Episode Details

In this episode, Jon and Seth talk about our favorite grave-mold covered cannibals... ghouls!

Episode Sponsor: The Great American Dynasty

We want to thank author Keller O'Leary and Space Cat Publishing for sponsoring this episode. Check out "The Great American Dynasty," a true-blue, red-blooded, modern-day Call of Cthulhu scenario!

Investigators are tasked with retrieving old files hidden in the home of a fellow "society" member who passed away from (seemingly) natural causes. The scenario blends iconic American folklore together with Lovecraftian Mythos to weave a story with roots long predating the founding of the American colonies. Can your investigators survive a terror that's over 600 years in the making?

The Great American Dynasty is a three-part mystery filled with abductions, body horror, mutilations, and violence. Also, be on the lookout for Space Cat Publishings next scenario, "The Curse of Punk," where you explore the terrifying underbelly of punk society in the 1980s.

The Great American Dynasty: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/453708/the-great-american-dynasty-a-call-of-cthulhu-scenario?affiliate_id=51821

Ghoul Lore:

• Arabic - lurked in cemeteries and uninhabited places

• male : ghoul female: ghoulla

• Could take on a pleasing shape to lure people. Some could transform into hyenas. Canine features. Light causes pain. Could transform to last person they devoured. Some legend was born looking human, then transformed when older (changeling)

• Edgar Allen Poe (one of Lovecraft's literary heroes) wrote of ghoul in his poems The Bells and Ulalume

• Introduced to the west in 1700s when One Thousand & One Nights translate into french

• Modern audiences associate them with undead - possibly to George Romero Night of the living dead calling them ghouls

Literary Sources:

• Pickman's Model, by H. P. Lovecraft (written 1926)

• The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, by H. P. Lovecraft (written 1927)

• The Dwellers Under the Tomb, by Robert E. Howard (first published in 1976, 30 years after his death, possible sequel to The Children of the Night (1931))

• The Charnal God, by Clark Ashton Smith (first published in 1937)

• Amina, by Edward Lucas White (first published in 1907)

• Down in the Delta, by Adam Scott Glancy (posted to DriveThruRPG in 2018)

Down in the Delta: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/236934/delta-green-down-in-the-delta?affiliate_id=51821

Ghoul Combat in Call of Cthulhu:

• Bullets do half damage (rubbery skin?)

• 3 attacks (with Bonus die to multiple attacks on a target, this can become overwhelming)

• Special Bite and Hold maneuver - (opposed STR (80 avg) or 1d4 per round)

Ghoul Game Hooks/Ideas:

• NPC is ghoul raised by humans

• PC is a ghoul raised by humans

• How to play a ghoul "fighting the urge" to feed

Ghoul Call of Cthulhu Scenarios:

There are a ton of scenarios that feature ghouls. The Yog-Sothoth.com wiki is a living resource that really helped with today's topic. Some of the more notable scenarios include:

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