GMBC ep36 - What Makes a Monster? - Horror Anthology "Where Monster's Pray" by Trisha Wooldridge
Trisha Wooldridge
Where Monsters Pray
Speaker A
00:00:05.600 - 00:01:28.980
Welcome to the Game Masters Book Club where great fiction becomes your next great tabletop role playing experience for the next four weeks. We're coming to you from Rising Phoenix Game Con in Milford, Massachusetts.
This is the con's fifth year providing fantastic tabletop role playing experiences along with board games, amazing panels, great vendors and an immersive con experience.
Game Masters Book Club was invited to interview both of the guests of honor, Hugo nominated authors Elizabeth and Scott lynch, as well as two other amazing local authors attending the convention, Tricia Wooldridge and Monocwil Black Goose. In this episode, we dive into the horror anthology Where Monsters Pray by Tricia Wooldridge.
Joining me are two of the stars of the live podcast, Twisted Tropes, Evan Kelly and Beau Powell, as well as the author of the book herself, Tricia Wooldridge. We discuss all of her horror filled stories, discuss what really makes a monster a monster. Are cephalopods space aliens?
Should unicorns have rainbows or dark miasmas? And why smart cats are the bestest pets and the most dangerous. Let's get into the conversation.
So first, I guess I should say welcome to the Game Masters Book Club. My name is Erik Jackson. I'm your host here today.
And this is where I introduce the lovely people who are here at Rising Phoenix Gamecon 2026 here in Milford, Mass. And I'm going to start at the end with Evan. Evan, would you care to introduce yourself and tell us a little something about unicorns?
Speaker B
00:01:29.710 - 00:01:38.430
All right. My name is Evan Kelly. I've been dming for, oh, a very long time. I think 35 years now. Good lord.
Speaker A
00:01:38.510 - 00:01:39.710
Welcome to the oldster club.
Speaker B
00:01:40.590 - 00:02:14.150
We have jackets. They're out of style unicorns. I actually don't have a whole lot of great unicorn stories.
I think the, the thing that sticks out is in a very recent game, I decided we were going to have unicorns or a version of unicorns, be the sort of beast of burden for a society, vaguely post apocalyptic society. And they were not our classic unicorns. They were a little bit more like rhinos. So horses where the horn comes out right out the schnoz.
They were still technically unicorns, I guess.
Speaker A
00:02:16.070 - 00:02:17.470
Heavily armored battle unicorns.
Speaker B
00:02:17.470 - 00:02:20.630
Yeah, technically they were called the eraticorns.
Speaker A
00:02:20.790 - 00:02:28.490
Ooh, nice. Oh, good fantasization of the name. Way to go, Beau.
Speaker C
00:02:28.730 - 00:03:01.090
Hi, I'm Beau Powell. I've been playing tabletop role playing games for about 25 years. Only been GMing for about 2 years now.
And as far as unicorns, we recently had a game where there was a toy from the 90s a unicorn. A space unicorn that was given AI sort of sentience and was a character of his own.
So one of the other players played a like 11 inch tall sentient toy from space.
Speaker A
00:03:03.330 - 00:03:07.890
I am, I am, I am glitterly. I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker D
00:03:08.690 - 00:03:39.860
Awesome. I'm Trisha J. Wooldridge. My child friendly stuff is T. Jay Wooldridge. I have been gaming for 30. How old do I turn this year? 32 Or 33 years. Yeah.
Time math GMing for almost as long cuz I volunteer for stuff and I haven't lost that habit. And I actually my first introduction to unicorns and gaming was before I started gaming was the DND cartoon from the 80s with unicorns. That's good.
Speaker C
00:03:39.940 - 00:03:40.500
Yes.
Speaker D
00:03:41.440 - 00:04:23.220
And I love that. And I very rarely get to use them in the game because honestly animal companions in games are often more trouble than they're worth.
That's the way I feel like the characters forget about them. The one time that I really did enjoy it was when I was in college and my husband then boyfriend introduced me to vampire the Masquerade.
He was playing a Malkavian and quoting my character in like made me a unicorn. No, no, Tamish. The ones that can shape skin. And so he reshaped a regular pony to try and court my character. It was really sweet. Yes, maybe.
Speaker A
00:04:23.700 - 00:04:33.380
Oh my God. Yes. That's. Wow. Okay. I don't know how, I don't know. That is the opposite of the little sparkly space toy. That is definitely what that is.
Speaker D
00:04:33.380 - 00:04:35.060
I like my unicorns dark.
Speaker A
00:04:35.930 - 00:05:39.460
That is. That is very evident. That is very evident.
My name is Eric Jackson and I am the host of the podcast and I have been playing since the Pleistocene and I have been a DM for as long as I can possibly remember. And I think for unicorns, for me in my last campaign they, they were a resource or, or rather a more of a luxury crop.
I don't know is the best way to put it. Like there was one area that they could, that they existed in and they had. And this government had set up a sort of protect.
They had colonize the area so that they could farm the unicorns and send them back over. And so there was like unicorn trade stuff going on. So that was.
So they were, they played, they played an important part of the, of that government's eco economics. So that was the, that was the last time I used unicorns specifically. And it was. And nobody really blinked an eye. Like everyone was cool with it.
Like it's unicorns but we're sending them on ships and things and blah Blah. And we were all cool with it. So I was like, all right. I thought maybe they might rise up against. Nope, we're all right with it. It's fine.
Speaker C
00:05:39.700 - 00:05:40.340
Okay.
Speaker A
00:05:41.860 - 00:05:44.660
I'm always surprised at what players will and won't accept.
Speaker D
00:05:44.660 - 00:05:45.060
Yeah.
Speaker A
00:05:45.060 - 00:05:53.540
Like, it's very. Sometimes I feel like it's gonna be like, oh, obviously, these are the villains. And they're like, can we, like, get their autograph?
Speaker D
00:05:53.540 - 00:05:54.980
Yeah, they're cool.
Speaker B
00:05:56.020 - 00:05:57.100
I see where they're coming from.
Speaker A
00:05:57.100 - 00:06:00.580
Yeah. I really feel kind of strongly that. So.
Speaker B
00:06:00.580 - 00:06:00.900
Yeah.
Speaker A
00:06:01.140 - 00:06:15.860
But taking a look at things and seeing them from a darker perspective is definitely what your books are about. So would you want to talk a little bit about this book, which is the book of short stories, which is Where Monsters Prey.
And do you want to tell us about it?
Speaker D
00:06:16.100 - 00:08:47.840
Sure. So Where Monsters Prey. It's a collection of short stories and poetry. Many have been published in other places. And then I have some new ones.
The first one being the last unicorn Sacrifice of New Hampshire, which is the opening story after the opening poem, which is content warning, which you probably also ought to read. And because I like taking one of the themes in general, this is also what I do in, like, gaming is I like redefining what it means to be a monster.
I like taking what people vilify and monstrify and looking at it from different angles because I came again, weird, nerdy gamer girl. School was not fun. I was villainized. I was a monster. I was fat. And so I empathize with these monsters.
And so making the unicorn something monstrous, as I do in, like, the short story and then the poem that's right after it, is something that I really wanted to explore because I got. I was 80s 90s, so we had the Lisa Frank neon and like. Yeah, no, I liked my, like, skin skeletal dark. I wanted to take that happy shiny and look at.
It's like the darkness you can do with that, but also the power associated with it and how people will turn it. And the basis of the story is it's the unicorn has become a kind of sacred cow, golden cow for this cultish New Hampshire Christian group.
And they've been sacrificing people to it. And there's this demonic edge. Like, what?
Because also when you look at the history of unicorns, you have the whole sacrifice someone to it, or using a virgin to lure the unicorn and then sacrifice the unicorn to go and clean. So unicorns had very little autonomy of their own.
And so I like playing with the idea of, well, autonomy again, being a woman who lives in the US in this time frame, playing with autonomy and how vilifying, demanding one's autonomy can be, those are all themes that I like playing. And when I take any of the animals or creatures in the stories, I like looking at, what is it? Why would people consider this a monster?
And the horror is not the monster itself, but it's the power of perception as a monster. And what does that do to a person and how does that affect a society back? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A
00:08:48.880 - 00:08:52.560
Yeah. I mean, the Frankenstein story, obviously, like, right?
Speaker D
00:08:52.640 - 00:08:54.200
Oh, I had so much fun with that one.
Speaker A
00:08:54.200 - 00:09:02.160
Yeah. How about you guys? Anything you want to add from the stories? Anything you want to particularly point out?
Speaker C
00:09:02.640 - 00:09:26.370
I mean, for me, again, it was the heart of Frankenstein, and who is the monster in that story?
And even for someone who was thought a monster for so long, I mean, he himself thinks of himself as a monster, but then he's looking at his bride and going, oh, yikes, can I keep going here? So I love that. What is villainy?
Speaker B
00:09:28.210 - 00:09:45.730
And I was thinking, with the last story of the Gardens of Nubu Bastis, the character that is set up as the dangerous monster that everyone is afraid of is more a victim, and the. I don't want to. I don't know if I should say too much.
Speaker A
00:09:45.730 - 00:10:01.810
No, no, no. I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you. In this particular format, it is impossible not to spoil the agreement.
So if you're listening and you want to read these and you don't want to be spoiled, stop now. Come back. And now that you've read the book, you're cool. All right?
Speaker D
00:10:01.810 - 00:10:02.170
Yeah.
Speaker B
00:10:03.280 - 00:10:23.280
Having Smokey be looked at as a horrible, feral little monster, and it's really the two cat moms who are just abusing this poor thing and have created a situation where it becomes this. It's like, they're the worst part of that. They are clearly the bad guys here.
Speaker D
00:10:24.400 - 00:10:34.080
Yeah. And I was playing again with that one. And that's also something I totally want in a game, is I want my smart, genetically modified kitties in a game.
I want that in a game.
Speaker C
00:10:34.080 - 00:10:53.100
I do, too. Going back to what you said about, well, I don't want to jump. I feel like I'm jumping.
What you said about having familiars in a game, in my game group, they make fun of me because I do not want a familiar because it just feels like bookkeeping. And I would love, as a gm, to bring Smokey in and be like, take care of that familiar.
Speaker D
00:10:53.180 - 00:10:53.740
Yes.
Speaker C
00:10:53.820 - 00:10:57.420
Have one. That is, if you're not giving it enough attention, it's attacking you.
Speaker D
00:10:57.500 - 00:10:57.980
Yes.
Speaker C
00:10:59.420 - 00:11:05.980
If you are not doing what it wants you to do, it's swearing at you. That's the kind of familiar I want in my games.
Speaker A
00:11:06.700 - 00:11:12.740
I had a slightly gentler version of that. We have a. We have a flying tiger cub that.
Speaker C
00:11:12.740 - 00:11:15.500
Is in gentler than a small cat.
Speaker A
00:11:15.660 - 00:12:13.750
Well, it started. Well, it started small, but it's magical. So it's growing rapidly. And so they refer. They, of course, named him because these are my.
These are my friends, Mr. Wigglesworth. So Mr. Wigglesworth has slowly gone from thing we need to rescue out of things to things we need to stop from eating other things.
And that is the swashbuckling character who got the kitten to begin with, who is usually the most irresponsible person. And my friend who plays it, Romy, is this. She's a wonderful mom. She's fantastic. She's like the most caring human I know.
And she comes in and she just, like, wanted to cut loose with this character. And then I immediately saddled her with another child. And. And she's really. I mean, but she's really getting into it. So, yeah, that's great. But, yeah.
Yeah. So magical cats are a thing and all. Magical. Anytime you have magical cats, you have trouble.
Speaker D
00:12:13.750 - 00:12:14.350
That's a problem.
Speaker A
00:12:14.750 - 00:12:18.110
It's a problem. But also beautiful, immediately successful story.
Speaker D
00:12:18.510 - 00:12:18.990
Yes.
Speaker A
00:12:19.070 - 00:12:25.900
There we go. All right, so before we move too far into all the other things we're gonna do, let's talk mechanics. Right?
Speaker D
00:12:25.900 - 00:12:26.300
Yes.
Speaker A
00:12:26.300 - 00:12:35.820
So if we were going. If you wanted to take any one of these stories, whichever one you. Whichever one you like the most, or all of them. I don't know.
I'd be surprised if you could do them all in one thing. He's like, oh, hold on a second.
Speaker B
00:12:37.340 - 00:12:38.300
Not all in one thing.
Speaker A
00:12:39.020 - 00:12:53.280
Not all in one thing. I could see doing them over a series. I'll start just to just kind of go here, because the book that.
Sorry, the mechanics that I would use is Kids on Bikes. I think that's what I wrote down. Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to jump on you there.
Speaker D
00:12:53.280 - 00:12:54.040
No, it's fine.
Speaker A
00:12:54.040 - 00:13:44.940
Kids on Bikes is just, like. It's very episodic. You could go with a lot of things.
Weird stuff happens, and you're all playing and you're all sort of, like, working around whatever this monster is and it may be.
And I've been told that this isn't the way that most people normally play it, but the person who I played this, who I played Kids on Bike with for the first time, did it. So that we all had tropey kind of like little characters, but we all got to control the main character at some point in time.
So, like, if it was an ET Kind of a story, like, you could be Elliot, but then at some point you're also playing the. You get to act as ET and we sort of exchanged out who was doing that.
And I could totally see, like, being some of the satellite characters on a lot of these things and then taking over that main character for a brief portion of time and then coming back. So. So that's what I would use. I would use kids on bikes.
Speaker C
00:13:45.020 - 00:13:54.940
I would agree with you on that one. But for me, the one time that I played kids on bikes, it was really swingy in terms of the dice rolls. That's what it felt like to me. So that's where.
Speaker A
00:13:55.260 - 00:13:57.900
Well, that's because you have all the attributes.
Speaker C
00:13:58.300 - 00:13:58.700
Right.
Speaker A
00:13:58.940 - 00:14:00.140
For the different size dice.
Speaker C
00:14:00.380 - 00:14:18.000
Exactly. So sometimes you almost have no chance of getting anywhere. And that feels a little like a horror story, right.
Where you walk into a situation and you don't know what's gonna happen, but it's gonna be bad. Or you think you're good and then. Absolutely, you're not.
Speaker A
00:14:19.040 - 00:14:24.480
Yeah, you come in there with that D20 and you're like, I got this. And there's your two. And you're like, oh, man.
Speaker C
00:14:26.640 - 00:14:48.980
So, yeah, that's why I was thinking kids on bikes overall.
But I also thought of mutants and masterminds for fixed, because you definitely feel very much feels like superpowers, like Iron man kind of situation there. So that system could work well for that one. And then, of course, I just went back to D and D for Smoky. Being a Fae familiar of some kind.
Speaker B
00:14:51.460 - 00:16:35.430
I have played a lot of different games in my time, so I kind of went through each of them and was like, oh, if I was going to do this, this scenario, or like this setting, where would I go? So, last Unicorn sacrifice. I thought of Palladium's Night Spawn or Nightbane, if you picked it up after the Scott McFarlane kerfuffle.
The villains were these things that inhabited the Mirror Lands called the Night Lords.
And their avatars would try to corrupt people in this world, usually with something beautiful and shiny and something that would lure them into doing bad things that would eventually be their undoing.
The characters that were the Nightbane were actually people that had their facade was their human form and their true spirit could erupt as their Morphus, which was weird and monstrous. So the unicorn could be an evil Nightbane who was obsessed with some Kind of fanatical view of purity or something like that.
Also nightbane kind of bleeds into the mass of the greatest sin. Because you could randomly roll your morphos or you could choose. And that feels like very much a.
The main character having a defining moment with the octopus and then that becoming a core tenant of their personality and then it erupting out of them. Also for that maybe werewolf, specifically Book of the Worm, which allowed you to play a fomori. So like a worm tainted human.
If you're going to take it to a dark, the darker, more evil, violent side of things, at least the chickens all are right. Whoa. That was. That was a.
Speaker D
00:16:35.430 - 00:16:36.430
That was rough.
Speaker A
00:16:37.470 - 00:16:40.910
Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Speaker B
00:16:41.230 - 00:16:54.850
Good job on it being so viscerally disturbing. There is a monster in fifth edition called the spawn of Kisis Kaisis. And it is a collection of worms.
Speaker D
00:16:55.570 - 00:16:56.850
How did I miss that last?
Speaker B
00:16:57.490 - 00:18:09.960
They attack by throwing worms that burrow into the. And they do like one hit point per round.
And if it kills you, you get back up as a thing of worms that then throw that into a D20 modern game and let the shenanigans go. Fixed. We already hit mutants and masterminds. Heart of Frankenstein, Stellar Games had a game called Nightlife where you played.
It was late 90s, it was set in New York City. It was very like club culture. And you were playing vampires and werewolves and things like that.
And they had a character class called the Animate, which was a blanket term for anything that was like a golem or a reanimated corpse or a garden gnome that gained demonic sentience or whatever.
That would be great for Heart of Frankenstein because you've got Frankenstein as the prototypical animate and then a failed young animate as the bride. Also they had a built in mechanic where you were supposed to get killed frequently. You had a certain number of times where you could come back.
Speaker A
00:18:10.500 - 00:18:11.220
Oh, that's neat.
Speaker B
00:18:11.380 - 00:18:34.180
And the way you described how Frankenstein took, you know, absolutely critical damage and then needed a minute to get himself back together. Just needed a good rest and then up the next night was built into their system. It was very. I think they called it splatter punk. Okay, Turnpike Mary.
That is a mean dm. Giving a player a wish.
Speaker C
00:18:36.340 - 00:18:38.380
It is. It is literally.
Speaker B
00:18:38.380 - 00:18:43.620
I have heard the worst thing you can do do as a DM is to give a player a wish and to watch them go, oh God, I only get one.
Speaker A
00:18:44.740 - 00:18:45.780
How do I word this?
Speaker B
00:18:46.020 - 00:19:20.850
And that felt like a player trying to make sure they worded it very specifically. Swamp gas and Fairy lights Changeling the dreaming from White Wolf maybe. Or there's a system from Eerie Games.
Once upon an effing Time that is sort of based in the like a fairy tale world. I don't know if you could do something with that. But finally, the gardens of New Mobasis.
I'm going sideways cyberpunk and making the gen mods cybertech enhancements.
Speaker A
00:19:20.850 - 00:19:21.769
Oh, okay. Yeah.
Speaker B
00:19:21.769 - 00:19:44.650
Smokey goes cyberpsycho because she's got a lot of cyberware, a lot of mods and her humanity drops. Dr. Orbast is a med tech and can provide therapy to keep her from going cyberpsycho.
But removed from that she goes over the edge and it has a final outburst. So. All right.
Speaker A
00:19:46.650 - 00:19:52.010
And scene. Fantastic. So how about you, Trisha? Anything? Anything you want.
Speaker D
00:19:52.970 - 00:20:00.340
One of my favorite games that I played for a long time was a long running. It was a GURPS that was White Wolf modeled.
Speaker A
00:20:00.340 - 00:20:00.820
Okay.
Speaker D
00:20:00.900 - 00:20:29.630
And it was kind of. I don't know if the librarians has a role playing game, but we went in that route.
We're a bunch of random people who got called and random go to different worlds and oh, this is an artifact here that we have to take care of. And you teleport there. Because in my head everything is connected. So a lot of like between the themes and like the science and all of that.
So that would be. And that would like include that.
Speaker A
00:20:29.630 - 00:20:30.030
Yeah.
Speaker D
00:20:31.150 - 00:20:48.830
Where you would have like, you would have a piece of. You would have that alicorn from the unicorn and oh, we gotta figure out what the heck this is from.
This is causing chaos and then go find the story and then solve the story and I'm trying. I forgot what game like again. We just, we did a lot of fucking around.
Speaker C
00:20:50.110 - 00:20:51.070
That's gaming, right?
Speaker D
00:20:51.070 - 00:21:52.140
Yes. That's why we did like a GURPS level with the D10s and then we could change it up however we wanted.
But there was a lot of like portaling to finish different stories.
So the GM was picking different folklore stories and pieces of them were slipping through the veil because the veil had cracked open and every so often and there would just be, oh, we're going to Scotland now. Okay, sure.
So along those lines and where like it would be one of Dr. Victor Frankenstein's journals got there and that's starting chaos and you have this Nazi uprising and you find out as you do. As you do as you do and you find out, oh wait, this is because this story didn't get resolved and like resolving that, that's great.
So that would be how I Would play. Because I also am very like neurospicy in either my player or my GMing. And I am. When I do GM, I'm very much of that.
Convince me that it'll work and let's see. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A
00:21:52.540 - 00:21:53.900
It's a yes and kind of world.
Speaker D
00:21:54.140 - 00:22:05.500
Yes, exactly. So with each of those things, be like a little piece of artifact. I mean, Smokey herself would come through and be starting chaos.
And you'd have to return her back to the garden.
Speaker C
00:22:05.500 - 00:22:06.620
Excellent. Yes.
Speaker D
00:22:07.900 - 00:22:14.400
We might have Dr. Abost as the NPC for that one for. Because she's trying really, really hard.
Speaker C
00:22:14.480 - 00:22:14.920
Yeah.
Speaker D
00:22:14.920 - 00:22:26.920
For swamp gas, that's pretty much. It'd be like the shoe that got left behind.
For the octopus one, it would be just like a little tiny tentacle that just keeps popping up from various body parts. Oh, ew.
Speaker C
00:22:26.920 - 00:22:27.440
Yep.
Speaker D
00:22:28.720 - 00:22:54.270
And for the chickens, it would be Chickaletta the rooster. Because Chickaletta was a real rooster who I knew. Actually, the whole barn setting is very much the barn where I have my horse currently. One horse.
And the horse that did die in there actually did. I had to put her down this year, but she was 34, so she was Betty White level of horse.
Speaker C
00:22:54.270 - 00:22:55.110
Oh, that's great.
Speaker D
00:22:55.110 - 00:22:59.390
And I think Babaaga would definitely be involved in that one too. Even though there's worms and stuff.
Speaker A
00:23:01.150 - 00:23:06.350
There we go. And we've drifted. I think we drifted a little into the portable section at this point.
Speaker D
00:23:06.350 - 00:23:06.830
Okay.
Speaker A
00:23:07.230 - 00:23:21.180
Because we're talking about. And usually what I would do with it say, like, well, what inspired you to do these things? And you're doing a great job of that. So.
But for us, those of us who do. Who didn't write the books. Beau, if you were gonna. If there's something from any of these stories, what would you. Obviously you.
Speaker C
00:23:21.420 - 00:23:23.980
I'm definitely taking Smokey, but is there.
Speaker A
00:23:23.980 - 00:23:26.940
Anything else that you would. You would want to take from the story and drop in your game?
Speaker C
00:23:27.020 - 00:24:40.840
Yeah, I mean, I love the tables being turned on the fairies. Right. The idea that instead of the creature that's always tricking you, you.
You know what's going on here and you take control of that and turn it around. So I love that idea. Maybe my player's trying to play the fae instead of the NPCs all being the fae fixed.
That whole story is maybe every woman's dream.
So I'd love to bring some elements of that, some of that feeling from reading it and just feeling like, oh, my God, if I could have that much power to turn the tables on someone, if I could Figure that out. Beautiful. And I don't know how I would bring that in, but I would want to.
And then the heart of Frankenstein, I think just the idea of that story and using Frankenstein from Shelley in this new story, in a twisted way, I think the idea of pulling monsters of all of the golden age of monsters, bringing them into a game and then having the questions, are they the monsters? Is this who you're supposed to be fighting? Is this who you're up against? It's your choice. And now where do you go with it?
Speaker D
00:24:40.840 - 00:24:46.920
Is there a role playing game that plays with the classic monsters at all? Why? That seems like a big marketing hole.
Speaker A
00:24:47.720 - 00:25:21.010
Well, I know they were working on. I know that. What was it Warner Brothers was working on doing like the old monsters as a series of movies.
Like there was this discussion that they were going to re release them all and turn them into their own little cinematic universe, because everybody was doing the cinematic universe thing. So maybe something is holding, like somebody is holding all of those monsters in a place, wait for that to happen.
And as a result, nobody else can until they become public domain. Nobody else can really walk in and be like, okay, we're going to use these monsters. We're going to, you know, we're going.
Speaker B
00:25:21.010 - 00:26:02.380
To use, you know, that sort of thing with nightlife. They. All of your character classes were the archetypes of the famous monsters.
So you had, you could be a vampire and if you wanted to model Dracula, you could be inanimate if you wanted to model Frankenstein, a wight. If you wanted to be the mummy. There was a werewolf, there was a ghost.
They had all these different ways to create the classics and they even had, if I'm remembering correctly, they had sort of like in world slang, where they would refer to other monster types with the sort of. The classics as sort of almost a derogatory, like, oh, please, you're being such a Frankenstein right now.
Speaker D
00:26:03.420 - 00:26:05.060
That's cool. I gotta look that up.
Speaker A
00:26:05.060 - 00:26:06.940
Yeah, that sounds like a great. It was a fun game.
Speaker B
00:26:06.940 - 00:26:33.580
It got real weird, but it was just. It was a percentile system, super easy. I really like the idea of the massive greatest sin. The main character made this connection with the octopus.
So that's possible. So what if there are other people out there that have made connections with other animals? And what does that mean?
Is that something that your players have to contend with? Or are you like a group that has been brought together because you have all connected?
Speaker C
00:26:33.580 - 00:26:36.940
And are they discovering it in that moment, like in the story?
Speaker B
00:26:37.100 - 00:26:51.950
Is there an inciting incident that this Maybe happened to a number of people across the planet at the same time. And maybe that's the framework of the story.
But there's a lot of real fertile ground in that one that I'm like, ooh, I could definitely do something with that.
Speaker A
00:26:52.830 - 00:27:10.670
I was gonna say I love the idea of having a, like a warlock character who maybe had or had some sort of connection to a greater. To a greater creature and have that manifest in the way that that was going there. I think that would make for a really great character.
So that was my little add in there.
Speaker C
00:27:10.750 - 00:27:12.150
Yeah, it's very warlock.
Speaker A
00:27:12.150 - 00:27:12.910
Yeah.
Speaker D
00:27:12.990 - 00:27:48.610
Well, I would do like gaming wise for Mask of the Great Sin, actually be playing with the cephalopods or aliens and going to take over the world. So they find all of the humans who have been downtrodden and start connecting with the humans.
And now you've got the war for the people who have been downtrodden, who now have these powers given to them by the alien cephalopods. And who do you want to root for?
The people who have been downtrodden who have joined with the cephalopods to fight against the assholes of the world or humanity who are left with.
Speaker C
00:27:49.010 - 00:27:51.490
Yeah, that's humanity. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A
00:27:52.930 - 00:27:54.770
Big quotes around humanity there.
Speaker D
00:27:55.250 - 00:27:56.850
I'm gonna go very dark on that.
Speaker B
00:27:57.570 - 00:28:05.170
Well, and that also creates some interesting dramatic tension because that's assuming that everyone who is bonded with has the same outlook.
Speaker D
00:28:05.250 - 00:28:05.650
Right.
Speaker B
00:28:05.970 - 00:28:08.920
Things which could create some great character moments of.
Speaker C
00:28:09.480 - 00:28:10.360
You don't want to.
Speaker B
00:28:10.520 - 00:28:20.360
I can agree with this to a point. But hey, now we're starting to. Now we're starting to get into really dicey territory. And what does that mean? Like the split alliance?
Speaker D
00:28:20.520 - 00:28:35.440
Right.
And that would be really fun to play, especially if you have like a split game where you've got two sets of character of players and some have joined and some have not. And like seeing the dynamics between that would be so much fun.
Speaker A
00:28:35.520 - 00:29:22.270
That has like a real heroes vibe or something along those lines where you've got that kind of split loyalty.
People have developed powers and now we're dividing out into these different groups and who's going to be the good guys and who's going to be the bad guys and all that sort of thing there, which is bringing us very perilously close to our next section, which is of course, what does this remind you of? What media do you think resonates with, with these particular stories?
Is there something, are there particular things that you would be like, oh my God, if you read this and you like this Then absolutely, you should. This is something there.
And for Tricia, we're gonna take you first, because I'm betting that you probably had some inspirations that may have pushed some of these along. So would you talk about those first?
Speaker D
00:29:22.910 - 00:30:04.150
So, yeah, for a bunch of them. So with Last Sacrifice, Last Unicorn sacrifice of New Hampshire, that one was. It's a combination of a lot of different things because it's a very.
I was going with that small town, Stephen King cultish thing, but the kind of demonic unicorn was also a dark twist on the Madeleine l' Engle unicorn series as that kind of amorphous creature that wasn't necessarily good or bad. So playing with that and then, like, not just the Stephen King, but like, the Stranger Things. Kids on bicycles.
Speaker A
00:30:04.150 - 00:30:07.550
Yeah, like kids, they literally go on bikes.
Speaker D
00:30:07.550 - 00:30:18.070
Right? They're on bikes. And. And finding out the truth of that.
Because a lot of my favorite horror stories are kids figuring out that the adults are doing terrible things, and it's.
Speaker A
00:30:18.070 - 00:30:22.610
Up, except for them, to stop them from doing. Stop doing terrible things. Mom and dad.
Speaker D
00:30:22.850 - 00:31:40.180
Yep. Frankenstein. So I actually wrote three different study guides. I got paid to write three different study guides for Frankenstein.
The first time that I had to read Frankenstein, I did not get it. I didn't like it. The language was just not resonating with me.
But then people handed me money to understand it, and so money inspired the ADHD to do a deep dive. I'm like, there's so many themes here. And I never actually watched the universal Frankenstein.
So, like, I didn't see, like, where, like, they were getting, like, all the whole electricity. That's why I have a little joke on electricity. Like, it was not part of the thing. So I got a little.
I also was annoyed at Guillermo del Toro for that, too. Sorry. But that's what I wanted to do. And then I wanted to take on the Bride of Frankenstein.
But when you're immortal, like, my big thing with that is, like, do you want to be immortal? And that comes from, like, playing vampire, the Masquerade, like, what is the cost of immortality? And he's like, I just want to die.
And then he finds someone who actually cares about him and doesn't treat him like shit. But that person's not a very good person. So what do you do? Like, that's what I wanted to play with that.
And I really had wished, like, they had done more of that in, like, Bride of Frankenstein, because you could just have so much fun. Because what did the Nazis want? They wanted immortal life.
Speaker A
00:31:40.260 - 00:31:40.740
Yeah.
Speaker D
00:31:40.900 - 00:32:54.280
They wanted to be the Better species. And so of course she's going to want the monster. And so playing with those things, that's where that inspiration chickens comes from my barn.
Like, they are all based. One of my very good friends. There's art in the book.
So the picture of the guy and the thing is actually based on my friend on whom the main character is based on. So it does look like him. He's a hot cop. He. He's a hot cowboy. Younger than me. And. Let's see. So swamp guys and fairy lights. I just.
I liked twisting the fairy tale. Twisted fairy tales have just been a thing that I've been reading for as long as I can read.
Gardens of New Bubastis came when a friend had to struggle with putting down a cat. And that's the. There's a scene in there where it's a very difficult time where it takes multiple vials and that.
That heart wrenching of like, the cat did nothing wrong. It's the humans who have done that and playing with that and then just like upping the stakes a little more. Because I also have two cats.
And honestly, if they were smarter than they were, we would be in so much trouble.
Speaker A
00:32:57.000 - 00:33:26.910
I've had many cats. I've had one cat, Scheherazade, who was absolutely, like, could work doors, like, very, like, super smart. Like when you would.
When we would go away on vacation, she would be angry and then she would. We would come back and she wouldn't be. She wouldn't get revenge right away. She'd wait until you were like, like, like, literally.
She would wait until you were like on the toilet and then she would attack you because she knew. She knew she had you. She like, like very smart cat. So, yes, that. That is totally where that.
Speaker D
00:33:26.910 - 00:33:45.430
Yeah.
And then Mass of the greatest sin is inspired by the fact that I am a fat woman in the United States who has fought the doctors over so many invisible medical issues and had to work in a business where I could wear the same thing that some other person was wearing. And it just. You weren't doing it right.
Speaker A
00:33:45.510 - 00:33:45.990
Yeah.
Speaker D
00:33:45.990 - 00:34:25.150
Just because I was fat wearing that outfit. So that was like me channeling all my rage at society. And.
And the octopus part came from a friend of mine who visited an octopus farm in Hawaii and had that happen. She's like. It was the cutest little thing.
And then just the general idea of, like, cephalopods being aliens and living in Boston and the awfulness of driving, of riding the tea when you're fat and all of that. So that was Just like me channeling all of my rage and anger and frustration into. You know, maybe I would just become evil on this.
Because when I was living corporate as opposed to doing my freelance job, I was just. I was the monster.
Speaker A
00:34:25.470 - 00:34:27.190
Yeah, you were the monster.
Speaker D
00:34:27.190 - 00:34:27.630
Yes.
Speaker A
00:34:28.350 - 00:34:30.270
Evan, what do you got for us?
Speaker B
00:34:31.150 - 00:34:44.510
I went to some old TV shows that's totally on board, Tales from the Dark side. But even before that, Rod Sterling's other show, the Night Gallery.
Speaker A
00:34:44.510 - 00:34:45.790
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
00:34:46.110 - 00:35:17.930
Where Twilight Zone leaned heavy Sci fi. Night Gallery Lean. Very horror. And I feel like they're small, contained. They set you up. They shock the heck out of you.
And let's move to the next one. And so I think that it really is very structurally very similar because you don't waste any time with these.
You get us into the world, get us comfortable, and then something starts to go very wrong. That's where my brain went, all right, Bo.
Speaker C
00:35:18.330 - 00:35:37.370
Yeah. So I first I got to the. At least the chickens are all right.
And immediately had a flashback to the 90s sitting in my teenage bedroom reading scary stories to tell in the dark. And I went, oh, no. It's like that spider one where they crawl out of your face.
Speaker D
00:35:38.010 - 00:35:38.810
I can't.
Speaker C
00:35:39.770 - 00:35:50.130
And then I went, read your bio. And I thought that you've done a tribute to that actual book. So I was like, oh, my gosh. I guess right on there.
All right, so that's definitely a parallel.
Speaker A
00:35:50.130 - 00:35:51.170
High five on that one.
Speaker C
00:35:54.290 - 00:36:05.290
Exactly. And then Stephen King's Cat's Eye. Yeah, that's got some great short stories in there. And specifically following a cat, mine is.
Speaker A
00:36:05.290 - 00:36:47.390
We did. For our very first episode, we did Stephen King's Fairy Tale, which also has a lot of that, like, really just like it's taking the fairy.
Taking the fairy tale and twisting it around and doing the thing. And the princess who can't speak or can only speak when she cuts open her own mouth. And like, yeah, all had that. So very, very strong.
Very strong King vibes there. I read a graphic novel called Loving Ohio by Matthew Ian. It's a very. It's another small town, like, horary thing. Really great art in that one.
And the. The last one I'll recommend is another local author, Romy Stott wrote. Yes, Nothing in the Basement.
Speaker D
00:36:47.390 - 00:36:50.030
I. I gave her a quote for that. I love that book.
Speaker A
00:36:50.030 - 00:36:50.790
Oh, it's amazing.
Speaker D
00:36:50.790 - 00:36:51.230
So good.
Speaker A
00:36:51.230 - 00:37:07.130
Absolutely. And. And in fact, I'm working. I'm working on that episode right now. So, yeah, Romy's Nothing in the Basement had. Also has a lot of that.
That progressively breaking down feeling that I got from the. From the mass. From the mask.
Speaker D
00:37:07.850 - 00:37:20.250
Yeah. Also, she's just. I mean, she's also a poet, and so her language is fantastic. Like the narrator, the narrative voice of that novel is gorgeous.
And it happens to be on sale in the dealer's room.
Speaker A
00:37:20.250 - 00:37:51.370
Look at that. It happens to be on sale in the dealer's room. You could pick it up anytime here at. At Rising Phoenix Gamecon 2026.
Not that anyone will hear this until. Well, actually, people probably hear. They won't hear it until the chacan's over for sure. But I'll be putting these out pretty quickly afterwards.
All right, so those are our media recs. So that brings us to the, I guess the sort of closing part of this beau.
Do you want to start us off with from promotions, things you want the people to know about you, where they can find you, what your work is, like, that sort of of thing.
Speaker C
00:37:51.610 - 00:38:15.450
So I am an audiobook narrator. So you can find me out my voice, at least out there, the world. And then also I'm on a podcast called Twisted Tropes.
We are an actual play podcast where we take tropes from literature from other media and we twist them around. So they're short seasons, like 12 episodes per season. And they're all around a very tight theme.
Speaker B
00:38:16.580 - 00:38:18.500
Evan, what she said.
Speaker A
00:38:18.820 - 00:38:20.900
Okay. Also.
Speaker B
00:38:21.860 - 00:38:31.780
Also an audiobook narrator. We do a lot of work together. And I am also on Twisted Tropes as one of the DMs, and I'm their audio guy.
Speaker A
00:38:31.860 - 00:38:35.860
All right, great. Well, that brings us back. No, go to your question.
Speaker D
00:38:35.940 - 00:38:40.980
Sorry. Like, I don't. I don't yet have an audiobook for that around.
Speaker A
00:38:42.210 - 00:38:44.810
There you go. So time for the exchange of cards.
Speaker D
00:38:44.810 - 00:39:01.850
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So right now, what I am currently working on is I am editing an anthology for the New England horror writers. It is wicked Westerns.
It is so good. Like, we have almost finished the table of contents, and there's like, some really, really good.
Speaker C
00:39:01.850 - 00:39:03.730
Oh, yeah, that sounds great.
Speaker D
00:39:03.730 - 00:39:09.860
I do like finding some of these stories. So that is actually slated to come out in August at Necronomicon.
Speaker A
00:39:09.860 - 00:39:10.620
Oh, great.
Speaker D
00:39:11.180 - 00:39:43.390
I'm also still working on my fantasy series that I had funded on Kickstarter. It funded at 200% and then life hit me and I didn't get stuff done. But we are finishing that up. That's a duology. It is Children of Earth and Fire.
It's from my 27 Kingdoms fantasy series. Also Dark. It's about a princess who, before she can save herself, has to save a dragon. Together they might save the kingdom from demons. Maybe.
Maybe so that's what I'm currently working on. I'm also on the board for the Wing of Horror Writers.
Speaker A
00:39:43.390 - 00:41:27.080
So good. Always a good recommendation. Great people to check out and to go find really great stuff from.
All right, only thing I have to promote is you should listen to Live Play podcasts and you should read more of Trisha's books. And we are good. So Michael, nicely done everybody.
And that was Where Monsters Prey recorded live From Rising Phoenix Gamecon 2026 with guest game Masters Beau Powell and Evan Kelly, along with game master and author of Where Monsters Prey, Tricia Wooldridge. Thanks so much for being amazing contributors to the show. It was a blast.
Thanks again to Rising Phoenix Game Con for making this series of interviews possible.
Be sure to check out their website@rising phoenixgamecon.com and make sure to leave room in your gaming calendar in late April to attend the Con in Milford, Massachusetts. You can find a complete transcript of today's discussion as well as links to all of our podcasts@k-square productions.com GMBC.
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Continued praise and thanks to John Corbett for the podcast artwork and Otis Galloway for our music. Later, gamers and to paraphrase the great Terry Pratchett, always try to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.