We’re back and we’re checking the vents. They’re long overdue a service, but that doesn’t mean they should be talking about eating people’s kidneys. While we might dismiss that as a load of hot air, the vents don’t even provide that most days. We would ask the building supervisor to sort them out, but he’s either been eaten by the vents or tumbled through the alien portal in the basement. That portal is a safety hazard, and if it did swallow him that’s his own fault for not slapping some Polyfilla in there sooner. The cosmic nightmares of living at the Broadsword Hotel are bad enough, but it’s the slipshod maintenance that really gets to us.













Main Topic: The Broadsword, Laird Barron, and Old Leech







We’re following our discussion about how to roll your own Mythos with an exploration of Laird Barron’s Old Leech cycle and how it relates to Lovecraft. In particular, we’re focusing on Barron’s story “The Broadsword”, using it as a springboard to discuss the broader themes of his work. We bring in elements from some connected stories too, including “The Jaws of Saturn”, “Hand of Glory”, “The Men From Porlock”, and Barron’s novel The Croning.







Our Guest Host







We are delighted to welcome Andy Goodman back 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.







Andy as depicted by John Sumrow





Links







Things we mention in this episode include:









* Laird Barron







* Old Leech







* The Laird Barron Mapping Project







* Laird Barron subreddit







* Obsidian







* <a href="https://lairdbarronmappingproject.