My first, and last, session in a Call of Cthulu game was a disaster. Sure, all us players had the tools necessary to prevent the other inmates at our asylum from wandering in the ocean and emerging as a massive tentacled horror whose very appearance made your unborn children insane. The GM assured us, post-game, that we had all the oil, gasoline, lighters, pitchforks and automobiles with blades attached to the front to solve the mystery and kill off enough of the inmates to prevent the Thing That’s A Lot Scarier If We Don’t Describe It Or Make Plush Dolls Out Of It from gaining critical mass.

So what was the problem? We all spent the game bumbling around on our own, trying to figure out what to do. Our characters had no reason to get to know one another. We had no party coherency.

Episode 2 “Anything You Want” is all about party coherency. Len, David, Scottie and all the islanders will be put through some highly stressful adventures. Their faith in one another will be shaken and put to the test. There has to be a reason for them to stick around and deal with one another, instead of packing up and moving off the island ASAP.

Heh heh heh.

Episode 2 also includes a few plot points which were previously in the (now cut) Episode 5, which was a Scottie solo episode. I cut Episode 5 and the original Episode 7 (the history of David and Jessie from the 50’s to the present day) from the current recording schedule because, when I was getting the current schedule together, I wasn’t even sure we’d make it to Episode 5. I may make the Episode 5 script available on salable versions of the show (i.e. CDs and such). We may record the Episode 7 story after the show is over and we’re feeling nostalgic, but seeing as how these shows take me two non-stop months to record and edit, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Plus I’m developing two new audio shows as well.

Chris is a real person and is a lot crazier than Brad portrays him. I showed Brad some footage of Chris acting in a college film I made. If you’re reading this, Chris, you know my email – I’d be glad to catch up sometime! Also you’re going to show up again a couple times before the show is over!

Jessie McAlister has her debut as well. I wanted to contrast David Lewis’ more practical use of magic with someone who really rides it like a bucking bronco – someone who sees the strangeness of the many underlying realities which we might interpret as magic, and who is completely comfortable in them.

The minisode “The Heart-Shaped Box” was written as a request from Neil Marsh. It is a retelling of the episode “The Repossession” from the CBC radio series Nightfall (broadcast in 1980). Neil is, perhaps, the world’s biggest Nightfall fan and “The Repossession” is one of his favorites. He wanted to see what I could do with it. Its ending is infamous as the foley team recorded themselves sticking their hand in a deboned chicken and making gushy noises with it.

(Yes, the title is a Nirvana reference. You’re lucky at how much restraint I have by not peppering the whole show with XTC, Deltron 3030 and Talking Heads lyrics.)

I used to work with a Mr. Blecharczyk and a Ms. Turla – Annette Turla actually. The most rockingest old school dyke I know – like 1940’s-50’s old school. She’s been a huge inspiration to the sort of characters I like to create.

Oh yeah, and there’s the Speed Bump. Its introduction in the script is titled “Rover from the Pit”. You’re going to learn a lot more about it in the episodes to come – what its motivations are, how it perceives the world and who it used to be.

–Alicia E. Goranson, Show Author