Masks of Nyarlathotep: Perilous Adventures to Thwart the Dark God (Call of Cthulhu RPG)

MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP OR HOW NOT TO BLOW YOUR SANITY ROLLCongratulations Keeper! You now hold in your hands the 4th Printing of “Masks of Nyarlathotep”. It’s been quite a number of years since “Masks” last appeared on game store shelves and I am more than happy to see it made available for a whole new generation of COC gamers.
The saga of “Masks” began in the early 80’s with a phone call from Steve Perrin. He asked if I wanted to write a scenario for Chaosium’s latest RPG “Call of Cthulhu”, based on the writings of H.P Lovecraft. I was dubious at first; I knew Lovecraft but I wasn’t particularly fond of his work. Steve replied he’d send me the game and if I was interested we’d forge ahead. When it arrived I wasn’t only interested; I was flabbergasted. COC was TOTALLY different from any other RPG on the market at the time. By the time I got to the Sanity section I was completely hooked. This was something I couldn’t pass up.
I called Steve and after gushing for a few minutes about the delightfully twisted genius of Sandy Petersen; I agreed to come up with a scenario. Steve had one request however. Since the debut of COC they’d gotten tons of scenarios from fans of the game but almost every one of them took place in 1920’s New England and involved “haunted” houses. Chaosium was looking for a new approach.
At this time in my life I was “between jobs”, having just completed 3 audio-visual script assignments for a TV show called “Against the Odds”, a half-hour biography show for kids. One of these scripts was the life of Jomo Kenyatta, founding father of the Kenyan nation (your PC’s may meet him when they get to Kenya). So while considering a different approach I suddenly got one of those literary bolts from the blue. What could be more different from New England than Africa? Imagining the usual COC investigators poking around those parts made my mouth water. Thus was born “The Carlyle Expedition”, my working title…