Shadows of Yog-Sothoth (1982) is the first campaign for Call of Cthulhu. Being the first, it is considered a classic (to the point that it was republished in 1989 as part of the book called Cthulhu Classics), and it is, but it only shows some of the promise that would be achieved by the game in the future.

In a nutshell, the Order of the Silver Twilight is working to wake Cthulhu up early. The campaign is episodic, with players uncovering a global conspiracy and attempting to find the means to foil the plot. Each individual episode is good (particularly “Devil’s Canyon,” which finds players on a haunted film set in the Mojave desert) and they sort of act as a Lovecraftian greatest hits, culminating with the rise of R’lyeh, but they just don’t feel like a cohesive story to me. Which is fine, because it was the first outing and written by a large team. It feels like the equivalent of a TV pilot, where you can see the future potential but things are a little rickety.

Of particular note is Carl Stanford, the primary antagonist. A cunning sorcerer, he’s probably one of the Call of Cthulhu game’s most memorable adversaries. So much so that it is likely he escapes the climax of the campaign, after which he shows up as a minor player in the events of Masks of Nyarlathotep (I like his appearance there a lot, diminished in prestige and power, but really no less ambitious or formidable).

One of the great joys of the book is Tom Sullivan’s art throughout. If there is something that unifies the disparate chapters, its his consistent talent for atmosphere.

I was at our local bakery recently and came across a loaf of bread quaintly branded as a “Peasant Loaf”. It was selling for over $6—the irony of this was not lost on me. 

In retaliation I have decided to post what I actually think of as a peasant loaf, but with the luxury of finely ground modern flour which is less likely to break your teeth because actual peasant loaf bread is like chewing rocks unless you’re soaking it in soup or stew. 

This is a very simple loaf, it requires no special tools and is a fairly forgiving dough for beginners to work with. Also it has the added bonus of looking like an expensive artisan loaf, but costs literal pennies to make once you invest in the basic ingredients.

So what do you need?

Ingredients:

Plain flour (or wholewheat if you prefer)

One sachet of active dry yeast.

Salt.

Water.

Tools:

Bowl

Mug

Prep and bake time total: 2 hours 45 minutes.

Yep, that’s it. You’ll notice that there’s no quantities listed up there, and that’s because you’ll be using the mug to measure everything. This helps to make sure your quantities are consistent, and means that so long as you have a mug and your ingredients, you can make bread. Heck you don’t even need a bowl, it just makes clean up easier.

Again I had Elusive Tumblr Dad help me take the photos so be warned this is going to be fairly image heavy under the cut :D

Step One: Gather your stuff.

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