Enough complaining and nitpicking the past, though, it's time to take a look at how Kenya is best run. Your players are likely to hit this location either after Cairo or towards the end of the campaign - I'd in fact wager a bet that if Shanghai's not the end of your run of MoN, then Kenya will be. Much like Cairo, I quite enjoyed writing up the notes for it, and also much like Cairo, the flavor and feel of the place is important. They'll likely land in Mombasa first; if so, they'll find a city much like Cairo - the religion of choice is Islam, and bazaars line streets where Arabic is spoken as much as is Swahili. Nairobi, by comparison, is much different and has a different feel to it. There's a wide variety of different tribal and ethnic groups and languages within Africa and Kenya proper, far too many for me to cover here when the MoN Companion does an excellent job of explaining native-born-African Kenyans and their societies and cultures for me.
In addition to the Companion, the Keeper might find themselves greatly benefiting from a copy of Secrets of Kenya, if they can get their hands on it. Not only does it prove a great source-book for Kenya, but it also has a ton of fun new monsters to throw at your players and some even more fun scenarios to add in should you need them. Note that I mean fun for you, not necessarily for your poor beleaguered PCs... There's even an option there to add in yet another Nyarlathotep cult - the Cult of Ahtu, the Spiraling Worm. I didn't add this particular Cameroonian cult into the game because it would have made the Kenya section too long, but if you really wanted to, you could certainly explore this interesting and quite disturbing cult and its scarred cultists. Maybe they've a turf war going on with the Bloody Tongue Cult involving the Mountain. Maybe they're allies with each other. Maybe they're sworn enemies that constantly clash. Maybe they offer to, in a very Strange Bedfellows manner, actually aid the Investigators somehow - now, wouldn't that be a bizarre case of Nyarlathotep playing both sides?
The introduction to this chapter, for me, ended up being the toughest part. I had a lot of convincing to do in order to even get them looking in the right spot, since by this point the players were all absolutely exhausted. The fatigue really was the worst part, so I found myself starting early and often with the intrigue to hold their attention throughout. I primarily did this by introducing one of the minor nemeses for the chapter from the absolute start of it - Tandoor Singh. I had him stalk them through the streets of Mombasa as they looked into things, I gave them a plausible excuse to go direct a shipment to Ahja Singh, and let them have at it. To further muddy the waters and keep them on their toes, I decided it would be fun (and a bit mean, because I actually am Nyarlathotep and like watching players squirm) to make Ajha and Tandoor identical twins sort of working with each other. Not only was this a plausible way to use the Creepy Twins and Good Twin Evil Twin tropes, it also threw the Good Twin Ahja into doubt. Sure, both men were shady with Ahja dealing in smuggling and Tandoor being a cultist, but now the relationship between the two cemented a more complex layer. Hell, if your brother was a cultist and you knew that, wouldn't you still be worried and support them while trying to convince them otherwise? Even worse is, what if your brother is a mass-murderer in the name of his religion, and you didn't know? Bam, instant NPC conflict, and a lot of dramatic irony for the players later on once they finally figure out the puzzle. That, and the idea of the two getting mixed up for each other adds paranoia and an element of confusion, which keeps the players guessing whether or not this Indian-looking Sikh man is the one that is merely shady, or the one that is actually going to murder them all.
One more point to mention on Tandoor - the Companion suggests that your players may find his name funny or ironic, considering a tandoor is a type of cooking vessel from India. Or at the least, they may nickname him something like "Tandoori Chicken" or find his last name of "Singh" too punny to take seriously, what with his Fire Vampire-summoning tendencies. I didn't have too much of this issue, but the Companion suggests that "Tandoor" may be a nickname since he does like to "cook" things, while his real name is something else. Hell, for even more confusion, maybe both brothers are named Ahja, or have names very closely resembling each other. I'd caution against this - while it is fun, your players may become very confused and assume you're just being cruel for the sake of being cruel - and that's no fun at all. In any case, if you're really that concerned about this possibility, there's two remedies: either change his name somehow, or lighten up and let the players make their jokes. After all, it's not like any of it will matter when they get on the train to Nairobi, will it? Concerning the train, if you can at all get your Investigators in the same car, do it. But, remember the racial conflicts and tension in Kenya for the era! Your Kenyan, Egyptian, and white PCs are not all going to be in the same car, which can lead both to more tension (never split the party!) and more of a headache for you in correlating what's going on. The positive is, when the Goodness-Gracious-Tiny-Balls-Of-Fire show up, they're gonna target multiple areas and they're going to cause more chaos and panic as a result.
Have I mentioned I love using Fire Vampires yet? Because I love using them - they're a great way to inject some minor drama into the scenario, especially when the Investigators are in a closed oubliette such as a train car. As such, I found it best to spring the Fire Vampire trap out of the blue with some slight lead-up - in this case, I had Enala who, being on her own with Tandoor known to be on the train, notice him leave and not return as the campaign suggests. This resulted in eventual organic group cohesion once more, followed by my sudden reveal: "Well, you kick the door to the bathroom down and he's not there, why don't you talk about it a bit more, oh by the way the train's on fire." The sudden shocked look of disbelief and silence as they process what's happening, trying to figure out if it's real or you're fucking around with them, followed by the mad scramble to fix the issue is not only priceless, but intensely satisfying. Of course, you should always reward the players for thinking outside of the box or using creative methods to solve their problems - mine thought to use the carbonated water in the first class car to kill the Fire Vampires, and Aidyn thought to use a bucket to at least contain one of them for a bit. Make it easy for your players to slaughter these fiery pests, is my point - killing the PCs on the train to Nairobi is not only poor form and not fun for players, but a logistics nightmare for you in the long run.
Getting the players established in Nairobi was also a bit tough - I chose to have the cops, Montgomery and Bumpton, interview them at the scene of the train fire and give them the info about their fallen comrade because it was a good lead-in. Similarly, I used the racial relations aspect of the city to both hinder Investigators as well as to make them have to think around it as they went to get information. From there, the investigation proceeded as normal - they already had Tandoor's tea shop and a few other leads they could look into; all I had to do was let them drive and feed them info as they went. Everything involving Old Bundari, Johnstone Kenyatta, and the Nairobi Star went off without a hitch, with the exception of one thing: Tandoor Singh's trustworthiness. I was very amused by the waffling my players did on whether or not he was good and Ajha was bad, in no small part aided by myself casting doubt with the occasional comment. "What if" comments from the Keeper can go a long way in confirming, denying, or otherwise making the players need to work to understand. In order to reinforce the point and finally end their tormented paranoia, I ended up launching a Hunting Horror and some Fire Vampires on them at the hotel, by Tandoor's summoning, to really confirm it. It also gave me a plausible excuse to bring unused characters back for the finale, which is why Aidyn and Rob ended up playing two characters at the end. It was just too much fun to pass up. From this incident, it was easy enough to get them going where I wanted them to go and finish Tandoor off. Incidentally, Rob's comment about his "mother having a Bloody Tongue" in regards to getting Tandoor to respond to those words was a real quote I added because I thought it was a clever trick.
When all is said and done, the big part of this Chapter's second half occurs in the wild. I'd start with tables of events you can roll for, then rolling events ahead of time - it's easier to plan for things you anticipate than things you don't. Just like with Australia and Cairo, consider the environment and weather the Investigators are going into. Sure, it's savanna at first, but it soon gives way to jungle, and that means different obstacles, animals, and perils. Tropical diseases, quicksand, and heatstroke will all be concerns, something that both the Companion and Secrets of Kenya points out. I myself had a lot of fun, being of a biology background, with the disease chart in that latter supplement. Note that when I say "fun", I meant for me, not necessarily for the players... Of course, I tried very hard not to give them malaria or anything like sleeping sickness, that would have just been too cruel... Or would it? Yes. Yes it would have. Ominous details like ant mills (a real phenomenon by the way) and animals acting off in foliage that looks a bit too dull or too healthy also goes a long way in atmosphere and tension-generating. Also, consider their acquired friend, Who-Is-Not-What-She-Seems, if they have her. This color-changing reptile has many applications, but of course you shouldn't tempt them too much to use her if the players are acting recklessly. The Companion suggests otherwise, but I really wouldn't recommend it since most players will be smart enough not to use the critter until the last minute. They might even forget she's there! I compromised by making Who be a sort of sidekick, a compromise for my sister who was so upset to lose Ufiti. I turned out to be very fun, and I'd recommend it if your players will tolerate this sort of humorous animal companion. Otherwise, by no means should you proceed with it. With a little pre-planning and forethought, the adventures the players have in the jungle should be some of the most fun points on the way to the Mountain - which of course, should loom ahead like a great and terrible specter of doom, slowly coming closer as they travel deeper into the dark heart of Africa...
When it comes to Ndovu Village, it's somewhat up to the Keeper to determine what goes on there. The Companion suggests that the village could be an ambush by the Bloody Tongue Cult, which is of course a great idea. That'd be exactly why I did it. I also wanted to introduce M'weru somewhat early and imply she was a tricky sort, hence I decided to make her a rather small woman and unassuming-looking, as well as disguise her under an alias. I brought Badru back here because I thought it made sense - why wouldn't he be from this village originally if it was under Bloody Tongue Cult influence? From there, all the details kind of organically branched out, the idea of the arranged leopard attack as well as an inevitable conflict with the village proper. On that note, the Companion also suggests that a Chakota - remember it? - from NYC might be a fun tool to use in an ambush by the cult. So, of course, I had to use it one last time, and this time it was bigger, stronger, angrier, and much hungrier. Now that is how you run a fun, intense session on the way to the mountain. In other words, Ndovu Village should have a good reason for being in your campaign, it shouldn't just be another stop-off on the way to the Mountain unless that's your intent. There's a lot of things you can do with it, and it can be one more adventure if you play it right.
It should be obvious, but both the scenarios with Shub-Niggurath involved were not part of MoN proper. They were created as story seeds from The Dholes' House's Seeds of Doom Generator, which is absolutely invaluable as a Keeper tool as I've stated before several times. The inclusion of Shubby was mostly because my players had been asking me to throw her in, but I'd been reluctant because I didn't know what to do with her. Here, I figured would be as good a time as any to use her, just as a trial run to see if I'd enjoy using her. Turns out, I actually did, and long story short, now I'm brainstorming up a mini-campaign linking together adventures involving her. Oftentimes, good things come from looking outside the box. Here I'm also gonna point out that I had wanted to run the short scenario included with this chapter, The Game Lodge. This didn't end up happening due to player fatigue even though I'd planned it out. You should never feel like you have to do a scenario, even if you plan for it - it's always better to let the players decide and drive the momentum of the plot, rather than to force them to do something they don't want to do. Nothing kills a game session faster than players that feel railroaded into doing side quests that really don't add to the main plot in any way. Side scenarios and quests should arise organically, not feel thrown in at the last minute. They're optional - that's kind of why they're called side quests. They obviously should not detract from the main plot, or worse yet, the ending.
About that - I did use the case of them running into Shub-Niggurath's weird dimension inside her temple as an excuse to time-skip the PCs to the date of the eclipse. The reason for that was because, yes, timeline fuckery is fun to play with, but mainly it was due to the fact I didn't plan for them to get to the Mountain three months ahead of the birth ritual. There would be no climax or anything if I did that, so I had to alter some stuff around. Fortunately, it came off well and my players found it absolutely shocking; they were still confused by it when next week's session rolled around. From there, the ending started proceeding implacably to a final point, and I added in as many devious details as I could. Incidentally, the part with the human tongues nailed to the wall was taking from a Facebook post that suggested. The idea of the statue of the Bloody Tongue God in the temple showing visions was 100% my idea, and a damn fine one if I do say so myself. From the events of the ritual, everything flowed smoothly enough; it really was left in the players' hands at that point. The problem ultimately has to be resolved by them, no matter how many things you throw at them, and I certainly threw a lot at them!
Now is probably a good time to discuss ending this campaign in general, because once you get there, things proceed really quickly, and can get confusing fast. Whenever the final showdown happens, you need to get big, pull out all the stops. Sand-Bat has armies of Hunting Horrors with him in the darkness under Australia's Outback. M'weru has swarms of Byakhee and Dark Young she's using to guard the Mountain of the Black Wind, with Servitors hovering around the Bloody Tongue God's thrashing tendril-like head. Ho Fong's island volcano lair doesn't just have the Bloated Woman show up, she shows up with an entourage of Deep One worshipers, Dimensional Shamblers, and other such hideous horrors in a massive charnel parade of the damned. Like any good Pulp epic, you need a big conclusion here. This is a big campaign. It deserves a big rip-roaring, two-fisted, frying-pan-to-the-fire ending. You owe yourself and your players that much - so don't be afraid to get mean and use every trick in the Keeping Handbook here! This sort of Indiana Jones style great final confrontation is exactly what they came here for, so give it to them. This is why it's so important to drive the conclusion towards one of those three endpoints I mentioned before, but if you're not using Australia, Cairo also makes a fine endpoint and I've seen at least one play-blog use this method to tie into further adventures with the same Investigators.
I'm very proud of how this chapter, and the game itself, ended, and I think the blog entries speak for themselves, so I'm just going to comment on a few things that occurred in it. The idea of Nyarlathotep descending all curled up before unfurling and howling was based on the recent 7e artwork of him curled up. Incidentally, the howl sound effect I used for him was made from the sound of a fox vixen in heat screaming, which sounds quite horrific, pitched down with a reverb effect, slowed heavily, and with some other additional processing. I wanted a sharp, clear sound effect that also seemed to reverberate, and I used three distinct audio tracks for it to emphasize his theme of threes or multiples of threes, and also because it helped amplify the reverberation. For audio manipulation, I use Audacity, which I'd recommend if you want to make your own audio props. Other alternatives for sound effects include Syren (an app for tabletop audio track mixing on the fly), Youtube audio tracks, and free sound libraries. It's always a good idea to have a small library of sound clips you can call on if you need them; it really does help with atmosphere!
The image of the eclipse I used in the blog entry Penumbra is an image of the August 2017 Great American Total Solar Eclipse as taken by Rob from where we live; we didn't get totality but we got a very good amount of coverage and it made for a perfect image since it did happen in the middle of our run of MoN! Incidentally, that's another reason I ran MoN in 2017, to coincide with the eclipse. There was another Keeper who ran MoN in 6 days at a convention in such a way, it actually did coincide with the eclipse. While this was pretty cool, obviously don't try this type of idea at home, especially if you're an inexperienced Keeper! Regarding the image itself, it was taken with Rob's phone, with eclipse glasses over the lens. I also took some photos, but sadly they didn't come out as good because my camera's battery died at the last minute. I'm not bitter... In the end, it really is up to the Keeper to figure out how to end the campaign, and the players should facilitate that. Let them do as they wish, so long as it makes sense. Who is a good tool to use, and remember that the Spawn may or may not be born. Also remember when using the Spawn that it can be deadly - it has a range of attacks and can be tough even for a prepared group of Investigators. If you have Kenya as your endpoint, there shouldn't be too much of an issue with pulling out all the stops, but if Kenya's not at the end you should probably hold off and pull some punches so you don't TPK them. Just be careful, and give the players every chance to succeed, then let the dice fall where they may...
The vision that Francis had was intended to foreshadow the epilogue, which my little brother asked me to do. Specifically, Chance asked if I could have Nyarlathotep step from the shadows and applaud them; the chessboard thing was just because I wanted the metaphor of Nyar playing a game with them. The idea of putting the encounter on the World of the Seven Suns was actually stolen from a solo RP I did with a friend a couple years ago now, and Francis' vision was stolen from yet another, different solo RP I did with a different friend much more recently. The end result came off quite nicely, and I'd recommend this stealing method highly - it might not surprise you, but your players won't expect it, and it adds a hell of a lot of flavor to an otherwise set-in-stone plot. Incidentally, Nyarlathotep taking Elias' form was intended to imply he was Elias all along, and had been playing the Investigators from the start - just one more way he drew them into his twisted web. I also left the ending dream, where he contacts the Investigators several years later, open-ended on purpose so they (and the readers!) could decide for themselves what became of the still-living Investigators. Did they play his game one more time, unable to stay away? Or, did they refuse, Nyarlathotep having no hard feelings about the choice and letting them live their lives normally? That's really up to your interpretation...
No matter where or when the end of your run of MoN happens, it is and must be a big fucking deal. Not just a big deal, a big fucking deal - I had to use the modifying profanity to point out how huge and important a good end to this campaign is. If you're not ending it at one of the major three points - Australia, Kenya, Shanghai - or in Cairo somehow, you've probably got some weird order going on and something has likely gone slightly awry. I know I've said that players must dictate the campaign's progression, but if you let them just go anywhere they want in this campaign without suggesting or otherwise being the hidden hand yanking their leashes, the ending of your run can and will be compromised. This is why, in the end, I tried my utmost to guide the players to Kenya as a finale - to me, not only having the goddamned Bloody Tongue God, the classic Nyarlathotep depiction when he's not got his face on so to speak; as well as his kid, a whole cult, and two cult leaders in one spot all under the glowering and eerie low light of the Eclipse; was just too much fun to pass up. If you feel the same about any other endpoint for the campaign, say, a huge ritual in Cairo as the Eclipse rises between the pyramids like a great dead eye, then go for it! Just as with any other change to this campaign, though, make sure there's a plausible reason for the chosen chapter to be the endpoint, or at least that it's epic enough in scope to warrant the change.
All in all, Kenya is a lovely chapter, and I think it really could stand on its own two feet if you linked in a few details and scenarios from Secrets of Kenya. It has its own pace and really feels like a standalone campaign, being every bit as solid as Cairo was. Why is it the two African chapters of this campaign are so solid when the other areas of the world aren't? Beats me, but whatever the case, it just flowed very nicely. My only real quibble is that it probably should have been the end point of the campaign rather than Shanghai - it just flows so much better that way, and the idea of coming full circle with the Bloody Tongue Cult being the first and last threat the players deal with just feels so... right. It doesn't have to be that way, but it works really well if you do. If MoN: Kenya were its own chapter, standalone, I'd give it a score of 9/10 roaring lions - it's just very well put together, and really very fun. It's almost a shame it happened for my group at the end of the game, when everyone was exhausted... But at the same time, I'm glad it did, because it made for a hell of a final highlight and last hurrah.
So overall, looking back at the entire campaign, how does Masks of Nyarlathotep fare overall? Is this 30-going-on-40-year-old campaign still worth the effort and does it still hold up? Oh, absolutely, yes. It's still a damn good campaign, and still has a lot of great scenes, adventures, and antics for the players to get up to and in trouble with. It's a long campaign, not for every group, and does have its flaws. One common criticism I've seen is the fact that a lot of the bad guys are ethnic, and this can come across as less than politically correct. To that end, I'd suggest simply making the baddies more eclectic, or putting a mixture of races in the positions of power. There's nothing wrong with bucking the British Villain trope by making Penhew a lower man on the totem pole, or making M'weru the mastermind, or hell, even Tandoor Singh the mastermind. If you don't make the racial makeup of the cultists that big of a deal, it won't be problematic - especially if just as many good guys are also ethnic. Be sensitive to this, but also be aware to tell your players that hey, there's a point where they need to accept some things as Pulp or historical realism and move on.
On a story-related note, Masks of Nyarlathotep has a lot of that old clunkiness earlier Chaosium supplements have, which in my opinion is why it can be hard to run. It doesn't need to be, but it can be by virtue of the way it's written. It tends to imply the Keeper inherently understands the flow or will jump to conclusions about how to run it, but that's not always the case. For that, I'm glad that Chaosium's updating it again alone. There is some controversy between older Keepers and newcomers as to if this is even a good thing, and I don't really understand why. I think it makes sense to update from clunkier older rules to new ones if the campaign is good enough to warrent it, and despite some glitches and oddness every so often, it's still damn good. It definitely deserves its reputation as one of the best Call of Cthulhu campaigns ever written. If you like RPGs and have been into it for a while, and you haven't played or run this campaign yet, then why the hell not? It's a must-play, absolutely. Not perfect, but very well done and very, very fun. I'm overall giving Masks of Nyarlathotep, as a whole, 8.5 Solar Eclipses out of 10. A bit old, a bit grumpy, but still spry even after all these years. Pulp adventure just never gets old! All that's left now are some final words about it, so stay tuned! I'm not quite finished yet...