Fans have wanted this forever, even with some of the current controversy. Some are concerned about the $60 price tag for the PDF. Others are a little confused by some of the changes, and still others are unimpressed with the final result. Does MoN for 7e hold up now, and more importantly, are the changes justified? Is it truly all that Chaosium said it would be, or is it a flop? To quote the ineffable Dan Bell, "I really do want to find out", so let's dive in and see how things have changed, shall we? Along the way, I'll be giving my own opinions on the changes per chapter, and how well or poorly I feel they fit. Plus, I'll give insights on the new Peru prologue, bringing things full circle. We'll take this piece by piece, first with an overview and then some pointers on each individual chapter. Let's get started with the overview right below the jump.
- Let's get the obvious out of the way right now: Yes, Jackson Elias is a black guy in this version. I mean, there's no reason he couldn't have been in the original supplement, and the change isn't that big a deal, but I'm a little concerned that apparently, the black guy dies first now. I've been assured by those who worked on the scenario when I asked that no, this was not intentional... but all the same, I had a player ask when Room 410 happened. It does add some interesting connections with Peru and with racial tension in NYC, but it's up to you to determine if you want to keep this change or not.
- I'm actually a fan of the changes of certain character genders. I think it's cool that Gavigan now butts heads with a female spice shop owner and Tandoor is now Taan, this small Indian woman who looks totally harmless. I was surprised by the lack of more female characters outside of Nitocris and M'weru in the original, and this makes it more balanced to me. Very fun ideas here, and while not a big change, it actually makes this female Keeper feel a little happier with the product. They didn't need to do this at all, and of course you can always change them back to male, but it's still an interesting idea. In fact, I liked it so much I gender-swapped a few more characters in this run - Nephren-Ka for Nitocris, Jacquiline Brady for Jack Brady, made Ahja Singh be Padma Singh, etc.
- They overall fixed the issues I had with some of the sideplots, particularly the London and Kenya ones. I was really not a fan of the werewolf thing, and I think having ghouls is a bit overdone. Others were left as is, and that's puzzling to me.
- The redone props look gorgeous, the art looks gorgeous, everything just looks so much nicer and flows much better. On that note, the rewrite has organized it better for the modern Keeper, and they've added clue flow charts, which just works so much better and is so much more helpful than the list of connections.
- All stat blocks are organized in a specific Keeper's Handbook, and there's a little booklet just for character portraits. It's very helpful and very useful; I've been using them to help players visualize the characters in my current run. I'm a big fan also of the pulp traits and rules, MoN was always much more of a pulpy fun romp to me anyway.
- Many of the chapters have additional things added to make them a bit more interesting, and to help balance things a bit more. It's really cool, and generally I approve of all the additions, though some are a bit better than others.
- The Peru chapter is really, really, really cool. I had a blast running it and my players loved it. Besides, when else are you gonna see Peruvian folklore used in CoC, or get a look at how badass Elias was before his untimely demise? Of course, all that's best described below...
Overview: In this prequel to the main campaign, the Investigators are called down to Lima by a rich Businessman, Augustus Larkin, in order to investigate a mysterious Incan temple. It is here the players first meet Jackson Elias and strike up a friendship with him, if the Keeper does not do other adventures with him first. Along the way, they get their first taste of the Mythos when it becomes clear that kharisiri, fat-devouring Peruvian vampires of a sort, have a cult dedicated to a particularly disgusting avatar of Nyarlathotep, the Father of Maggots. In addition, Larkin himself has a connection to the Crawling Chaos, further sowing the seeds for his involvement in the campaign to come. It is up to the Investigators to solve the mystery of the temple, destroy the kharisiri threat, and prevent whatever awful plan Nyarlathotep has from coming to fruition... or die trying.
The Pros:
- Really grotesque story here. I love body horror and gruesome details, and I love folklore more. Using the legend of the kharisiri as a basis for Mythos shenanigans is something I can't really resist, so of course I had to run it. The temple itself is a wonderfully gory and foreboding setpiece as well. Making the players either drop down 50 feet underground versus wading through a literal pile of human corpses? That's fucking sick; you're sick, scenario author. Please marry me.
- This is an example of a GMPC done right in Jackson Elias. His rewrite here depicts him less a hapless author globe-trotting his way into danger, and more of an Investigator in his own right. He shoots bad guys with your Investigators, covers things they can't with his skills, and slings one-liners and quips just like your players. The Keeper is encouraged to play him like this and in fact, the scenario impresses the importance of not letting him take the spotlight. Having him this fleshed out really does make Elias much closer to the players, and thus his inevitable death is even more gut-wrenching for them. It really does play nicely into the overall campaign.
- I like the concept of Larkin - this hapless man who ran afoul of a Nyarlathotep cult and then became a conduit for the Crawling Chaos. It's a sort of existential horror you don't see in many Nyarlathotep stories, and I dig it a lot. Also his chest tattoo is pretty sweet, and the idea that Nyar can show up through him at any time just has so much potential. I had him first manifest through Larkin when the party was checking on him in his room, and they thought he was fast asleep. They turned around for five seconds, only for someone to notice, wait, why is he sitting up in bed, he was just asleep, right...? Cue the discovery, frightening black eyes and gloating and all. Way the hell too much fun.
- This scenario overall does a good job at being a simple, quick, and not very dangerous introduction to the core bits of MoN as a whole. Exotic locales, local legends, interesting secrets, and the God of a Thousand Forms himself. Hell, it could be extracted as its own scenario if you wanted, just take all the MoN pieces out. It would make a decent one-night game for somewhat experienced players or new players alike.
The Cons:
- I'm not much a fan of the linear nature of this scenario once the players leave Lima, particularly if they skip the little Peruvian mountain village. I'm also not into just how much Elias' skills are relied on in the scenario, in a game where he's not the main character. I feel like it should be a bit more open-ended so the players have more chances at exploration.
- The scenario is a bit too easy. Yes, I know it's the prologue of a game, but MoN isn't known for playing nice and never has been. I feel like the kharisiri could be beefed up somehow. Maybe make them tougher? Use Pulp stats in a non-Pulp run? I don't know. I think the reliance on Elias' skills is what makes it easy.
- It can be easy for players to just not grasp the concept of why they have to go to the temple. Yes, the scenario makes it clear to the Keeper, but even then the players may assume the report on the gold seal is just a guy's mad final ramblings, not an actual threat. Yes, Elias can help them, but shouldn't they make the choice? The other issue is there's no clear idea of how the players are supposed to get to the temple without Larkin. The scenario tries to rectify this by giving Elias the village connection, but if they choose not to go there, then what are they supposed to do? This is probably my biggest complaint about this scenario, only because my players asked and I kind of had to dance around the reason so as not to spoil anything too much.
- There's much made of the designs Larkin found on some of the temple gold, but it never goes anywhere aside from a mention of the history. An intrepid Keeper could do a lot with this, but the scenario itself doesn't. This is just a nitpick, though.
- This isn't really a con, but I am just not sure what to make of Nyarlathotep appearing this early in the game. Yes, it's cool and I always love me some Good Chaos Boi, but if you have players that go into this game expecting an Indiana Jones type experience, they might do something drastic and piss him off. Nyarlathotep-as-Larkin is cool, but he's also a bit of a ticking time bomb that could cause issues with PC death too early. This is yet another nitpick though, and I'm sure a good Keeper can always think of some other application for Nyar-as-Larkin to get back at troublesome Investigators without frying them in a flash. Perhaps in this form, he just isn't strong enough due to Larkin's frail, dying form?
The Verdict: An overall great intro to MoN that serves to cement concepts that appear throughout the campaign proper. It has some really good ideas and I am very impressed with the overall execution, but there's a few things that make it just shy of perfect. It is very good though, and definitely should be run as a MoN prequel. It lives up to the rest of the campaign and isn't so deeply tied to it that it can't be extracted and used elsewhere. This prequel is basically a chapter of MoN in its own right, and even with its flaws I just like the little scamp, because the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Rating: 8.5/10 Giant Peruvian Death Maggots.
The Changes:
- Most of the changes are minor stuff in this chapter. One I thought was a nice touch was that Silas N'Kwame lives in a room attached to the Ju-Ju House shop and has a clearer-cut connection to the cult (he's a high-ranking member and second in command to Mukunga now). It's also possible to trail Mukunga and find out some of his secrets before the Ju-Ju House.
- In general, Mukunga is given a larger role and integrates into the plot even better now, making him more of a threat.
- Speaking of that, there are now some additional helpful NPCs, including a lawyer handling Elias' will and a nifty folklorist dude. I and my players had a lot of fun with them.
- There is a subplot concerning racist cops, the tensions between blacks and whites in the 20's, and the dark side of the boys in blue. I didn't end up using this because I didn't feel it all that necessary to the overarching plot.
- Fat Maybelle's, which appeared first in the MoN Companion, is actually name-dropped here. In fact, there's a lot of integration with the Companion that is very neat, and adds another element to the game should you have access to it.
- Some small things added and removed to add flavor in Ju-Ju House. The zombies are called ciimba; the rites are slightly different; higher echelons of the cult and their garb are described. I particularly liked the idea of the higher-ups having actual mummified human tongues attached to their headdresses. Very grotesque and very creepy.
- Mukunga actually feels fleshed out, in fact all the characters do now. He feels less like a stock villain the Keeper throws in, and more like an actual character with motives, actions, and thoughts. The cultists that murder Elias have names now. Everyone feels more like they matter to the plot and have personalities all their own, and that really helps with tone and feeling.
- The subplot with the racist lieutenant adds a secondary challenge and consideration, if you end up using it. It also has interesting implications now that Elias has gotten a Race Lift, if the Keeper so chose to imply. The fact that Ju-Ju House is paying a specific cop hush money to keep the police away is a very nice touch. However this little excursion is also unfortunately a bit of a double-edged sword, as I point out below.
- There's some additional handouts that clarify pieces of the plot, or are redone to make more sense. For example, why was Faraz Najjar writing the Penhew Foundation when Warren Beisart was the guy they ended up working with anyway as a correspondent? An old rich (probably racist) white guy like Penhew probably wouldn't work directly with an Arab merchant.
- The props have been redone in gorgeous detail, I'm pleased they finally gave us a photo of the infamous Dark Mistress rather than just a boring description like in the original writing. Thank Azathoth for Photoshop and those who can use it, it truly is a gift to Keepers everywhere!
- The overall presentation and build-up to Ju-Ju House feels a lot more sinister, creepy, and tense. It's also slightly more obvious to Mythos-savvy players what god the cult worships now, if they look in the right spots. Everyone expects the classic tentacle-headed, three-legged Nyarlathotep; all the better to make the players think that's what the polymorphic god looks like before you hit them with the multiple alternate forms the game includes.
- I mentioned the corrupt cop subplot is a double-edged sword above, and I mean it. An innocent black dude gets jailed for murders he didn't commit as a way to brush Elias' death under the rug. There's a segment entitled "Bully Boys in Blue" about the Lieutenant calling his men to deal with the Investigators interloping at Ju-Ju House. Certainly there is potential for these bullies with badges to shoot an unarmed Investigator or NPC. This could all be read as a very on-the-nose commentary about current events, so I'd stay away from that if your group's not comfortable with it. I also think it's just unnecessary, so I trimmed it down and kept it minimal. You can always just have the corrupt cop thing without bringing too much attention to the unfortunate implications or parallels to current events if you're afraid it will get uncomfortable.
- There's still not really a good way to deal with getting in touch with Erica Carlyle, getting Roger's books, etc. The implication is very much that the Investigators either break in and rob her, or Mukunga and the Gang try to steal them and the Investigators catch them in the act. It's also left to the Keeper to devise such a scene. While that's great and all, I would have liked to see some nudging from the writers here as to ideas for this; I've had games suggest ways of dealing with things I might not otherwise have thought of if not for the text suggesting it.
- The glut of NPCs now could get overwhelming or make the chapter too easy, but then again NYC is the first chapter and should be relatively easy to deal with. Really, this is just a minor snipe and not something all that serious or problematic in the slightest.
Rating: 7.5/10 shrieking Chakota faces.
The Changes:
- Let's get the big one out there first - Tewfik is now Zahra, and I believe they also changed her last name. They also incorporated her far more into the plot, as someone who is secretly plotting against Gavigan and is trying to gain control of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. They even gave her a cool area under the Blue Pyramid, along with a basement in her shop/flat for her to worship Nyar in. Very nicely done, and really fleshes out this character who was otherwise shafted and makes her a credible threat. I actually decided in this run that Tewfik is her husband, and he is absolutely clueless about her cultist activities - not that my poor players figured that out. I also connected them to Shipley as the supplier of his drugs, to the point it became a minor subplot in the whole conspiracy of the Brotherhood and its activities.
- There's new clues to find in the Penhew Foundation, and Gavigan's flat is included as the place where there is a peculiar secondary idol. I moved the bluestone Cthulhu Idol to his flat, in case the players traced him there.
- There's a lot more fleshing out of several areas of the chapter, including the Ivory Wind and the docks, Misr House, and a few other locations.
- There's a new artifact in the Headdress of Eyes, which allows for great power but also slowly opens up the user to the influence of the Black Pharaoh's insidious whispers. I cannot begin to tell you how fucking excited I was to use this on any player who enjoys trying to be the group's warlock/magic-user. My God this thing is way too much fun and it makes the point of exploring Misr House that much more fun!
- Speaking of, some artifacts and tomes have been changed, eliminating the extra Book of Eibon copy that really was just superfluous after the excerpts found in New York. The scroll for the Mirror of Gal is also now changed to be instructions on using it, not a copy of the spell Body-Warping of Gorgoroth that I'm pretty sure nobody has ever had any of the bad guys in London use ever, nor the players.
- The disappointing werewolf subplot has been totally revamped and it's way the fuck cooler now.
- They added a new location in Henson Manufacturing, a warehouse Gavigan bought out that is being used to manufacture Penhew's rocket parts. Very nice connection to the overarching plot here, guys, and really cool to have an extra spot to explore as a tangent to the main plot of the chapter.
- They fixed the goddamned werewolf sidequest, and about damn time too. When was a Gothic Horror creature like a werewolf ever compatible with a pulpy game like MoN, anyway? It was stupid then, it's stupid now, and the idea of Eloise being cursed to become a ghoul is much creepier and more on-target than a werewolf. Now don't get me wrong, werewolves are cool, but this isn't World of Darkness. It's Call of Cthulhu. I dunno about you, but werewolves don't scare me very much and I don't play CoC for them. I play CoC because I want to get fucked up by tentacled horrors from beyond. Fixing this subplot to be more Mythosy adds at least another point to the final rating in my book. Also, they connected the Vane family name back to Roger Carlyle in a more intimate way, which is always a nice touch and was curiously lacking in importance in the original version.
- There's much better connectivity of this chapter to the rest of the campaign, not just straight to Cairo or maybe Shanghai should they find the Ivory Wind. It's now feasible that, if players find out about Henson Manufacturing, they could go right to Australia after London, although I'm not overly sure why they might want to this soon in the campaign...
- I really, really like the new leads and the new location, it's very fun and it cements other leads very well. There's a lot to like about Henson Manufacturing, and a lot of potential for interesting events to happen there. There's also Zahra's connection to the Blue Pyramid and the basement of her shop, a truly great place to make her an enemy, an uneasy ally, or a wildcard if need be. In any case, I planned to have Yalesha the dancer be one of Zahra's informants, a nasty trick showing just how devious the Brotherhood really can be. Speaking of, I'm pleased they made both Gavigan and Zahra much more dangerous, giving both an arrange of very interesting spells to use against their foes. Really very nifty!
- They finally altered the seriously squicky and unpleasant potential that the cultists at Misr House might be doing a sex rite. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a little horrifying eldritch deity rape in a Lovecraftian Horror story, but I'm not so sure it belongs in a pulp game like MoN, and it's just gonna make too many people uncomfortable in the wrong ways. Of course, you could add it back in and have, I dunno, some horrible Hunting Horror or Million Favored Ones breeding rites; the latter would be particularly gross because the particular Million Favored here involve dead cultists and victims of all stripes. Yep, all-inclusive zombie cultist rape, charming - but you didn't get that idea from me. If you do add this grossness back in, ask if players are comfortable with this theme first. Remember, hurt PCs, not players.
- About the rites at Misr House, they have new entities that can spawn should the Keeper desire. Aside from the Million Favored One zombie cultists (which, cool, why were the Million Favored not used in MoN aside from the Black Sphinx to start with?), there's the OG shantaks that can show up, and even potential for Hunting Horrors now. The elimination of the sex rite also eliminates the lesser other gods, which were much too sanity shattering for this point in the campaign and didn't even fit well in the first place. Besides, anything you don't use here can always be used in Brotherhood rites in Cairo, making for a nice connection between the two branches.
- They changed the last name of the informant for the fog monster article obtained from The Scoop, because apparently even the authors realized that too many dumb Guardians of the Galaxy references could be made from the poor guy's name being Alan Groot. They also made it possible to speak with him, although all he can say is "burning hair". Nice foreshadowing, though!
- I'm still not 100% sold on the "Chelsea Serpent" subplot, it still seems to be too much of a deadly red herring and I'm not sure including a serpent person helps it. It kinda feels like it should be in The Two-Headed Serpent, not in MoN. It is much improved from before however, and there's a lot more detail put into the paintings and their descriptions. I was still unsure of this subplot for my run, so I just killed Shipley off (the Death of the Artist, perhaps?) and recast his mother as his wife. I heavily implied she overdosed Shipley on heroin laced with arsenic (she got sick of having to care for a drug addict), then implied that she was actually a serial killer - a metaphorical serpent rather than a literal one - and she buried her bodies in the backyard. Said bodies attracted ghouls, little child ghouls from the 1800's in fact, who subsequently became the most freaking adorable little scouts for my current player group. I like my rewrite of it better, but eh, if you want a serpent person then by all means go for it, nothing's stopping you and it is still a good, pulpy scenario that fits MoN well.
- There's still a little too much reliance on trailing NPCs to figure out their secrets, and I feel like that could have been better written. There's also a bit too much reliance on specific times of events occurring, and I think that hinders the chapter a bit, but this is just a gripe and not that big a deal.
- You could argue the cult leaders are much too overpowered now, and that the Headdress of Eyes is a bit unfair. While valid, I will kindly point out that you are quite clearly incorrect, these changes are badass, because this is my blog and I make the rules here. Figured I'd point it out anyway, but if it's that big a deal just eliminate some spells and remove the Headdress or replace it with one of Cairo's Nitocris artifacts. Hell, maybe it is one itself!
- This chapter as a whole still isn't overly pulpy and feels like it's trying to be an investigative mystery in a pulpy game. That's not a bad thing, but after the Noir pulp of New York and before the adventurous pulp of other chapters to come, London feels stagnant in comparison. It's definitely much improved from before, however, and really does have more life to it now than before.
Rating: 9/10 Cups of Tea and Biscuits.
The Changes:
- There have been a few minor name changes here and there, but otherwise this chapter has not really been rewritten to be all that different from before. There's also a couple more clues to discover around Cairo, as with London, but not as many. Then again, it's hard to improve on perfection.
- The incident in the Bent Pyramid and the incident under the Great Sphinx are two different endings for the chapter rather than things that are intended to proceed one after the other.
- There are Sand-Dwellers now; it always stumped me why they weren't included in the original. You'd think if some scenario occurs in the desert, these lil' bastards would be there, but nope... not in the slightest.
- The German cryptographer character in the Clive Expedition is a woman now, named Joanna Specht. Her badassery levels have remained unchanged from the original's character.
- Finding Warren Beisart has been made slightly easier to accomplish.
- The robbery at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun changed the attacking monster from a Cthonian to a Hunting Horror.
- Under the Pyramids, another one of the Million Favored Ones in the form of the leeches can be encountered, and they animate the bones in the pool now, which is just cool as all hell. Additionally, the Black Pharaoh can appear under the Pyramids now if Nitocris is successfully resurrected. Not sure why you'd need him there when you have the Black Sphinx and tons of other hazards, but he's there, which is cool and cements his connection with Nitocris even more.
- There's an additional guide the players can hire who turns out to be a Brotherhood cultist, and will betray them. I think this is a great addition, personally, and really points out the flavor and character of Cairo as well as serves to make the group properly paranoid of what's to come.
- There's a new intro for PCs who haven't thought to book ahead, and even if they do, where a group of young men try to steal their luggage. It could lead to quite the fun chase, and makes for a memorable start to Cairo.
- The sanity loss and experience of meeting the Black Pharaoh in his sanctum is pointed out more readily, and is much more appropriate for the situation at hand, although the book still suggests he's quick to kill anyone who back-sasses him. He also attempts to tempt the players into following in the Carlyle Expedition's footsteps, which is a very nice touch.
- The amulet Faraz Najjar wears to protect from Hunting Horrors is now named "The Amulet of Night Beasts", which is just a badass name for a magical item.
- Nitocris, Omar al-Shakti, and other enemies are made much more dangerous and more of a threat. Omar has also been given a slightly more active role since some of the adornments of Nitocris are located in his safe at his house now.
- The side scenario "The Black Cat" now fits the chapter's themes much better and serves to add to the main plot as a whole.
- Generally, overall, a much better flow here as with the other chapters in this re-release. I am pleased to see that there's a more in-depth explanation on travel, money, and culture in Egypt to aid the Keeper, because the average Keeper isn't going to have traveled to Cairo nor be a devout Muslim with intricate knowledge of that religion's practices. It could use more work on explaining some of the facets of Islam, but the MoN Companion helps with that as does Wikipedia if you are strapped for time.
- I like that there's more connection with real world locations such as the Khan al-Khalili Bazaar in Cairo, because what's more iconic than an epic chase or confrontation in the middle of the shopping district the Old City is famous for? Perfect for cultist ambushes or little shops that show up and sell Mythos stuff, then vanish when searched for again...
- I like most of the added new bits and especially the new intro to Cairo. It adds a lot of flavor I think the original skimped on, and helps the players transition from the relatively friendly and familiar London and New York. The Cairo chapter is best run with an air of mystery and Arabian Nights mystique, and it's clear both that and memories of pulp Egypt are alive and well in this intro with its sneaky robbers and conniving French hotelier.
- The artwork is, as ever, gorgeous. I'm especially fond of the piece showing the Black Pharaoh in the Inner Sanctum, because the look on his face is that of a god that gives absolutely no fucks. It's also, according to my friend Kat, the look of pure, distilled "Meh", and I can't put it any better than that. I love that image unconditionally, probably because I feel much the same way about everything in life about 95% of the time. Just, absolutely done with everything and not in the mood to take any more bullshit from anyone. I feel you on that mood, Nyar. I really, really do.
- The general changes to monsters in the chapter really help. I'm really glad the Leeches do something more than eat anyone falling into the pit under the pyramids and are reclassed as a Million Favored One now, because again, why were the Million Favored missing in the original? Makes so much sense to have them in a campaign named after their patron deity, doesn't it? They added in Sand-Dwellers, which nobody ever seems to use; do you know any Keepers who have used them lately? I'm also happy that the Cthonian is gone, it didn't make any sense to have it there and it eliminates the Mythos Hoedown effect of there being too many Mythos entities with no connection other than that it'd be cool to have them. Cthonians are pretty neat and all, they just have nothing to do with Nyarlathotep and that's okay. They can shine elsewhere. You'll get your day in the sun, Cthonians; technically you already did with The Spawn. Someday you'll get a major campaign! I believe in you. :3
- The adornments of Nitocris have more plot-relevant ways to be destroyed now as well as some extra info, making them quite fun to play with and also very much more interesting for your players to solve the riddle of.
- The Black Cat is more pulpy and fun now, although I still personally find it kind of weak as a side-quest. I just think too many gods spoil the broth and the addition of a cult that worships Bast is just not needed. However, it's been improved and I kind of have to give it credit for that.
- Some clues are presented in a clearer way, which is always a plus.
- I don't know why there is the potential for the Black Pharaoh to appear under the pyramids with Nitocris, why would he be needed at this ceremony? It doesn't hurt, sure, but it kind of takes too much of the spotlight off of Nitocris in my opinion, and besides, the Black Sphinx can always be written as a Nyarlathotep avatar instead, making this appearance of the Black Pharaoh superfluous especially if the players met him in the Inner Sanctum. To rectify this, I had Nephren-Ka be the one revived, since he is conflated with the Black Pharaoh specifically and he too is a sorcerer of great power.
- I am unsure about explicitly making the Inner Sanctum scene a potential ending. It definitely is a high point for Cairo, but I'm not sure if it's something that works best at the end, since your players will likely come to uncover the secrets of Warren Beisart, Nuri of el-Wasta, and the Red Pyramid earlier in the chapter. Maybe stick this scene towards the middle of the chapter?
- On the above, I still disagree with the Black Pharaoh being the type to just kill Investigators who mouth off too much. Nyarlathotep is more clever than that, and it seems to me the best option is to do what the MoN Companion suggests and do something minor but terrible, or have him punish them non-lethally. I personally wouldn't let the Black Pharaoh fry the Investigators unless they really push him to it, say by attacking him directly - and if your players are stupid enough to engage a god in full on combat, then they deserve everything they get.
- I don't think that the German cryptographer needed to be genderbent, there's just no reason he ever would be, for many reasons. The National Socialists this guy is subscribed to wouldn't have a woman being an archaeologist. To my knowledge, there were not a ton of female cryptographers in prominent positions at the time the campaign takes place in. The Clive Expedition doesn't strike me as the type to employ a female cryptographer with one member being an old rich white dude and another being an open bigot. In fact, I think the bigot should have been made female, because I think it shows that women can be absolute bastards to people as well - maybe have her be a female chauvinist who dismisses men, or someone who cattily attacks women she meets. Have her be racist, or maybe even a bigot in another way. Or, if that's too uncomfortable for you, just have her be a generic asshole. I was so annoyed by this shoehorning in of the "strong German woman" stereotypes that I decided to keep Specht male and instead made Nitocris' role go to Nephren-Ka. That's right, now the cult is trying to resurrect a very different but still dangerous sorcerer who worshipped Nyarlathotep. Put that forced integration in your pipe and smoke it.
- I still don't personally like The Black Cat for this campaign; I think it's still just a bit out of left field and adds too many extra complications. This is a nitpick and just my opinion, however, so don't take this to mean the rewrite of it is bad.
The Verdict: It's not an easy feat to improve on perfection and only have minor quibbles with a chapter. It's not easy to make a game as big as MoN with a chapter as good as the Cairo one even better. I don't know how Chaosium did it, but they did it, and that's a hell of an accomplishment. The cons above are really just personal opinion and have no other impact on the game, there's nothing with the things I mentioned that's jarringly wrong perse. Overall, a great improvement to the original with way, way more good than bad. It's still the crown jewel of the campaign, and still as bright a diamond as ever even with the minor nitpicks I had with it. This is how you do pulp Egypt right, take note!
Rating: 10/10 Inverted Ankhs of Nephren-Ka.
The Changes:
- Another couple name changes and a few characters added, but the big one is that Tandoor Singh is now Taan Kaur, an unassuming looking woman. She also has a nephew who is helping her keep tabs on the Investigators, but otherwise she has not overall changed.
- Taan has an artifact now to give her more power - a ring that controls Fire Vampires and stores 30 MAG. What a fun little artifact!
- The sidequest at the game lodge now has Revenants rising from the dust rather than small ghouls, which really works much better I think. The plot there also ties into the Carlyle Expedition visiting and testing out their newfound gifts from Nyarlathotep there. Spoilers, it goes horribly, horribly wrong.
- For some reason, Who-is-Not-What-She-Seems is a weird chameleon-Gug hybrid now, which is a thought I really hadn't considered previously.
- Neville Jermyn is given more of a reason for the Investigators to talk to him - he has some minor info on the Carlyle Expedition and serves as a plot hook for a Keeper-devised side scenario.
- M'weru and her cultists are a lot more dangerous now, and the Priestess Herself has many more spells at her disposal. The Pulp rules also make her a Master of Disguise, which can be very fun to throw at your poor helpless Investigators...
- The final encounter on the Mountain of the Black Wind is slightly different and has a bit more to find now.
- The Spawn of Nyarlathotep no longer has a 50% chance of dying if Hypatia is killed; it's simply born outright or dies outright depending on the Keeper. It is instead born with lower than average HP in the case of Hypatia dying.
- Minor Sanity Loss adjustments here and there, as well as some tweaking to make some of the portraits and events slightly less potentially racist.
- I actually sort of like that they made Tandoor a female now. I think it eliminates the possibility of players joking about his name, and the idea of this little Indian woman who looks totally harmless being a horrible murderess and sorceress just tickles my fancy in all the right ways. For extra fun, I decided to also make Ahja her sister and name her Padma. I liked the Singh last name since it's basically the Indian equivalent of "Smith", so I kept that.
- I had fun using Jermyn this time around whereas I'd cut him out as unnecessary before. I decided to add another Nyarlathotep cult this time too, the Spiraling Worm cult in the Belgian Congo, and I made them essentially scarred up mutilated Jonestown types. Just, the nicest, happiest cult you could ever hope to meet. Way too nice and happy... I threw together some BS plot about the City of the White Apes being taken over and renamed Nyargho, and then had the cult move in and try to summon Ahtu there. My players loved it and it let me throw in another Lovecraft reference I might not have used prior. It also let me add more in from the excellent supplement Secrets of Kenya, a must for this chapter.
- I'm pleased with the alterations made to The Game Lodge. I really wasn't too enthused with the small ghouls, because ghouls are overused in CoC. Sure, they were creepy and all, but the idea of something a little less predictable is always fun. I still thought Revenants were too cliche, so I co-opted a critter from Secrets of Kenya, the Screaming Crawler, and had that be the beast causing issues. That also let me tie in the Ahtu cultists I've mentioned prior, and made for a lot of deeper layers of fun in how I had them at odds with the Bloody Tongue cult. No wonder they sent one of their beasties after the people helping M'weru!
- Speaking of the High Priestess, I love M'weru so much, and she's just so much more badass here. Some of the new spells in CoC 7e work so damn well with her, especially Command of the Bloody Tongue, which has the skin-crawling effect of making a person's mouth seal shut. Yikes. I'm also tickled that they kept her Hands of Colubra spell - I've never found a reason for her to use it ever, but my feverishly insane mind just really love the idea of a person going to hug you and surprise! Snakes for arms.
- I noticed on the Mountain that Nyarlathotep seems to have more reason to interact rather than fly off as the Black Wind. For one, he's not happy if the Spawn gets killed and actually goes after whoever is responsible now. For another, he shows a bit more protectiveness towards Hypatia, making him a bit more multidimensional. And, well, if you've read this blog long enough you know how I feel about Nyarlathotep being portrayed as a complex, dynamic character.
- This is a bit of a silly nitpick, but I'm not sure Taan needed a nephew to be her accomplice. To me that just adds too many extra people, unless you want to obfuscate her influence. I think it's more fun, however, to have the Investigators get a good look at her, then have to take down a well-respected, established tea shop owner in the middle of a British protectorate. Good luck getting the African Rifles to willingly believe Taan's a monster when she has the tea market on lockdown, strangers. :)
- I'm really not sure that Who needed to be a Chameleon-Gug. Yeah, it's cool and cements the otherworldly power Old Bundari has, and yeah, it's a good excuse to have her change into a monster later. But again, I like the idea of cool Mythos shit hiding in plain sight without obvious cues, and doing that fits with the theme of things not being what they seem in MoN. I also personally think that things from Beyond the Wall of Sleep and Down the Seventy Steps should remain in the Dreamlands as creatures of Dream, with the exception of the rare Night Gaunt flapping around because some fool decided to summon one. It's just too much otherwise... and too fanciful for the waking world.
- I understand why the changes involving the Spawn were made, but this late into the campaign it seems like letting it be born anyway if Hypatia dies would just be too difficult. How the hell are the Investigators supposed to fight it, Pulp or not? Yeah yeah, CoC isn't about fighting the monsters, but feasibly speaking that's going to be what the players will want to do after all the trials and tribulations they spent getting to the Mountain in the first place. They're going to want to strike a blow to the cult, or at least provoke some chaos, not just watch idly. Having it born with fewer HP is a good compromise though, and I respect that. I also understand why it was changed - getting all the way to the Mountain just to have the big bad evil die outright really is pretty anti-climactic.
Rating: 9/10 Shrieking Red-Tongued Terrors.
The Changes:
- The chapter as a whole fits much better into the game, and no longer feels like something that was cut and then added back in later.
- Many of the Aboriginal characters are made more neutral now, rather than being stereotypical native baddies.
- There's a bit more respect given to the way Aboriginal Natives are depicted, referred to by NPCs, etc.
- The gender of some NPCs has changed. Notably, Wycroft's boys are now his three daughters, and Kakakatak is also female now apparently.
- There's been a few minor tweaks to the Buckley's Ghost sidequest to make it feel more cogent with the plot of the main campaign. It's also a lot more realistic, in as far as a ghost story can be realistic. It also appears that room has been made for the possibility of the Slattery sons to be Slattery daughters, but that was never actually brought to fruition.
- The Mimi encounter in the Great Sandy Desert is absent.
- There's more discussion of the beliefs and legends of Aboriginal natives, and more leads to Sand-Bat that play off these legends.
- For some reason the Yithian Lightning Gun is a camera-like device now. That's kinda clever, but I don't see the point of this change.
- There's a few more things to find in Huston's underground lair now, including the squicky little detail that there are women and men pregnant with Nyarlathotep spawn in the cages on level two of his fortress.
- Huston's mind control device is better explained now, as is how Kakakatak is meant to play into this all. The plot he has with the rocket plans for Penhew is also better explained.
- Huston is much more of a threat than before, has more spells, and has more power and cultists at his disposal.
- I think the chapter runs a lot smoother with the rewrites. Masks of Nyarlathotep is now, once and for all, finally complete for good - no "complete" tagline needed in its title anymore! Because of this, the possibilities of bringing in stuff from Terror Australis are more easily explored here. Around the same time as this MoN reprint was published, a 7e edition of TA was also republished for use with the game. I applaud Chaosium for doing this, though I wish they wouldn't levy the expectation that they'll be reprinting everything ever. If they do next reprint something else that could stand an update, though, I have a good idea of what it should be...
- I am rather pleased there is less violence aimed solely at women in this chapter. It was sorely needed and really uncomfortable to work through while writing notes, particularly the bits with women being used as breeding stock for the cults. There's a time and place for that, and it's called hentai, not MoN. Plus, the implications of both men and women being in the stockades is just disgusting. Lots of gross Alien vibes there, and particularly nasty to contemplate since now it's not just women that are targets, but everyone.
- On that note, I think it was for the best that the Aboriginal characters were changed and/or more fleshed out. That sort of stereotype wouldn't fly these days and probably was a good decision on Chaosium's part. Billy Burralong in particular has been made more neutral and less of a shady sort, and is much more likable overall. Also notably there is much less use of the uncomfortably racist term "Abos" as slang for Aboriginals, words like "whitefella" and "blackfella", and generally a little more respect for all Aussies as a whole. I'm not Australian, but I'm sure that probably makes the game a bit less iffy for actual Australians.
- Huston being made more threatening. Yes. I always imagined him a bit like a particularly dangerous Mad Hatter meets Steampunk Inventor type - quirky, charming, funny, and crazy, but absolutely dangerously insane and liable to drink tea out of your skull. This just cements it. He clearly wields power here and clearly has an effect on the plot other than a crazy dude in the desert doing weird science. His pulp stats are pretty badass too, not bad for a lunatic psychiatrist! He's not as isolated in the Land Down Under anymore, allowing him to be more easily connected to the other cults.
- Why is Kakakatak female now? This is such an unnecessary change in my opinion. Kakakatak is a Yithian, who's to say they even have gender as a concept, or genders as we know them? Shouldn't Kakky be referred to with it/its/itself or they/them/themselves? Since Yithians are like Cnidarians, is it really appropriate to give them gender identities? When I ran this take on the character, I used they pronouns both times because I refuse to give an alien cone-being based on a hermaphroditic animal a specific gender based on human gender identities. Of all the characters you could have altered the gender of, this was the one whose hill you chose to die on? I understand the necessity of being inclusive and having an even-keeled mix of genders here, but what is the literal biological point of this? There's nothing inherently wrong with gendering a Yithian, but it also doesn't add anything to the game to do it, which means it's unnecessary. It doesn't make a statement about gender identities in human society, it doesn't do anything to make the character stand apart more than they already do, and it doesn't make any biological sense. It's just stupid and unnecessary cruft to be "inclusive" in my opinion, about as stupid as deciding that it needed to have male pronouns in the original run of MoN. Yithians, as far as I am concerned, are either Its or Theys, end of discussion here.
- On that note, I personally don't think Wycroft's daughters needed to be daughters, but it's a harmless enough change and I don't have any real issue with it. Though, when I ran those bits, I decided he had one daughter, a white guard, and an Aboriginal guard for the sake of mixing it up. Not a con so much as a "I don't see why this is necessary".
- I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more detail given to the rites dedicated to Sand-Bat. Also absent is any explanation of the original spiraling symbol or the legend of Sand-Bat and Rainbow Snake, which were some of the more intriguing bits about the Sand-Bat cult in this chapter. I wish they would have put those back in, but then again they didn't really need it and the cult didn't need multiple symbols, either. A shame - I thought the parable of Rainbow Snake fooling Sand-Bat and giving the people water was rather charming and interesting.
- I'm of two minds about the removal of the Mimi. On the one hand, they were incredibly out of left field and really only served the purpose of getting the Investigators potentially killed by Flying Polyps. On the other, I am a sucker for putting local myths and legends into games as "real" entities the PCs can meet. In fact I like it so much that in my rerun of MoN, I included Slender Man in a Germany-based sidequest scenario as a creature they could run into! I also purposefully readded the Mimi encounter into the rerun of MoN just to have at least one Australian cryptid show up. However sad I am to see the Mimi go, it was probably for the best - they really did come out of nowhere and didn't fit the tone of the game very well, either.
- As with the other chapters, the ending still isn't well explained and does rely on the Keeper to formulate a method of getting their PCs out in one piece. That's part of the nature of the RPG beast of course, but in this case it's much more noticeable and annoying than in the other chapters. It could have been better explained where the climax of the chapter is supposed to occur, and I feel like it hasn't been. Is it when they meet Huston? When they see the rites in the Purple Dome Temple? When they encounter Kakakatak and form a plan to help them? Do they blow Huston's fortress up, kill the Flying Polyps, sic the Flying Polyps on the cultists, what? There's a lot that could happen here, but it would be nice to have some indication of where those things all lead to and what the Keeper should give as options to the players. If the Keeper doesn't know what to do or how to bring things to a close, then how can the players satisfactorily end it?
The Verdict: Overall, a good even spread of good changes and not-so-good changes. The good changes are enough to make it much more fun and much more connected to the campaign as a whole, which does help it out in terms of my opinion. The most egregious irritant I can find is that a bunch of male or genderless characters were made female for no apparent reason other than "muh gender equality", using female characters being female as a way to point out how inclusive Chaosium is. I'm not down for that, and it really rubs me the wrong way in this chapter for some reason despite the fact that other characters have also had their genders changed in the game. Maybe it's because there's so many in this chapter and fewer in the others, but I feel like they went overboard trying to bring in more women and they just didn't need to. It's not enough to spoil the campaign or the chapter, and it's not an ignoble goal, it's just unnecessary and feels like they tried too damn hard when they didn't need to. However, that's not something that the Keeper cannot fix themselves. The original flaws are mostly fixed, and the new ones are fixable. It is much improved, and for that I think it deserves a little more praise as a fun chapter of the game with much more cohesion.
Rating: 7/10 Trilobed Burning Eyes.
The Changes:
- There aren't nearly so many NPCs now as there were in the original draft. Characters like the random Christian guy and some of the New China soldier characters are gone now.
- The "Firmies" line in Jack Brady's note to Chu Min is made more clear in the campaign as being about the Firm Action branch of New China.
- Extant characters that weren't plot dump NPCs have some fleshing out now. Particularly, Isoge Taro has more of a purpose in trying to discover what happened with Brady and potentially other leads in Shanghai.
- The creepy occultist pervert Li Yinyu is now Lin Yenyu/Madame Swallow, and the gross sexist bits about keeping pretty women as servants has been cut. Now, she desires to obtain her scrolls and possibly employ the Investigators if she likes them, perhaps resorting to kidnapping at the Keeper's discretion.
- Some names and Chinese transliterations have been changed to better reflect the text used during the time period the campaign is set in. For example, Ho Fong's name is now transliterated as Ho Fang.
- Character portraits look more ethnically sensible. For example, Isoge Taro clearly looks Japanese and the Chinese characters clearly look Chinese, rather than looking like generic Asians.
- Some of the more racist bits, such as calling conical Asian hats "coolie hats" and referring to female Chinese performers by the racy and loaded term "sing-song girls" have been removed, and I don't think anyone is gonna miss them much.
- The differences between Chinese dialects are explained, giving three - Cantonese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese. English (Pidgin) is also a skill in NPCs now.
- There are new traps and discoveries in Ho Fang's mansion and warehouse, such as a hidden cache of Mythos artifacts the Keeper can freely elaborate on and new poisons on the trap-locks in his shrine to the Bloated Woman.
- The Bloated Woman's artwork on her stats block actually shows her in disguise as a lovely Chinese lady, although the actual design for her more monstrous form hasn't changed.
- The Demon Cabinet of Mr. Lung scenario is still present, but with some minor changes to give it some drama and have it make more sense.
- There's overall not nearly so much reliance on outside groups to help the Investigators. They don't necessarily need to call in the Chinese or Japanese navy for help to assault Grey Dragon Island, but that's certainly possible to do.
- There's a possibility in Pulp Cthulhu games for the Deep Ones on Grey Dragon Island to have weird mutations. There's also a possibility to have giant mutant enemy crabs attack Pulp heroes, and I'm absolutely on board with that idea.
- The Deep Ones are not only working with the cult on Grey Dragon Island, they've also got the island natives enslaved via shoggoth goo helmets, which is a pretty cool, weird science style idea for Deep Ones if you ask me.
- I am honestly so glad that they changed Lin Yenyu into a dragon-lady style occultist and crime lord. The original character as portrayed in other versions of MoN is very uncomfortable in my opinion solely because of the insistence on potentially kidnapping and holding hostage of female Investigators. It smacked of sexism and rapey undertones to the point I didn't feel comfortable using him in my run for Miskatonic Valley. In the rewrite for MoN, I actually really love this character - she's a fucking badass who doesn't take shit from anyone, can more than take care of herself, and is shady as all hell. She's also a valuable ally to the Investigators if the Keeper plays her that way, and it also makes things a little more interesting if the Keeper decides to keep her as a shady pervert who hits on literally everyone she sees, male or female. The possibilities with her are a lot more flexible and there are more ties she can have now - for example, perhaps she's the overseeing Madame of multiple flower girl houses in Shanghai, or perhaps she's a ruthless woman who climbed her way out from one of those same flower girl houses. That, and the scene with the Investigators meeting her is genuinely pretty damn neat and filled with potential for great moments. What would fictive Shanghai be, after all, without a sly, streetwise, shady woman ready to cause trouble for the intrepid heroes?
- I think we can all agree that the racist terms used in the original copy were not needed and the game is much better now with them cut. Historical accuracy or not, it's really not something that is necessary and could possibly make players or the Keeper uncomfortable, and as my maxim always goes - Hurt PCs, Not Players. Of course, if your group is okay with this bit of dubious historical accuracy, then you can always use it. It's just not something I think most people are okay with, and that doesn't add much to the story anyway.
- I like the new artifacts, traps, and things findable in Ho Fang's hidden stashes. I'm a sucker for hidden compartments and passages, and I think most RPG folk feel the same about it as me. Plus, it's always fun as a player to discover something new, unusual, or hidden in a place you previously thought was pretty boring and had nothing special about it.
- I think the Deep One mutations are seriously awesome flavoring. I am always down for variations on Cthulhu Mythos beasties, because not every individual of a given group looks the same on humans, either. Over so many years, it's likely that the pressures of evolution would have somehow affected the way Deep Ones as a whole look, and doubly so if mutagens such as radioactive minerals are involved.
- Shoggoth goo mind control helmets. If you don't think that's cool, creepy, weird, and just bizarre and Lovecraftian enough to work, you aren't paying attention. Yeah it's a little goofy, but I can guarantee your players won't be expecting it.
- There's still a few too many NPCs for my liking that the players can recruit, although not nearly as many as before, so this is more of a personal quibble than a real issue.
- The Bloated Woman's monstrous design as an eldritch fat lady still looks fucking stupid in my opinion. Nobody's terrified by a fat woman, tentacles or not. You can do better than this, Chaosium art ghouls. You can and you know it, especially with how brilliant the art for the Haunter and the Black Pharaoh are, and that iconic Bloody Tongue God image. The curly one. You know the one. I love that piece.
- I still don't think The Demon Cabinet of Mr. Lung was a necessary sideplot, and I think it could have been made more Mythos-tinged if the writers tried. Otherwise it's kind of out of left field and random. Maybe they should have written a different scenario here for it, or maybe they should have just replaced it with Bloody Botany from the MoN Companion, which is the superior scenario of the two. At least it's more connected to the plot than before though.
- I'm not sure how to feel about the toning down of some of the sanity loss at the end. Yes, the loss for Bloated Woman is more feasible, but I also don't think that only taking 1/1d4 SAN for seeing Ho Fang's shrine in his house and all the horrid shit therein is quite right. I'd maybe take a little extra SAN for seeing mutated Deep Ones, enslaved humans with shoggoth goo helmets, and the rites in the volcano lair, but other than that I think the Keeper might want to up the ante with sanity losses here, particularly if this is the end of the game.
Rating: 8/10 Black Fans.