What you need to play Masks:
The only Shanghai clue should
1) 12 to 18 weeks of game sessions.
2) Read the whole scenario (& the Australian
section) at least twice.
3) Read the introduction - 3 or 4 times.
4) Get maps & floor plans ready before
beginning
i.e.. Floor plans for
Ju Ju House,
Erica Carlyle's,
Shipley's Soho house,
Bent Pyramid are all essential.
Faraz Najir's shop,
Omar Shakti's Estate,
Prospero House (probably).
Henry Clive's camp,
Mosque of Ibn Tulun are useful.
5) Lists of miscellaneous NPC names. Lists of
European, Egyptian, African, Chinese
names are needed for all the NPCs. E.g. the
10 killed by the Bloody Tongue in New York.
Scan the phone directory.
Street names for miscellaneous locations in
Cairo, Shanghai and Nairobi.
6) Get proper maps of London and New York.
7) The business card for Emerson Imports
should have Silas N'kwame written on the
back.
8) The campaign has a few TPKs; this is its
main weakness. The Keeper may want to
tone it down a bit. For instance; the train
attack at the start of the Kenyan section is
best left out.
9) Get some decent Egyptian, African and
Chinese music.
10) Give you investigators good language skills
- Latin, Greek, French, German, Hebrew,
Chinese, Arabic and Hieroglyphics. The
more they find out the more horrific it gets.
You may want to leave out the Arabic and
Chinese - so that they will be stranded
without a guide in Shanghai and Egypt.
11) The best campaign can be got by
channelling the adventurers from:
New York
to London
Egypt
Kenya
Australia
Shanghai
in that order.
initially be the Stumbling Tiger Bar (leave
out the photograph with DAR written on it -
you can add that, with other clues, later if
need be). The Keeper should probably add
another clue to Australia somewhere along
the line.
It is extremely unlikely that the adventurers
will play it that way. The most likely order is:
New York, London, Egypt, Kenya, Shanghai,
Australia.
It is best for the investigators to discover all
they can about Egypt as this is the best and
most atmospheric module.
Especially guide them to Warren Besart by
mentioning his name a few times. Then they
can meet Nyiti and learn about the fragment
of the Eye which should puzzle them.
Prepare a speech for Nyarlathotep in the
inner sanctum (page 30).
Channel James Gardner to the investigators -
i.e. by a letter. Make sure that it occurs on the
night of the ceremony so that they'll have to meet
the horrors below and somehow end up in the
Great Chamber of Nyarlathotep.
What actually happened
Long ago Nyarlathotep reigned in Egypt as the
Black Pharaoh
His cult was driven out of Egypt to Kenya to
become the Cult of the Bloody Tongue.
At that time, Egypt was protected by a rune - The
Eye of Light and Darkness.
In 1920 the High Priestess of the Bloody Tongue,
M'Wern arrived in New York. Carlyle was
seduced and taken to Egypt where he destroyed
the rune which guarded against Nyarlathotep -
protected earth against opening a gate.
Brady (his bodyguard) managed to escape with
the, now, mad Carlyle. Brady is now in Shanghai
attempting to obtain a new translation of the Eye
of Light and Darkness (a spell required to close
the gate).
The cultists are all over the place and will easily
kill all but the most careful party - time and again
- especially if Ho Fong, Shakti or Penhew find
out about them.
Now read the Introduction