Masks of Nyarlathotep Hardcover Review

A Picture of Someone Else's Copy

I finally received my copy of Masks of Nyarlathotep hardcover from Chaosium over the weekend, and I am a happy man indeed.

The hardcover is every bit of classy wonder that I expect, and finally allowed me to read the whole damn thing. I've played the early parts. I've read some actual play posts from games, but I've never had the opportunity to read one of the most played and most preferred campaigns throughout Cthulhu-dom.

I'm impressed. But not by much.

The Pros: It's a limited edition CoC Hardcover. It isn't as nice as, say, the anniversary editions of the core rules, but it does look nice on shelf next to the 20th Anniversary CoC and Aces & Eights. It has beautiful, shiny pages, which should last a long time with casual reading, and are not reflective like other publishers are wont to do. The stitched binding seems solid. And of course, it's Masks. I believe only Horror on the Orient Express and Escape From Innsmouth may have been preferred limited editions, and I don't see that happening ever...

The Gist: The investigators are brought together by a mutual friend that believes a certain archeological disaster in Kenya was more than it was reported. Lovecraftian and Pulp style hi-jinks ensue, and the group finds themselves on a globe trotting journey, possibly to London, Egypt, Kenya, Australia, and Shanghai uncovering an evil they can barely understand, and learning secrets they barely want to comprehend. Outside the campaign's starting point in New York City, the campaign is free-form, with plenty of room for new investigators. Exotic locales, pulp adventure, and hideous horrors hiding the shadows.

The Cons: It's a hardcover, and with six locations and the normal set of CoC handouts, it would be torture on the book for photocopies. Luckily, Chaosium does offer the introduction, all handouts, and a few other useful references as a free pdf file on its website. Six locations could also equate to torture on the book as a constant reference source, even as fine produced as it is. A Keeper might interest themselves in a softcover or pdf copy as well. All this, the diverting plot lines and red herrings, the entire campaign may take months, if not a years for a casual group. It is an intense campaign which allows for the few minor sidetracks provided in the book, but little room (time) for other investigations. Whereas a book like Spawn of Azathoth allows a Keeper to weaves its scenarios into an existing campaign, until it nears its climax, Masks IS the campaign.

This is not a campaign for the local women's knitting society and block watch. A 1920's version of Mystery Incorporated would be wise to stick to its ghost and rubber suits. A well-balanced team of investigators needs to be assembled from the start, and as members become mental and physical casualties, proper replacements need to be developed and blended into the group. My current group, with seven scenarios under their belts might survive New York, but the four corners of the globe would do them in with barely a twitch.

That said, I am simply amazed that my friend Bob ran our novice group through it, and we only failed 70% of the time (a large woman with a Tommy gun prevented it from getting worse).

Masks is a massive investment, and the price of the hardcover, softcover, or pdf is a negligible part of that. For an experienced Keeper with good players, it's an EPIC endeavor. For a new or inexperienced Keeper, it spells certain disaster. I realized now that there are so many free scenarios available that it may be smarter to tweak them to your needs than buying any campaigns. I would consider all the scenarios in the back of the CoC Rulebook to be "free", as well as the plethora of them on the Chaosium website you have months and months of gaming. After a trans-Atlantic crossing or two, and a couple of near-TPKs, they might be ready with a fighting chance with Masks.

Heck, I might advise avoiding scenario books and sourcebooks, too. The only two published scenarios I've run were out of Secrets of New York and Dead Reckonings, and they have been great reads, but so-so in player execution (luckily they did not cause inventigator executions, but that's for a future actual play post.)

After that semi-rant I only have one selfish complaint. I have been spoiled with East Coast companies' super-fast turnaround times, and low shipping costs. I know that I don't want two-week Media Mail for my orders, but Chaosium residing in San Francisco means an insignificant difference in costs between regular shipping and Priority Mail, and that's NOT a good thing to me. I guess it's just another lament of the death of FLGS in Northeastern PA.

In short, buy this book for your shelf, and a softcover/pdf for actual play. And most importantly, make sure everyone in your group is ready, or else the campaign will either be very short, or a Lovecraftian meatgrinder with a carousel of investigators eschewing the scenic route of knowledge and madness, and jumping directly onto the express lane of death.

Exactly what the Great Old Ones want, perhaps...