Just spotted the new edition of Mask of Nyarlathotep on Chaosium’s website. Masks was the first full-on Call of Cthulhu campaign I ran, back around 1997, for the old Tokyo Crew. The campaign lasted about a year and a half and it was a blast without a doubt. It was kind of a milestone for me, since I rarely run ready-made campaigns. It also had the highest PC body count of any game I’ve run until the Godlike D-Day campaign, clocking in at something like 8 KIA, and 6 irrevocably insane.
I think it’s also a great example of campaign design, particularly in its GM-friendliness. All the (multitudinous) clues are cross-referenced – where they came from and where they lead to. The adventures/chapters can be played through in any order after the first one. I used the 3d edition, which was kind of a “director’s cut” since it included a chapter set in Australia that wasn’t in the 2nd edition.
Although CoC material from Chaosium is generally good, Masks is a cut above. I even thought all of Chaosium’s stuff was done the same way, but soon found out I was wrong.
I’ve heard Masks criticized for being more pulpish than straight Lovecraftian Cthulhu. But hey, wasn’t Lovecraft published in pulp magazines back then anyway. I mean, yeah, Masks had a lot of Indian Jones in it, but that was fine by me!
