I Wish That I Had Been at That Run

Tentacles, or perhaps Nineticles

My Second year of college, I was out east in Western Massachusetts, at Hampshire College, while Daniel, my younger brother, and hairless wonder of the family (referring to body hair, he's the only one who is not a walking carpet) was running a Call of Cthulhu game in Portland, Oregon.

This is a game based on the works of HP Lovecraft, and is of course intended to convey the dread and terror of a hostile and uncaring universe populated by creatures of inconceivable power.

Existential dread is a part of the deal, or at least it's supposed to be.

Daniel has a pretty good record of communicating fear and existential dread, and that day, he was at the top of his form.

The players were on edge, and then one of them (hi, Kevin) cracked, and started singing, (filking) to the tune of the Olivia Newton John song Physical, "I want to get tentacles."

From the descriptions that I heard, this broke the mood of the game, with everyone, including my normally quite dignified brother, breaking out into giggles. The end result was that with every eldritch horror that was revealed, the intensity of the hilarity increased.

If you are wondering why I am bringing up an event from 40 years ago, one that I was literally 2000 miles away from it is because the singer who mad this song a hit, Olivia Newton John, just died at age 73.

While was never a fan of hers, I am grateful for her role in this story, and for the 2nd hand memories that I have as a result.