That's not to say that I didn't give Australia as a chapter a good once-over. But at the time of writing up notes, I didn't consider it as something the players would be interested in. I thought they would go, "Oh well, Jackson Elias never went there, and there's really no clues leading to it, so why head Down Under at all?" Then I blabbed to Kat, in a fit of excitement, that there was a possibility in my run of MoN that they could meet and even brain-swap with a Yithian. The Shadow Out of Time happens to be one of her favorite Lovecraft stories, so she got super hyped for the idea and pretty much begged me to do it. Well, I couldn't let her down after she was so excited to see it, so I ended up biting the bullet and writing up notes for it. I'm pleased to say my expectations were smashed for Australia, and it did turn out to be fun for everyone. Especially that pay-off and epic appearance of Kakakatak at the end, which really did make it all worthwhile to run even if the rest of it was a bit of a slog.
That said, let's talk a bit about how tough this chapter can be to start when you don't have direct leads from elsewhere in the campaign. I had a party of 100% new characters that had no connection to the initial party that began in NYC, save for a character that had retired for the time being. Nobody had any real reason to go to Australia, even less of one than the party from NYC did. So, I fell back on that time honored tradition all Keepers do when caught off guard: bullshitting. That's right, I completely fudged that Clayton had given them the clues to follow up on, and I made sure earlier on Grey Dragon Island that I sewed in connections to the Great Race of Yith on the rocket blueprints. Even worse was that both Chance and Levi decided to swap their new characters for different ones. Chance in particular begged me to let Ludwig come back, and I was sympathetic enough to let him since said character really hadn't gotten a fair shake. In the long term that was for the best, but at the time it was little more than a nuisance to me. All this combined made it tougher for me to even get stuff started, so I had to bullshit even more. Next time, I'm heavily considering not letting Investigators retire unless there's a good reason for it, but hey, it is what it is...
This should go without saying, but when running Australia, just as with in London, the right accent is important. Not every Australian speaks like a Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee knockoff, but that is of course a good place to draw accent inspiration and practice from. For some reason, I still found it very difficult to grok how Aussie accents work until I got used to running Australia... until I realized something: an Aussie accent is not that far off from a Cockney accent, but more nasal, a lot more swearing, and a bit of a different emphasis on certain syllables. Speaking of accents that are known for their slang, I just want to go on record as saying that some Aussie turns of phrase are absolutely the most adorable things ever. "He's got kangaroos in the top paddock", "She's gone Yarra", "That's the strangest thing I've seen this side of the black stump", and other quaint expressions have endeared this Yankee bastard so much they've even entered her own vocabulary. You can find a lovely list of Australian expressions, as well as a lot of very useful information for running Australia, in Chaosium's Terror Australis. Incidentally, that's precisely where I got the name for this chapter in the blog entries! I love puns way more than is healthy, to be honest, so of course I had to use this one. You may commence the tomato-throwing now, but you really should be aiming at Chaosium for this one and not me.
Getting back on track here, the intro did go off just fine, but I had a lot of bullshitting I had to do in order to get there. Meeting the new (and old) characters did work as planned, except I had no real plan except for, "Fuck it, we'll do it live". I really was flying by the seat of my pants at the start of Australia, but I did have at least one thing that came off last minute that I am proud of - the statue in the Randolph Shipping Company. For those unaware, when the Investigators check out the Shipping Company, they're supposed to accidentally break a crate marked with the Sand-Bat Cult symbol and find a statue of Cthulhu inside. I had previously already used a similar trick with a Cthulhu idol in London, and I wanted to sew in more Mythos connections yet, so I did one of those One Weird Tricks you hear so much about - I switched the Cthulhu idol for a King in Yellow idol I had also created. Said idol was originally going to make its debut in an extended version of Ripples From Carcosa/Tatters of the King that I was and still am working on the planning for, but I really wanted to show it off and I thought it would be neat to show there were other things the cult had been planning. The entire vision of Carcosa was made up off the cuff, because I am a huge nerd for the Yellow Mythos and I had Hastur on the brain at the time. Incidentally, the idol pictured in the blog entry is the actual idol I made!
On Yithians and the mind-swap that occurred for Kat's character near the start of Australia - Chak'xiraxi was entirely created by her. It was her idea to make the Yithian in question be a 60's-slang-talking hippie flower child, and it came off excellently. I think I've mentioned before on this blog that Kat happens to have an Autism Spectrum Disorder, and while that has caused some issues in the group in the past since she doesn't read social cues well, it also puts her in a unique position during game nights in that she is very good at playing inhuman or outcast-style characters. In fact, some of her best characters in my games have been outcast types, and Chak'xiraxi was no different. She played it excellently, and came up with some of the best interactions in the game thus far, injecting some much-needed humor into MoN's otherwise uber-serious plot. Plus, seeing her face light up when she got to be the mind-swapped Investigator was absolutely amazing; she was like a kid on Christmas. I'd say Australia was worth running just for that whole segment alone, but of course, I had a whole chapter ahead of me and none of us could rest on those laurels just yet.
Me being who I am, I noticed how short the chapter was. There's maybe one sidequest, and all the rest of it is just travel. Since Kenya was next up after Australia by virtue of how my players tackled the campaign, and it also is very travel-heavy, I felt it would bog my poor players down. I also couldn't let go of the fact Australia didn't have enough to do except for the travel, in my opinion, so I considered adding something to it and eventually did at the last minute. That last-minute addendum was Pride of Yirrimburra from Terror Australis, and I think it was actually more fun than the chapter itself, but my God, never do to yourself what I did. Never write notes for things while you're in the middle of running a big scenario, on a time crunch while you're doing it. It only leads to frustration, weariness, and tears. Especially when you're me, a perfectionist with a need to make sure every little aspect is just right. Thank God there's almost no props for Yirrimburra, or I'd have been a wreck!
Yirrimburra is a fun little tide-over scenario, and was easily one of the highlights of the campaign besides the actual campaign itself! It's just non-linear enough and throws just enough curve balls, using the same basic Call of Cthulhu formula we all know and love - Investigators get a lead, twist leads to another problem with its own leads, clues begin piling up and tensions mount, and finally it all culminates in a big (often supernatural) climax. The Alcheringa/Dreamtime segment is not to be missed even if the players guess what's going on in advance, and the bush-fire scene at the end is thrilling and gripping in play. There's a lot of fun to be had here, but it should be noted that, just like Dead Man Stomp, this scenario does have a theme of racial tension in the form of tribal genocide. If your players are like mine, they should be okay with this theme, and it will put a real fire in their bellies about what to do with McKenzie and his ilk. However, it's always a good idea to be sure of what the players are okay with before engaging any scenario, as you never do know whose buttons you might accidentally press - and if nobody's having fun, then why bother? Aside from that, Yirrimburra doesn't take a lot of chances, which normally is a big negative - but in the context as a side scenario for Masks, it makes for a very nice breather to a point. There's no terrible monsters to deal with, except the one in the Dreamtime. There's no rush or time limit hanging over the Investigators' heads. There's not even any direct threat to themselves, though the town in question certainly has one. This means that Pride of Yirrimburra really feels as though things play out on their own, and it kind of needs to be slotted into a campaign somewhere in order to hold its own. Otherwise, it falls a bit flat and might be a bit too boring for some players. Yes, even with the bush-fire. 7/10 Rainbow Serpents for this one.
Now for the other side-quest in this chapter, Buckley's Ghost - a flash-scenario supernatural drama about revenge and murder most foul, this is a great scenario for showing your players that not all the weird stuff that happens is related to Nyarlathotep - or even to the Mythos at all! There really is nothing like a good old fashioned classic ghost story to take one's mind off the stress and tension of the rest of the campaign, and besides, when else are you going to throw in ghosts in a Call of Cthulhu campaign? And no, adamant Lovecraft readers and scholars, the creatures visible with the Resonator in From Beyond don't count as ghosts, and you know they don't - shame on you for trying to sneak that one past me. The non-connected nature of Buckley's Ghost is unfortunately also one of its weaknesses - it can easily be ignored by the players if the Keeper doesn't sow leads to it in Cuncudgerie. Its short nature also means it doesn't have a lot going for it or even the most complex of plots. Hell, it's not even really suggested how the players are intended to deal with the Slattery Clan. And that's another thing - if the Keeper isn't careful, this backwater Outback-dwelling family of badniks can easily cause a lot of damage; it's just not very much fun for your players if they came to get killed by the huge heliophobic bat-monster with the trilobed eye, and then they get their asses whipped by these random Australian rednecks.
That's not to say that this scenario is all bad though - it can have its moments, and can be extended if the Keeper likes to as much as a half-hour to hour of play if they work it just right. Besides, I find it very hard to hate a scenario with a title that puns on two very similar in meaning idioms - "Buckley's chance" and "ghost of a chance". As stated before, I love puns way too much, so seeing that title was essentially a big ol' neon sign reading, "Gen, you're an idiot if you don't run this." It's almost charming in how it grows on you, and for what it is - an intentional breather before the trials of the Outback - it does a good job of it. There's also some decent mileage to be had in characterizing Bill Buckley's vengeful phantom and the Slattery family; you can make either as dangerous or easy to handle as you desired and could probably even somehow connect it to the main plot if you felt clever enough to. For all that, I'll have to say that Buckley's Ghost scores a solid 6.5/10 restless spirits. It is what it is, but I just feel a slight bit more effort could have gone into this one to make it extra special.
The encounter table for the Outback given in the chapter can be quite dangerous, quite boring, or equal parts of both. There's really only two major set events in the Outback, possibly three - the ambush on the Jeeps, the finding of the City of the Great Race and entry therein, and possibly the abandoned mining camp if your players get curious and go a bit off the beaten path. Everything else is listed in the encounter table. Be sure to take the weather and time of year into account - North American winter is equivalent to Australian summer, and vice versa. The Land Down Under follows a wet season/dry season style pattern, and knowing when those seasons fall is vital to your descriptions of the Outback - bushfires are even more of a threat in the dry season, while flash flooding of rivers and dangerous squalls are more common in the wet season. The weather can change on a dime, sandstorms are always a threat, and it is absolutely sweltering much of the time. Sunstroke, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and sunburn are always concerns, and should always be taken into account ("Does your expedition have all the supplies it needs? Salt? Water? Proper sun protection?") I believe the Companion even has some information either in this Chapter or the Cairo Chapter concerning heat-related issues, and if not in there, it's most certainly somewhere in one of the desert-based chapters of the campaign. Heed this, and bear it in mind especially here and in Cairo. You'd even do well to heed it somewhat in Kenya, since the threat of heatstroke can increase in all that lush, tropical humidity!
All this plus dangerous, venomous animals can be a major threat and make the trek to the City grueling, so make sure it comes off that way! Your Investigators will start feeling the heat and tension as they go along, making it a desperate slog in a good way - encourage this discontent; it breeds excellent roleplay opportunities. As ever though, if it gets to be too much for the players OOC, call a break and have something to eat or drink, let everyone cool down. When good RPers have characters that become angry, they can push it too far and begin actually feeling that rage themselves, to the point that tempers at players and not characters start flaring. This can become even more problematic when the party loses a character; case in point, what happened to poor Lucas Bradford. Now, I said before that the encounter table should be handled carefully, and what I really meant is that the Mimi encounter should be handled carefully. Players will react to this differently depending, especially if you've made them nice and tense first. My players, even after being warned about the Flying Polyps and shown their tracks several times by scholars, Aboriginal tribesmen who have spent their whole life in the Outback, and a Yithian, decided that they absolutely wanted to fight the Flying Polyps causing trouble for the Mimi. Even after they should have recognized what the Mimi drew as the creature's tracks, and seeing that the image roughly matched the image of a hovering tumorous mass. There's no real telling what players are going to do, though, even when you throw a monster the size of a house at them, and even after one of them gets smashed by said monster.
There were some positives, though - I learned just how dangerous certain Mythos creatures really are in play, and even got a nice new way to make my players paranoid for the rest of the chapter out of it. All I had to do after that incident was over was simply blow over the lid of an open glass bottle, using that as the Polyps' trademark whistling noise, and they went pale and got out of dodge every single time. Just like with the voice I adopt for Nyarlathotep, and just like his trademark soulless black eyes and sharp teeth I describe, my players learned to very much fear the wind, and to fear that sound even more. Hell, just the mere mention of the wind picking up was enough to send them scurrying! They were so terrified of running into another Polyp that they were scared they'd return all the way up to almost the very end of the Kenya chapter. Pavlovian conditioning is a hell of a thing, people... and an excellent tool for any Keeper to have in their kit. I highly recommend using it liberally and often, changing things up just enough each time to keep them on their toes. Heh, heh, heh...
On the "set in stone" encounters, make sure they're as intriguing or exciting as possible. These are the highlights of the trip out, but always let the Investigators make it out alive even if by the skin of their teeth. Not only does this enhance the perilous pulp feel of the campaign as a whole, it makes them feel truly accomplished. This is doubly true with the ambush segment, where the tension between the characters really came to a head for our run. This tension was building all through them seeing the abandoned mine camp and all through their trials in the Outback, so seeing it resolve was both explosive and wonderfully satisfying, even if it did make me want to violently murder Kat's character for (purposefully, as she put it) being a dick to the other Investigators. Once the party got through the ambush and had captured one of the cultists, though, things eventually calmed down, so that by the time they got to the City entrance they were working (reluctantly) together again. There were no further troubles as they got into the underground, and things began shaping up very nicely for the end of the chapter.
Once in the underground proper, let them explore - this will encourage them to try and figure out what the cult is planning, as well as appeal to that natural sense of wonder and even a bit of a dungeon-crawling aesthetic. In fact, if you're a Dungeons and Dragons type, you could probably run it as a sort of pseudo-dungeon-crawl in and of itself, and it would work just fine. It also will naturally (and you should try to ensure it's guided this way as much as possible) lead them to their odd ally for the chapter, Kakakatak the Yithian Scientist and POW. Of course, once they find him, heading to the end is inevitable - so it's important to make sure it's an appropriately epic conclusion to the chapter, like I did with Kakakatak and the lighting guns - incidentally, my take on Kakakatak was based on the 1st, 10th, and 12th Doctors of Doctor Who fame, particularly the 12th, plus a little bit of Data from Star Trek: TNG. I figured it made sense, since I've always somewhat seen the Great Race of Yith as being somewhat like Time Lords - they have the time-space travel thing down pat, and they're just alien enough to not really "get" humans as well as being able to blend in with us in a way. Another character they needs must run into is Dr. Huston. You remember how I said the Rosethornes in Still Waters were fun to play? Dr. Huston is like a more refined male equivalent to them. He really does let you get out your inner Bond villain, which only makes his subsequent defeat all the more satisfying. Especially when Ludwig shot him through the head while murmuring "The doctor is in." So pulpy. Soooo satisfying.
Now, the ending went stellar enough, and I could leave it at that. But I'd be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention the adorable little terror in the room that was Ufiti, Spawn of the Crawling Chaos taking after his Haunter of the Dark aspect. Ufiti was a change from the "reptillian spawn" that one of the trapped women births in the cages in Huston's lair; I chose a bat-like look because I thought it connected to Sand-Bat better that way. I was fully expecting the players to go, "Ew, it's eating the mother, that's so gross, it's covered in viscera" and let it go - but as you and I both know by now, things rarely if ever go that way when you let players take the reigns. Aidyn, ever seeing the good in things, could not let go of the creature after its birth - which I played off as insanity from witnessing it - and Chance, being the troll he is, only encouraged it. The resulting arguments between the characters were hilarious, and the tension of Muuzaji being knocked out because she couldn't let the damn thing go really added to the excitement of the ending. It also directly foreshadowed the birth of the Spawn in Kenya, and even tied into them meeting Sand-Bat in the Purple Dome Temple, which incidentally, was always planned to occur if they entered it at the wrong time. I was merciful, though, and decided that the accursed Sight-Which-Is-Not-Sight wouldn't afflict the players unless Nyarlathotep wanted it to. Thankfully, Neville provided the perfect target for the Crawling Chaos' rage by taunting the god. That... was a very fun, and very satisfying, end for the most annoying PC in the game, for both me and for Kat.
All in all, Australia was a fun little chapter, if a bit ultimately pointless. It's nice enough, but it really does feel a bit too much like it should be its own thing, which for a while, it actually was! As most CoC veterans and fans of Masks know, the Australia chapter was originally cut for time, space, and budget constraints, making it an orphaned piece of the plot. However, I really think that was for the best, because the only way it genuinely ties into the campaign is that Huston ends up there and Nyarlathotep appears in it. The Sand-Bat Cult really is a revival cult and is therefore of little threat or consequence to the plot - they almost seem like an afterthought. And while I do particularly adore the Haunter of the Dark and liked how it was used in this chapter, I don't see the need to add one more Mask of Nyarlathotep into the plot. I mean, are you sure you guys don't wanna cram a few more in there, and have an extra cult or fifteen running around? Why not add Ahtu and the Masked Messenger in for good measure? Maybe have the Investigators randomly end up in Haiti and met Baron Samedi? ... Actually no, wait, that sounds awesome, what the hell am I saying?! Do throw in more Masks, especially obscure and weird ones - the world needs more Crawling Chaos (I'll take "Things Only Cultists Would Say" for $500, Alex).
Extra Masks aside, I'm not kidding when I say that Australia, as a chapter, probably is best run as its own scenario/campaign/adventure. It could make an awesome climax to an Australia-based campaign, or could be fun on its own with a little proper work. If you were to do this, you could probably even take more out of Terror Australis and make it work wonders to your advantage. As part of Masks of Nyarlathotep, it's not stellar, sure - but on its own, it'd be a lovely adventure Down Under that your players are sure to enjoy. I can't fault its flaws, nor can I fault Chaosium for originally giving it the axe for time. It really is the weakest chapter of the campaign, even more so than Shanghai and New York were, but this time it doesn't have much of an excuse. New York gets a pass for being the canonical start, and Shanghai gets a pass for being the canonical end - AKA, they're the two toughest parts of a story to write, especially for something intended to be open-ended and playable in any order like a TTRPG campaign. Australia doesn't have those to fall back on. That doesn't mean it's bad, it just makes it the black sheep - there is a lot to have fun with in it. I'd consider heavily before adding it to your run of Masks, but that's just my two cents. It is fun, and for that reason I can't bear to give it any less than a 6/10 trilobed, burning eyes were it a standalone campaign. Not bad, just flawed, but those flaws really do grow on you.
Come on, you know me well enough as a Keeper by now - I add my own flair to everything, and this campaign was no exception. Since I didn't get much opportunity to add anything of my own creation in Australia proper, I settled for reprising Fear of Flying/Falling by having yet another nightmare in the air whilst traveling to Kenya. This time, it all began with a simple question: What if the Investigators are trapped with the cultists? From there, the concept for the second plane travel interlude, a scenario I called Trapped Like Sardines, was born. The concept neatly helped tie up some loose ends, and introduced the uncomfortable reminder that, although Nyarlathotep's cultists are monsters for what they do, they are still human beings - and when survival is on the line, there is absolutely nothing all that different about them in comparison to the Investigators. The intent was to introduce an unlikely and shakily tense ally to the group in the form of either Mudar or Badru, as well as to demonstrate why the cults hadn't just worked together to stop the Investigators in the first place. There was actually also a scrapped concept for a Chinese Order cultist that I considered - he would have been heavily tattooed and a martial arts master, absolutely deadly in combat and a stoic type with a taste for making his enemies truly suffer. Sadly, he never came to be. Incidentally, Badru and Mudar both have meaningful names - Badru is a Swahili name meaning "Born Under the Full Moon", while Mudar is Arabic and means something very close to "Dangerous/Insidious". Yes, I'm absolutely serious.
Insanely appropriate names aside, I had always intended for Australia and even its travel interlude to be intense. Even it, however, paled in comparison from the insanity and brutality that was Kenya...