The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

325: Using LARP Techniques at the Table, with Ericka Skirpan (long cut)

Added 2025-11-04 00:01:02 +0000 UTC

This is the unedited version for backers only.

Live action and tabletop roleplaying share common roots and many similarities, but they have become quite separate hobbies. Each has evolved a unique set of forms and tools. So what can the world of tabletop roleplaying, particularly Call of Cthulhu, learn from LARP? Which LARP techniques lend themselves best to tabletop play? And which games blur the line between tabletop and LARP?

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Ericka Skirpan as our guest host for this episode! Ericka is a LARP creator, consultant, and facilitator. She writes extensively about LARPs at The Space Between Stories. Currently, Ericka is working with Mooney Bin Entertainment on LARPs such as "Conscience" and "Dresden Files 1923".

You can find Ericka's article "LARPing Made me a Stronger Person" in Scientific American. She has also written for 7th Sea, Vampire: The Requiem, and Changeling: The Dreaming.

Blasphemous Tomes Latest Updates:

Blasphemous Tome Fanzines Update for $1 backers (April 2025)

Blasphemous Tome Fanzines Update for $3+ backers (April 2025)

October Horror Movie Challenge

Scott recently wrapped up his annual October Horror Movie Challenge for 2025. He spent the month posting daily reviews of horror films on this very site, and he has written a post mortem of the best, worst, and weirdest picks. You can find the main discussion about this on the Good Friends Discord server or over on Bluesky.

Scott on Pretending to be People

Scott recently recorded another batch of episodes with our good friends at Pretending to be People. Once again, he is voicing Beck Wilder's mother, Kim, in the main arc, as season 2 builds to a very weird conclusion.

Matt and Scott at the Miskatonic Repository Convention

Both Matt and Scott appeared on panels at the recent Miskatonic Repository convention. Since we recorded the news segment, we've found that the videos are now available on YouTube but have been removed from Twitch. You can watch them both below.

Scott on Symphony Entertainment

The recent livestream Scott did with Bridget Jeffries and Graham Walmsley on Symphony Entertainment's Twitch channel was also recorded and can be found below. This was a completely improvised freeform game based on audience suggestions, and it was very strange indeed.