MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Discussion about podcast episodes
Keeper Dan
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:708
Joined:Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:46 pm
MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by Keeper Dan » Sun Dec 15, 2013 11:43 pm

Image
In episode 45, Keepers Dan, Jon and Murph chat with author, editor, and all around "Cthulhu Dude," Brian Sammons. We talk about Italian horror cinema, the CyberPunk genre and gaming that can take place in it. We also get some news about things that Brian has in the works for the future.

Campus Crier[/b]
  • As mentioned in the last episode, Goodman Games is doing grab bags this holiday season that might include a new "Fog of Time" spell and hand-drawn sketch from Keeper Jon. This time, Jon's on hand to talk about details.
  • Unspeakable! The Unspeakable Oath podcast has released a new episode! At GenCon 2013, Scott Glancy, Shane Ivey, and Ross Payton of the Unspeakable! podcast sat down with Robin Laws and Kenneth Hite of Trail of Cthulhu.
Feedback[/b]
  • This week's feedback kicks off with a voicemail from Keeper Angelo about how to use the Credit Rating skill in the game.
  • Bradley sent and email about a Lovecraftian video game Kickstarter called Machina Arcana.

Hi guys, long time listener here (since your first episode!) and have thoroughly enjoyed listening to your program grow and become really, really slick, like moss-covered stone steps into the dim unknown depths of a hidden vault. Anyway, there is a Kickstarter project called Machina Arcana that uses more than a few mythos monsters in its bestiary. I've already seen Deep Ones and Flying Polyps in the demo videos. The game designers are obviously fans of Lovecraft, but they seem to have neglected to mention this fact. It's a moderately priced project and should be within financial reach for those who are interested in a new twist of Mythos-y horror. - Bradley
  • William sent an email about Mythos and creepiness in New Orleans.

(Email excerpt) ...I often photograph them often and I think you would find Metarie Cemetery very interesting. It was once a horse track but now the land is covered with some of the grandest mausoleums and crypts you will find in the entire country. ... The city is below sea level. When it floods those coffins that are buried in the earth tend to pop out of the ground. Not only do they come out of the ground, but many of them open up and spill their contents. Yes, I have witnessed this driving around my small hometown after Katrina. I had to maneuver the family van around several remains of corpses that had spilled on to the road. I did use that in a horror adventure at one point in time, but not since I actually experienced it. Very horrifying to see decayed corpses, skeletons, and relatively fresh bodies laying in the path of the family truckster while your 5 year old and wife are screaming their heads off. Add to that the sun rapidly setting on a deserted two lane road surrounded by ancient oak trees, not a good place to be. Keep up the great shows they are awesome. -- William
Card Catalog

This week's online gem for CoC gamers is Project Gutenberg, which has tons of tomes for free, including The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara by John Dee.

Cryptocurium[/b]

This week, we're promoting the Totem of the Wind Walker!
“A small pendant fashioned from mammoth ivory that depicts the Native-American mythical being known as “The Wind-Walker” and “Ithaqua”. According to legend, wearers of the totem were possessed by the spirit of Ithaqua and became imbued with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Scholars believe this to be the origin of the “Wendigo” legend. Item is currently housed in the Miskatonic University Special Collections Department."
Main Topic[/b]
Brian Sammons gives us a sneak peek of the upcoming Eldritch Chrome book. Now available at Amazon!

There was also a lot of conversation about other appearances of the CyberPunk genre. This of course led to a talk about ShadowRun, both in tabletop and the new ShadowRun Returns game for computer/handheld.http://harebrained-schemes.com/shadowrun/While not discussed on the show, here's the link to the Arcology Podcast, all about ShadowRun.
The conversation also led to Punktown, in both its fiction and RPG forms.

Another good example of the genre that includes a heavy dose of Mythos is CthulhuTech.
Donald Pleasence is brought up

We were also introduced to the genre of Giallo films by Brian, a long-time film fan.

The first Giallo film Brian recommends is Deep Red.
Another good one is Phenomena.
Future projects Brian is working on-

Call of Cthulhu RPG- Blood Brothers 3

Fiction Anthologies-
SteamPunk Cthulhu

Atomic Age Cthulhu

Reanimator!
Keeper Dan of the Miskatonic University Podcast

R.J. MacReady
Sponsor
Sponsor
Posts:53
Joined:Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:12 pm
Location:NYC
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by R.J. MacReady » Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:00 pm

Glad to hear Giallo films talked about by Mr. Sammons. I mentioned them on the forum back from episode 35 as I'm a big fan of them too. While most don’t have an obvious Lovecraft influence, some Italian Giallo films of the late 60s and 1970s share some Lovecraftian tropes like a lone investigator type caught up in solving a mystery (usually gruesome, bizarre murders) that occur by some unexplainable, bizarre or sometimes supernatural means. Some of the great Italian horror directors such as Argento, Fulci and Bava all cut their teeth and made their names in the genre. A few of my favorites that come to mind immediately are “Bird with the Crystal Plumage” “House by the Cemetery” and “Deep Red.” Giallo films also have some of the greatest titles in film such as “Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key” as mentioned by Sammons, and my personal favorite “Don’t Torture a Duckling.”

Great episode gentlemen. Always nice to have something to brighten the otherwise dreary prospect Monday morning when a new episode comes out every other Sunday evening. Quick question though - when was the last episode that all four of you were on together? Is something going on behind the scenes we don't know about? If so I can't wait for the "Behind the Music" style documentary about the MUP rise to fame and glory, and the eventual downfall due to the infighting over artistic differences, drug abuse, sex scandals, legal battles and poor quality Skype connections.
“What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”

― Werner Herzog

Keeper Dan
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:708
Joined:Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:46 pm
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by Keeper Dan » Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:45 pm

Getting even three of us together over the holidays is a feat. This time of year plays merry hell with the planning of the show. We managed to get everyone together for our live play game yesterday, but we'll be missing Jon next weekend for recording.

So, no fighting, but plans... Oh, do we have plans. We want to make sure we can follow through on them before announcements though. Our track record hasn't been sterling thus far.
Keeper Dan of the Miskatonic University Podcast

Keeper Jon
Professor
Professor
Posts:875
Joined:Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:12 am
Location:Lenexa, KS
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by Keeper Jon » Mon Dec 16, 2013 5:26 pm

Fighting? No... no fighting... I don't care what that lying bastard Chad says about me! Just wait until I get my hands on him... :cthulhu1:

Dr. Gerard
Professor
Professor
Posts:1353
Joined:Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:00 pm
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by Dr. Gerard » Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:36 pm

Keeper Jon wrote:Fighting? No... no fighting... I don't care what that lying bastard Chad says about me! Just wait until I get my hands on him... :cthulhu1:
Jon's mother smells of elderberries.
Keeper of the Cthulhu Dark "Secret Everest Expedition" PbP scenario
Rip Wheeler in the Call of Cthulhu "No Man's Land" scenario
Plays for Keepers

User avatar
Citysliker
Junior
Junior
Posts:100
Joined:Tue May 28, 2013 9:32 pm
Location:Lancashire, UK
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by Citysliker » Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:09 am

Another great show guys. I am really starting to get into all the 'Mythos based' literature out there and there were some great recommendations on the show.

I have to agree with Keeper Murph as well regarding e-books v physical copies. Space, ease of use, rapidity of acquisition and usually cost make the e-book option the choice quite often. But one big caveat is the feel and quality of some releases which can never be done justice as a series of 1 and 0s.

There are some beautifully bound and printed releases out there with stunning artwork and they deserve to be enjoyed in that tactile sense. But storage is a real headache so as Murph said, select purchases only!!

Thanks again guys for another entertaining show (all the way from sunny Chatburn, England!! :D )

User avatar
fox01313
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:236
Joined:Wed Oct 16, 2013 12:18 pm
Location:DFW- TX
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by fox01313 » Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:47 am

First off really great job guys on this episode & loving hearing all about the crazy stuff Brian is working on as most of what he mentioned I will now buy. Glad to hear more alternative mythos angles are out there for the fiction with the cyberpunk & soon steampunk settings.

Also as a lifelong horror fan, have to agree 3000% on the early Giallo films being quite a treat for horror & mystery movie fans as they are lurid, inventive & a real treat to watch. One thing that Brian forgot to mention is that like John Carpenter, the director of Deep Red & Susperia (Dario Argento) did a lot of work with the music for some of his films & out of all of them I still think that Phenomena & Opera have some wonderful music to them in addition to the fun visuals of mayhem & murder. Susperia & the later film Inferno are less mystery & more supernatural to them but they are still good as most of his early films are. Something about the Italian films for horror/mystery from the 1960s-90s are quite the under appreciated gems that are well worth it. Other non-Giallo but fun films are the ones by Lucio Fulci & other ones like Cemetary Man.

As Phenomena was mentioned in the podcast, thought I'd put the trailer in this post to let people hear the music as well as seeing some of the amazing visuals in it.

Phenomena aka Creepers trailer


Susperia trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8zbV_fFkYs

Dario Argento's Opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuFAhoFEGzE
"That's funny, usually the blood gets off on the second floor." -Mr. Burns in The Shinning episode (Treehouse of horror V)

trevlix
Investigator
Investigator
Posts:510
Joined:Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:58 am
Contact:
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by trevlix » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:52 pm

Great episode once again. Somehow I've missed the whole Giallo genre, although I may not have realized a movie I've seen was included. I'm curious, is Don't Look Now included in this?

Also, can't wait for Blood Brothers 3!!! :)
[Trafford: Insanity: 4, Exhaustion: 2]

http://keepingthegame.blogspot.com/

User avatar
fox01313
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:236
Joined:Wed Oct 16, 2013 12:18 pm
Location:DFW- TX
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by fox01313 » Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:56 am

trevlix wrote:Great episode once again. Somehow I've missed the whole Giallo genre, although I may not have realized a movie I've seen was included. I'm curious, is Don't Look Now included in this?

Also, can't wait for Blood Brothers 3!!! :)
I don't think that Don't Look Now would qualify as it seems to be a European mix versus the Giallo that came out of their lurid mystery books that were adapted to films. The first link below is a rather good list on some other good ones to go after & if memory serves me right that New York Ripper might be mentioned on some Giallo lists but it didn't hold up for me, Fulci was better off doing the mad supernatural horror films over the murder mystery that went through Giallo films.

http://the-black-glove.blogspot.com/201 ... -time.html

Plus agreed about how well that Unspeakable podcast is with Ken Hite & Robin D. Laws, it's quite fun though agreed with Adam Scott Glancy about how too many of those new things just make my wallet cry some more along with the cyberpunk cthulhu book. Sadly from my limited research is that there's not a ton of audio plays for Trail but after hearing that Unspeakable episode & the audio play of the Wives of March (on Role Playing Public Radio), I would personally love to run through some online games of Trail if any get started.

http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradi ... ch-part-1/

Also one last thing about Unspeakable is that Shane is running an online game right now that started on the 13th of Dec. for the folks at the Lovecraft E-zine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq5ILrhdLrw
"That's funny, usually the blood gets off on the second floor." -Mr. Burns in The Shinning episode (Treehouse of horror V)

Keeper Dan
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:708
Joined:Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:46 pm
Re: MU Podcast 045 - You got your Mythos in my Cyber Punk!

Post by Keeper Dan » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:47 am

Another live play of Trail of Cthulhu is at Skype of Cthulhu. http://www.cthulhu.me/search/label/Hell%20Fire
Keeper Dan of the Miskatonic University Podcast

Post Reply