100% honest truth: Dan and David Day’s cover for Demon Magic (1985) is one of my all time favorite pieces of RPG art. I love everything about it. How it sticks to classic reptilian demon traits, how stylized it is (verging on cartoonish), the posture (you can almost hear its wheezing cackle), the flames in the background, the symbol of Chaos on the bracer. I love it all so much. It feels dangerous (it is called Demon Magic for Pete’s sake!) but also not scary at all. This dude should be the mascot for a second rate heavy metal band.

Like all the other Chaosium companion books, this one is a potpourri of stuff. There are rules from bolting on Call of Cthulhu’s sanity system, some new demon abilities, some runes. Most of the book is dedicated to two scenarios. The first, Sorcerer’s Isle, is OK. The other, The Velvet Circle by Larry “Masks of Nyarlathotep” DiTillio, is excellent. It is honestly kind of annoying how DiTillio shows up for like one adventure for every Chaosium game, nails it and moves on. What a jerk right? (I am totally kidding, I love DiTillio).