We’re back and we’re heading down darker trails. We really hope that those are tumbleweeds rolling towards us. That rustling in the sagebrush is making us jumpy too — we’re pretty sure that sagebrush doesn’t usually have that many eyes. For a such a wide-open place, this landscape is getting mighty crowded. Maybe if we read a few passages from this here dime novel Necronomicon we can get through the night without any eldritch varmints making a meal out of us. Main Topic: Three Views of the Weird West part 2 This is the second of two episodes exploring the weird west. Last time, we looked at a couple of other RPGs and what they might be able to teach us about the setting. Now, we’re focusing on the Down Darker Trails supplement for Call of Cthulhu. From our superficial knowledge of the genre, it seems like all this weird west stuff came out of the pulps and Lovecraftian horror, so it’s good to see it moseying on back to its roots. We also take a little time to jaw about the general appeal of playing RPGs set in the Old West, as well as how all this weird stuff got mixed into our westerns. Finally, we tie off our discussion by talking about our own experiences of Lovecraftian gaming in the Old West. Once again, the lockdown means we recorded this episode remotely. We think we’re getting the hang of this. Links Things we mention in this episode include: * Last of the Summer Wine Down Darker Trails * Down Darker Trails* “The Mound” by HP Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop* “Valley of the Lost” by Robert E Howard* The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones* Blackfeet people* “Stagecoach” Mary Fields* America’s forgotten black cowboys* Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown* Medicine shows* World War Cthulhu* Deadlands* For a Few Dollars More The Appeal of the Old West * Donner Pass* Donner Party* Wild West shows* Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir The Weird West * The weird west on Wikipedia* “The Curse of Yig” by HP Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop*