Anyone played Masks of Nyarlathotep?

[Wolfpack48]

(I did use Sing at one point, and one of the other players said "Oh, you actually can sing. I thought 'singer' was a euphemism for an older profession.")

LOL, BRP is pretty plain spoken and clear in its skill names -- they must have been used to some sort of narrative keyword system.

 

[Celebrim]

...or because the Keeper went easy on us - he says he removed a few bits he felt were outright unfair, but played the rest of it by the book; not sure if I believe him though.

If you run with kid gloves and a high degree of illusionism, there are the makings of a decent campaign with a lot of well-realized NPCs and like I said really good usage of the three-clue rule to keep the campaign moving forward. But as written the story is supposed to direct players to these big set pieces where they see the "glory" of the Nyarthalhotep cult that are all of the everyone dies/goes insane sort, and there are these insanely powerful NPCs who could proactively act to kill the PCs (potentially even at a distance) once they identify the PCs as a threat - sorcerers with almost the full mythos spell grimoire and scores of power points to spend and literally hundreds of cultist minions. And yeah, WWI vets, elephant guns and multiple characters with 80% in various firearms skills are probably more essential than having antiquarians along.

 

[Celebrim]

You said it was terrible. If that’s moderate and it’s worse than terrible then you’re a harsh critic.

I am keeping back certain lines of criticism for the sake of board peace.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I don't normally play using Pulp rules, but yeah, Masks really benefits from it. Not just in terms of enhanced player survivability but the sort of Indiana Jones vibe the campaign can emit in times really works well with the Pulp rules. I rarely use all of them. You don't even need the real Pulp rules, per se. Just double HP and increase Luck to start and maybe pulp talents or the "Blaze of Glory" rule. You can also give them an extra 100 skill points to spend if you really want.

 

[payn]

I think this is my biggest concern with switching to any system. I’m not sure the best way to overcome it if you play a modern D&D experience.

I wouldnt leap right into MoN. Id probably pick or create a one shot to deliberately display the expected differences in play. That is, of course, you and/or the players want a change from the deep deep gravity well of the D&D murderhobo play style?

 

[HorusZA]

I ran the new edition a few years ago for a group of experienced players supplemented with the Deluxe Prop Set (highly recommended) and some stuff from the Companion.
It took us close to 2 years to get through it, fortnightly for the first year and weekly for the second, missing the odd session here and there.
In total the group went through 3 characters: 2 KIA and 1 going indefinitely insane, all at dramatically appropriate moments. None of the characters were combat focused or armed beyond what is respectable.
The players took it slow-and-easy, often to savor the details of the Deluxe Prop Set. For example, they took a large chunk of one session just working through Carlyle's Medical File. They (wisely) avoided some areas such as the Mountain of the Black Wind altogether, judging the risk far too high. This impacted their scoring of the "Ultimate Outcome" but they still achieved a comfortable Lesser Horror result with 16 points.
In our campaign post-mortem/retrospective they all agreed that it was one of the best campaigns they have ever participated in.

 

[billd91]

I wouldnt leap right into MoN. Id probably pick or create a one shot to deliberately display the expected differences in play.

I generally agree with this too. MoN is a big thing to drop on newbies. I'd definitely play a one-shot or two to get players acclimated to CoC.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I ran the new edition a few years ago for a group of experienced players supplemented with the Deluxe Prop Set (highly recommended) and some stuff from the Companion.

I'll second the deluxe prop set. If you're going to invest the two years required to play the campaign spending the money for the prop set is definitely worth it.

I still haven't really looked into running the new edition of Masks with the Companion. I wonder how that would work out since alot of the stuff the Companion adds back in is included in the new edition now (Australia etc). Though, I still think it would be useful on the advice side.

 

[Retreater]

I’d say, what do you like most about it?

I like the globe-trotting nature of it. That lends to a pretty quick pace. New York, Kenya, Egypt, Shanghai, (I don't remember us getting to Australia).
Also, there are big set piece areas that lead to memorable scenes.
The cults in the different areas feel different - but are still connected.
So I guess the common element is "variety."

 

[grimmgoose]

Currently running it - I think 90% of the complaints in this thread could be solved by using the optional Pulp rules. Just double your PC's health and you are good to go.

I'm loving it. Playing with 5 people, throwing in one-shots where I can (the players went on a trip to a museum, where I sneakily ran Dead Light), and it's been great. The mystery is intriguing, the players love going over the investigation side of things. The fights have been tough and intense, but smooth and over relatively quickly.

Having read it twice and currently running it now, I can say it deserves the recognition of one of the best adventure campaigns ever written. The best? I dunno, but definitely up there.