Best Intentions Primer

Learn what you can expect in the first season of Phantasmagorium. This gives the rundown of what the show is and plays some non-spoiler clips to showcase what a TTRPG game sounds like when hybridized with a radio play presentation.

Credits:
Initial Narrator: Spencer Peerson
Sound Editing/Engineering: Spencer Peerson
Video Conversions/Edits: Dave Larson
Royalty-free music from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com

Based on the novel "Best Intentions" and inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft

Voices in this Show:
Tony Dionisio, Spencer Peerson, Dave Larson

Transcript

this episode will definitely not be safe for work it won't be safe for children you know it won't be safe for

uh uh really yeah going through the books and trying to comprehend

uh uh infinity [Laughter] yeah so if you're a historian who

comprehends Infinity then you can talk to us but we won't understand and with that let us let's get started with a

beta test humans' production of best intentions [Music]

thank you [Music]

foreign [Music] so this week obviously we have a little

bit of something different for you we're going to be playing through a game called Call of Cthulhu it's a game

that works you know it's a role-playing game kind of like DND but it operates a little bit differently

uh you do have your standard stats such as strength and Constitution dexterity but there's some other stuff in here

like how big you are your move rate is a little bit different your power and education are all different there are some

magic points so you do have a magic pool if you were like a magic user or something like that uh sanity is a huge issue in this game

if you lose your sanity then you're gonna go Bonkers and that's just as safe

that's just as bad as any death uh luck is kind of an important thing as well that can help boost some of your roles

but the biggest difference here is that we're going to be using different skills that are more provocative of closer to

Modern time and closer to reality Viewpoint we have investigator skills

such as anthropo anthro yeah archeology anthropology

anthropology uh accounting psychology uh my character is going to have like a

pilot skill things like that are what this game kind of consists of and you're rolling d100s

trying to get under your skills score rather than over

um and so yeah that's sort of what we have for you today so do you guys want to talk about your characters, uh I mean

I know Tony is going to be uh dming for us for the whole bit he does enough

voices that he's allowed to do whatever I'll be yeah uh yeah I will be your

guys' DM GM or as they call it in Call of Cthulhu uh your keeper I'll be your

keeper for this evening um Dave let's start with you what's your who's your character who uh who is you

who are you Dave, uh Joe Wheatley is an um we'll just say

he's an Outdoorsman originally hailing from Colorado he has a little bit of a rocky past when I say rocky I mean just

um yeah when I say rocky I don't mean like you use criminal background it just means that uh

layered with Misfortune his father died in a mine collapse at an early age and

Dave, I'm gonna pause you here I don't think we should I think our backstory should come out in the in the

story not in the down oh okay I think what we're doing here is we're kind of calling out

how our characters will generally behave like what kind of skills are they good at what are they bad at

um and yeah like saying I come from Colorado is fine that's a really like broad stance sort of thing you know I've

been in Boston and picked up an accent that's the sort of stuff and of course all of this will get ironed out

but okay uh yeah so Joe it's from Colorado

he's worked outside a lot and got drafted into the first world war so he's got a

little bit of skills with uh fighting and the rifle but um yeah he's not

he's not a smart guy but he is a little bit of an intelligent guy and uh

he's gonna be he's really good at observing stuff and uh he's been in Massachusetts long enough

that he's picked up a bit of an accent trying to blend into the locals still fails sometimes but uh for the most part

he's just worked odd jobs just to make the ends meet and as long as you're doing that he's

Joe Wheatley so in doing that he's picked up a lot of different skills okay uh I'll I will be playing uh Benjamin

Harris who is he's a private investigator uh you know pretty pretty

standard honestly for whatever stereotype you might have in your head probably got a little bit of that going on for him he, uh you know he's a

pretty good and hard-working person he's pretty good at driving uh cars or

piloting aircraft he's not bad with various weapons and he certainly isn't all that bad in a fight either he's he's

served in the military too though not his capacity was that of an MP so it wasn't like he was on the front lines or

anything but uh he is pretty good at uh

you know the general private investigator thinks he's good at hiding he's good at talking to people

um and he's good at a fight if it really comes down to it but moreover, he can get where he needs to be so

that's why he's got uh aircraft and drive Auto stuff going on for him

also, he's got himself a nice little car uh Tony what the hell did we decide on was it okay for him to have it as a car

The Nest or something oh oh no um I had yeah like uh something Nash

touring yeah he's got it, yeah touring yeah touring car he's got a Nash Touring

that he's gotten uh it's used [Laughter]

heavily used uh but it functions and I think that's what's important

I don't think either of us have uh Magic ability so it's gonna be a pretty grounded game with a lot

of Investigation so now that we are all introduced and you guys have an idea of what to

expect from this game let's get started

yeah let's uh let's do this let's do this first episode I think it'll be a good thing I think everybody should

probably expect this to be a bit of a setup uh with some of the exciting stuff coming later

um all right yeah let's do a thing these sorts of episodes have to happen in order for any story to be worthwhile

I'm excited Tony you wrote something down yeah

Arkham Massachusetts home to the prestigious Miskatonic University

and also home to one Blair Fitzgerald Backstrom a professor of anthropology

and Archeology Blair has conducted many Expeditions from North Africa to China

Spain and most recently to Central South America on this most recent Expedition

Blair had returned home changed and unfamiliar to his friends and family as

he returned to the estate people said that he was raving mad firing his entire staff and becoming a

a recluse for several days the last time anyone had ever seen him he was heading down the Miskatonic river

on a tugboat wreathed in an unnatural light his only living relatives Adam

Backstrom and Thomas and Liza Grant began to ask questions into his

disappearance Adam more so than Thomas and Liza after two weeks had passed the Grands

had declared their Uncle deceased and to immediately seize all of his assets

Adam not wanting to have his uncle's reputation and all of his hard work tarnished by these vultures of cousins

immediately began a legal proceeding to halt his cousin's activity but due to

his degrading health he knew that all they had to do was outweigh him and just wait for him to

die so out of desperation Adam wrote a letter

and sent it to one Benjamin Harris in the hopes that maybe he

could find his uncle and put an end to all of this madness [Music]

Benjamin, you are sitting alone in your office which also doubles as your room

the apartment on the North End overlooking the street down below you can hear cars driving by the honking of

the horns from model T's the chiming of bells as some people go by on bicycles

currently, we're looking over the previous case that you just had as you tuck it away in a folder and then put it

away in your filing cabinet, you hear a knock at the door the slit did you have for mail see a single letter pops

through and somewhat Glides towards your desk before it comes to a stop on the

letter you can see a wax stamp on it and inside and on the wax stamp is printed

the letter b there doesn't seem to be any return address on it that you can see

you lean over and you pick it up and if you want to go to your handouts it is a letter from Adam Backstrom

greetings Mr Harris my name is Adam Beckstrom and I sent you this letter in hopes that I may acquire

your services for a matter of most dire my uncle Blair F Backstrom has gone

missing I am not sure if you have already read about my uncle's disappearances in the

paper but I assure you my uncle would not do such a thing willingly as I understand it you have a talent for

finding lost people the police have given up on trying to locate my uncle and are of no more help

there is much to discuss that I would rather not detail in this letter if you are willing to take on this task meet me

at my Residence at 32 West mississaug Avenue in uptown Arco

please present this letter to my nurse Miss vicosa sincerely Adam Baxter

you've heard the name Backstrom before mostly in papers detailing Blair his

Endeavors and his excavations from North Africa to Spain all the way over to into

China and his discoveries and lost artifacts being brought back housed at

miskatonic University and also some items appearing in the Boston Museum he's quite famous in some certain

circles we've never really had to deal with a client of this let's just say

Prestige magnitude magnitude Prestige however you want to put it this is the first time you've ever been called on to

do something well more than what you're used to doing the last case you're working on finding one miss darling who

had been supposedly kidnapped but actually ran away with a lost lover in that case a certain name comes to

mind who is invaluable in helping Joe Wheatley

Joe you're waking up from your Halfway House

in Riverside town the light shining through the blinds in the window and hitting your eyes and cracking them open

for you you have another job down somewhere and the docks unloading and loading cargo into the tugboats that run

down the miskatonic river and deliver them further south to Boston

not really exciting work but it pays somewhat moderately well puts food in

your belly you hear a knock at the door oh who is it get up and you answer the

door you open it to see uh a one Benjamin Harris you remember Benjamin Harris you've worked with him before on

a case over a uh Miss darling he's holding a letter in his hand how's it going Benjamin he said I could

call on you if I ever needed your help this seems like a good time as any to call on your help the job pays well

potentially the letter is quite mysterious and the last time one of these things happened

well things went unexpectedly okay uh

I can promise you some compensation more compensation than the uh the dog work uh

yeah I'm pretty sure you ever heard of the name Backstrom I'm a little familiar with them

the the archaeologist guy right yeah well

went missing this has caused concern with his nephew and well I'm but I'm about to take a

case okay now it's better than uh breaking my back

so uh yeah I guess I'll uh I guess I'll help you out

excellent the address is 32 West miskatonic Avenue in uptown Arkham

can you remember that uh 32 West Uptown Arkham uh I gotta get

some pants on uh I'll meet you outside in just a sec all right I'll be by my car Joe uh you hear

Benjamin walk down the hallway and going down the steps of the halfway house you

get up put on your pants put on uh somewhat decently nice shirt since you

are meeting someone who's supposedly quite wealthy perhaps

and try to get on your best outfit that you have that you usually do for job interviews look yourself in the face

kind of part your hair comb your hair make yourself as presentable as possible Splash whatever little cologne that you

have and head downstairs and meet up with Benjamin who's waiting in his car Joe you come downstairs outside of the

halfway house new sea Benjamin with his uh you can say probably third or fourth

hand Nash touring see opens up as he's sitting in the uh driver's seat he leans

over and clicks open the passenger side doors and you hop in and just as you

guys are heading down from Riverside over to Uptown uh slight rain starts to

kick up it's very minor and starts to trickle down making the roads just a bit

slick and as you continue to drive you pull up you see the uh you see the

address plate right in front of the house 32 West miskatonic Avenue you park

right outside the house somewhat not as kept as the other two

houses on either side of it as this one's smack dab in the middle of two other houses also not as well kept as

the other houses across the street you can see that the garden is in somewhat of disrepair dead grass dying flowers

untrimmed Hedges and there's a mailbox that's down the walkway of the house

which you look into has a few letters that are put in there but it does seem to be a bit full and you the car and

park and you get out of the car I don't seem to be checking their mail

this could be a larger problem but wait here for a moment y'all I'm gonna go uh

greet our client make sure that it's all right that I've brought along some help for this potential issue but I wouldn't want them

to panic in the meantime okey dokey I uh I go up to the to the house but

just I knock on the door you walk him to the door and you uh

knock on the oak door you can see that it has Stained Glass uh some built into

the door so you can kind of see into it but not really that great you see a

figure very Wiggly almost like looking through a fun house mirror passes by the

stained glass on the door and opens it up uh you see a woman brown hair appears to be wearing a nurse's uniform she

looks at you um yes can I I uh can I help you

um yes ma'am you must be Miss Victoza is that correct

Victoza yeah are you uh Mr Harris

uh I am indeed um do you have do you happen to have the letter yeah I reach under my coat pocket and uh

give it to her she looks at it oh um please come in if you wouldn't mind uh waiting in the entrance hall

um Dr turnbaum is just finishing up with um Adam okay as you wish ma'am and I enter in

the house take off my hat is there like a coat rack or something I can

yeah there's a there's a coat rack near the door I take off my hat and you can see that there's a yeah you see there's

one other hat and coat hung up there yes I utilized that that coat rack for hat and coat for the moment she says uh just

wait here um the doctor's almost finished with Adam and she goes and she walks back uh kind of down

the hall and then to the right and looking around you see ahead of you where that cross section is there there's a uh a Shelf with a small

collection of what look like Antiquities as well as a pitcher of Adam with Blair

and they look like they're standing in front of some pyramids and there's one grandfather clock in the corner you can

hear it slowly ticking you look at the time yeah almost 11 o'clock in the morning

you can hear down the right end quarter you can hear what sounds

like this I'm sorry this is what now this is

what's happening so you hear this is around the corner in the distance in the distance around the corner out to the right you hear this

I do go and investigate that I'm sorry but I that sounds troubling so you walk out and you peer around the

corner and you see what looks like to be a study room uh down the hall you see um Miss Victoza holding the head back of

Adam Backstrom his mouth open and you can see um an older gentleman who you're

assuming is uh turn bomb uh glasses fixed and pinched in at the very grid of

his nose white hair very big mustache uh you can see what he's he appears to be

putting some kind of tube down into Adam's mouth and then once he has it in

there he sucks on the other end almost like siphoning gas out of a gas tank and

you see this whitish kind of mucousy liquid rushing up this translucent tube

which is then dispensed into this mason jar and then it fills up maybe about a

quarter of the way before he removes the tube out of Adam's mouth which Adam then begins to start coughing I stand there

for a moment just generally concerned you you've never seen something like

this before um he packs up his doctor's bag

and he puts a is he puts a with tube and the Mason jar

in his bag he pulls out um another vial and he pulls out a

serenity puts the syringe in the violin pulls it up into

the syringe and gets this rubber tubing ties it off on Adam's arm as he rolls up the sleeve

and injects him with it you can see is there some like uh

gosh I have one in medicine there's no way I'm going to be able to tell what happened then you are then you are a

little far away um and the bottle is very small

so it's kind of hard to read what that is oh just everything is happening this you said a white substance came out of

this guy's gut yeah we put in a tube and do it down to his mouth the knee

pretty much like siphoned out would look like this white thick mucousy substance out of his

um out of his body hmm we are playing Cthulhu this sounds like

some soul [ __ ] but all right and is he okay

he's gonna give him a shot of something huh yeah and as he gives him this shot you see he removes the tube and then

Adam's tense body then relaxes somewhat slightly I just uh I suppose I I

approached hmm normally you relax the patient before you cause invasive procedures doctor but

Farm B it for me to tell you how to do your job he put starts to push his things away

and he gets up he says unfortunately

um young backstrom's position is somewhat uh

sensitive moving him to a normal hospital the

that procedure might actually kill this poor young man so we are relegated to

doing it inside the comfort of his home you must be that uh Harris fellow he's

been he hired wow Isaac turnbaum and he holds out his hand to Shakers uh

Benjamin Harris a pleasure to meet you doesn't meet you as well

certain that you think that all of this is a bit strange I don't know if you saw any of the procedures I did indeed see

the procedure nothing like it's ever been mentioned in any textbook I've ever read a lot of the

things that we have to do with the young Adam here is not exactly textbook

um you can see that Adam is seated down in a wheelchair his back alignment seems to be crooked and

off to the left you can see his fingers seem to be swollen with what looks like

arthritis and then bending in different ways kind of crisscrossing over each other

his right side of his face is drooped down somewhat slightly almost like he had a stroke and under the blanket

that's covering his legs you can tell that his thighs seem

somewhat bowed in towards each other where his shins are bowed outward from each other and you can hear his

breathing which is somewhat raspy and belabored I gestured towards the door so

that it's like walk with me right uh I imagine if he follows we walk towards

the door well so uh yeah turn bomb follows you and is holding his bag and in one hand

as he follows you out well doctor if I'm to do my job appropriately

well I'm going to need all the information I can get I would hope that you would enlighten me as to his condition

I wish I could but whatever it is it's a um it's a strange degenerative disease that

we have no name for as of yet we first thought it was polio uh but it is progressing not along the

same lines as that we don't know what it is and this white fluid this mucus that you

would extracted from it it is um some kind of discharge that

well isn't being discharged but rather this uh put into his lungs

so every now and again I have to extract that liquid like pneumonia

almost like pneumonia hmm but not that he has too many yes but

not that he has too many symptoms from different diseases different ailments

we believe it is maybe some kind of first we thought it was maybe some kind of parasite that he picked up when he

was traveling with his uncle but we found a sign of it no sign of

whatever it could be whatever it is is his uncle did not contract this

it's hard to say so you're not entirely sure where he may have picked this up then

hmm at least most we can do is um he reaches

in and pulls out the vial and he shows it to you and it's looks like it's pure opium extract

is suffering a little we have no cure for it

say he won't last the year thank you doctor I will continue my I

will begin my investigation with Mr Baxter [Music] if you um have any questions I'm up at

Arkham General appreciate it thank you Mr Turnbull he grabs his hat and Company

tucks his coat underneath his arm and puts his hat on top of his head as he opens the door and leaves I turn back

around and go back around to meet the nurse and uh

Adam and still hear Adam's labored breath uh Miss Victoza says

um please sit down there's much that we have to talk about Adam would like to

try to talk to you personally about as as much as his body will let him um

uh but other than that you'll probably mostly be talking to me it was actually uh I'm the one who actually wrote the

letter as per um Adam's instruction understood

I take a seat is it all right if I and I hold up like uh like a lighter and a cigarette

um you see victoza's face grows somewhat concerned and she'd slip she kind of shakes her

head now oh yes yes of course well Mr Backstrom Adam

my my name is Benjamin Harris I am here as per the letter that you have dictated

to your wonderful nurse here tell me you are missing your Uncle is that

correct Adam begins to talk it's raspy

and it's unpleasant to listen to he says yes

um Michael he went uh he's he's been missing for about two weeks now

and it's very much not like him

to be doing something like this he's not himself my um

my cousins Liza and Thomas Grand I've been wanting to

declare him deceased ever since he went missing

and about two days ago we actually had a break-in

they've never liked my uncle if uh say always

lived outside of their means they would always constantly right amen ask him for money is there

perhaps any reason that they would want to do this is there a a will or a

something left to them should he otherwise pass or go missing well

myself Liza and Thomas are the only living relatives

my uncle has there is a will although no one has been able to find it

but they've always lived outside of their means I've asked my uncle for money on

numerous occasions well um your concern is with your uncle and

he's gone missing where was the last place anyone saw him yes yeah it was said that he was seen on a

on a tugboat headed down the miskatonic any idea who owned

the tugboat or the company or anything like that at this point you can see that Adam looks like he needs a moment to

get a strength back to keep talking so uh Miss Victoza interjects

um no no uh no one saw the name of the tugboat no one saw the owner but they

said that they saw Blair standing in some kind of strange light or something strange light

yes and also and she reaches over and grabs

a box and he open she opens it up and you see some burned letters in there we actually had a break-in a couple of days

ago and I caught the perpetrator I didn't see who it was he was wearing a

mask um but he was rummaging through Adam's private desk and he was burning all the

letters that his uncle had ever written him and these were the only two I was able

to uh save out of the pile that he was burning she hands you them I look at the

two letters and I began reading them as best I can

it's it's somewhat fairly destroyed there's some bits and

pieces missing but looks like she got to it and time that it's mostly legible to my dear

nephew I have been giving it some thoughts since I began this Expedition and I will not be around forever

I can feel my joints disagreeing with me as I hike up these treacherous passes so before I Venture off

I wanted to rewrite my will I hid it in a place that's only I think

you might be able to find do you remember that old Butler's desk I kept in my private study

well I thought I might give it to you I might give you one last bit of fun once I leave there's a special lock

my own design a modified type of combination lock Adam in this will I bequeath everything

to you do with it as you see fit you are far

more deserving of it than any other person I know I know what my doctors say about your condition to hell with that I'll be sure

that those parasites never see a damp scent my fortune I am also sending you an amulet of some

kind it's inscription reads May the evils of this world never seize

you perhaps it will bring you good fortune sincerely

Blair F Backstrom I believe that this was the letter maybe

he was searching for but I don't know what Blair meant by amulet we never

received an amulet when that letter came in hmm this other one appears to just be

sort of personal effects South America he traveled to uh yes he was um I believe it was a Incan Mayan one of

those kinds of ruins so we have a eccentric I'm guessing multi-millionaire who like to travel to

South America contracted some sort of disease maybe maybe we don't know what caused them to do what he did I mean he

got back home he didn't even stop to say hello to Adam which he always usually does when he gets back from his trips

and he just fired all of his staff at his estate every single one of them and

then yeah and then he was locked away for some time and then next thing we knew he

was on talk about he was gone this seems particularly odd that somebody would want to do

anything of that nature to go back down to South America right before firing everybody

especially since there's no conflict of interest but he did he did seem to know

that he was not going to return which is why he would not otherwise he would not have left everything to his nephew the

things we don't know where he went he might have gone back to his expedition or his dig site but I mean he's

just left this combination lock has Adam been able to breach it no we haven't even been

able to get into uh bactrim's estate I mean Adam can't travel I think his uncle

maybe was thinking too highly of or less of what Adam's condition actually is but

we haven't been able to even get up to the estate do you have an address perhaps I can investigate that oh yes he

uh he lived up in north side right in front of Potter's field I believe it's some whis dreary Street North 39 North

39 West jury Street all right I'll uh I'll go there check out his Mansions

there perhaps a key is it state there was one in Adam's desk but I believe the

thief took that so A Thief burned a whole bunch of letters and took a key to Adam's uncle's estate I don't know if he

knew what it was for but he took it well in any case that's my next lead before I go do you have the addresses of perhaps

his two cousins yes they live in a downtown right across from Independence

Square it is a 23 North Peabody Avenue 23 North Peabody Avenue all right

understood they both live at the same place yes I believe I have my leads are there any other is there any other

information you'd care to divulge before I dismissed myself you see Adam very

weakly lift up a hand and place it on uh victoza's arm and you hear him kind of

very weakly give out Dr Arnold oh right

um yes uh but actually you know what actually around the same time we got that letter from his uncle

um I noticed that Professor Arnold was actually hanging out outside of our out

of our home he's uh he's something of a rival Professor to uh to Blair uh over

at the University they've never seen eye to eye kind of butted heads a lot Dr Ronald I imagine

you probably don't have his address but I can probably investigate at the University if need be yes

um I know I think he taught in the same building as Blair okay so Joe yes as you're

sitting in the passenger seat of the car and looking around and kind of gazing at

the neighborhood that is too nice for you to afford but you've been here before kind of as a gardener the rain

slowly started to come down a little bit heavier hitting the top of the car making that pitter patter noise

you just kind of looking around seeing what's going on no one's really out and

about except for the neighbor across the street he just seems to be tending his garden

Joe make a spot hidden for me ah give me half a sec

figuring out roll 20. spot hidden you say you see maybe about

20 feet outside of Adam's home looking up and at the door is a singular rat

kind of cheated out away from you and looking at the door

and it's just sitting there up on its hind legs and staring at the home

and you know you've been around animals you're an Outdoorsman you know how

generally animals act this is a little weird I I don't think I've ever seen a rat do that before

is there anything off about the rat or is it just like a normal rat as far as I could tell do a natural world role

did that work yeah that one worked the first one was a failure oh so due to the

rain and what is kind of coming out of what looks like near a Stewart great this kind of fog that's pouring up and

out of it it's making it a little obscure to see the rat the longer you sit there the more the rat becomes

obscured and hard to see if you wanted to get a better look out of it you'd have to get out of the car

I mean Ben told me to stay in the car and uh I don't want to get I don't want

to get questioned by anybody that in this nice area so I'm just gonna I'm just gonna stay in the car so Joe uh you

would like to stay in the car and to watch the rat still on its hind legs very slowly being

covered up and blanketed by this fog that's rolling up out of the sewer grate you can see its silhouette turn around

and goes off in the other direction as Ben comes out of the house

is the rain picked up yeah the rain is picked up it's not like hard downpour but it's more it's it's

more than a drizzle less than downpour normal I guess

okay that Medium rain that good medium-sized rain you know and you see

it disappear into that sewer fog that's coming out just as Ben is coming out of

the house Miss Victoza is showing you the way out and as you're leaving Ben she says

please just just find it Blair for Adam's sake

well Miss Victoria if he did go down to South America then it might be a little bit out of my jurisdiction but I assure

you I'll get to the bottom of what we can here at least in a local area unless there's some good pay going to

South America speaking of pay almost I forgot yours and she pulls out a small

envelope and she puts in your hand as you look inside it's fifty dollars yeah look at it tip my head thank you

Miss Victoza yes I will find whatever I can to report back to you guys as soon as possible thank you g closes the door

behind you as you walk back down the walkway the rain hitting your hat and slowly pouring off of the brim and onto

your shoulder give it a little a little bit of a jog back like oh this rain's getting hard

and get back in the car and I start uh equipping through notes well Joe

thanks for coming along this might be a little bit more of a down a dirty case than I expected right

uh bench you get a get us a retainer I got us a few bucks I hand them oh I hand

them 20 bucks I hope this is already more than I would make it the Ducks so thanks man yeah

so I've gone over a number of these notes here and I think I know where to start

all right I'll let you uh I'll let you drive going to Northtown

number of leads here but I think I got the best one Joe

we're gonna check out the Backstrom estate [Music]

[Music]

[Music] [Applause]

foreign [Music] [Applause]

[Music]