Masks of Nyarlathotep Advice Thread [SPOILERS]

[Baulderstone]

Over in another thread, Voros asked for my advice on Masks of Nyarlathotep. Rather than further derail that thread, I will present my answer here and maybe expound some more on my experience at having run it several times over the years.

I would love to run Masks with my current group as I've converted them to CoC. Any tips? It seems to me that its quite heavy on cultists and that could get a bit samey. Also the first major encounter seems like a likely TPK.

Starting with general tips: Keep in mind that MoN is a sandbox campaign. Well, it's really a collection of sandboxes that players can jump between in any order. There is no scripted climax to the adventure either. The threat can be ended in multiple ways in multiple locations.

Each chapter is based around a city, detailing a number of locations in and around it, and the important NPCs there. I've observed that some people find the adventure flat because they just have the PCs hopping from clue to clue while the NPCs sit around waiting for them. You need to have all the major in NPC in city clear in your head, and you need to be thinking about what they are up to. Look for opportunities for the villains to interact with the PCs in ways other than simply killing them. You can get a lot of mileage out of PCs trying to infiltrate cults and/or villains trying to corrupt PCs to their side. Players that get interested in learning magic can make that very murky.

Often there will be "side quests" the players can get entangled with. In London, Malone can lead them to a number of supernatural threats that don't relate to the main story. The Nitocris storyline  in Egypt is related to Nyarlathotep, but still a side story. There is also the sorcerer in Shanghai who can be a devastating threat or a potential ally. It's pretty easy to throw additional adventures into the mix as well. Just be wary of adding anything too deadly.

Speaking of deadliness, let's get to your question about the first major encounter. I am assuming you mean the Juju House? It is definitely deadly if done as a straight fight, but it doesn't usually play out that way. For one thing, people are a lot more willing to run away in CoC than in something like D&D. The players generally don't treat it as a boss fight. The most common cause of TPKs is when players feel they are supposed to win a fight and just press on round after round like automatons until they are all dead. CoC players are usually less confident that every monster is there to be beaten. I have had characters die in the Juju House, but never had them all go.

As for cultists being repetitive, cultists are people. You can make them as interesting as you want. They don't need to be faceless combat mooks. I have the crowd at the Juju House be a mix of harcore types like the ones that killed Jackson Elias, along with decadent society types that are slumming in Harlem. In one game, I introduced some of the decadent types at a party thrown by Carlyle's sister the party wormed their way into. It made for some fun roleplaying with the party being worried that they were made, but the partygoers being thrilled to find they were part of the same scene. If a fight breaks out, some cultists will fanatically attack the PCs, but a lot are just going to flip out and run for the stairs. Cultists are evil, but they are people, and they act accordingly.

Also, the players don't always go the the Juju House. The cult there is devoted to Nyarlathotep, but they have no role in his master plan. Putting a stop to the cult is a good thing, but if the players just get on a boat to London without going, that's fine too.

As for TPK management, the game does give a way to deal with it, but it doesn't spell it out explicitly. Elias' publisher (Kensington?) is willing to hire a PC to finish the book Elias was working on. Try and make that happen. You then have one PC sending his notes to the publisher. If you have a TPK, the publisher has all the notes and can assemble a new party to tackle the threat. If the players befriend Malone in London, he can fulfill a similar role if a story of the PCs' horrible deaths reaches him.

If Voros or anyone had questions, about running the adventure, I would be happy to answer them.

[darthfozzywig]

That's really helpful. I ran Shadows of Yog-Sothoth* last year and my group really enjoyed it. When we pick up that campaign again, I was looking forward to running Beyond the Mountains of Madness (a mythos-against-man-against-nature-mega-adventure), but this makes Masks seem pretty interesting.

*note: I had to modify the shit out of Shadows. While I had fond memories of it from the 80s, it's the most railroady - yet utterly incoherent! - adventure ever. It's also heavily dependent on "roll Spot Hidden. Failed your 45% chance? Okay, you miss this critical clue and the world is sure to be destroyed three chapters later." Ugh.

But I love me some Call of Cthulhu. I made a ton of handouts - documents, maps, creepy jars of reagents, a bottle of Benjamin Franklin's essential saltes, etc. Good times.

[JeremyR]

There used to be a big PDF, the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. I would hsve sworn it was a free download at Yog-Sothoth (the CoC forums)

[Crawford Tillinghast]

There used to be a big PDF, the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. I would hsve sworn it was a free download at Yog-Sothoth (the CoC forums)

It was, but the final product (with all the "see page XX" links fixed)  costs, with the money going to support Yog-Sothoth.

(I joked on YS "What is so fascinating about page twenty?  Every page in the PDF refers the reader to page twenty.")

As far as Shadows of YS goes, "incoherent" barely describes it.  I suggest cannibalizing it into MON or any other campaign, rather than trying to make a coherent campaign out of it.  "The Worm that Walks" is easy to fit into any campaign:  It's a counterstrike by the villains against investigators who have become noticed.  The others, not so much.  One idea that makes a lot of sense to me is to have The Silver Twilight as sponsors and patrons through most of the campaign.  Scott and Sanford are useful as tutors and plot point dispensers, and only late in the campaign do the investigators figure out that they are boss level villains.  The same thing could be done for NWI in Day of the Beast or Penhew Foundation in MON.

[Voros]

Thanks a lot Baulderstone. I did mean the Juju House, I've played a fair bit of CoC and know it can deadly and the smart players often run instead of fight but I thought it seemed easy to walk into unawares and be taken out but your suggestions are definitely helpful in that regard. For such a big CoC adventure I can see a TPK being a remote possibilty, certainly you're likely to lose more than a few investigators along the way, but for me that's part of the black humour fun of CoC.

[Hermes Serpent]

As MoN is one of the more pulpy campaigns offered by Chaosium I might offer the suggestion that you run it using the relatively new Pulp Cthulhu rules. These use the core 7e rules but add in a number of Pulp features like double hit points and stunts that would definitely help dealing with Masks.

[John Scott]

Shadows of Yog-Sothoth was absolutely amazing for us. We play Masks now as a continuation of the events from Shadows.

By the end of Shadows and after many heroic and horrible deaths ( more than 8 PC's died during the campaign) my players become very creative. They realized that in order to face the threat they had to form a secret society, organize plans and keep records of everything happened before so every new member enlisted can continue and "keep the torch aflame".

At this point they have mafia members in their ranks, scientists, investigation officers etc. Each player control and role-play 3-4 different characters, sometimes at the same time!

[Baulderstone]

That's really helpful. I ran Shadows of Yog-Sothoth* last year and my group really enjoyed it. When we pick up that campaign again, I was looking forward to running Beyond the Mountains of Madness (a mythos-against-man-against-nature-mega-adventure), but this makes Masks seem pretty interesting.

*note: I had to modify the shit out of Shadows. While I had fond memories of it from the 80s, it's the most railroady - yet utterly incoherent! - adventure ever. It's also heavily dependent on "roll Spot Hidden. Failed your 45% chance? Okay, you miss this critical clue and the world is sure to be destroyed three chapters later." Ugh.

But I love me some Call of Cthulhu. I made a ton of handouts - documents, maps, creepy jars of reagents, a bottle of Benjamin Franklin's essential saltes, etc. Good times.

I've run Shadows of Yog-Sothoth too. It is a lot of fun and brimming with great ideas, but it is far from a case of good adventure design. I still consider it well worth owning for any fan of CoC. You either need to modify it like you did,  or just strip it for part so use elsewhere.

I like Crawford Tillinghast's idea of combining it with MoN. On that note, I've had hints of the events of the story "The Call of Cthulhu" happening in the background of MoN, but you need to subtle so as not to lead the players off the path.

Thanks a lot Baulderstone. I did mean the Juju House, I've played a fair bit of CoC and know it can deadly and the smart players often run instead of fight but I thought it seemed easy to walk into unawares and be taken out but your suggestions are definitely helpful in that regard. For such a big CoC adventure I can see a TPK being a remote possibilty, certainly you're likely to lose more than a few investigators along the way, but for me that's part of the black humour fun of CoC.

The reminds me that I wanted to mention it is good to have players that have a bit of a feel for CoC before starting MoN. You've already done this, but it is always good idea to start a group with a few smaller adventures to get the rhythm of the game and some understanding of how to survive. It also gives a good reason for Elias to have chosen them to contact.

As MoN is one of the more pulpy campaigns offered by Chaosium I might offer the suggestion that you run it using the relatively new Pulp Cthulhu rules. These use the core 7e rules but add in a number of Pulp features like double hit points and stunts that would definitely help dealing with Masks.

In order to answer Voros' question, I was concentrating on the times that I ran MoN with the CoC rules, but I have run MoN with Savage Worlds, the old Horror Toolkit and a bunch of house rules. Turning all the pulp dials up on Masks is enormous fun.

Shadows of Yog-Sothoth was absolutely amazing for us. We play Masks now as a continuation of the events from Shadows.

By the end of Shadows and after many heroic and horrible deaths ( more than 8 PC's died during the campaign) my players become very creative. They realized that in order to face the threat they had to form a secret society, organize plans and keep records of everything happened before so every new member enlisted can continue and "keep the torch aflame".

At this point they have mafia members in their ranks, scientists, investigation officers etc. Each player control and role-play 3-4 different characters, sometimes at the same time!

There was an article in a CoC supplement, I believe it was the Cthulhu Casebook that had extensive ideas about setting up this kind of society in a campaign. It's the kind of thing that rankles some purists, but can work great for a game, especially if the players really are driving the idea.

[John Scott]

I've run Shadows of Yog-Sothoth

There was an article in a CoC supplement, I believe it was the Cthulhu Casebook that had extensive ideas about setting up this kind of society in a campaign. It's the kind of thing that rankles some purists, but can work great for a game, especially if the players really are driving the idea.

The idea came because they where very close to a TPK at least twice during the SoYS campaign. In MoN the old members work like mentors now and usually (but not always) stay behind the scenes plotting and providing valuable information while the new memebers work in the front. The only "problem" I have as a Keeper is that its sometimes confusing seeing the same player role play different characters at the same time, but they are good actors and experienced gamers and it's sometimes funny.

[Baulderstone]

The idea came because they where very close to a TPK at least twice during the SoYS campaign. In MoN the old members work like mentors now and usually (but not always) stay behind the scenes plotting and providing valuable information while the new memebers work in the front. The only "problem" I have as a Keeper is that its sometimes confusing seeing the same player role play different characters at the same time, but they are good actors and experienced gamers and it's sometimes funny.

Given the fact that senior members of the society can tottering towards insanity, it presents the possibility of a society like this slipping into being a cult or at least having a cult form within it. It would be fun to have them fight a cult that clearly began as the same kind of organization that they have now.

I find any game where you play multiple characters, whether it is a troupe style game like Ars Magica or a D&D game using hirelings, it can help for each character to have personalities that are a little broader than normal. It makes things a lot easier to read.

[Simlasa]

Given the fact that senior members of the society can tottering towards insanity, it presents the possibility of a society like this slipping into being a cult or at least having a cult form within it. It would be fun to have them fight a cult that clearly began as the same kind of organization that they have now.

Ooooh! That IS a fun idea! Similar to the fun of fantasy dungeon explorers run into the remnants (living or otherwise) of other, slightly more cutthroat bands of explorers.

A variant I've run a few times that was inspired by 'The Hound' and some stuff in The Unspeakable Oath has the PCs being less than wholesome and more concerned with collecting relics and saving their own skin... not full blown cultists, but not too bothered by the fallout on those around them... and coming up against more ethical types who want to destroy their collections.

[John Scott]

Given the fact that senior members of the society can tottering towards insanity, it presents the possibility of a society like this slipping into being a cult or at least having a cult form within it. It would be fun to have them fight a cult that clearly began as the same kind of organization that they have now.

There's always a possibility of something like that happening in the future, this is a really excellent idea I love that it's a direct response to players actions (creating a secret society)

[RPGPundit]

That was a pretty good set of initial advice.