How could you write about hunger without talking about Alfred Smalls, played by Brian Courtemanche

Smalls is the hungriest character I’ve ever met. The dice decreed him to be large and not terribly strong, and so Brian went with a corpulent shopkeeper. For a long time, we couldn’t get through a session without a meal, maybe two, and it was one of the things that made Smalls such an endearing character.

He would have to cook us a large breakfast to fortify us for the walk down to the Chinese restaurant. Brian delivered those lines with such finesse that you really saw how serious Smalls was about needing that meal before the meal.

What made the entire situation even more epic was that frequently Brian was running to the table at the last minute from work, so he would often be eating a meal himself as play started. He would make sure we knew what he was having, and where he got it from, along with a full description of the restaurant, and I can’t help but wonder if Smalls was starting to wear off on him.

Apart from the insatiable appetite, Brian also gave Smalls a signature voice that really brought the character to life. It became so important to my experience of the character, that during one session I had to call a halt to play because Brian was talking in his normal voice. I had to insist that Smalls speak like himself.

As fate would have it, which it often does in Call of Cthulhu, Smalls ended up losing that legendary appetite and slimming down to a more modest size. There were no more gigantic meals. No more mandatory stops at the diner. This made me a little sad.

Sometimes I feel a little hungry for the old Smalls. Remind me to tell you how he almost fell down a well and landed on top of me at his full weight.