0:04

Listen, if you dare, to

0:06

the Lovecraft Tapes.

0:11

Welcome to the Lovecraft Tapes

0:13

podcast. This is Case Fifteen,

0:16

The Crosses. I am Jeremy, Keeper

0:18

of Arcane Lore,

0:20

and we play Call of Cthulhu, a role-playing

0:22

game filled with cosmic horror, existential

0:24

dread, and Taco Bell fire sauce

0:27

squirted directly into your eyeballs for only 50

0:29

cents extra. Does it have to be the

0:31

eyeballs? Can I choose a different place?

0:34

Your investigators of the unknown are

0:36

Brian as Ben. Hi I'm

0:38

Ben. Matt as Kyle. Hi

0:41

I'm Dad. And Lupine as Rosa.

0:43

Hiiii Rosa. Question

0:45

mark. Well welcome players. Tonight

0:47

we will be answering questions regarding the

0:49

podcast in our recently completed

0:51

scenario. Spoiler alert, we will

0:54

discuss all the nitty gritty details

0:56

of this adventure so if you haven't listened yet, you

0:58

may want to go back and start

1:00

at Case Fifteen, Tape One, Prologue before

1:03

listening to the rest of this

1:05

episode. You have been warned.

1:08

Listeners, if you would like to drop us a

1:10

letter from beyond, please

1:13

visit Lovecrafttapes.com anytime

1:16

and fill out our contact form. We accept

1:18

thoughtful criticism, thirsty praise, and even

1:20

non-Euclidean pizza with cosmic horror

1:23

pineapple on it.

1:24

Extra shrooms. Also a gentle

1:26

reminder that if you would like to chat with us

1:28

in real time, join our Discord server at

1:30

discord.lovecrafttapes.com

1:33

today and watch Lupine swing from the

1:35

trapeze at the center of the big top with the greatest

1:37

of ease.

1:38

This

1:40

show is brought to you in part by our generous fans and

1:42

supporters on Patreon.com slash Lovecrafttapes.

1:45

So thank you to Lars

1:47

Serge Mulvad, Luke

1:49

Corbin, Eric Hansen, Oritaco,

1:52

Rich Pogue, James Mayo, EA,

1:55

The Bookish Couple, John Caballero,

1:57

Ryan Hill, Reaper Jones,

1:59

Sean McConnell, Poppy Mama, Jeff

2:02

Howie, Jordy Rose, Barry Robison,

2:04

The Frilled Shark, Atulia, Brownie Davis,

2:06

John Scarcella, Little Rowan Plays,

2:09

Huge Pie, Prophet of Woe, Chris

2:11

Parker, Amanda Power, Elizabeth Reeve,

2:13

Kyle Sherman, Horse Draper, Ripley Eiland,

2:15

Discordiant, Dom Driver, Andrew

2:17

Petty, David Winterman, Phoenix Black,

2:19

Aneptus, the Stardust, Eric Zane, Liz

2:22

Moonberry, Malombra57, Matthew, Steven

2:24

Gregory, Kevin C., Daniel Caprone,

2:27

Chainsaw Unicorn, Captain Vashtan, Jefferson

2:29

Bell, Robert Jamison, Eric Phillips, Olda,

2:32

Polkart, Mitch L., Shelley DM,

2:34

Boston Harbor Horror Presents, Ruined

2:37

Ashes, Snow, Peter VDB, Some

2:39

Dude, Shane Stolle, Brindle Stubbs,

2:41

J.R., J. Clark, James Brown,

2:43

Batran, Divinia von Zarovich, Frank

2:46

Delventhal, Jehovah's Thickness, Steve

2:48

L., I Got Walls on Roof, Phil Campbell, Flix

2:50

Capacitator, Justin Leveque, Jeffrey

2:52

Young, Robert Lamb, Marty Dixon, Holden

2:55

Omond, Mick Cope, Kevin G., John

2:57

Konepassik, Nicholas Hutto, A.E. Jonesy,

2:59

Sarah and the Wizard

2:59

of Instant Glass, Benjamin King, Bifford,

3:02

Lonely Boxcars, Sarah Wiley, Smagmas

3:05

Grendel-Gung, Tomas. Thanks

3:07

guys, appreciate all that. I

3:09

know people. Now,

3:11

dear investigators, we recap.

3:14

Case 15, LaCrosse's. Previously

3:18

on the Lovecraft Tapes. Ben,

3:22

Rosa and Kyle thought

3:24

their summer vacation would be filled

3:27

with laughter, adventure, and

3:30

preparation for their first year of high

3:32

school in the fall. Unbeknownst

3:34

to anyone, an ancient stone

3:37

of questionable origins surfaced

3:39

in the woods near the local hot springs

3:41

in Las Cruces. Seating

3:44

an infection which spread to the

3:46

surrounding flora and fauna, then

3:49

on to the citizenry. Our

3:51

young investigators scrambled desperately

3:54

to find a solution to the outbreak without

3:57

realizing the insidious

3:59

enemy.

3:59

had already infiltrated their

4:02

ranks. Alright

4:04

guys, let's A some Qs! We

4:06

will also be monitoring live chat for

4:09

any last minute questions, so if something comes up

4:11

feel free to throw us some curveballs there and

4:13

we'll do our best to take a swing at them.

4:16

I will monitor chat

4:18

for any late submissions. John

4:21

Scarcella asks,

4:23

When Kyle got fungus cloned,

4:26

why did his duplicate continue

4:28

to help the group when the other

4:30

replacements like Uncle John were out

4:33

to get them? My thought was that

4:35

maybe it really was him,

4:37

but he got severed from

4:40

the clone that was starting to form and

4:42

it was still taking him over but really slowly

4:45

enough for him to remain himself until it

4:47

was too late. I sort of had John Carpenter's

4:49

The Thing in mind. So what

4:52

The Thing wants to do is it wants to infiltrate

4:54

the group without giving away

4:56

its identity. So I think ultimately

4:59

that's what the Kyle clone was attempting

5:01

to do. When you think about Uncle

5:03

John

5:04

was out to get them, well not

5:06

really, he just sort of wanted to get Kyle.

5:09

So it was a one on one situation and as

5:12

we know it John Carpenter's The Thing, they

5:14

always want to try to get in a room with just one other

5:16

person. So that was the genesis

5:18

of all that, just roughly speaking. I

5:21

didn't have exactly John Carpenter's

5:23

The Thing in mind but it was that sort

5:25

of intention that I thought made

5:27

the most sense. I like it. I

5:29

knew there was going to be some confusion

5:31

about why would Kyle continue

5:34

to go along with the whole thing but I paid

5:36

very careful attention as to when he

5:38

was handling the

5:39

Myconazole powder. Oh, okay.

5:42

And the NPCs would step in and make sure that

5:44

he wasn't handling it. Oh,

5:46

okay. That makes sense. There was opportunity

5:49

for Kyle to do something stupid. I tried

5:51

several times but, you know. It didn't really

5:53

happen. When you were like, I'll carry both

5:55

things but in the event that

5:57

something would have happened and it got not

5:59

him. It would have been revealed. Obviously,

6:02

I didn't have anything written for

6:04

the ultimate thing what happened to him

6:06

until we were to that point in

6:09

the very last episode. John, I hope

6:11

that answers your question. Brian,

6:13

do you have a question for Lupine? Two-part question.

6:16

How was your first experience working with

6:18

the Lovecraft tapes? And how much do we

6:20

have to pay you to stay?

6:22

I found everyone really welcoming

6:24

and it was really great. I was nervous

6:27

that people would tend to see me as

6:29

coming in and taking over

6:32

something that had already happened. But I

6:35

really

6:36

appreciate all the support

6:38

that I've gotten from you guys and from the

6:40

community. It made me feel like I'd

6:43

found a new family.

6:44

And how much? How much? About tree fitting.

6:47

I like stickers. Stickers are good. I

6:49

just came across, you know how Google pops

6:51

up your memories from five years ago.

6:53

It was a picture of a back of a

6:55

box and our sticker was on it. And

6:58

it was in the photos of when we went to Ireland.

7:00

The Lovecraft tapes, what's this? What

7:02

the fuck is the Lovecraft tapes? Why are they

7:04

putting their damn stickers all over our castles?

7:07

Brian and Jeremy running in the background. Giggling.

7:10

Prophet of Woe wants to know what, if

7:12

any, was the decision to run as

7:15

youngsters in this case? How did it affect

7:17

your decision making? Do you think it added more

7:19

difficulty or tension?

7:21

As for the first part of that question, was

7:23

it me that wanted to do it? I'm pretty sure it was

7:26

your idea. Yep. To start young.

7:28

Because the innocence and the wonder

7:31

of the world, you can, everything is new

7:33

and chime-y. We went through the gauntlet

7:36

of having Delta Green agents

7:38

or FBI agents or whatever, you

7:40

know, like people who had baggage

7:43

and that's fun to play too. But I

7:45

just kind of wanted to go a different direction and I was sort

7:47

of like in a Spielberg mood. I thought,

7:50

what if we just did something that was

7:51

pretty like teenagers? But, you know,

7:53

I wanted to avoid the whole stranger things comparison

7:56

because I was not trying to go that route.

7:58

I was really actually kind of nervous. when

8:00

you told me that we were playing kids.

8:02

And I usually avoid

8:05

playing children in any

8:07

game I play just because there's

8:09

a lot of things that you can't

8:11

do with them that you can do with adults.

8:14

And then the other thing is I have

8:17

a lot of trouble separating my

8:19

cynicism from what a kid thinks

8:21

of everything. But actually it was really fun to

8:23

play Rosa because

8:26

it was really fun to think

8:29

about what would she do as

8:31

opposed to just playing a character

8:34

who has a slightly different personality for me. It

8:36

was a nice stretch.

8:36

I find it therapeutic to do stuff

8:39

like that. It's nice to be

8:41

innocent. The time period certainly helped

8:43

the innocence too. I didn't have to think about

8:45

all these things that kids now have

8:47

to deal with when you have all these sources

8:50

of media and stuff, like sort of the childly

8:53

wonder like crashing up against the reality.

8:56

And I don't know if I would

8:58

be able to do that because reality

9:00

sucks.

9:00

It does. And it bites. And

9:03

it blows. I guess the third thing

9:05

you kind of touched on too was do you think it

9:07

added more difficulty or tension? I don't know about

9:09

difficulty, maybe tension because

9:12

that like how do we play this and not go

9:14

completely overboard or terrible. But we're also

9:16

very careful about picking a specific age

9:19

too when even though as

9:21

Lupine just mentioned, kids today are

9:23

like sort of grown up a bit quicker than

9:26

they were back then. But even back then, kids

9:29

were allowed to go places

9:31

that these kids today can't go

9:33

or

9:33

are not allowed to go by helicopter parents or whatever,

9:36

different mores, different times. Out

9:38

of the days of you go play outside,

9:40

be at home before the street light comes on. And

9:43

then just being turned loose into

9:45

the world and tolling, you know, go entertain yourself.

9:48

14 or 15 year olds in 1974 had

9:52

a lot of autonomy. And so it

9:54

was sort of like, you know, how do we portray

9:57

kids who are just becoming investigators?

10:00

Whether they want to or not. They're sort of old

10:02

enough to figure out what's going on one

10:04

foot in

10:06

Adolescence one foot in dawning

10:08

adulthood. So it was it was a fun tightrope

10:11

I think and hopefully we pulled that off It'll

10:13

be a little easier going forward. I think because

10:16

now you guys have some baggage

10:17

Rosa is a very different person this time

10:21

Kyle's not but you know, well you were

10:23

for a minute true very briefly I

10:25

hope that answers your question profit. Well Lupine.

10:28

Do you have a question for Matt?

10:29

I want to know what was in that note

10:32

the one at the end That Jeremy

10:34

just handed Matt and Matt's

10:37

hold demeanor changed when he read it I

10:39

just watched your face like

10:41

change the note that he

10:43

handed me was Basically

10:45

a short thing saying you're a mushroom person

10:48

by the way And now that all the mushrooms are dying

10:50

you realize what's going on So that's

10:52

why it was that shift because I did not

10:54

know up until that very second what was

10:56

happening He did not tell me so that

10:58

whole minute of me going that was that was me Processing

11:01

and going well fuck cuz after

11:04

I came back at the end of that fight I'm like, oh, you

11:06

know, maybe it's something maybe I Interrupted

11:08

it in time and Kyle's gonna make it to the next season

11:10

and

11:11

then he handed me that and I was like no Never mind

11:14

and it all came down to the rolls. I got

11:16

well, we eaten hard this time someone

11:18

clip that He just said he got well, we eat hard.

11:20

Okay, so endless ocean has a

11:22

question Do you people prefer

11:25

playing characters that can't just look

11:27

up stuff on their phones in game? Or is

11:29

that something that pisses you off? Jeremy's

11:31

always kind of blocked us no signal or you

11:33

know Whatever which makes sense because you don't want to

11:35

be pulled out of the story out of the situation

11:38

all the time But in a couple scenarios

11:40

where we were able to

11:41

use our phones It did come in handy

11:44

and I don't think we overused them But I

11:46

could see how players could constantly

11:49

just use that to take care of

11:51

everything. You know what I mean?

11:52

It's nice that we couldn't because

11:55

that it sort of forces you to play

11:57

person who's in the moment who's paying attention

11:59

to what they're doing. I mean, it definitely

12:02

makes things more interesting

12:04

when you don't have that instantaneous access

12:07

to the sum of all human knowledge. You

12:09

have to get a little more creative with your problem solving

12:11

and it can really help to kind of push the storytelling

12:14

aspects when again, you don't have

12:16

the answer to life, the universe and everything at

12:18

your fingertips. I do prefer it when

12:20

characters do not have access to

12:23

look stuff up on their phone. The whole cell

12:25

phone thing does kind of miff me a bit

12:27

because it is a crutch and it's something that

12:29

we tend to very quickly go

12:31

to now. I think it just feels

12:34

inauthentic if they can't

12:37

come by the information in a more role-playing

12:39

way. There's no role-playing when you're looking

12:41

things up on a phone. So then it also

12:44

feels unrealistic for me to step

12:46

in and throw roadblocks in the way. So

12:48

the whole thing is just like a lose-lose proposition.

12:51

I enjoy it

12:52

more when they don't have access

12:54

to everything. It just gets boring.

12:57

You can't make a podcast out of that. I'm sorry. How

13:00

do you lockpick this door? Let me look it up on Google. Matt, do

13:02

you have a question for me?

13:04

Moving from, I guess what you could

13:06

call an established universe into

13:08

a blank canvas from

13:12

where we were with the old trio into our

13:14

new area here. What was that like for you? Was

13:17

it really fun? Was it kind of scary?

13:19

Were you nervous about how we were going to react

13:21

to things, how the audience was going to receive the

13:24

new world? Because I know you put a lot of work

13:26

into everything that goes into this show

13:28

and it has to be, at least on some level, minorly

13:31

terrifying to put something like that out there

13:33

in front of everybody

13:34

and just kind of let that go out into the world.

13:36

To me, it's more exciting than anything else. It

13:38

can be daunting, like trying, okay, so what's the angle

13:41

going to be? That sort of thing. It is a

13:43

risk to take all of that history

13:46

and what everybody knows and loves

13:48

or hates and just say, okay, 14 cases.

13:50

We're

13:52

moving on to a brand new cycle. That

13:54

part was risky, but our fans know

13:57

us. Our style didn't change. You know,

13:59

it's sort of like we're.

13:59

all the same dumbasses. But also,

14:02

like, because there was such baggage

14:05

with all the other ones, the Royos

14:07

and Roy and his wife and kids

14:09

and, like, all this stuff. But also,

14:11

like, a lot of things to keep in mind. Okay,

14:13

I have to, like, make sure that this happens and

14:16

people are gonna ask whatever happened to this character, you

14:18

know, that sort of thing. But if we just, like,

14:20

start over, it kind of takes care

14:22

of a lot of that and allows us, we have a new

14:25

player here. To me, it just made the most sense

14:27

to just sort of begin again. And

14:30

I really enjoyed, you know, Last Crucis learning

14:32

about that California town. Try

14:34

our best to portray the time frame

14:37

and the people of that era. It

14:39

was fun. I liked it. I'm super

14:41

excited about

14:42

K-16. Oh, boy. Which means he's going

14:45

to murder everybody. He can't kill me.

14:47

I'm already dead. All right, I have a question for

14:49

Lupine. What were your challenges

14:51

to figure out the rhythms

14:54

of our play style or to adapt

14:56

to our generally adolescent behavior?

14:59

Was there, I mean, you came in, you knew us

15:01

peripherally, and you knew what the

15:03

podcast was, and we had our, you

15:05

know, interview session and all that stuff. But then

15:07

to actually be here,

15:09

I kind of felt really comfortable

15:11

with you guys right off the bat. I don't know if

15:13

it was because I listened to so

15:15

much of the podcast before I joined,

15:18

and it might say something about my

15:21

sense of humor, maybe that we all got

15:23

sort of made the same sort

15:25

of jokes. That was part of that joy

15:27

for me was that I have had

15:29

to deal with groups where I haven't matched

15:32

as well playing with

15:34

strangers, you know, I guess that was the

15:36

biggest challenge for me deciding

15:39

whether what I am inclined to

15:41

do next is going to completely break

15:43

the other players or Jeremy, because

15:45

I've been in that situation to where I

15:48

do something and someone's like,

15:50

no, that's not okay. I'm like,

15:52

Oh, I'm sorry.

15:53

Gabe has already thoroughly broken

15:55

Jeremy. There's not much left really. Roy

15:58

taught me humility.

15:59

embarrassment. I shoot the phone

16:02

out of the bartender's hand. It's fine. That was actually

16:04

the moment that I was like, I can

16:06

play with these guys. Because that

16:09

is something that I would have done. You

16:11

guys feel like buddies

16:13

I'd play with. There wasn't much of a

16:16

learning curve.

16:17

Glad to hear that. All right, do you

16:19

have a question for me in the chat there, Matt?

16:21

Prophet of Well on YouTube says not

16:24

to do with the story, but given the choice,

16:26

would you prefer people watch on Twitch or

16:28

on YouTube? Or would you prefer less

16:30

of a live audience and more listens to the actual

16:32

podcast itself? So we did this

16:35

early on. We didn't used to live stream. And

16:37

I was pretty adamant that I did not

16:39

want us to because we're

16:42

much better now.

16:43

We're a little more laid-back. We're settled

16:45

in. We're older. We're a little bit more mellow.

16:48

But back then we would sometimes fly

16:50

off the handle and get pissed off at each other.

16:52

Brian and I are brothers. We have a history.

16:55

With that comes the ability to push each other's

16:57

buttons a little bit once we realize like this

16:59

is not cool, guys. We can't just like

17:02

fucking freak out on the stream.

17:04

I look forward to taking part in one of those.

17:08

I hope not. People want to see the stream.

17:11

So let's do it. But let's be

17:13

as professional as we possibly can be. And

17:15

I think we've gotten much

17:17

better at that. We've had little blooms here

17:20

and there, but they haven't been nearly as bad as

17:22

they were in the past. Dealing with people who

17:24

want to do what maybe you didn't plan

17:27

for or expect has taught me a lot. So

17:29

I've been trying to do that's why we

17:31

we tried to do more yes and I've emphasized

17:34

that at the beginning of each of the podcasts. Like we

17:36

just need to

17:37

work towards that. Like that's all pulling the same

17:39

direction. And I think it's worked more or less.

17:41

But in the good old days I would prefer

17:44

that people only listened to the

17:46

finished edited polished podcast

17:49

because all the words were removed

17:51

and it's much better a more

17:54

pleasant experience. The words come back though

17:56

if you don't keep up with them. Secondary question

17:58

from Twitch chat for every...

17:59

Everybody here favorite type of mushroom

18:02

either to eat or in general. Jeremy,

18:04

why don't you start? I'm not a mushroom guy, but

18:07

I've come to appreciate some of them. I

18:09

just don't like the spongy texture

18:12

of certain types of mushrooms. I do like

18:14

if they've been cooked in butter for

18:17

a long time, but in a dish, not by themselves.

18:19

I love a portobello burger

18:22

slapped with onions, tomatoes,

18:25

and lettuce. And, hmm, so good. Those

18:28

aren't mushy because they're so thick. They're

18:29

actually more bready. I'm a

18:32

fan of both shiitakes and oyster

18:34

mushrooms. They work really well together

18:36

in pairs, especially in, again,

18:39

I use them a lot in like ramen, especially

18:41

if you can get like dehydrated mushrooms. It's

18:43

a really great way to make like a quick and flavored turn

18:45

water into, you know, a broth that

18:48

is a little more exciting than water.

18:50

I don't like mushrooms.

18:52

I like poking them like when they're alive

18:55

because I'm a science nerd and I like, oh,

18:57

cool. Look at the look at the way that the water

19:00

moves and the nutrients move through the mushroom

19:02

and I'll lay on my belly in the

19:05

forest floor and look at them because

19:07

they're really fascinating to, you know, look

19:09

at the

19:10

spores and gills and all

19:12

the stuff.

19:12

I especially like all the colors. In

19:15

terms of eating, if you, if you

19:17

forced me at gunpoint, I probably would. Yeah, I

19:19

don't mind the flavor so much. Actually, I

19:21

think that whole nutrient thing,

19:24

the nutrients from the dead things is very

19:26

interesting to the flavor, like it imparts

19:29

different cool flavors of different things. But

19:31

also I have this thought like,

19:33

oh, I'm eating dead things.

19:34

Okay. So we have a question here

19:37

from Sam Bifford. What

19:39

epitaph will be written

19:41

on Ben's headstone?

19:44

I wondered if Bifford meant Kyle's.

19:47

Unless you haven't told me yet. But we're just going

19:49

to take it as is. What will be written on

19:51

your tombstone? Probably got

19:54

a dollar. Brian, do you have a question

19:56

for me?

19:57

What was the, if any? Most

20:00

important message that you wanted

20:02

to get across to your players, but you couldn't.

20:05

Well, so there were two sort of hurdles

20:07

that popped up that I was like, oh,

20:09

shit, how do I get through this? The one thing

20:11

was I thought Ben would be

20:13

the one to go to deliver the

20:15

thing to the old guy's house.

20:18

And so when it popped up, you were like,

20:20

not going to do that. I was like, oh,

20:23

shit. Yeah, I had to plow that night. That's

20:25

right. You were gone. The player was missing

20:27

in this instance. So I had to

20:29

hijack Kyle as the

20:32

surrogate for that. And then Kyle's

20:34

response was to run. There

20:36

goes that. That guy

20:38

who is going to be like the crux of figuring out

20:41

the fungal situation. But we

20:43

managed later on to figure out a

20:45

way to get you guys steered towards that. The

20:47

other thing, of course, obviously we already talked about it

20:49

was the the bully. And actually,

20:52

both times that you guys encountered the bully was

20:54

sort of like, ooh, what are they going to do? I

20:56

thought it was good that we talked him into being

20:58

our friends, kind of. What happened

20:59

to Randy was completely unplanned,

21:02

completely unexpected. You know, it came down to

21:04

dice rolls and intent. So that's why

21:06

I can't write everything in advance

21:09

because it changes so frequently.

21:11

So there's a lot of role playing going on

21:13

when we play on both sides. Contrary

21:16

to popular opinion, it's none of a descriptive.

21:18

I'm sorry, I lost what page we were

21:20

on, guys. Where are we again? Where's my cue?

21:23

Lou Pine, it's on page 12. OK, from

21:25

the top. Hi, welcome to the Lovecraft Tapes

21:27

podcast where we're doing Q&A. Matt,

21:31

do you have a question for Lupine?

21:33

Given what we've seen with

21:35

Rosa and clearly how much she cares for

21:38

the the animals on her farm, do

21:40

you think that seeing what happened with

21:42

the people and the goats and the mushrooms and everything,

21:45

you know, kind of melting away, do you

21:47

think that's going to affect how

21:49

she interacts with the the farm? Is like,

21:51

has it changed her as a person,

21:54

like, in a way that she's, you know, maybe

21:56

going to steer a little bit away from certain

21:59

things that she enjoyed?

21:59

first season. She's a very different person

22:02

than at the beginning of this. I was

22:05

sort of thinking about it, about how I want

22:08

to play her differently, like what she

22:10

came

22:11

out of those experiences learning.

22:15

She's gonna have trouble trusting

22:17

people and maybe not even just

22:19

trusting like what people say but like

22:22

who people are. In my head I'm sort

22:24

of like calling her the new Rosa. You know, what

22:26

would the new Rosa do when she like

22:28

saw the goats deflating? I'm excited to

22:31

explore that.

22:31

All right, Phoenix, our old

22:34

friend Phoenix, they ask

22:37

after watching the movie Glorious,

22:40

which stars the incomparable J.K.

22:43

Simmons as the voice of an eldritch

22:45

horror, I was wondering who

22:48

each of you would choose to be the voice

22:50

of any of your favorite Lovecraftian

22:53

elder gods. I have a funny

22:55

one and a serious one, Samuel L. Jackson

22:58

and Liam Neeson of course. Because of his

23:00

huge cock? Yeah,

23:02

he's got a huge chicken farm. My

23:04

first go-to was Morgan Freeman. My

23:06

favorite elder god is Dagon. I would

23:08

definitely make Morgan Freeman.

23:11

He has different ways of voice-overing

23:13

and like one of his ways is like done

23:16

with it all. I feel like that would be

23:18

really good Dagon is just like

23:20

and then they did something

23:22

stupid. And

23:25

I just think it'd be fun to hear Chris and

23:27

Cheddarwith as Cthulhu. A

23:30

pair that I'd love to see together, reenacting

23:33

some of their characters, are the

23:35

duo of Rob Paulson and Maurice

23:38

LaMarche, whom if you're a 90s kid you

23:40

will know as Pinky and the Brain. I just

23:42

love the idea of like the brain is

23:44

like this big menacing old one and then

23:46

you just have Pinky hanging out. Just you

23:48

know constantly provokes him and asks some stupid

23:50

questions and makes him do dumb things. I'd

23:52

watch that. And I would probably do

23:55

Javier Bardem as the

23:57

voice of Dagon and then

23:59

And then I thought, well, Cthulhu,

24:02

I would want Guillermo del Toro

24:04

to be Cthulhu. He has a very distinctive

24:06

voice and he has presence.

24:09

And I think he could probably carry that off. So I hope

24:11

that answers your question, Phoenix. That

24:13

was a pretty good one. That was well thought out. I

24:16

like it. Lupine, do you have a question for

24:18

Brian?

24:18

How did you choose to play Ben

24:20

the way you did? Like how did you

24:23

choose to have him interact

24:25

with the adults and

24:28

then the other kids that the way that

24:30

you did? I thought it was very interesting.

24:32

I pulled from life. I was

24:34

a latchkey kid, if nobody knows what

24:36

that is. You're an only child

24:38

and your family works late. So you

24:41

get home from school and you have a key and

24:43

you get in the house, you do your chores,

24:45

you prepare a snack. Sometimes

24:48

you get dinner ready

24:49

for when your family gets home. So I kind of

24:51

pulled a little bit from that. Had to go to

24:53

school in the morning by myself. They were already off to

24:55

work. Almost missed the bus a couple times watching

24:58

Thundercats. And Independence because

25:00

knowing that he was by himself, his

25:02

mom was working. So it was a lot of the

25:05

similar feel for me.

25:07

It felt very much like Rosa

25:09

and Kyle were kind of kids. And

25:12

then Ben was sort of like...

25:13

Little grown up. Yeah. How

25:16

do you think you're in play, Ben, differently?

25:18

Did he feel betrayed by the fact

25:21

that the adults were there?

25:22

He probably felt like he's never

25:24

really been able to fully count

25:27

on an adult, even his mom, at

25:29

times. He's definitely gonna question things

25:32

more when adults say them, not take

25:34

them at face value in what he's told to

25:36

do. And he's gonna invent a death ray. All

25:39

right, Crocy has a question.

25:41

Is that mutant baby goat mushroom

25:44

hybrid still hanging around Rosa's farm?

25:46

I think probably not because

25:48

I think we've established that the destruction

25:51

of the... With the mycontazole and

25:53

the destruction of the root rock that

25:55

everything literally sort of dissolved,

25:58

as we saw with Kyle.

25:59

loved a pet mutant

26:01

goat, baby Acro. It was like a hive

26:04

mind thing? That's when I kind of figured it out

26:06

when you had the mushrooms coming up into

26:08

a shape and then changing into a different shape.

26:11

And then it's like you knew it was all

26:13

being controlled by the root rock. And

26:15

it was like, once that's gone, the

26:17

controlled tentacles are coming.

26:20

The mushrooms sort of reminded me

26:22

of like a slime mold. But unlike a slime

26:24

mold, it had a centralized place where

26:27

it had the intelligence.

26:28

I have a question for Matt.

26:30

Saying goodbye to a fresh investigator

26:33

on the first case seems kind

26:35

of traumatic. But because Call

26:37

of Cthulhu is a very dangerous game, it's

26:40

not unusual to see characters meet grisly

26:42

demises on the reg. How do you approach

26:44

role-playing

26:46

in the Lovecraftian universe differently

26:48

than in another system, knowing

26:50

that your time is short to

26:52

make a memorable impression on our

26:55

audience? In a world where

26:57

it doesn't take much to take

26:59

out a character, like we're all

27:02

normal humans, it's a really

27:04

delicate balancing act because on one hand

27:06

you want to develop the personality

27:09

and kind of show off who they are and make

27:11

them their own unique thing. But you

27:13

can't do it at such a hyper-accelerated

27:17

rate that it comes off as you playing a character

27:20

for just straight comedy.

27:23

I could have gone full 12 out of 10 on Kyle and

27:26

made him full really dumb,

27:29

unaware athlete and it would have been really

27:31

funny, but it's a lot more fun playing

27:33

characters that have a

27:34

deeper layer of complexity to them.

27:37

And to be able to still have those fun moments

27:39

popping up after the fight and saying, yeah, no, just

27:41

give the dude a dollar. But on the other hand, when

27:44

you play it in

27:46

that kind of balanced mode, you get the

27:48

other moments like him waking up at home

27:51

and getting to see that little slice

27:53

of his life where he's by himself and he's

27:55

wearing hand-me-down clothes and putting

27:58

orange juice in his cereal because his dad did it.

27:59

didn't buy milk before he left him

28:02

alone. It's tough to find that balancing

28:04

point, but at the same time, that's the

28:06

most fun part, to find that midpoint

28:08

between playing a character that's memorable

28:11

and not turning them into a clown. And

28:13

for the record, I think you did a wonderful job. I

28:15

do too. Aw. At making him

28:18

a clown. It was a fun character to play, because when I went

28:20

from, you know, playing, you know, Rocky

28:22

and all these older characters that

28:24

had all this, you know, forethought knowledge and

28:26

went to, you know, a young kid who

28:29

didn't have that,

28:29

you know, prefrontal cortex

28:32

development and had a lack of filtering.

28:34

So he was just kind of, you know, what's

28:36

the first thing that comes into my head? Atulia

28:38

wants to know,

28:39

could you break down what happened to

28:42

Kyle? I'm not sure if I missed something

28:44

or if it all just happened off screen. And

28:46

that is the key. It did all happen

28:48

off screen. Kyle was turned

28:51

into a mushroom person. He

28:54

stumbled across one of the quote unquote

28:56

seed pods or whatever his doppelganger

28:59

in process in the clubhouse. It

29:01

had attached to him and was

29:04

essentially leeching him of all his stuff.

29:06

And he failed a role that turned out

29:09

to be deadly.

29:09

And then, of course, his dad shows

29:12

up

29:12

just when he is wavering

29:15

between consciousness. The thing

29:17

that infected him

29:19

actually managed to begin

29:22

his conversion and then

29:25

run away. That's what the mountain lion was

29:27

or cougar. Oh,

29:29

okay. So when the dad got into the clubhouse,

29:32

the thing burst from the door

29:34

and ran off into the underbrush.

29:36

It's not like invasion of the body snatchers where

29:39

the seed pods simply just become you. It's

29:41

more of an infection kind of

29:42

thing because Kyle had these wounds

29:45

on him. The thing also copied

29:47

those wounds. Oh my God, that all

29:49

makes sense. Ryan, do you have a question

29:51

for Matt? When planning your next character,

29:54

what will be their most

29:56

important trait? And second,

29:59

how many?

29:59

the asses will they smack? Well, to answer

30:02

your question in reverse order, all

30:04

of them, because, you know, clearly Ben isn't

30:07

going to take up the torch and start slapping asses.

30:10

Yeah, someone has to. As far as

30:12

important traits goes, I don't know

30:14

yet. I mean, once I spend

30:16

a little more time looking

30:18

at where I want to take the new character, then

30:21

at some point I'll settle in on kind

30:23

of direction and personality.

30:26

And from there, I usually try and

30:28

fill out skills

30:29

in a way that makes sense. Could I, you

30:32

know, always put 80 or could I always

30:34

put the most points possible into spot hidden?

30:37

Yeah. Does it make sense for the person I'm playing?

30:39

Not always. And as advantageous as it would,

30:41

you know, always have a lot of points into,

30:44

you know, spot hidden and listen. It's

30:46

a lot more fun to distribute

30:48

those points into other lesser

30:51

used skills. Because every now and then you

30:53

get one of those moments where you're like, wait, I can

30:55

roll for that. And it just opens up a lot more

30:57

opportunities for unique scenarios and

30:59

unique

30:59

things to happen that might not have happened

31:02

otherwise. Had you just, you know, spent

31:04

points in the most min maxi way possible.

31:06

Keep smacking asses, man. Oh, we have a question

31:09

here from I swing a bit more. Hey,

31:11

everyone. Got one for all players and

31:13

Jeremy. These new investigators are a breath of fresh

31:15

air. And although no investigator is guaranteed to

31:17

last, some of the tests of time and

31:19

gone for several chapters. What do you hope to see if

31:22

your investigator achieve? And what

31:24

are you excited to see this group get up to in

31:26

the future as they grow together or maybe even

31:28

apart?

31:29

Well, my goal is to become part of

31:31

a hive mind. I mean, it didn't turn out too

31:33

well for Kyle, but if you want to give it a go, go right

31:35

ahead. Maybe maybe Rosa and

31:37

Kyle will be playing in the

31:40

mushrooms for all looking in the mushrooms.

31:42

I want to learn more magic. I

31:44

want to make it more than one case without dying.

31:46

Let's start there and we'll build out.

31:48

I have a really stupid goal called I

31:50

want Rosa to become Buffy and just be totally

31:53

jaded and totally like I hate

31:55

everyone. And I'm

31:58

going to kick some ass. Kyle's going to slap.

31:59

him, I'm gonna kick him. Matt, do you have a question

32:02

for Brian? Considering what Ben

32:04

has been through this season, especially

32:06

in terms of dealing with strangers

32:08

and new people, how do you think he's gonna react

32:11

when a new person just

32:13

kind of shows up and immediately tries

32:15

to insert themselves into the group, maybe

32:17

in a way that might be seen by the

32:19

other two as trying to take over for Kyle?

32:22

Well, I probably stab them with a pitchfork,

32:25

just to make sure they're not a mushroom.

32:26

I need to see you bleed! Probably

32:29

just test you a bit more than I normally

32:31

would. Suss you out, make sure you're

32:33

a genuine

32:34

person who's there to be yourself. No

32:37

ulterior motives. Uh, Lupine, do you

32:39

have a question for me? What's the scenario

32:41

we're playing and what's the solution?

32:42

Yeah, right. How you win?

32:45

Did you write differently based

32:47

on the fact that I pushed

32:49

that role in Fumbles, the one of

32:51

the hot springs?

32:52

That's when you got infected. I kind of

32:55

assumed that somebody would get infected,

32:57

right? Because the dangers were increasing

32:59

all the time. I did not think it was going to be

33:01

you. You didn't

33:02

take into account my chaos. I

33:04

was 100% sure you were going to kill me. You

33:07

were on track to become

33:10

a fungal thing. If things

33:12

hadn't really panned out and you hadn't

33:14

like picked up the signals and done something

33:16

stupid, like run away, then you would have

33:18

been in really bad situations.

33:21

Thankfully, you just killed Kyle. So I didn't need to

33:23

rewrite anything,

33:25

it was just like, oh shit, it's Rosa. I played

33:27

right into your hands. Fortunately

33:29

for you, those MVCs played right into Kyle's ass

33:32

slapping hands. So, you know. Hope that answers

33:34

your question. And I got the last question

33:36

here for Brian. Ben went through a lot

33:38

this scenario, emotionally and physically,

33:41

as he enters high school

33:42

as a freshman. How do you think this

33:44

experience will color his interactions

33:47

with other students and potential new friends?

33:49

I think that's going to probably be the biggest change.

33:52

He always would pull back and always

33:54

look for the route easiest

33:57

way out of a room, out of a situation.

33:59

I think.

33:59

It's not necessarily confidence.

34:02

It's more so you can't do anything

34:05

worse to me than what I've gone through this past

34:07

summer It's not gonna bother me whatever you

34:09

do to me. So if there's a bully situation

34:11

or anything like that It's gonna pale

34:14

in comparison to losing my friend Well

34:16

guys, that's gonna be it for this episode of the Lovecraft

34:18

tapes and for this case. This

34:20

is the end of case 15.

34:22

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34:24

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34:48

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34:51

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34:53

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34:55

If you want to talk about slime molds, I

34:57

actually don't know that much about slime molds

35:00

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35:02

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35:05

Slash loop. I'd better

35:06

you can find me at Ben

35:09

ain't taking shit that biz drop

35:11

me a line until next time

35:14

roll for S'mores

35:20

Hot scalding marshmallows in your mouth

35:22

burning your tongue and the roof of your mouth

35:24

You got a set of on fire you take

35:26

a bite and it squirts down your throat by accident

35:29

You got to go to the hospital because you have second-degree

35:32

burns in your esophagus

35:33

You feel like you're being tortured by

35:36

Mongols, but the nurse is

35:38

attractive So that works a little

35:40

awkward when you get a stiff you when she checks you out,

35:42

but you know

35:43

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