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The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep is a recent updating of an older, near-legendary Call of Cthulhu campaign. I'd first heard about it when I started GMing Call of Cthulhu about six years ago, but it was long out of print at the time. So when Chaosium r ereleased it in 1996, I eagerly sought it out. I wasn't disappointed. I recently finished running the (very) long campaign (it took over three months of weekly sessions to finish) and I thought I'd write up some of my opinions.

I don't want to say too much about the story, because piecing together the mysterious goings-on is the greatest thrill of the campaign. Basically, one Jackson Elias, an investigator friend of the PCs, turns up dead at the beginning of the story. It turn s out he was investigating an archeological expedition to Africa, the members of which were, apparently, slaughtered by natives. Some of the information Elias found, however, points to even darker mysteries. This starts the PCs on a globe-spanning trek to figure out what happened to their friend and to the expedition, following clues that lead to Egypt, Kenya, Australia, England and Shanghai. In doing so, they must confront the deadliest (because it is only one to take a direct interest in humanity) de ity of the Cthulhu Mythos -- Nyarlathotep, who makes several personal appearances in different forms (the "masks" of Nyarlathotep) throughout the course of the adventure. Also making personal appearances are murderous, exotic! cults, eldritch tomes, mad psychologists and archeologists, hidden cities, ancient spells, artifacts and technology, and a few of the more bizarre creatures of the Mythos. Not to mention literally scores of NPCs (there's a four-page listing of them at t he beginning of the book as a GM reference) for out heroes to interact with.

Overall, the storyline is quite interesting: the book does a good job of revealing the great underlying mystery one layer at a time, with plenty of twists and surprises. The emphasis is (rightly, I think) on mystery-solving and detective-work rather than action or mind-blasting horror (though there is a fair bit of those, too). Even if they are successful at the end, the PCs are unlikely to understand everything that went on, though it should make a kind of sense. The campaign is drawn with fairly broa d strokes (as opposed to the more realistic, finely detailed adventures by John H. Crowe) and that, along with the twisted foreign villains (I particularly liked the Fu Manchu-like mad mandarin the PCs are likely to cross paths with in Shanghai) and exoti c African and Asian locales, give the story a very "pulpish" feel -- Lovecraft mixed with a bit of Doc Savage and a dash of Indiana Jones.

Now the bad stuff. Fortunately, it's all fairly minor. The artwork is mediocre at best, though there are dozens of the postage-stamp-sized NPC portraits that Chaosium usually includes, and those are useful. As for the rest, though -- frankly, I preferr ed the equally crude but more atmospheric charcoal sketches that appear in some of Pagan Publishing's products over the unfinished-looking pencil sketches of Masks of Nyarlathotep. And in a day when even Steve Jackson Games -- once publishers of the wors t-illustrated gaming products in the industry -- has realized the value of decent artwork, it seems odd that Chaosium would release a presumably key product like this with such substandard work. I was also going to nit-pick a bit about the less-than-perf ect editing and minor story problems, but these are so common in RPG products and the rest of the book is of such high quality, that they hardly matter. See my review of The Realm of Shadows if you want to read my opinions on! the subject.

Overall, The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep is well-deserving of its high reputation among RPG products, as well as the Origins award it won this year to no one's surprise. If you are a Call of Cthulhu player and have never encountered this campaign, wha t are you waiting for? It's definitely a must-have, must-read, must-run book. I would also highly recommend it to people interested in starting Call of Cthulhu, but with a caveat -- this is not a book for beginners to enter into lightly. The GM often h as to keep track of several groups with varying information and goals, plus countless clues, leads and NPCs. The players have to do a lot of problem-solving and information-gathering, and there is fairly little opportunity to resolve things by violent ac tions (and PCs who try are almost certain to wind up dead or insane very quickly). But any gamer tired of bashing orcs or vampires and interested in a more subtle, thoughtful game is likely to enjoy Masks of Nyarlathotep very! much, and I give it my highest recommendation.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep
Author: Larry DiTillio, Lynn Willis, et al. Category: game Company/Publisher: Chaosium Page count: 224 ISBN: 1-51882-069-0 Playtest Review by Eric Brochu on 10/11/97. Genre tags: none	The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep is a recent updating of an older, near-legendary Call of Cthulhu campaign. I'd first heard about it when I started GMing Call of Cthulhu about six years ago, but it was long out of print at the time. So when Chaosium r ereleased it in 1996, I eagerly sought it out. I wasn't disappointed. I recently finished running the (very) long campaign (it took over three months of weekly sessions to finish) and I thought I'd write up some of my opinions. I don't want to say too much about the story, because piecing together the mysterious goings-on is the greatest thrill of the campaign. Basically, one Jackson Elias, an investigator friend of the PCs, turns up dead at the beginning of the story. It turn s out he was investigating an archeological expedition to Africa, the members of which were, apparently, slaughtered by natives. Some of the information Elias found, however, points to even darker mysteries. This starts the PCs on a globe-spanning trek to figure out what happened to their friend and to the expedition, following clues that lead to Egypt, Kenya, Australia, England and Shanghai. In doing so, they must confront the deadliest (because it is only one to take a direct interest in humanity) de ity of the Cthulhu Mythos -- Nyarlathotep, who makes several personal appearances in different forms (the "masks" of Nyarlathotep) throughout the course of the adventure. Also making personal appearances are murderous, exotic! cults, eldritch tomes, mad psychologists and archeologists, hidden cities, ancient spells, artifacts and technology, and a few of the more bizarre creatures of the Mythos. Not to mention literally scores of NPCs (there's a four-page listing of them at t he beginning of the book as a GM reference) for out heroes to interact with. Overall, the storyline is quite interesting: the book does a good job of revealing the great underlying mystery one layer at a time, with plenty of twists and surprises. The emphasis is (rightly, I think) on mystery-solving and detective-work rather than action or mind-blasting horror (though there is a fair bit of those, too). Even if they are successful at the end, the PCs are unlikely to understand everything that went on, though it should make a kind of sense. The campaign is drawn with fairly broa d strokes (as opposed to the more realistic, finely detailed adventures by John H. Crowe) and that, along with the twisted foreign villains (I particularly liked the Fu Manchu-like mad mandarin the PCs are likely to cross paths with in Shanghai) and exoti c African and Asian locales, give the story a very "pulpish" feel -- Lovecraft mixed with a bit of Doc Savage and a dash of Indiana Jones. Now the bad stuff. Fortunately, it's all fairly minor. The artwork is mediocre at best, though there are dozens of the postage-stamp-sized NPC portraits that Chaosium usually includes, and those are useful. As for the rest, though -- frankly, I preferr ed the equally crude but more atmospheric charcoal sketches that appear in some of Pagan Publishing's products over the unfinished-looking pencil sketches of Masks of Nyarlathotep. And in a day when even Steve Jackson Games -- once publishers of the wors t-illustrated gaming products in the industry -- has realized the value of decent artwork, it seems odd that Chaosium would release a presumably key product like this with such substandard work. I was also going to nit-pick a bit about the less-than-perf ect editing and minor story problems, but these are so common in RPG products and the rest of the book is of such high quality, that they hardly matter. See my review of The Realm of Shadows if you want to read my opinions on! the subject. Overall, The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep is well-deserving of its high reputation among RPG products, as well as the Origins award it won this year to no one's surprise. If you are a Call of Cthulhu player and have never encountered this campaign, wha t are you waiting for? It's definitely a must-have, must-read, must-run book. I would also highly recommend it to people interested in starting Call of Cthulhu, but with a caveat -- this is not a book for beginners to enter into lightly. The GM often h as to keep track of several groups with varying information and goals, plus countless clues, leads and NPCs. The players have to do a lot of problem-solving and information-gathering, and there is fairly little opportunity to resolve things by violent ac tions (and PCs who try are almost certain to wind up dead or insane very quickly). But any gamer tired of bashing orcs or vampires and interested in a more subtle, thoughtful game is likely to enjoy Masks of Nyarlathotep very! much, and I give it my highest recommendation. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)