Sample file Sample file Bayt al Azif َطب ٍعة ٢ ْ Issue 2 ذو القعدة August 2019 ۱٤٤۰ Table of Contents Houses of the Unholy 2 Sacrifices 3 Cthulhu in 2018 — A Retrospective 5 by Dean Engelhardt Who Needs Lovecraft Country? — Why the Weimar 21 Republic is the Best Setting for Cthulhu Games by Ralf Sandfuchs False Friends (1920s scenario) 23 by Philipp Christophel and Ralf Sandfuchs Die Gesellschaft — An Interview with Cthulhus Ruf 35 Vintage RPG — Masks of Nyarlathotep 41 by Stu Horvath Sites of Antiquity — Temple of Melqart at Marat 47 by Jared Smith Nighted (19th century scenario) 49 by Ash DelVillan Adapting a Scenario — Our Ladies of Sorrow 67 by Lisa Padol Beasts of Gévaudan (1760s scenario) 79 by Bridgett Jeffries Cracking Adventures — An Interview with Lynne Hardy 91 “It is not dead which can eternal lie....” — 95 Game Review: Call of Cthulhu by J. Eric Holmes with commentary by Zach Howard Grave Spirits 98 by Evan Johnston Contributors 102 Cover Art: Jensine Eckwall Editor: Jared Smith The idea for Jensine Eckwall’s cover was inspired by a setting in Artists: Chris Holmes, Chris Schlicht, Edwin Gunn, one of Jensine’s favorite fiction podcasts, . In Ellen Levy, Ernst Rauch, Evan Johnston, Greg Steele, The Magnus Archives the show, the Archives have a storage room of mysterious artifacts, Gustave David, Jason Lutes, Jason Smith, Kelly Bastow, including a table engraved with an intricate pattern that hypnotizes Ludwig Lange, Matt Hoddy, Tyler Landry the viewer. Jensine put the investigator character (whose clothes Logo Design: Eileen Tjan of OTHER Studio are based on actual 1930s detective Mary Shanley’s) in a similar setting, captivated by a chest engraved with the symbol of the Playtesters: Andy Holmes, Byron Wingate, Denny Lewalk, Necronomicon Gate. The illustration style is influenced by Edward Jared Smith, Joe Procopio, Michelle Wingate, Robert Lambert, Gorey’s classic book covers for John Bellairs’ mystery novels. Thomas Arnott, Tyler Wingate New issues of Bayt al Azif are published when the stars are right. for Bayt al Azif Sandy Petersen 1520 U Street NW who scribed the tome Washington, DC 20009, USA “I needed black horrors that would chill the minds [email protected] and blast the souls of the intrepid investigators” BaytAlAzif.com - SP, 1982 Bayt al Azif is © & ™ 2019 Bayt al Azif Inc. All rights reserved. All contents are © 2019 by their respective creators. Call of Cthulhu is the Registered Trademark of Chaosium Inc. and is used with their permission under the terms of the Chaosium Small Publisher Limited License. chaosium.com Certain names, descriptions,Sample and depictions applied to this supplement are derived from works copyrighted by and include trademarks owned by Chaosium Inc., and may notfile be used or reused without permission. Trail of Cthulhu is a trademark of Pelgrane Press Ltd. This work uses elements of GUMSHOE SRD (found at pelgranepress.com/index.php/the-gumshoe-system-reference-document/ ), a product of Pelgrane Press, developed, written, and edited by Robin D. Laws with additional material by Kenneth Hite, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ). All material not owned by Chaosium Inc. or under the open gaming license of Pelgrane Press is owned by Bayt al Azif and the respective authors. Any reproduction of material without written permission is strictly prohibited. بيت العزيف ٢ ٩٢-۱ ISBN-٩٧٨-۱-٩٤۰٣٩٨ Bayt al Azif 2 ISBN: 978-1-940398-92-1 First Edition Houses of the Unholy really wasn’t sure what would happen when issue 1 came It’s a pleasure to welcome back several of our favorite sections out. Magazines are a rare thing these days, let alone new from last issue. First is the yearly review of Cthulhu RPG releases magazines. But on the other hand, the Cthulhu RPG world Cthulhu in 2018 by Dean Engelhardt, who could barely keep Ihas a very enthusiastic fan base, and there have been numerous well- up with everything that came out over the year. We also have the supported magazines over the years, including The Unspeakable Oath Vintage RPG reviews by Stu Horvath, who takes an overview of and Arkham Gazette that are still coming out today. The response to the evolution of a true Cthulhu RPG classic, Masks of Nyarlathotep. issue 1 was very heartening. People from many different corners of And Evan Johnston delivers part two of his increasingly creepy Grave the world have bought it, several people reviewed it, and some people Spirits comic. even posted about their play- throughs of scenarios. (Though We also speak to Lynne Hardy, who I still haven’t heard of anyone has worked on several Cthulhu successfully making it through my RPG projects over the years. Lisa solo adventure Overdue!) Padol, who has worked with just about everyone in the Cthulhu If you missed issue 1, Bayt al Azif RPG world, gives us a look at their is now available worldwide at adaptation of a Cthulhu scenario quality game stores through our for their home group. We also distribution partners Indie Press found a classic review of the Call Revolution at: of Cthulhu RPG soon after it came indiepressrevolution.com out. IPR carries a great selection of games, including quite a Some of your responses are in few Cthulhu RPGs. And if you Sacrifices on the next page, but purchase a print copy at your store, let us know what you think about you can get a free digital copy to this issue (and issue 1), it’s great to accompany it directly from your hear from you. If you particularly game store through the Bits and enjoy our magazine, please leave Mortar program at: a review or rating wherever you bits-and-mortar.com bought it, every little bit does make a difference. I asked last issue if there was any preference for a particular Finally, I’d like to give a special setting for our scenarios, and the thanks to our advertisers this response was mixed. There still issue, in particular Arc Dream seems to be a lot of support for Publishing, Golden Goblin Press, the “classic” 1920s era that was the H.P. Lovecraft Historical the default for the original Call of Society, and Sons of the Singularity, Cthulhu game, but many people all of whose support allowed us seemed to be open to anything. to have so many great artists Fittingly, this issue continues our contribute to this magazine. mixed trend with three scenarios in different times: Beasts of Until the stars are right once Gévaudan by Bridgett Jeffries, in more... late 18th century France, Nighted by Ash DelVillan, in turn of the century England, and False Friends by Philipp Christophel and Ralf Sandfuchs, in 1920s Germany. — Bayt is Arabic for house. After English-language publications, the largest amount of Call of Cthulhu RPG material is likely in German. In addition to foreign Bayt al Azif is the House of Insects. translations and original output from licensed publishers, Germany also boasts a robust fan community. The German Lovecraft Society Bayt al Azif is the House of Demons. caught mySample attention with their release of 10 (!) issues of their own file entirely fan-run Cthulhu RPG magazine, Cthulhus Ruf, so it was a Bayt al Azif is the House of Ignorance. real honor that they agreed to have some of their material translated here. I was also able to interview the magazine staff for some Bayt al Azif is the House of the Necronomicon. background on their impressive achievement. We will also have some further material in future issues. Welcome back, friends. 2 Bayt al Azif Sacrifices Comments, questions, and feedback can be sent to: (just like described on the “How to Play” article). I really appreciated, and I hope to see more in the future, the Vintage RPG sections. Bayt al Azif My favourite time setting for CoC is the most classic, the 1920s, so 1520 U Street NW please publish more. And the solo adventures too!! Washington, DC 20009 USA The format and thickness of the issue are perfect and I hope it is [email protected] published as regularly as possible. — Keep up the great work!! Hi! Matteo Boschetti Italy First of all, thank you for the great reading of issue 1 of Bayt al Azif. I stumbled upon it in Science Fiction Bokhandeln in Stockholm, — and was pleasantly surprised. (It’s one of the best RPG stores in The Old Town of Stockholm. Perfectly suited as the backdrop of Hello Matteo, a Lovecraftian scenario...) I even got them to send me any coming issues of your prominent publication, which I hope will be many. I Thanks so much! Ah, I’m glad you started with The Haunting, it’s truly a loved The Unspeakable Oath in its day and your magazine seems to great tradition for new players and Keepers! (Including me, that was my first continue John Tynes’ legacy. Cthulhu game, too.) We’re lucky to have a new Vintage RPG article by Stu in this issue, the history of Cthulhu games is quite a long one and there are so Finally, a modest request: Could you possibly upload the handouts for many real classics out there, it’s hard to even discover them all. the scenarios on your homepage? A (unnumbered) map of Damascus for example, would be much appreciated! We have our first 1920s scenario in this issue, let us know if you play it. It seems like the 1920s is still very popular for games, but there’s a lot of other Cheers! interesting settings we hope to support, as you can see by the scenarios in this issue.