting his progress from obscure Celtic deity to the public face of the Elder Gods.
Runtime:... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 192: Three Views of the Weird West (Part 1)
This is the first of two episodes exploring the weird west in gaming. With the release of Down Darker Trails, Cthulhu has followed the pioneers out to a strange new frontier. We thought it would be interesting to map out some of this territory.In this instalment, we discuss a couple of the weird west games that predate Down Darker... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 193: Three Views of the Weird West (Part 2)
This is the second of two episodes exploring the weird west. Last time, we looked at a couple of other RPGs and what they might be able to teach us about the setting. Now, we’re focusing on the Down Darker Trails supplement for Call of Cthulhu. From our superficial knowledge of the genre, it seems like all this weird west stuff... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 194: The Whisperer in Darkness
This is the first instalment of a multi-episode delve into Lovecraft’s classic weird tale, “The Whisperer in Darkness”. As well as being a gripping yarn, this is one of the key stories of the Cthulhu Mythos. It not only introduces the mi-go, one of our favourite monsters, but also draws in a number of other writers’ creations.
Runtime:... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 195: The Whisperer in Darkness (Part 2)
This is the second instalment of our multi-episode investigation of Lovecraft’s classic weird tale, “The Whisperer in Darkness”. Part one offered some background to the story and a poke around the first chapter. This time, events are in full swing and tension is building!
Runtime: 55 min
Previous episodes include discussions... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 196: The Whisperer in Darkness (Part 3)
This is the third instalment of our multi-episode investigation of Lovecraft’s classic weird tale, “The Whisperer in Darkness”. Last episode, Albert Wilmarth had made a new pen pal up in Vermont, Hnery Akeley, who told him some troubling tales linked to local folklore. Now, things are ramping up as Akeley’s farm comes under attack... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 196: The Whisperer in Darkness (Part 4)
This is the fourth instalment of our multi-episode investigation of Lovecraft’s classic weird tale, “The Whisperer in Darkness”. Last episode, Albert Wilmarth had become troubled by the increasingly bizarre letters from his new friend Henry Akeley. Someone or something also seemed to be interfering with their correspondence, stealing... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 198: The Whisperer in Darkness (Part 5)
This is the final instalment of our multi-episode investigation of Lovecraft’s classic weird tale, “The Whisperer in Darkness”. Last episode, Albert Wilmarth travelled to Vermont to visit his eccentric penpal, Henry Akeley. The two shared some mind-expanding conversation that quite unnerved Wilmarth. Now, we cut forward to that... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 199: Top 3 Mythos Media feat. Mike Mason
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... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 204: Cadaver
This episode is our look at the 2020 horror/science fiction film, Cadaver, currently available on Netflix. It’s the first feature from Norwegian writer/director Jarand Herdal. This grim post-apocalyptic tale of theatrics and cannibalism divided us at least as much as any film we’ve seen before. Be prepared for some spirited debate.
Runtime: 54 min
Previous... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
Pay What You Want
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Episode 205: 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... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 210: The Endless
This episode is our look at the 2017 horror film, The Endless. A number of you recommended it to us when we released our series on cults, given some of the subject matter.
Runtime: 62 min
Previous episodes include discussions of 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu rules, stories by H.P.Lovecraft, Gencon, interviews with game designers and much more.
For further... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 211: 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... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 211: Mythos Deities: Ithaqua
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... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 214: Sword and Sorcery
This episode is our examination of the genre of sword and sorcery. “But why are you doing this on a Call of Cthulhu podcast?” we hear an imaginary listener ask. While we hope the episode more than answers this, it’s probably worth explaining here too.
Sword and sorcery and the Cthulhu Mythos were birthed from the same otherworldy womb and bear... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 215: Sword and Sorcery Part 2
This episode is the conclusion our exploration of sword and sorcery. In our first instalment, we looked into the origins of the genre in the pulps. This time, we’re delving into films and games, seeing how they compare to their source material. While the 1980s were a boom time for sword and sorcery films, were any of them actually any good?... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 216: The Changeling
This episode is our discussion of the 1980 Canadian horror film, The Changeling. While horror cinema is hardly short of ghost stories, there’s always room for a well-made one. And there’s good reason why The Changeling haunts so many genre best-of lists. As ever, we pick the film’s bones for gaming inspiration.
Runtime: 67 min
Previous episodes... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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Episode 217: Genre Emulation
This episode is our discussion of the role of genre emulation in RPGs. How do RPGs reflect the source material that inspires them? Should they even attempt to do so? And how do we even attempt to define genre? While we may not provide comprehensive answer to these thorny questions, they do at least act as springboards for some robust discussion.... [click here for more] |
Paul Fricker |
FREE
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