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- Feed Preview Blasphemous Tomes
R’lyeh Roulette IV
We’re back and we’re spinning the wheel of misfortune. R’lyeh Roulette is not a game to be entered into casually. While you might not place bets in the normal manner, there is still much at...
Call of Cthulhu Deities — Shudde M’ell, Yibb-Tstll and Bugg-Shash
We’re back and we’re suckling. This is more difficult than you might think, at least when Yibb-Tstll is involved. Even once we get past all those pesky nightgaunts, there’s the whole, um, m...
Media Catch-Up
We’re back and we’re consuming. Mostly, we’re consuming media. At least that’s the consumption we feel happiest talking about in public. Also, the digestion of media tends to lead to less...
The Ocean in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re enjoying a nice seaside holiday. Of course, when most people talk about the seaside, they mean the bit that’s on land. Somehow, we’ve ended up in the wetter part. May...
Robert Bloch and the Cthulhu Mythos
We’re back and we’re wondering what’s in this jar on our desk. The contents are murky, but it looks like it might contain the heart of a small boy. Robert Bloch swears by it, but... The p...
Psycho (1960)
We’re back and we’re abluting with trepidation. It used to be that taking a shower was relaxing. We could just pull that curtain closed and enjoy the jets of warm, cleansing water. Since watc...
Delusions in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re rolling to disbelieve. Honestly, the world around us just becomes weirder and weirder with every passing year. A lot of this is probably down to age, but we can’t disco...
Psychological Horror in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re doubting ourselves. Well, that’s assuming we have any selves to doubt. Once you start plumbing the dark recesses of psychological horror, you soon realise that you can�...
The Ghost of Listener Suggestions
We’re back and we’re going through our mailbag again. It becomes a lot more manageable once we sift out the missives written in Aklo and other inhuman tongues. We’re not saying that what’...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth – Sequels and Adaptations
We’re back and we’re heading beyond Innsmouth. The literal and metaphorical tentacles of the Deep Ones now extend far beyond the town’s limits. We’re finding our fishy friends moistening ...
Told After Supper, by Jerome K Jerome – part 3
Our 2023 Christmas ghost story reading of Jerome K Jerome’s “Told After Supper” draws to its conclusion. After learning all about ghosts in the first reading and hearing some strange anecdo...
Told After Supper, by Jerome K Jerome – part 2
Our 2023 Christmas ghost story reading continues. This year, we are presenting Jerome K Jerome’s comic tale “Told After Supper”. After the introduction to the nature of ghosts we received i...
Told After Supper, by Jerome K Jerome – part 1
We are delighted to offer you another ghost story for Christmas. Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories), has once again organised a suitably...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 6
We’re back and we’re picking through the ruins. The US Federal Government may have bombed Innsmouth to smithereens, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still useful gaming inspiration to be...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 5
We’re back and we’re taking part in some self-reflection. It would just be a bit easier if our reflections didn’t keep changing. Maybe it’s inevitable once you get to a certain age. Your ...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 4
We’re back and we’re playing hide-and-seek. No, hang on. That’s when everyone hides and one person goes looking for them. This is the other way around. There’s a name for that game, isn�...
Mason and Fricker’s Eldritch Stories Sampler
Mason and Fricker’s Eldritch Stories Sampler In a change to regular programming, here is a sample of another podcast we thought you might enjoy. Mason and Fricker’s Eldritch Stories is a coll...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 3
We’re back and we’re enjoying a nice whiskey. OK, maybe we shouldn’t drink a whole quart of the stuff, but you’d do the same if you lived in Innsmouth. The alcohol fumes go some way... ...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2023 – A Post Mortem
The October Horror Movie Challenge The reviews I’ve posted every day this month are my way of taking part in the October Horror Movie Challenge. Everyone has their own approach, but the main re...
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) – OHMC 2023 Day 31
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (Hong Kong/UK, 1974) I’ve got into the habit of saving myself a treat for the final day of the October Horror Movie Challenge. After spending a month writing...
El Conde (2021) – OHMC 2023 Day 30
El Conde (Chile, 2023) “This was what the count achieved. Beyond the killing, his life’s work was to turn us into heroes of greed.” El Conde is another film that wasn’t even on my radar.....
Juju Stories (2021) – OHMC 2023 Day 29
Juju Stories (Nigeria, 2021) This is another fairly random selection. The title Juju Stories jumped out when I was browsing through the Prime Video horror selection, but I didn’t really know an...
Demon (2015) – OHMC 2023 Day 28
Demon (Poland, 2015) “The whole country is built on corpses.” I’d never heard of Demon until I made a guest appearance earlier this month on a livestream of Paul Yellovich’s and Evan Dork...
Gaia (2021) – OHMC 2023 Day 27
Gaia (South Africa, 2021) I have a big list of films people have recommended to me over the years. While I rarely remember to check it, some titles just stick in my head. Gaia was... The post G...
Talk to Me (2022) – OHMC 2023 Day 26
Talk to Me (Australia, 2022) I’ve been hearing buzz about Talk to Me for a while. People kept telling me that I should watch it and that it seemed like my kind of thing. The... The post Talk ...
The Gruesome Twosome (1967) – OHMC 2023 Day 25
The Gruesome Twosome (USA, 1967) Herschell Gordon Lewis has become a staple of my October Horror Movie Challenges, for better or worse. I started out by reviewing Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniac...
Murder Me, Monster (2018) – OHMC 2023 Day 24
Murder Me, Monster (Argentina, 2018) I actually started watching Murder Me, Monster the best part of a year ago. After getting around 30 minutes in, something interrupted me and I made a mental n...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 2
We’re back and we’re on a bus journey. Sure, this is a bone-rattler, but that’s like combining a gym visit and a massage, right? It certainly seems to have done the other passengers good. H...
The Premonition (1976) – OHMC 2023 Day 23
The Premonition (USA, 1976) After enjoying Dark August earlier this month, I decided to dig through the other 1970s indie oddities Shudder had added around the same time. The Premonition stood ou...
Totally Killer (2023) – OHMC 2023 Day 22
Totally Killer (USA, 2023) I wasn’t quite sure about adding Totally Killer to my list this year. It came out after I’d started the challenge, and I’d not really paid it much heed. Also, I�...
Come to Daddy (2020) – OHMC 2023 Day 20
Come to Daddy (New Zealand, 2019) It’s pretty much tradition that I accidentally pick at least one film for each October Horror Movie Challenge that turns out not to be horror at all. Well, Com...
Older Gods (2023) – OHMC 2023 Day 19
Older Gods (UK, 2023) I stumbled upon Older Gods as I was scanning new releases on various streaming platforms, hoping for inspiration. Unsurprisingly, the mention of Lovecraftian horror caught m...
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) – OHMC 2023 Day 18
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (Canada, 1987) Right, we’re heading back to the eighties. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is another film I’ve been meaning to catch up with for a while. It’s......
Blood Flower (2023) – OHMC 2023 Day 17
Blood Flower (Malaysia, 2023) I was looking for some more Asian horror to watch this month. When I saw some positive user reviews for Blood Flower on Shudder, I decided to give it a try.... The...
Something in the Dirt (2022) – OHMC 2023 Day 16
Something in the Dirt (USA, 2022) Having reviewed Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth yesterday, I decided to watch Something in the Dirt as a follow-up, just so I could make wry comments about the tit...
Shrew’s Nest (2014) – OHMC 2023 Day 21
Shrew’s Nest (Spain, 2014) Shrew’s Nest has been on my Shudder watchlist for ages, and I figured this was as good a time as any to try it. Many of my favourite horror films have... The post...
In the Earth (2021) – OHMC 2023 Day 15
In the Earth (UK, 2021) In the Earth is another film I’ve been itching to see for a while. A number of Ben Wheatley’s earlier films — Kill List, Sightseers and A Field in England... The p...
The Oskars Fantasy (2022) – OHMC 2023 Day 14
The Oskars Fantasy (Philippines, 2022) While I have been focusing more this year on films I’d been looking forward, I’m still popping a few random selections into the mix. I stumbled across T...
47 Metres Down (2017) – OHMC 2023 Day 13
47 Metres Down (UK/USA, 2017) As I mentioned in my review of Sea Fever last year, I am a sucker for any horror film involving the ocean and its inhabitants. When I was a kid,... The post 47 Met...
Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017) – OHMC 2023 Day 12
Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (Spain, 2017) A number of people have recommended Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil to me over the past few years, but for some reason I kept ski...
Last Night in Soho (2021) – OHMC 2023 Day 11
Last Night in Soho (UK, 2021) Like so many films on my notional list this year, I’ve been meaning to watch Last Night in Soho for a while. While I’ve enjoyed almost everything Edgar Wright......
The Sect (1991) – OHMC 2023 Day 10
The Sect (Italy, 1991) It doesn’t really feel like the October Horror Movie Challenge until I watch an Italian classic. While The Sect was made just after what I would consider to be the golden...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 1
We’re back and we’re sightseeing. Like most penurious writers, we’re doing so on a tight budget. Wasting money on expensive train tickets means that we won’t be able to afford the good ch...
No One Will Save You (2023) – OHMC 2023 Day 9
No One Will Save You (USA, 2023) I’m trying to be a bit more spontaneous with my selections this year. Some days, I’ll look at the list of films I’ve planned out and realise I... The post...
You Might Be The Killer (2018) – OHMC 2022 Day 8
You Might Be the Killer (USA, 2018) Every now and then, I stumble upon a film and wonder why the hell I haven’t heard of it before. There has been a flood of slasher comedies... The post You ...
Grave Robbers (1989) – OHMC 2023 Day 7
Grave Robbers (Mexico, 1989) I’m always on the lookout for some cheesy, gory, eighties fun to pepper the month’s viewing. While I enjoy art house horror as much as the next pretentious snob, ...
Pyewacket (2017) – OHMC 2022 Day 6
Pyewacket (Canada, 2017) Most years when I do the OHMC, I’ll start the month with a list of films I plan to watch and end it with a completely different list. I’ll delete entries if... The ...
Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995) – OHMC 2023 Day 5
Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (Japan, 1995) Not for the first time in an October Horror Movie Challenge, I’ve chosen a film simply because its name grabbed my attention. And what a name Bl...
Brooklyn 45 (2023) – OHMC 2023 Day 4
Brooklyn 45 (USA, 2023) Sometimes, it takes real self-control to save a film for the October Horror Movie Challenge. When Brooklyn 45 popped up on Shudder, it looked like exactly my kind of thing...
The Banishing (2020) – OHMC 2023 Day 3
The Banishing (UK, 2020) I’ve been a fan of Christopher Smith since seeing Creep (not to be confused with the American film of the same name) almost 20 years ago. Subsequent works like Severanc...
Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) – OHMC 2023 Day 2
Huesera: The Bone Woman (Peru/Mexico, 2022) Huesera: The Bone Woman was one of the first films to go on my list this year. While I knew very few details about it, the general buzz I’d... The ...
Dark August (1976) – OHMC 2023 Day 1
Dark August (USA, 1976) One of the best aspects of the streaming era is stumbling across obscure films that turn out to be exactly my kind of thing. A year or two ago, Shudder acquired... The p...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
It’s pretty safe to say that I love horror films. I love watching them, I love talking about them, and I even enjoy writing the occasional review. Horror films have been a big part of... The ...
Glorious
We’re back and we’re poking around in holes. Sometimes it’s hard not to let curiosity get the better of you. There could be anyone on the other side of that barrier, even a god. You... Th...
Mythos Deities: Yig & Ghatanothoa
We’re back and we’re petrified. It’s bad enough that you can become mummified by standing near Ghatanothoa, but being imperilled just by looking at his image is simply too much. And then we...
Bride of Listener Suggestions
We’re back and and we’re listening to our listeners. No, not in a creepy way. Well, not beyond our natural creepiness, anyway. We’re not even using our ears this time. Hmmm. That probably m...
Media Catch-Up – Books
We’re back and and we’re playing Jenga with that teetering pile of unread books, plucking out a few tomes for discussion and hoping we don’t get crushed in the attempt. Main Topic: Media Ca...
Special: The Hounds of Tindalos, read by Mike Perceval-Maxwell and Scott Dorward
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 ...
Nightmare Alley
We’re back and and we’re geeking out. Main Topic: Nightmare Alley With all the talk about mediums in recent episodes, we thought it might be helpful to examine one from media. Guillermo del T...
Séances
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 goin...
https://blasphemoustomes.com/2023/07/18/seances/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=seances
The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long
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... The post The...
Time Travel in Call of Cthulhu part 2
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 i...
Special: Stage Magic and Spiritualism With Sean F Smith
We’re back with our first special episode for a while. After our recent look into Victorian Spiritualism, Sean F Smith contacted us, offering to discuss the topic from the perspective of stage ...
Time Travel in Call of Cthulhu part 1
We’re back, or should that be forward? Time does have a tendency to jump around, and you’re never quite when you thought you were. Days pass in years and years pass in days. And the... The ...
Victorian Spiritualism part 2
We’re back and we’re glowing. While we’re only too happy to ascribe this to good diet and healthy living, all this phosphorous oil we keep splashing on ourselves may also play a part. It re...
Victorian Spiritualism part 1
We’re back and we’re rapping. While we’re sure we could come up with some killer rhymes, we’re letting our toes do the talking today. There’s no reason why messages from beyond can’t ...
Son of Listener Suggestions
We’re back and we’re listening again. Usually, we don’t hold with listening. Most things people try to tell us are things we’d rather not hear. Whether this is advertising, gossip, or sin...
Barbarian (2022)
We’re back and we’re trying to figure out why the hell this film is called “Barbarian“. Learning that the screenwriter doesn’t know either makes us feel better, but not by much. Maybe a...
Strange NPCs: Edgar Cayce
We’re back and we’re catching up with our sleep. Don’t worry, we’re still using this time productively, just like Edgar Cayce taught us. Whether it’s diagnosing your athlete’s foot, t...
Mythos Deities: Cyäegha and Byatis
We’re back and we’re stroking our chin serpents. The Byatis beard care regimen is a strange one and requires a little more anthropophagy than we normally indulge in. Still, it’s hard to arg...
Listener Suggestions
We’re back and we’re listening to the strange voices that whisper to us from beyond the veil. Well, maybe they’re whispering from Twitter and Discord, but we’re not sure that’s any less...
Michael Shea’s “Fat Face”
We’re back and we’re pouring ourselves into our rubber suits and orthopaedic shoes. Doing up all these straps can be murder when your fingers are made of protoplasm. We’re going to need a n...
Media Catch-up – TV
We’re back and we’re staring in disbelief as our hands fall off. Media Catch-up – TV Once again, we are perched open mouthed before the small screen, gobbling down televisual delights and r...
Kill, Baby… Kill!
We’re back and we’re puzzling over titles. If you were making a Gothic horror film about a haunted village, you might wisely consider a name like Curse of the Dead. Hell, if you wanted to... ...
Gothic Horror
We’re back and we’re skulking around the old ruined abbey. Sure, the place is lousy with ghosts, but they’re not really that important. We’re far more concerned with the weather. If readi...
The Viy – part 4
Our 2023 ghost story for Christmas concludes with part 4 of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Viy”. Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories), has onc...
The Viy – part 3
Our 2023 ghost story for Christmas continues with part 3 of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Viy”. Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories), has onc...
Making Call of Cthulhu Weird
We’re back and we’re getting on a bit. Turning 250 is a sobering milestone. Worse, we seem to be getting a bit peculiar in our dotage. Or maybe it’s just the world around us that’s... T...
The Viy – part 2
Our 2023 ghost story for Christmas continues with part 2 of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Viy”. Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories), has onc...
The Viy – part 1
We are delighted to offer you another ghost story for Christmas. Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell (host of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories), has once again organised a suitably...
Mythos Deities – Tsathoggua, Atlach-Nacha and Abhoth
We’re back and we’re heading deep beneath the earth. We’ve heard that there’s nothing but good things down there in the endless dark. Admittedly, we’ve mainly heard that from the sinist...
Censor (2021)
We’re back and we’re getting ready to snip. Our scissors are sharp, our tape is sticky and our minds are made up. This poor film doesn’t stand a chance. Sure, we could censor it carefully,....
The Blasphemous Tome issue 10
The Blasphemous Tome is the semi-annual fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs, horror films and weird fiction, n...
Is Horror Dangerous?
We’re back and we’re starting a moral panic. It’s good to have a hobby. While riling up frightened mobs isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, it certainly helps us unwind after a hard d...
Flux Gourmet (2022) – OHMC 2022 Day 31
Flux Gourmet (UK, 2022) There’s a reason why I’ve saved Flux Gourmet for the end, like a succulent dessert. As much as I love horror films, reviewing one every day for a month can be... The...
Häxan (1922) – OHMC 2022 Day 30
Häxan (Sweden, 1922) I always like to try and fit one or two classics into any October Horror Movie Challenge, and they don’t get much more classic than Häxan (also known as The Witches or......
Tourist Trap (1979) – OHMC 2022 Day 29
Tourist Trap (USA, 1979) My one hard rule for the October Horror Movie Challenge is that I can’t have seen any of the films before. Tourist Trap feels like a bit of a cheat. I... The post Tou...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2022 – A Premature Post Mortem
Breaking Out the Scalpel Early With Halloween skulking on the far side of the weekend like some pumpkin-faced monster, I thought I’d get an early start on my picks of the month. After all, if.....
His House (2020) – OHMC 2022 Day 28
His House (UK, 2020) I was going to review His House for last year’s October Horror Movie Challenge but I ran out of month. One of the hardest parts of choosing these films is whittling... Th...
The White Reindeer (1952) – OHMC 2022 Day 27
The White Reindeer (Finland, 1952) While it achieved international fame and won awards for several years after release, The White Reindeer had fallen into relative obscurity by the time I became ...
Caveat (2020) – OHMC 2022 Day 26
Caveat (Ireland, 2020) While I’ve tried to take in as broad a scope of horror cinema as possible this month, there has been one inadvertent omission so far. None of the films have really been.....
Eyes of Fire (1983) – OHMC 2022 Day 25
Eyes of Fire (USA, 1983) I only learnt of Eyes of Fire this year, which surprises me. While it reportedly had a very limited initial release, it still came out at a time when I... The post Eyes...
Dealing With Downtime
We’re back and we’re taking things easy. Sometimes, after a particularly hectic battle against the forces of eldritch darkness, a bit of downtime is just what the doctor ordered. Literally. W...
Errors of the Human Body (2019) – OHMC 2022 Day 24
Errors of the Human Body (Germany, 2013) Errors of the Human Body has been on my watchlist since I first saw it mentioned some 10 years ago. While I deliberately avoided reading too much about......
The Long Walk (2019) – OHMC 2022 Day 23
The Long Walk (Laos, 2019) I reviewed Mattie Do’s directorial debut, Dearest Sister, back in 2020’s October Horror Movie Challenge. While I wasn’t entirely sold, it was promising enough tha...
The Mutations/The Freakmaker (1974) – OHMC 2022 Day 22
The Mutations (UK, 1974) When I first spotted The Freakmaker listed on Shudder, I thought the poster looked familiar even if the name wasn’t. It wasn’t until I googled it that I realised this...
Good Madam (2021) – OHMC 2022 Day 21
Good Madam (South Africa, 2021) While I’m not as averse to spoilers as most, I do sometimes enjoy going into films completely blind. It can be a risk not even to be able to set... The post Go...
The Addiction (2021) – OHMC 2022 Day 20
The Addiction (USA, 1995) One of weirder aspects of getting old is the number of false memories you develop. Your own experiences blend with stories you’ve been told, things you’ve meant to d...
Saloum (2021) – OHMC 2022 Day 19
Saloum (Senegal, 2021) Saloum was a last-minute addition to my October Horror Movie Challenge roster this year. When I saw that Shudder had added a horror film from Senegal, I knew it had to go.....
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971) – OHMC 2022 Day 18
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (Italy, 1971) I had originally planned to review Lucio Fulci’s A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin today, but it disappeared from Prime Video before I had a... ...
Butterfly Kisses (2018) – OHMC 2022 Day 17
Butterfly Kisses (USA, 2018) Once again, I have been tweaking my October Horror Movie Challenge selection well into the month. Butterfly Kisses was a recent addition, following a discussion with ...
Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019) – OHMC 2022 Day 16
Luz: The Flower of Evil (Colombia, 2019) As I’ve mentioned before, I’m always keen to watch horror films from as many different countries as I can. When I read that Luz: The Flower of Evil......
The Gore Gore Girls (1972) – OHMC 2022 Day 15
The Gore Gore Girls (USA, 1972) Herschell Gordon Lewis has become a staple of my October Horror Movie Challenges. In previous years, I’ve reviewed and enjoyed Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!...
Incantation (2022) – OHMC 2022 Day 14
Incantation (Taiwan, 2022) In the run-up to October, a number of people suggested I put Incantation on my list for this year. Maybe its popularity is largely because it shines in comparison to mo...
Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021) – OHMC 2022 Day 13
Broadcast Signal Intrusion (USA, 2021) Broadcast Signal Intrusion has been on my watchlist since I first read about it last year. All I really knew was that it had been inspired by the infamous M...
All the Moons (2021) – OHMC 2022 Day 12
All the Moons (Spain/France, 2021) All the Moons is another random selection for this month’s challenge. Many of my favourite horror films have come out of Spain, and the poster made it look li...
Glorious (2022) – OHMC 2022 Day 11
Glorious (USA, 2022) When I first came across an article about Glorious, I knew it had to go onto my list for this year. While the combination of Lovecraftian horror and a glory hole in... The ...
Media Catch-up – Films
We’re back and we’re getting all eclectic. It’s simply inevitable that if you ask the three of us to pick films, our selections will not mesh together at all. Just think of this episode as....
Mill of the Stone Women (1960) – OHMC 2022 Day 10
Mill of the Stone Women (Italy, 1960) I’d seen Mill of the Stone Women mentioned in passing countless times but didn’t know much beyond it being the first Italian horror film made in colour. ...
Sea Fever (2019) – OHMC 2022 Day 9
Sea Fever (Ireland, 2019) I am a sucker for any horror film involving sea monsters. When I was a kid, I used to tell everyone who would listen that I wanted to be an ichthyologist... The post S...
100 Monsters (1968) – OHMC 2022 Day 8
100 Monsters (Japan, 1968) 100 Monsters is another fairly random selection for this year’s challenge. I knew I wanted at least one Japanese entry on my list, and the Japanese horror I’ve seen...
I Came By (2022) – OHMC 2022 Day 7
I Came By (UK, 2022) Regular listeners of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias may remember that I picked Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow as my favourite horror film of the 2010s. Its combination ...
Cemetery of Terror (1985) – OHMC 2022 Day 6
Cemetery of Terror (Mexico, 1985) My selection for any October Horror Movie Challenge is usually a mix of films I’ve been meaning to watch, ones with interesting blurbs, and a few wildcards pic...
A Ghost Waits (2020) – OHMC 2022 Day 5
A Ghost Waits (USA, 2017) When I mentioned that A Ghost Waits was on my list for this year, a number of dedicated fans revealed themselves on our Discord server. While this charming little indie....
Thirst (1979) – OHMC 2022 Day 4
Thirst (Australia, 1979) After greatly enjoying Patrick in 2020’s challenge, I knew I wanted to return to the golden age of Ozploitation. Australian cinema of the 1970s produced some wild horro...
Super Dark Times (2017) – OHMC 2022 Day 3
Super Dark Times (USA, 2017) Well, it didn’t take long to hit the first “oops, not really a horror film” of the month. While Super Dark Times definitely has its share of bloody and terrible...
Crystal Eyes (2017) – OHMC 2022 Day 2
Crystal Eyes (Argentina, 2017) Be warned that I am going to spoil the bejesus out this film. While I normally avoid major spoilers in these reviews, it’s going to be hard to do so this... The...
Werewolves Within (2021) – OHMC 2022 Day 1
Werewolves Within (USA, 2021) While I hadn’t heard of the video game that Werewolves Within is based upon, it seems to be a variant of Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, which I’ve played sever...
30 Coins (30 monedas)
We’re back and we’re taking up a new hobby. Esoteric numismatology isn’t for everyone, however. Unfortunately, eldritch coins have steep prices, and not just financial ones. Our lives have ...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
October is almost upon us again. Like a little black kitten, learning to stalk, it only seems to sneak closer when I’m not paying attention. Or maybe my obliviousness is wilful denial. You see,...
Morality in the Cthulhu Mythos
We’re back and we’re in a moral quandary. It’s fair to say that the gods and monsters of the Mythos are beyond human comprehension. The problem is that we are human (or at least that’s......
Morality in RPGs
We’re back and we’re sitting in judgement. Unfortunately, it turns out that judgement doesn’t make a very good seat. Next time, we’re bringing cushions. The topic of morality in RPGs shou...
Strange NPCs – Louis Wain
We’re back and we’re trying our hands at cat breeding. According to these instructions we received from Louis Wain, the secret is electricity. The cats don’t seem to happy about this, even ...
Y’golonac and The Revelations of Gla’aki
We’re back and we’re catching up with our reading. Until recently, we thought we’d seen the most sanity-blasting fanfic the internet could offer. Between terrible prose, wooden characters, ...
Mythos Deities: Gla’aki
We’re back and we’re holidaying at Deepfall Water in sunny Gloucestershire. The area may be a bit rundown but you can’t argue with these prices. Buying a house here cost us less than a week...
Loot
We’re back and we’re building up our hoards. All this loot is nice and shiny but it’s not especially comfortable. We wonder how dragons can sleep on their treasure without putting their bac...
https://blasphemoustomes.com/2022/07/05/loot/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=loot
The Blasphemous Tome issue 9
The Blasphemous Tome is the semi-annual fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs, horror films and weird fiction, n...
Media Catch-up – Books
We’re back and we’re making like bookworms. This is easier than it might seem, given that bookworms don’t really eat books — just their bindings — and aren’t even worms. Then again, t...
The Night House
We’re back and we’re taking an almost Lovecraftian interest in architecture. While we’re suckers for a good gambrel roof, these blueprints for The Night House are far more compelling. The W...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath part 5
We’re back and we’re waking up. It’s been a long old kip, but not that refreshing really. Dreams of being chased by hunting horrors aren’t as restful as we might like. On the bright side,...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath part 4
We’re back and we’re holidaying in Leng. While it’s not everyone’s first thought for a getaway, we’ve found it really quite dreamy. Leng may have had some shocking reviews on TripAdviso...
Creating Stories at the Table – With Gaz Bowerbank
We’re back and we’re making stuff up. Sure, it’s a bit disjointed, filled with inconsistent characterisation, narrative dead ends, and terrible jokes, but it sort of feels like a story. Wha...
Mythos Deities: Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re lost in reverie. These dreams are really something — so vivid and insistent. We just wish we knew whose dreams they are. Regardless, they’re inspiring us to create st...
Breaking the Law
We’re back and we’re on the lam. Setting fire to all those libraries seemed like a good idea at the time but apparently the authorities disagree. We’ve tried explaining that there are simpl...
Peril in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re in danger. At least, we think we are. Something seems to be at stake, although we’re not quite sure what. Maybe it’s our lives, our loved ones, or some of this... T...
Mind Control in RPGs
We’re back and we’re growing sleepy, sleepy, so very sleepy. We are listening to your voice. Only your voice. Yes, yes, we are under your control. We shall do you bidding. What is it you... ...
Everything is Horror
We’re back and we’re getting scared. Everywhere we look, there’s something creepy hiding in the shadows. Sometimes it seems like there’s a bit of horror in every game, regardless of the g...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath part 3
We’re back and we’re trying to work out how to cook this shantak egg we bought. Boiling it seemed practical until we realised we’d need a pot as large as a house. Frying poses similar... ...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath part 2
We’re back and we’re visiting the dark side of the moon. Not the most popular tourist attraction, but it does have its charms. The leprous-looking coast and fields of white fungi are particul...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath part 1
We’re back and we’re descending the seventy steps of light slumber. At least we can take a breather in the cavern of flame before we have to trot down the seven hundred steps to the... The ...
The Blasphemous Tome issue 8
The Blasphemous Tome is the semi-annual fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs, horror films and weird fiction, n...
Special: Rivers of London Panel at Dragonmeet 2021
We’re back with another special episode! Our own Paul Fricker recently attended the Dragonmeet 2021 convention in London. While there, he took part in a few panels. This recording is of the dis...
Gozu
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...
https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/12/21/gozu/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gozu
The Canterville Ghost – part 3
Our seasonal treat concludes with part 3 of “The Canterville Ghost”! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a reading of Oscar Wilde’s classic ghost story on ...
The Canterville Ghost – part 2
Our seasonal treat continues with part 2 of “The Canterville Ghost”! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a reading of Oscar Wilde’s classic ghost story on ...
The Canterville Ghost – part 1
We have a special seasonal treat for you! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a reading of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost” on our Discord server. He ...
Special: Call of Cthulhu 40th Anniversary Panel at Dragonmeet 2021
We’re back with another special live episode! Our own Paul Fricker recently attended the Dragonmeet 2021 convention in London. While there, he took part in a couple of panels. This first record...
Gangsters in Call of Cthulhu
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...
Mythos Deities – Daoloth and Eihort
We’re back and we’re clearing out all those pesky veils. They just clutter up the place, getting in the way of seeing how things really are. Also, somehow, they make things feel less spongy. ...
Media Catch-Up – Films
We’re back and we’re trying to stop Matt drooling in our popcorn. Listen to the episode. It’ll make sense. Main Topic: Media Catch-Up – Films This is the latest of our occasional discussi...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2021 – Post Mortem
By Scott Dorward Another Month of Horrors The shadows have grown longer and the nights colder. Ghosts and goblins are gambolling through the gloaming. The dead whisper terrible things by night, h...
OHMC 2021 Day 31 – Island of Lost Souls
By Scott Dorward Island of Lost Souls (USA, 1932) Of all the films in any of my October Horror Movie Challenges, this is the one I’ve waited longest to see. I first read about Island... The p...
OHMC 2021 Day 30 – Lake Bodom
By Scott Dorward Lake Bodom (Finland, 2016) This year, I’ve messed up a little with my October Horror Movie Challenge. Given the number of countries producing exciting horror, I seem to have ch...
OHMC 2021 Day 29 – Fingers
By Scott Dorward Fingers (USA, 2019) From previous attempts at the October Horror Movie Challenge, I know I flag in the last week. It pays to schedule some high energy, funny, or just plain weird...
OHMC 2021 Day 28 – The Wizard of Gore
By Scott Dorward The Wizard of Gore (USA, 1970) It wouldn’t be the October Horror Movie Challenge without Herschell Gordon Lewis. Despite his reputation (infamy?) in the horror genre, I’d nev...
OHMC 2021 Day 27 – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
By Scott Dorward A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (USA, 2014) Once again, I’m using the October Horror Movie Challenge to fill in a gap in my viewing. A Girl Walks Home Alone at... The post O...
OHMC 2021 Day 26 – The Field Guide to Evil
By Scott Dorward The Field Guide to Evil (USA, 2018) I was in two minds about including The Field Guide to Evil this month. All I knew was that it was an anthology of creepy... The post OHMC 20...
The Tower of the Elephant
We’re back and we’re preparing to pillage. This weird, shining tower looks like it should contain treasures, or at least an interesting story to discuss. There’s rustling in the undergrowth...
OHMC 2021 Day 25 – Only Lovers Left Alive
By Scott Dorward Only Lovers Left Alive (USA, 2013) Once again, I’m using the October Horror Movie Challenge as an excuse to catch up with a film I’ve been wanting to watch for a while.... ...
OHMC 2021 Day 24 – Warning: Do Not Play
By Scott Dorward Warning: Do Not Play (Amjeon) (South Korea, 2019) I am a sucker for stories about cursed films. As a lifelong fan of horror cinema, there is something immensely appealing about f...
OHMC 2021 Day 23 – Anything For Jackson
By Scott Dorward Anything For Jackson (Canada, 2020) Anything For Jackson is a last-minute addition to my list. I had originally planned to review Strip Nude For Your Killer today, but decided I ...
OHMC 2021 Day 22 – The Lighthouse
By Scott Dorward The Lighthouse (USA, 2019) Over the past couple of years, a ludicrous number of people have told me to watch The Lighthouse. Everything I heard made it sound like exactly the kin...
OHMC 2021 Day 21 – Don’t Torture a Duckling
By Scott Dorward Don’t Torture a Duckling (Italy, 1972) It is mandatory for my October Horror Movie Challenge to include something by Lucio Fulci. If I’ve scheduled too many serious, weighty ...
OHMC 2021 Day 20 – Sator
By Scott Dorward Sator (USA, 2019) If you asked, I probably say that my ideal horror film would be something slow and creepy, rooted in folk horror. My experiences this month are making me recons...
OHMC 2021 Day 19 – mon mon mon MONSTERS
By Scott Dorward mon mon mon MONSTERS (Taiwan, 2017) mon mon mon MONSTERS was another random selection, plucked from my streaming subscriptions to flesh out this month’s list. I knew nothing ab...
Special: “The Thing on the Roof” by Robert E Howard, read by Mike Perceval-Maxwell
We’re back with another special episode. This time, we have a reading of Robert E Howard’s “The Thing on the Roof” by our good friend Mike Perceval-Maxwell. You may remember Mike as the d...
OHMC 2021 Day 18 – Terror Train
By Scott Dorward Terror Train (USA, 1980) Stephen Graham Jones’s excellent novel My Heart is a Chainsaw recently made me realise how few slasher films I’ve actually seen. The home video boom ...
OHMC 2021 Day 17 – The Old Ways
By Scott Dorward The Old Ways (USA, 2020) Every time I undertake the October Horror Movie Challenge, I like to pick a few films pretty much at random. All I really knew about The Old... The pos...
OHMC 2021 Day 16 – Raw
By Scott Dorward Raw (France, 2016) Back when we discussed Martyrs on the podcast, we touched upon the New French Extremity movement. This was a lively period in French cinema when a disparate gr...
OHMC 2021 Day 15 – Dave Made a Maze
By Scott Dorward Dave Made a Maze (USA, 2017) “Did she die or did she just turn into a craft project?” I am a sucker for stories that take an absurd premise to extremes. Almost... The post ...
OHMC 2021 Day 14 – The Eyes of My Mother
By Scott Dorward The Eyes of My Mother (USA, 2016) The Eyes of My Mother is another film I’ve been meaning to watch for some time. I recently saw director Nicolas Pesce’s adaptation of Pierci...
OHMC 2021 Day 13 – Frightmare
By Scott Dorward “It’s such fun being a night person…” Frightmare (UK, 1974) Pete Walker is a British national treasure. Admittedly, he is the kind of treasure you hide in the cupboard un...
OHMC 2021 Day 12 – Hagazussa
By Scott Dorward Hagazussa (Austria, 2017) As regular listeners of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias may have noticed, I love folk horror. For someone who has lived in cities almost all his life,...
The Works of Robert E Howard
We’re back and we’re hitting the books. That’s probably not fair, though. Just because they’re full of boxing tales doesn’t mean they can hit back. And two-fisted stories don’t actual...
OHMC 2021 Day 11 – The Baby
By Scott Dorward The Baby (USA, 1973) One of my goals with the October Horror Movie Challenge is to watch films that reflect the wide range of horror cinema. This means seeking out productions th...
OHMC 2021 Day 10 – After Midnight
By Scott Dorward After Midnight (USA, 2019) Last year, I watched Jeremy Gardner’s The Battery as part of my October Horror Movie Challenge. While I am thoroughly burnt out on zombie films, The ...
OHMC 2021 Day 9 – Isle of the Dead
By Scott Dorward Isle of the Dead (USA, 1945) Throughout the 1940s, Val Lewton was the mastermind behind some of the greatest horror films ever made. It is unusual to credit a producer in this......
OHMC 2021 Day 8 – Dachra
By Scott Dorward Dachra (Tunisia, 2018) As I mentioned in last year’s review of Dearest Sister, I’m always interested in watching horror films from countries not normally known for horror. Di...
OHMC 2021 Day 7 – The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
By Scott Dorward The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (USA, 1976) “How old do you have to be before people start treating you like a person?” I was in two minds about including... The po...
OHMC 2021 Day 6 – Seance
By Scott Dorward Seance (USA, 2021) Seeing Simon Barrett’s name attached to a film always piques my interest. I’ve been a fan of his work since such early films as Dead Birds and even Franken...
OHMC 2021 Day 5 – Cold Hell
By Scott Dorward Cold Hell (Austria, 2017) Supernatural horror enjoyed a hell of a boom in the 1980s, creating a golden age of weird, imaginative books and films. For reasons better understood by...
OHMC 2021 Day 4 – The Queen of Black Magic
By Scott Dorward The Queen of Black Magic (Indonesia, 2019) I don’t think I’d seen an Indonesian horror film until a few years ago, when I stumbled across Impetigore. Now, I’ve come to acti...
OHMC 2021 Day 3 – Jakob’s Wife
By Scott Dorward Jakob’s Wife (USA, 2021) Horror films are usually made for a young audience. It’s simple economics — more young people watch horror. When combined with Hollywood’s genera...
OHMC 2021 Day 2 – The Boogey Man
By Scott Dorward The Boogey Man (USA, 1980) Once again, I’m using the October Horror Movie Challenge as an excuse to catch up with films I’ve been meaning to watch for years. I remember seein...
OHMC 2021 Day 1 – Possessor
By Scott Dorward Possessor (Canada, 2020) Way back in my first October Horror Movie Challenge, in 2013, I reviewed Brandon Cronenberg’s debut feature, Antiviral. While I liked the film immensel...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2021
By Scott Dorward Once again, October has snuck up on me. At least, this year I feel like I have a couple of excuses. For a start, time has ceased to have any real meaning.... The post October H...
The Life of Robert E Howard
We’re back and we’re spoiling for a fight. Well, a boxing match at least. There’s this fellow we met down at the ice house who’s promised us a bout or two. We heard he’s some... The p...
Genre Emulation in RPGs
We’re back and we’re looking at our underpinnings. This can be an awkward thing to do when you reach our age. We recommend finding somewhere nice and private first. Alternatively, record it a...
The Changeling
We’re back and we’re poking around in our dusty old attic. It’s usually the most convenient place to find ghosts. You’d think that with the number of people who have died over the years, ...
Sword and Sorcery part 2
We’re back and we’re ransacking forbidden ruins, crumbling temples, and the shelves of this abandoned video store in search of a sword and sorcery film worth watching. Our quest has has been ...
Sword and Sorcery part 1
We’re back and we’re puzzling over the riddle of steel. Is it an enigma? Maybe some clever bit of wordplay? It’s probably safer if we stick to swordplay, especially with all these sorcerers...
Weird Science in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re playing God. It’s a demanding role but we have hubris to spare! In fact, no one has ever had as much hubris as we do. We shall use our hubris to... The post Weird Sci...
Scenario Structures
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 wo...
Special: Seth Skorkowsky and Jon Hook on Modern Mythos (part 2)
We’re back with the conclusion of our interview with YouTuber and author Seth Skorkowsky. This time, we are also joined by Jon Hook, Seth’s co-host on their new Modern Mythos podcast. As well...
The Blasphemous Tome issue 7!
The Blasphemous Tome is the semi-annual fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs, horror films and weird fiction, n...
Mythos Deities – Ithaqua
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 entertain...
Special: Seth Skorkowsky on Modern Mythos (part 1)
We’re back with another special interview episode. This time, Scott talks to fan-favourite YouTuber and author, Seth Skorkowsky. Unfortunately, Jon Hook — Seth’s co-host on their new podcas...
The Endless
We’re back and we’re back again. It feels like going around in circles. Or maybe the circles are going around us. It’ll all become clear in time. But few of us have experienced time in... ...
Special: Adrian Tchaikovsky on Non-Human Intelligences
We’re back with another special interview episode. This time, Scott talks to bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky. In particular, they discuss how Tchaikovsky portr...
Media Catch-Up – Books
We’re back and we’re putting on our reading glasses. At least two of us are now old enough that we need them to make out anything smaller than a billboard. Even then, we’re still not... T...
Special: Christopher McGlothlin Discusses Transgressive Horror
We’re back with another special episode. This time, Paul talks to Professor Christopher McGlothlin about horror films. Primarily, they discuss the good professor’s current Kickstarter campaig...
Investigator Organisations in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re looking for like-minded individuals to join our investigator organisation. Sure, the pay is awful but the work is disgusting, deadly, and likely to drive you insane. It�...
Strange NPCs: Albert Fish
We’re back and we’re presenting a somewhat darker episode than usual. While The Good Friends of Jackson Elias is definitely a horror podcast, most of the horror we discuss is rooted in the fa...
The Willows
We’re back and we’re going on our summer holidays! What could be finer than drifting down the Danube, marvelling at all the willows crowding these sandy little islets? Well, maybe not being c...
Cosmic Horror
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...
Cadaver
We’re back and we’re heading out for a night on the town, or at least what’s left of the town. Apparently, this new dinner theatre is to die for. Their menu is light on vegetarian... The ...
https://blasphemoustomes.com/2021/03/16/cadaver/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cadaver
Mythos Deities: Ubbo-Sathla and Mordiggian
We’re back and we’re contemplating the mysteries of life and death. Sure, we could read a lot of dusty old religious texts but we’d rather seek the wisdom of the prophet Klarkash-Ton. His v...
Media Catch-Up: Television
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... ...
Occupations in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re job hunting. This makes a pleasant change. We’re more used to things hunting us. But how much does your occupation actually matter when you’re running around the glob...
200th Episode Special: Ask Us Anything
We’re back and we’re turning 200. Please be gentle. We’re tired and our feet hurt. Main Topic: Ask Us Anything This is our big 200th episode celebration! Somehow, we’ve managed to keep th...
Top 3 Mythos Media
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 a...
The Whisperer in Darkness part 5
We’re back and we’re saving face. OK, it’s not one of our own faces, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep it safe. You never know when Mr Akeley may need it again. Thinking about... ...
A Christmas Carol – Stave 4
Our special Christmas treat concludes! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a week of readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on our Discord server. He i...
A Christmas Carol – Stave 3
Our special Christmas treat continues! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a week of readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on our Discord server. He i...
A Christmas Carol – Stave 2
Our special Christmas treat continues! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a week of readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on our Discord server. He i...
A Christmas Carol – Stave 1
We have a special Christmas treat for all our listeners! Good friend of the Good Friends, Mike Perceval-Maxwell, has organised a week of readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on our Di...
The Whisperer in Darkness part 4
We’re back and we’re getting sick of these fleshy bodies of ours. They’re always going wrong and they’re too expensive to maintain. This only seems to get worse the longer we have them. W...
Issue 6 of The Blasphemous Tome is shipping soon!
The Blasphemous Tome is the annual print-only fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs, horror films and weird fict...
The Whisperer in Darkness part 3
We’re back and we’re running low on dogs. Have you any to spare? For some reason, we seem to be getting through loads of them. They are considered consumables, right? We tried asking the bree...
The Good Friends talk to Matthew McLean of A Scottish Podcast about Lovecraft and Comedy
Special episode: Secret Societies and Cults with Robert Howells (part 2) The post The Good Friends talk to Matthew McLean of A Scottish Podcast about Lovecraft and Comedy appeared first on Bla...
The Whisperer in Darkness part 2
We’re back and we’re knee-deep in letters. It’s all very well communicating with strangers via columns in the local press but sometimes you need the intimacy of personal correspondence. Thi...
Special: Secret Societies and Cults part 2
Special episode: Secret Societies and Cults with Robert Howells (part 2) The post Special: Secret Societies and Cults part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes .
OHMC 2020 Day 31- In Fabric
By Scott Dorward In Fabric (UK, 2018) “A dress of deduction finds its character in a prism of retail abstraction.“ Peter Strickland’s love letter to Italian horror, Berberian Sound Studio, ...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2020 – Post Mortem
By Scott Dorward A Month of Horrors Halloween is here! After the year many of us have had, ghosts, ghouls and leering jack-o-lanterns feel like light relief. What better way is there to escape fr...
OHMC 2020 Day 30- The Stepfather
By Scott Dorward The Stepfather (USA, 1987) “Wait a minute. Who am I here?” The Stepfather is one of those films I remember passing over repeatedly at the video store, back in the late ’80s...
OHMC 2020 Day 29 – Gretel & Hansel
By Scott Dorward Gretel & Hansel (USA, 2020) “I know that’s your favourite story but you’ve been telling it wrong.” While Osgood Perkins isn’t exactly a prolific director, his few featu...
OHMC 2020 Day 28 – Two Thousand Maniacs!
By Scott Dorward Two Thousand Maniacs! (USA, 1964) “…something’s very wrong in this town.” Herschell Gordon Lewis, the godfather of gore, is still a major hole in my horror viewing. Until...
OHMC 2020 Day 27 – Here Comes the Devil
By Scott Dorward Here Comes the Devil (Mexico, 2012) “To them, we’re only a shell. They use us to do evil and then throw us away.” Here Comes the Devil is another film I’ve been... The ...
The Whisperer in Darkness part 1
We’re back and we’re heading up into the hills of Vermont. A folklorist friend told us that the nice creatures that live there might make us some surprising offers. There’s a risk that we c...
OHMC 2020 Day 26 – Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
By Scott Dorward Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Italy, 1972) “Murder has a habit of involving all sorts of people for no reason.” OK, I admit it. The... The post OHMC 2...
OHMC 2020 Day 25 – The Dead Center
By Scott Dorward The Dead Center (USA, 2019) “What is it that’s inside of you?” Horror is a broad church, if a profane one. Largely by accident, my choices this month have been dominated by...
OHMC 2020 Day 24 – Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood
By Scott Dorward Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood (USA, 1972) “Does it hurt?” “Only when I laugh! No, seriously, it does hurt.” When I was seven years old, my mother taught me how to make ...
OHMC 2020 Day 23 – The Mortuary Collection
By Scott Dorward The Mortuary Collection (USA, 2019) “Someone commits a sin, they pay a horrible price. Rinse, repeat.” I am a sucker for portmanteau films. For a long time, it’s felt like ...
OHMC 2020 Day 22 – Evolution
By Scott Dorward Evolution (France, 2015) “You know, my mother’s not my mother either.” The only things I knew about Evolution beforehand were that it was French, it involved the sea, and t...
OHMC 2020 Day 21 – Satan’s Slaves
By Scott Dorward Satan’s Slaves (Pengabdi Setan) (Indonesia, 2017) “There are only dead people in the cemetery. Dead people are harmless. The dangerous ones are the living.” A few months ag...
OHMC 2020 Day 20 – Eaten Alive
By Scott Dorward Eaten Alive (USA, 1976) “Why don’t you just take that cigarette and grind it out in my eye?” Given how many of this month’s films I’ve picked at random, I’ve been pre...
Special: Secret Societies and Cults part 1
Special episode: Secret Societies and Cults with Robert Howells (part 1) The post Special: Secret Societies and Cults part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes .
OHMC 2020 Day 19 – The Battery
By Scott Dorward The Battery (USA, 2012) “We’re not going anywhere. Mickey, that’s the point.” As I mentioned in yesterday’s review of Black Sheep, I am utterly burnt-out on zombie film...
OHMC 2020 Day 18 – Black Sheep
By Scott Dorward Black Sheep (New Zealand, 2006) “Considering I’ve been attacked by genetically engineered monsters, jumped off a moving vehicle, been chased across a paddock, dragged into a ...
OHMC 2020 Day 17 – The Witch Who Came From the Sea
By Scott Dorward The Witch Who Came From the Sea (USA, 1976) “My poppy used to say, ‘Come with me and we’ll get lost at sea, Molly my lass.’ And we got lost at sea... The post OHMC 2020...
OHMC 2020 Day 16 – Deep Dark
By Scott Dorward Deep Dark (USA, 2015) “I’m gonna need a lot of blood.” My method of picking candidates for the October Horror Movie Challenge is as chaotic as everything else in my life. S...
OHMC 2020 Day 15 – Night of the Demons
By Scott Dorward Night of the Demons (USA, 1988) “Eat a bowl of fuck!” Sometimes you want to sip fine wine from a crystal glass, swirling it around to let it breathe, appreciating the bouquet...
OHMC 2020 Day 14 – The Hallow
By Scott Dorward The Hallow (Ireland, 2015) “Hallow be thy name And blessed be thy claim If you who trespass put down roots Then Hallow be your name.” As regular listeners to The Good Friends...
OHMC 2020 Day 13 – The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
By Scott Dorward The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Germany, 1920) “I must know everything. I must penetrate his secrets — I must become CALIGARI!” I don’t know how I managed to get to my advanc...
Three Views of the Weird West part 2
We’re back and we’re heading down darker trails. We really hope that those are tumbleweeds rolling towards us. That rustling in the sagebrush is making us jumpy too — we’re pretty sure th...
OHMC 2020 Day 12 – The House at the End of Time
By Scott Dorward The House the at End of Time (Venezuela, 2013) “We’re just puppets of this house, where time has come to an end”. After yesterday’s vampire film with no vampires, we come...
OHMC 2020, Day 11 – The Transfiguration
By Scott Dorward The Transfiguration (USA, 2016) “I think it starts with drinking blood.” Does a vampire film need to have a vampire in it? What is a vampire anyway? Is it an undead monster.....
OHMC 2020, Day 10 – Patrick
By Scott Dorward Patrick (Australia, 1978) “Well I think Patrick and I are going to get along just… Argh!” I have a soft spot for odd horror films, the kind that don’t fit neatly into... ...
OHMC 2020, Day 9 – Dearest Sister
By Scott Dorward Dearest Sister (Laos, 2016) “In my village, we believe that when you lose one sense you sometimes gain another.” I’m always excited to watch horror films from countries I k...
OHMC 2020, Day 8 – Voices From Beyond
By Scott Dorward Voices From Beyond (Italy, 1991) “He found something in death he couldn’t avoid. Something stronger than he was. And something even more cruel.” I wish I could explain why ...
OHMC 2020 Day 7 – Tigers Are Not Afraid
By Scott Dorward Tigers Are Not Afraid (Mexico, 2017) “Every time I make a wish, something really bad happens.” Children’s fairy tales and cartel violence collide on the streets of a Mexica...
OHMC 2020 Day 6 – The Wind
By Scott Dorward The Wind (USA, 2018) “This land is funny, you know. It plays tricks on your mind.” The Wind has blown in just in time to tie in with our current two-part look... The post O...
Special: Conspiracy Theories and Cults part 2
This is the second part of our discussion with our good friend Bence Szlamka about the murky grey area between cults and conspiracy theories. Those of you on our Discord server will know Bence as...
OHMC 2020 Day 5 – The Mummy
By Scott Dorward The Mummy (UK, 1959) “Seems I’ve spent the better part of my life amongst the dead.” The golden age of Hammer Horror was coming to an end by the time I was... The post OH...
OHMC 2020 Day 4 – The Beach House
By Scott Dorward The Beach House (USA, 2019) “I was thinking, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to come to the beach.” When I was preparing for this year’s challenge, I went back over... ...
OHMC 2020 Day 3 – The Editor
By Scott Dorward The Editor (Canada, 2014) “We’re all editors of our own realities.” I made a mistake with this review. In between watching The Editor and starting to write about it, I let ...
OHMC 2020 Day 2- The Bar
By Scott Dorward The Bar (Spain, 2017) “Fear changes people.”“No, fear shows us what we really are.” The Bar is one of those films I’ve been flicking past on Netflix for a few years. Th...
OHMC 2020 Day 1 – Baskin
By Scott Dorward Baskin (Turkey, 2015) “Hell is not a place you go. You carry Hell with you at all times.” One of the things I love about the October Horror Movie Challenge is that... The p...
October Horror Movie Challenge 2020
Reflections on Reviewing 31 Films in a Month and a Commitment to Return to the Madness By Scott Dorward What is the October Horror Movie Challenge? I can’t remember where I first heard about th...
Three Views of the Weird West part 1
We’re back and we’re saddling up our shantaks, filling our waterskins with space mead and heading out to where the land is weird. For a long time, we thought that “weird west” just meant ...
Special: Conspiracy Theories and Cults part 1
In our recent episodes about cults, we mentioned how social media has blurred the line between cults and conspiracy theories. Phenomena like QAnon display many cult-like attributes but lack forma...
Mythos Deities: Nodens
We’re back and we’re poking around this here abyss. Someone told us we could find Nodens down here. It’s not pleasant work looking for him, however. The cold has left us quite hoary and the...
Patreon Backer Special 12 – Yet More TV
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 w...
The Blasphemous Tome issue 5.5
Issue 5.5 of The Blasphemous Tome is now available! This is the interim digital edition of the fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contain...
Sound of My Voice
We’re back and we’re joining a cult. It’s OK — we’re just doing so to get some background on Sound of My Voice. We’re not so gullible as to let any cult leader talk us... The post S...
Patreon Backer Special 11 – Yet More Books
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re devouring books like hungry bookworms, hoping they’ll give us ideas for games. These lockdown episodes are a way of thank...
Unusual Places
We’re back and we’re going on our summer holidays. Of course, all this lockdown stuff means that we’re all somewhat limited in our options. With this in mind, we thought we’d take you on ...
Patreon Backer Special 10 – Yet More Films
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re watching some unusual films, hoping they’ll give us ideas for games. These lockdown episodes are a way of thanking our Pa...
Cults part 4
We’re back and we’re preparing for the end. Prophecy, in the form of our recording schedule, warned us that this day would come. Admittedly, our calculations did initially place the release d...
Patreon Backer Special 9 – Even More TV
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re sitting up close to our TV sets, ruining our eyesight. It’s just the price we pay when seeking inspiration for our games....
Cults part 3
We’re back and we’re accepting an enticing invitation. Apparently, if we accompany our new friends back to their commune, they’ll give us dinner and share the secrets of the universe with u...
Patreon Backer Special 8 – Even More Books
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re hunched over a book, seeking inspiration for our gaming lives. These lockdown episodes are a way of thanking our Patreon ba...
Cults part 2
We’re back and we’re examining our beliefs. Everyone believes things that seem weird to other people. Whether this is that a dead god speaks to us in our dreams or that podcasting is a seriou...
Patreon Backer Special 7 – Even More Films
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re watching an inadvisable number of horror films, seeking inspiration for our gaming lives. These lockdown episodes are a way...
Cults part 1
We’re back and we’re preparing for Ascension. All right, we’re not entirely sure what Ascension involves, but it certainly sounds exciting. Our glorious leader, the beacon of effulgent wisd...
Patreon Backer Special 6 – More TV
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re flicking through the TV channels, seeking inspiration for our gaming lives. Let’s hope we don’t mix up our dice and our...
Character Development
We’re back and we’re embarking upon a programme of self-improvement. According to this pamphlet we sent off for, we can build ourselves up into mightily thewed warriors by killing all these r...
Patreon Backer Special 5 – More Books
We’re back with another of our lockdown specials. Once again, we’re searching through our shelves for books that have afforded us both distraction from current events and inspiration for our ...
The Fly
We’re back and we’re afraid. We’re very afraid. Main Topic: The Fly Following on from our episode about body horror, we thought we should discuss an example of the genre. And what better-kn...
https://blasphemoustomes.com/2020/05/26/the-fly/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-fly
Patreon Backer Special 4 – More Films
We’re back with another one of our special lockdown episodes. This time, we are venturing deeper into our screens in search of escapism, just stopping shy of going full Videodrome. Once again, ...
Disgust and Body Horror
We’re back and we’re here to talk about body horror and… Hang on. Can anyone else smell that? It’s sweet and cloying, and not in a good way. Everything we touch feels moist, which wouldn�...
Patreon Backer Special 3 – Recent Television
We’re back with another one of our special lockdown episodes. As the quarantine continues, so does our need to seek distraction through media. This time, we’re talking about some of the telev...
Making a Monster
We’re back and we’re heading up to the laboratory to see what we can throw together. There are some leftover eyeballs in the fridge, and an assortment of horns, fangs and claws in those crate...
Patreon Backer Special 2 – Recommended Books
We’re back and we’re still under lockdown. Like the rest of you, we’re turning to books, films, podcasts and other media to take us beyond these four walls, if only mentally. We thought it ...
Mythos Deities: The Daemon Sultan, Azathoth
We’re back and we’re bubbling and blaspheming at the centre of the universe. Actually, we’re just sitting at home like everyone else. It’s still nice to dream of getting out of the house,...
Patreon Backer Special 1 – Recent Horror Films
We’re back and we’re keeping ourselves busy while quarantined. This largely involves catching up with books, films, television, and other inspirational media. It was either that or necromancy...
More Great NPCs of History
We’re back and we’re having another look through our history books. They’re so much safer than those other books we consult. You know, the ones with unwholesome bindings that whisper dark s...
Special: Parapsychology and Ghosts – a Conversation With Christian Jensen Romer part 2
We’re back with the second part of our discussion with parapsychologist, RPG author and raconteur, Christian Jensen Romer. In the first part, CJ told us how he became involved with ghost huntin...
Our plans for the next few months
This last week has been one of the weirdest any of us can remember. Almost everyone we know has quarantined themselves from the COVID-19 outbreak and is trying to adjust to social isolation. As a...
Special: An Introduction to Online Gaming With Joe Trier of How We Roll
Update: Some people have requested links to the various things we discuss in this episode. We’ve added some at the end of this post. We’re back with something of an impromptu special. Scott r...
A Warning to the Curious
We’re back and we’re heading off to the seaside. People might tell you that Suffolk can be bleak at this time of year, but what do they know? There’s plenty to enjoy here. The hotel... Th...
Special: Parapsychology and Ghosts – a Conversation With Christian Jensen Romer part 1
Following our recent discussion of ghosts in Call of Cthulhu, we thought it might be useful to get an expert opinion. Luckily, our good friend Christian Jensen Romer (CJ to his friends) is a qual...
Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu part 2
We’re back and we’re being haunted by all the material we couldn’t fit into the last episode. Happily, we have managed to lay it to rest by discussing it in this second instalment. At least...
Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu part 1
We’re back and we’re getting the willies. Has anyone ever used that phrase and not received a derisive response? But, as we’ve discussed before, laughter is often a way of protecting oursel...
The Best of the 2010s
We’re back and we’re playing favourites. Sure, we love you all, but you do understand, right? And we also have favourite films, books and RPGs too, some of which were created within the last ...
Midsommar
We’re back and we’re on our Midsommar holiday. Happily, we don’t have anything as horrific as Cliff Richard to contend with. It’s only the usual festivals, drugs and human sacrifice. The ...
Great NPCs of History
We’re back and we’re looking for strange and interesting people. Sure, that drunken man on the bus who shared the details of his entire family’s military history before announcing that he l...
The Appeal of D&D
We’re back and we’re poking around this hole in the ground we discovered. Some more experienced adventurers told us to be prepared, so we have a 10-foot pole, 50 foot of rope and all the... ...
Mythos Tomes
We’re back and we’re cracking open the books, trying to ignore the strange wails they issue as we do so. The words probably shouldn’t scurry across the page like that. Maybe we’re lucky a...
At the Mountains of Madness part 5
We’re back and we’re finally free of the city of the Elder Things. Now, we’re racing off to the aëroplane as fast as our little legs will carry us. Everything will be fine once we’re... ...
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. S...
The Blasphemous Tome issue 5
Issue 5 of The Blasphemous Tome is now available! This is the print-only fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs,...
At the Mountains of Madness part 3
We’re back and we’re catching up with some history. Happily, the folks who lived here before documented the entire story of their civilisation in easy-to-read comics. Even more conveniently, ...
At the Mountains of Madness part 2
We’re back and we’re still boring. That is to say, we’re drilling down through layers of ancient rock in search of even more ancient secrets. And it’s pretty dull. We’re sure there’s ...
At the Mountains of Madness part 1
We’re back and we’re putting on our thermal underwear, ready for a long journey south. Sure, we’ve timed our trip for the summer, but it still gets a little nippy down there. We’re not in...
A Dark Song
We’re back and we’re having a chinwag with our Holy Guardian Angel. It’s good to catch up with all the divine gossip. Arranging this chat proved a bit of an arseache, however. In these days...
Special: Brian Courtemanche interview at Necronomicon 2019
In our second Necronomicon 2019 interview, I talk to Call of Cthulhu author, Brian Courtemanche. You may know Brian’s work from Chaosium publications such as Doors to Darkness and The House of ...
Special: Matthew M Bartlett interview at Necronomicon 2019
I first encountered Matthew M Bartlett‘s work at Necronomicon 2017. While I didn’t have the funds to buy any of his books at the time, I added them to my list. When I finally picked... The ...
Special: Necronomicon 2019 with the Miskatonic University Podcast
We’re back and we’re coming to you live from Necronomicon 2019. OK, we’re not actually live. This was recorded a few weeks ago, but it was a live event at the time, so we’re standing... ...
Occult Horror
We’re back and we’re trying to keep all this blood from staining our carpets. Worse still, we can’t get the smell out goat out of our best robes. Everything will be ruined at this rate.... ...
The Occult and Lovecraft
We’re back and we’re wondering why all these robed figures around us are chanting the name of Cthulhu? Don’t they know that Lovecraft made him up? What do they expect to get out of this?......
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 feve...
The Demiurge Edition
The unique copy of the Kult: Divinity Lost core rulebook arrives! The post The Demiurge Edition appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes .
Top 3 RPG Mechanics
We’re back and we’re strapping some of our favourite RPGs to the dissection table and cutting deep into them to understand why they appeal so much. You always hurt the ones you love. And who....
Making Call of Cthulhu Scary
We’re back and we’re hiding under the bed. Maybe this dark, twisted shape that’s creeping around the house won’t find us here. The anticipation is making us quake in terror. Not knowing w...
Book Review: Wounds
Wounds: Six Stories From the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud. Published 2019 by Saga Press. Reviewed by Scott Dorward. What Came Before Nathan Ballingrud’s first book, North American Lake M...
The Blasphemous Tome issue 4.5
Issue 4.5 of The Blasphemous Tome is out! The Blasphemous Tome is the regular fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains plenty of sanit...
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 fil...
https://blasphemoustomes.com/2019/06/25/martyrs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=martyrs
Kickstarter Update: June 2019
Just when you (well, maybe just Scott) thought it was safe to hide in the dark – where you thought the darkness could save your eyes from the plushy horrors – something has come to... The p...
Mythos Deities: Hastur
We’re back and we’re taking a last look around Carcosa, wondering where all these tentacles came from. Robert W Chambers was more concerned with masks, moons and mists. Now there seem to be m...
Special: UK Games Expo 2019
We’re back with another live recording, this time coming to you from UK Games Expo in Birmingham. To be clear, the “we” in this case means “Paul”. Identity is a mutable concept amongst ...
The Carcosa Mythos in Media and Gaming
We’re back and we’re still blundering around in all this infernal mist. There is a sound of lapping water in the distance, but we’re more worried about the way these streets keep changing a...
The Yellow Sign
We’re back and we’re looking for the Yellow Sign. It’s probably fallen down the back of the sofa again. Have you found it? It’s tricky to describe, but you’ll know it if you see it.... ...
The King in Yellow (part 2)
We’re back and we’re punting across the Lake of Hali, taking in the sights. Well, we’re trying to… All these cloud waves spoil the view somewhat. Then again, from what we’ve seen of Car...
The King in Yellow (part 1)
We’re back and we’re taking a look at this odd play that’s appeared on our shelves. The King in Yellow? That’s not a volume we remember buying, but we do have so many books. The... The ...
Keeping Cthulhu Fresh
We’re back and we’re checking the dark corners of the corpse fridge of R’lyeh for tasty eldritch horrors, hoping that they’re not past their sell-by date. There’s something that looks l...
Realism in RPG Settings
We’re back and we’re trying to maintain our grasp on reality. This is tenuous at the best of times, and all this conflation with imagination is doing it no favours. In this episode, when we.....
Realism in RPG Mechanics
We’re back and we’re facing harsh realities. How do we make RPGs feel “real” when we play them? And what do we even mean by “real”? More importantly, how can we ask such questions wit...
Pad’thulhu Charity Auction
We have something very special to announce! Over on eBay, we are hosting a charity auction for a one-of-a-kind sculpture of interest to fans of H. P. Lovecraft, the Cthulhu Mythos and Paddington ...
Special: PodUK 2019 with How We Roll
We’re back with something a little different. For a start, when we say “we”, we mean Scott, who recently recorded this live game of Call of Cthulhu with the How We Roll podcast. Sadly, Matt...
The Dunwich Horror (part 4)
We’re back and we’re preparing for the apocalypse. To be fair, this seems to be a pretty understated apocalypse. It mostly involves an invisible monster prancing around a hilltop. Maybe the c...
The Dunwich Horror (part 3)
We’re back and we’re ready to start our investigation into the actual Dunwich Horror. Somehow, it’s taken two episodes and half the story to get here. Everything that’s happened so far is...
The Dunwich Horror (part 2)
We’re back and we’re continuing our exploration of the hidden corners of Dunwich. The locals seem quite welcoming and some of them may even be described as undecayed. Those Whateleys are espe...
The Dunwich Horror (part 1)
We’re back and we’re examining these strange bite marks, boarding up the windows and trying to work out where that damnable smell is coming from. This is the start of our look at Lovecraft’...
Heaven & Earth
We’re back and we’re heading off to Potters Lake in search of the secrets of creation. We hear good things about the apples there too. This is our look at the weird, evocative and highly... ...
The Two-Headed Serpent
We’re back and we’re cocking our hats, lighting some torches and wondering where the hell all these snakes came from. Why did it have to be snakes? This is our look at how we developed The.....
Special: Dragonmeet 2018 with The Smart Party
We’re back and we’re once again locked in battle with our good friends Baz and Gaz from The Smart Party. For the first time since 2015, we managed to arrange a joint seminar at Dragonmeet.......
Call of Cthulhu for Beginners
We’re back at the beginning, where we started our grim journeys many years ago. Looking at our grey hair and wizened features, it’s difficult to imagine that we were ever young. Yet here were...
Violence in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re loading our shotguns, lighting a bundle of dynamite and laying waste to everything we see. This is our look at the role of violence in Call of Cthulhu. Boom! Main Topic:....
The Blasphemous Tome issue 4
Issue 4 of The Blasphemous Tome is going to press! This is the print-only fanzine that we create for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. It contains articles about RPGs...
The Thing
We’re back and we’re eyeing each other suspiciously, freezing our bollocks off and watching in dismay as our blood sample runs screaming out the door. This is our look at John Carpenter’s...
Tabletop Gaming Live seminar video
It is rare for us to show our true faces. While we freely insinuate ourselves into sound waves, creeping into your ears like hungry little spiders, we usually spare you from the stark horror of ...
Special: Tabletop Gaming Live 2018
This year saw the first Tabletop Gaming Live event at Alexandra Palace, London. While its focus is mainly on board games and war games, there was some RPG presence. Chaosium were in attendance, o...
Improvisation in RPGs
We’re back and we’re staring at the players with frightened eyes, peeling our tongues from the roofs of our mouths and drowning in flop sweat. This is our look at the role of improvisation in...
Cover art for The Blasphemous Tome issue 4
We have some very exciting news. The cover for the next issue of The Blasphemous Tome comes courtesy of many-time Eisner Award-winning comic artist and good friend of the Good Friends, Evan Dorki...
Mythos Deities: Nyarlathotep
We’re back and we’re learning hideous secrets from Nyarlathotep, Messenger of the Outer Gods, signing his black book and hoping we recognise him next time we meet him. He can be difficult to ...
Kickstarter Update: October 2018
Way back in the dim and distant past, I played D&D at university. It was my first (and sadly only) adventure in the Forgotten Realms setting. Since then, I’ve collected a few of the books,... ...
Gen Con 2018
We’re back and we’re discussing all the nifty Cthulhu-related stuff that happened at Gen Con 2018 (and one non-Cthulhu thing). Well, I say “we”, but this largely means Paul, as he’s the...
The Joy of Failure
We’re back and we’re tripping over our feet, dropping our only torch and entirely failing to save the day. This is our look at the role of failure in RPGs. Or at least that’s what... The ...
Announcing The Blasphemous Tome issue 4
As we mentioned in our latest episode, we have started work on issue 4 of The Blasphemous Tome. This is the old-school fanzine we put together for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson.....