Masks of Nyarlathotep: Perilous Adventures to Thwart the Dark God (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying) [ペーパーバック]

I actually do not own this book. I own a limited edition hardback version of it. However, the contents of both are identical, so I reckon I'm qualified to review it.

This is the latest reprint of the classic, world spanning campaign that dropped jaws when it was first seen and rewrote the book on how to make investigative campaigns for RPGs. Building on the ideas first tried out in the earlier Shadows of Yog-Sothoth publication, the game features oodles of hands-on clues and a travel itinerary that the players themselves dictate and control.

All they have to do is save the world (well, this *is* Call of Cthulhu we're talking about). They've got about a year to do it in.

I'm not going to give out any spoilers other than that. The action ranges far and wide, with action possible on every major continent.

Experience with the campaign forces me to warn the would-be keeper that this is also a very, *very* lethal campaign. Player characters can be ground up like chuck steak in a car's transmission unless they work hard not to be, and even then they can simply fall foul of some confluence of wrong place, wrong time, wrong NPC.

It is extremely enjoyable, and players I put through it 15 years ago still talk about it when they meet.

It should give any group around a year's worth of play if they meet twice a month or so. With not very much work the keeper could extend the action for as long as required, building on the plot and the details, or veering off into lengthy blind alleys filled with Things That Should Not Be.

Yes, I'm gushing, but this product seriously deserves the praise for just the content. Every time I look at it (I'm currently running it again) I'm struck by the sheer amount of work involved in compiling the thing.

Enough about content.

The book is a perfect bound paperback, and the copies of it I've had in my hand seemed robustly made. I'm not a fan of perfect bindings, but that is the default for Chaosium publications these days. The pages are medium weight glossy paper, with black and white printing. Reasonably robust if you don't get them wet. There's some decoration at the top and bottom of each page, but nothing like you would find in the Sixth Edition rulebook.

All in all, a great product in an affordable package.

Additionally: The extensive collection of clues printed in the book can be downloaded as a book of handouts from Chaosium's website for free, meaning there is no need to stress the binding on a photocopier or scanner in order to duplicate the clues. No stars on or off on account of that, but I wanted to let any prospective buyer know the option was there.

This is a very well written product. Nearly everything you need to run the campaign is included in the book. Lots of hand-outs. Statistics for every NPC and bad guy. Tons of information for further fleshing out your game.

The campaign itself is very exciting, full of action and intrigue. The players travel the world exploring ancient ruins, investigating powerful cults, and doing everything in their power not to be eaten alive or driven insane be horrible monsters. If they do manage to cling to their pathetic lives for long enough they just may manage to save the world.

I'm running my group through this now, and I am really impressed. It is by far the most complex, well-thought-out and interesting published adventure I've seen for any game system. It's not for the faint of heart; it looks like it's going to take us at lease six months of game nights to get through it. And it's not for the mindless dungeon-crawler; it's mentally challenging for both Keeper and players. If I were to have a complaint, it would be that the MASSIVE information dump in the first chapter is almost too much. But it's all necessary information, and you can't really progress without it, so I guess that's just the nature of the thing.