The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

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, however, even... The post Mythos Deities: The Daemon Sultan, Azathoth appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 secrets with voices that... The post More Great NPCs of History appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 hunting. In this episode,... The post Special: Parapsychology and Ghosts – a Conversation With Christian Jensen Romer part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 recently joined... The post Special: An Introduction to Online Gaming With Joe Trier of How We Roll appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post A Warning to the Curious appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 qualified... The post Special: Parapsychology and Ghosts – a Conversation With Christian Jensen Romer part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 ourselves against fear. And... The post Ghosts in Call of Cthulhu part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 10... The post The Best of the 2010s appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 locals seem nice enough,... The post Midsommar appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 loved us is memorable,... The post Great NPCs of History appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post The Appeal of D&D appeared first on Blasphemous 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 and they’re... The post Mythos Tomes appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post At the Mountains of Madness part 5 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post At the Mountains of Madness part 4 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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, they carved them on walls everywhere.... The post At the Mountains of Madness part 3 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 not going to... The post At the Mountains of Madness part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 inured... The post At the Mountains of Madness part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post A Dark Song appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 R’lyeh. I was... The post Special: Brian Courtemanche interview at Necronomicon 2019 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post Special: Matthew M Bartlett interview at Necronomicon 2019 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Special: Necronomicon 2019 with the Miskatonic University Podcast appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post Occult Horror appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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?... The post The Occult and Lovecraft appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Lovecraft and the Occult appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Top 3 RPG Mechanics appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 what the hell... The post Making Call of Cthulhu Scary appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Martyrs appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 monsters everywhere... The post Mythos Deities: Hastur appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 Good... The post Special: UK Games Expo 2019 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 around us.... The post The Carcosa Mythos in Media and Gaming appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post The Yellow Sign appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 Carcosa, maybe... The post The King in Yellow (part 2) appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post The King in Yellow (part 1) appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 like calamari in the dark,... The post Keeping Cthulhu Fresh appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Realism in RPG Settings appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 without... The post Realism in RPG Mechanics appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post Special: PodUK 2019 with How We Roll appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 creature will do something... The post The Dunwich Horror (part 4) appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 simply prologue. Admittedly,... The post The Dunwich Horror (part 3) appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 especially interesting, although we’re... The post The Dunwich Horror (part 2) appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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’s classic... The post The Dunwich Horror (part 1) appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post Heaven & Earth appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post The Two-Headed Serpent appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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.... The post Special: Dragonmeet 2018 with The Smart Party appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 are,... The post Call of Cthulhu for Beginners appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 post Violence in Call of Cthulhu appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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 1982 science fiction/horror masterpiece, The Thing.... The post The Thing appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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, offering demo... The post Special: Tabletop Gaming Live 2018 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

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... The post Improvisation in RPGs appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.