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Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion


Darius West

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Some months ago I saw a project on Kickstarter for this product, paid in, and then completely forgot about it.  Imagine my surprise when I am delivered a 729-page hard cover tome that covers everything that opens and shuts about the many settings of Masks of Nyarlathotep.  The level of research that has gone into this product dwarfs most doctoral theses, it is impeccably edited and has information that can be used in many other C'thulhu Settings.  The reference section is immense too, and the index seems huge and useful.  This is obviously a labor of love, and the only RPG document I know of that is bigger is the Guide to Glorantha.  I think Misters B. Kramer, A. Warren, M. Pook, S. Zeitlin, D. Sokolowski, and J. Haughton deserve a pat on the back and a bit of acclaim for having produced this amazing product.  It is one of the more amazing things for CoC I have seen, though it is for 6th Edition.   Has anyone else purchased this one?  What do you think?

Edited by Darius West
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Finally seeing the finished MoN Companion also took my breath away, it sits nicely next to my hardcover edition of MoN, and if easily 4-5 times the size of the original campaign book.

I have been running a rollickling and rather sprawling Pulp Adventure/Investigation campaign (BGB+CoC+converted White Wolf Adventure! rules) intermittently over the past few years, using MoN as the foundation plotline for the campaign.

We have recently resumed this (now using CoC 7E + Pulp Cthulhu), and I can see I'll be getting so much use from the MoN Companion.

It is truly an amazing resource to add to an already great campaign.

Edited by Mankcam
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" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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I've been holding off on reading the Companion for years now, not wanting to dive in until it was actually finished. Now that it is, and my hardback copy has arrived, I'm amazed; it's an astonishing labour of love, and makes me wish that I had the years of free time it would take to run Masks properly.

Well... maybe when we finish Horror on the Orient Express (2nd edition) I'll give it another look.

Great work, and lovely presentation.

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— 
Self-discipline isnt everything; look at Pol Pot.”
—Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

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3 hours ago, trystero said:

makes me wish that I had the years of free time it would take to run Masks properly.

fwiw: I've run it three times (each time using the Companion and an absolutely *massive* amount of prop/handout work). The last time was over the course of six 4-hour convention time-slots (two conventions, one year apart):

24 hours total for the full thing, and I didn't feel anything was actually skipped from a proper run.

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On 6/16/2017 at 8:07 PM, mdomino said:

mvincent, that is really cool. I remember seeing that listed in time slots for Guardian Games? How did it go? Did you have mostly the same players, or different for each slot? Were they continuing characters?

Mike D

I handled it over two Gamestorm conventions (I also ran the first half during Cthulhucon, but the second half at Guardian games didn't work as well). About half the players were new at each slot. Plenty of deaths and dramatic endings in each session. I believe two Gamestorm attendees somehow managed to make it to all the sessions (and I believe one kept the same character all the way through). I had also used pre-gen characters sheets that resembled passports, and then stamped their passport in each episode.

Edited by mvincent
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  • 2 weeks later...

Back in March 2015, 771 backers brought the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion to life. Backers are now receiving their copies from Sixtystone Press, and have been amazed and astounded at the sheer size of the book (739 pages!) and the breadth of what it covers.

If you missed the Kickstarter, here's your one chance to get a Masks Companion of your own: Chaosium now has its royalty copies to sell, in a special hardcover 'Sandbat' edition.

Chaosium's copies will be available for purchase as a print + PDF bundle on DriveThruRPG from 12 noon EDT (5.00pm BST) on Saturday July 1st. This is strictly on a "first-come, first-served" basis. Once Chaosium's allocation is sold out, the Companion will be withdrawn from sale. More details at the link:

http://www.chaosium.com/blog/masks-of-nyarlathotep-companion-special-sand-bat-edition-available-from-saturday-july-1st/

screen-shot-2017-06-28-at-5.03.24-pm.png

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, nclarke said:

Are you advocating anarchy where the rule of contracts does not apply because you didn't get what you want?

No, I most certainly have my copy, I merely sympathize with those who are not so fortunate.  Less anarchy than socialism I fear.

Edited by Darius West
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5 hours ago, Numtini said:

A kickstarter page is not a contract. If you want to take it as a contract,

You are missing the point. Sixtystone as a licensee is contractually obliged to give Chaosium a set number of books. It was these books that Chaosium was selling. Chaosium did us a favour by printing themselves so we didn't have to find £1300 printing and delivering them to Chaosium. If we print any more, and we breach a set level we owe Chaosium another lot of books. So we aren't printing anymore.

 

5 hours ago, Numtini said:

in fact the owner of the site is selling his personal possessions to make good the printing costs. It also says it will only be available at chaosium.com, so if we wanted to be literal minded, the sales at drivethrurpg.com and by Chaosium at conventions are counter to the literal wording of the kickstarter.

Incorrect. Paul had the KS money in safe keeping. I had to request to draw on it to complete the KS. The reminder will be returned to Paul when the KS is complete. It does mean we made less than we originally planned but that's what 2 years inflation does to plans. Paul's selling of his collection is his personal decision.

What you are saying is incorrect. The availability at chaosium.com refers to the Sand Bat edition, which is the contractually obliged Chaosium edition. This is the only edition Chaosium will be selling. The edition Chaosium is entitled to sell. And which was stated in the KS pitch.

Adam Crossingham
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief | Sixtystone Press Limited

 

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I really truly apologize for any details I got wrong. I am just another person who thinks it's an amazing book that obviously had an enormous amount of work put into it and hate to see a situation where there are people with money on one side who want to get a copy and a great website that can use the money on the other.

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Didn't know about the Kickstarter. Since both Chaosium and Sixtystone Press representatives are on this thread, as a potential customer I'd like to see the two of you negotiate someway to put this as a Print on Demand + PDF bundle through OBS. Contracts can be renegotiated if both parties agree to it. Obviously, I don't expect you to do so publicly, but hopefully in private you at least entertain the idea.

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38 minutes ago, Spellslinging Sellsword said:

Didn't know about the Kickstarter. Since both Chaosium and Sixtystone Press representatives are on this thread, as a potential customer I'd like to see the two of you negotiate someway to put this as a Print on Demand + PDF bundle through OBS. Contracts can be renegotiated if both parties agree to it. Obviously, I don't expect you to do so publicly, but hopefully in private you at least entertain the idea.

A big incentive to get people to back the Masks Companion Kickstarter all those years ago was its exclusivity and allure of rarity. The Kickstarter stated: "This Kickstarter will be the only place to acquire a copy of the Masks Companion other than Chaosium.com" (meaning Chaosium's royalty copies). Making a new print version available is a decision for the project creators, and any discussion about that would be between them and the original Kickstarter backers.

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On 19/07/2017 at 3:21 AM, Spellslinging Sellsword said:

Since both Chaosium and Sixtystone Press representatives are on this thread, as a potential customer I'd like to see the two of you negotiate someway to put this as a Print on Demand + PDF bundle through OBS.

You can like as much as you want to. However the KS was pitched and backed so we're going to keep to to what we said.

The KS ran for a month, it took two years to deliver in which time a late backers scheme was running quietly in the background. Where were you? Were you dead?

Adam Crossingham
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief | Sixtystone Press Limited

 

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13 hours ago, Gundamentalist said:

You can like as much as you want to. However the KS was pitched and backed so we're going to keep to to what we said.

The KS ran for a month, it took two years to deliver in which time a late backers scheme was running quietly in the background. Where were you? Were you dead?

Wow, what a rude reply.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Chaosium is selling its final 20 copies of the monumental 775 page Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion at Gen Con, Indianapolis IN, starting August 17.

This is the hardback "Sand Bat" edition, produced as royalty copies for Chaosium for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion Kickstarter.

These will be available from the booth (829) on a first-come-first-served basis, at a cost of USD$95 (price includes the PDF). 

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  • 7 years later...

Earlier today we were sent a screenshot from a forum elsewhere asserting that Chaosium is refusing to "greenlight" a re-release of the Masks of Nyalathotep Companion, querying if that is the case and if so, why? 

Please note this is not the case - the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion was a labor of love by the authors, artists, mapmakers, handout artists, and other project personnel involved, and we - Chaosium - have no issues about it being publicly available again.

We advised the original project creators of this back in May 2019, when our allocation of copies from the Kickstarter was sold out and we were obliged to withdraw the book from sale. At that time we gave them the green light to re-release it on the Miskatonic Repository; this could be as a PDF or even POD if they wanted.

If/when The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion goes back on sale again is up to the original project creators. We offered to help them set up the files on DriveThruRPG and that offer still stands.

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4 minutes ago, MOB said:

If/when The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion goes back on sale again is up to the original project creators. We offered to help them set up the files on DriveThruRPG and that offer still stands.

One other thing: according to that other forum apparently we've "demanded" changes have to be made before the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion can go back on sale. What we've asked for is only one thing, and that change is very minor.

Currently the book says it is a fundraiser for the YSDC website. However the original project creators told us back in May 2019 this would no longer be the case. So we asked for that section of the credits to be taken out before it went back on sale. We do not want new purchasers to think they are supporting a website when they are not.

This section would be replaced with a note the Masks Companion is based on the fourth edition of Masks of Nyarlathotep, published in 2010, and uses the Call of Cthulhu 6th Edition Rules (although content on the Miskatonic Repository is meant to be for the current 7th edition of the game, we're prepared to make a rare unique exception here).

Other than this minor change to help avoid customer confusion, we're fine with the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion being re-released exactly as-is. But, as previously noted, if/when that happens is entirely up to the original project creators. 

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Thanks for the clarification MOB, I hope the sender of the screenshot believes you as apparently they don't believe me.

For the record, I have never said here or elsewhere, that the non-availability of the MONC was due to Chaosium but is due to MONC team moving on to other projects.

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Adam Crossingham
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief | Sixtystone Press Limited

 

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