319: Roll Your Own Mythos, with Andy Goodman (advert free)
Added 2025-08-11 23:01:02 +0000 UTCThe Cthulhu Mythos didn't really start out as a cohesive entity. It has become increasingly codified by generations of fans, starting with August Derleth, but this can be an impediment to creativity. This episode is a loose discussion about how you might bring in ideas from elsewhere, removing some of the canon from the general themes of cosmic horror, and roll your own Mythos.
We discuss the difference between Lovecraftian horror and cosmic horror, which authors might have interesting takes on the cosmic, how gods can interact at a human scale, and how we can put all of this together into something that feels new.
Our Guest Host
We are delighted to welcome Andy Goodman to the Good Friends! Andy is the mastermind behind Grizzly Peaks Radio, an actual play podcast focusing on Call of Cthulhu. It's impressive enough when a podcast manages to play Masks of Nyarlathotep to completion, but Andy has balanced running that alongside The Two-Headed Serpent, Berlin - the Wicked City, and a pulped-up version of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, not to mention numerous one-shots and an ad-hoc campaign made up of scenarios from the early days of White Dwarf. Our own Scott Dorward is a regular player in many of these games, as well as the two crossover campaigns with The Apocalypse Players, dubbed The Apocalypse Grizzlies.
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Scott on Unconventional GMs and Symphony Entertainment
As mentioned in previous episodes, Scott has appeared on a couple of streams recently. He ran Dead of Night for our good friends over at Unconventional GMs and played in a freeform improv over at Symphony Entertainment to celebrate their anniversary. Both of these streams were recorded and can now be found on YouTube, or by scrolling down a bit.
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
The Tinfoil Dossier by Caitlin R Kiernan
"Houses Under the Sea" by Caitlin R Kiernan
"The Whisperer in Darkness" by HP Lovecraft
"Nyarlathotep" by HP Lovecraft
"Devo Nodenti" by Keris McDonald
The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
"The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen
"The Dunwich Horror" by HP Lovecraft
"The White People" by Arthur Machen
Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder by William Hope Hodgson
Résumé With Monsters by William Browning Spencer
The Fisherman by John Langan
"Isla de la Muerte" on Grizzly Peaks Radio
"The Murder Shack" in The Blasphemous Tome issue 5.5
"The Ice Monkey" by M John Harrison
The Pseudonomicon by Phil Hine
Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows
Comments
Also- Dean Koontz novel, “Phantoms” is definitely cosmic horror that should be tapped… and for extra credit check out Reza Negarestani’s work of theory fiction, “Cyclonopedia”
James Aydelotte
2025-08-12 17:55:28 +0000 UTCWhat about the tentacles? I love this question and I have to point to Japan… I once saw a jade Netsuke figurine that was a woman being devoured by an octopus. It was eerily reminiscent of ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’… but I do not know which piece is older. The back of the figurine had a phrase, “ The octopus is pleasure/the octopus is death.” Speaking of worshipping that which we do not understand- what is more otherworldly than the physiology of the octopus.
James Aydelotte
2025-08-12 17:35:14 +0000 UTC
