Jasperak
Adventurer
Nebulous' The Masks of Nyarlathotep Story Hour
The only problem is all the inline pictures are gone.
The only problem is all the inline pictures are gone.
Anyone played Masks of Nyarlathotep?
Celebrim
Legend
So, I had also heard that it was one of the best published campaigns of all time so I bought it... and read it...
And it was terrible. It wasn't just terrible by modern standards, although there was a lot of that going on as well. I mean it was just terrible even by the standards of back in the day.
It's challenging in all the wrong ways. To many times you just have "Yog-sothoth in closet" syndrome where "whoops, you opened an unmarked door and saw an elder god and now you are insane". Interacting with the scenario is almost always the wrong strategy for the players. If the players play fair, they'll just end up insane or dead.
The overwhelmingly correct solution to almost everything is overwhelming firepower. If you could tote around a Vickers machine gun and some long-range big bore rifles with scopes, you'd do pretty well. Howitzers if you can get them. As a backup plan, trench shotguns with bayonets and grenades, and dynamite and gasoline isn't a bad idea for those rare occasions like in New York where you can't just kill everyone with a machine gun from 800 yards away. Preferably kill everything before you can make a positive identification. When in doubt, don't look, just kill it with fire. If you actually get within 400 yards of a cultist, or if you actually watch an occult ritual set piece, or if the wizards that are the main antagonists of the campaign figure out who you are and that you are after them, you'll probably die in a totally unfair manner. The problem is that with the players not belonging to any sort of organization and not by default having their own transport or legal permission to tote around heavy weaponry across multiple jurisdictions of New York and the British Empire means that your real foe, the real problem you have to deal with, is the authorities. It's the police and not the cultists that represent the biggest threat to successfully saving the world. And that feels really lame.
So I had set out with the intention of running the campaign, but I ended up spending about a year delaying the decision to do so and running prequel stories and foreshadowing by modifying actually decently written and interesting CoC scenarios, and I never did get around to starting the actual "Masks" campaign.
Save yourself some frustration and buy "Two Headed Serpent" instead, which is everything the "Masks" campaign should be but isn't.
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payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
It’s all coming back to me now….
TheSword
Legend
I’m finding it hard to square your feedback with the reputation. Not just the original but the remake as well.
It seems that your overwhelming criticism is the power of the foes and therefore the need for ridiculous firepower. How can you be so sure the combat is so difficult and it is so combat heavy if you never ran it?
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Celebrim
Legend
I was pretty shocked as well. I'm actually making a very moderate criticism of the campaign. It's worse that I'm describing it.
It's not the power of the foes per se that's the problem, but how the foes are presented. For example, there is one encounter where if the players are simultaneously exposed to a half-dozen lesser other gods. There are so many encounters where you walk around the corner, and there is Nyarlathotep or something take 1d100 SAN loss. None of it is particularly creative of interesting.
There is a lot of work that went into setting this up and it's a really good early example of rigorous use of the "three clue rule", but there is just nothing that made me want to run this.
There is literally an encounter where the best course of action is to get the Japanese Imperial Navy to solve the problem with an artillery bombardment. Every single encounter has its best solution just absolutely be gunned up. The only investigation really is finding the breadcrumbs that lead to the next overwhelmingly powerful sorcerer that is best dealt with via sniper rifles. And I'm not like overlaying this interpretation on the text, but it's literally in the text itself: "is cunning, ruthless, and as powerful as a minor god. The investigators should try to
avoid him, or else to kill him without warning." As a practical matter, the PC's only chance in this game is to be expert snipers or expert demolitionists or both, but to tell you the truth, some Vickers machine guns seemed to be really warranted.
thullgrim
Hero
In a the first three chapters in Savage Worlds pulp style. We the characters died in England in a mundane encounter. We had a great time and will go back to it with newly hired investigators later this year I think. I had a great time running it and the players enjoyed it immensely.
I ran it via Foundry with the Savage Worlds game system. Setting it up was wasn’t difficult.
I ran it via Foundry with the Savage Worlds game system. Setting it up was wasn’t difficult.
MGibster
Legend
You are describing ever bad stereotype of Call of Cthulhu that has kept some of my players away from the game. I haven't read the scenario, so I can't comment specifically on your criticism. But I have read Masks of Nyaralthotep, and I can confirm that there's a particularly chokepoint in that campaign that seemed designed to wipe the Investigators out. I don't know if CoCs reputation is entirely undeserved. Some of the old school scenarios were certainly quick to go through characters though.
Edit: I haven't read the scenario this thread is talking about but i have read Masks of Nyarlathotep? I think I need a nap.
MGibster
Legend
Call of Cthulhu's dirty little secret is that heavy firepower is fairly effective.
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