Masks of Nyarlathotep

[Chronos96 15]

I'm excited about the personal stories, they seem like they'll add a lot more flavor and the concept of campaign play seems cool. I wonder though if this is going to be the final expansion for the game just like Miskatonic was for Arkham. The expansions seem to cover things in broad strokes so I wonder how much more they can do in terms of ancient ones.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Chronos96

[JimCrim 21]

I like the stories as well... it adds to the whole 'narrative' feel which Eldritch can really shine at.  It feels similar to the personal weaknesses of investigators in Arkham Horror LCG, which are terrific and thematic (imo).  

[RiddleR 2]

Personal stories look just like those one in the Arkham Horror, it was fine addition there in my opinion, and it looks like it could shake some things up here also. I think EH is little tighter to say it like that, where you don't have much time to wander around like you did with AH, so it may lead to more failed stories or maybe more "selfish" plays, I guess it depends on the group. In any case we will see...

That said, I'm really excited for campaign play, it could be huge and it could change the game a lot. Other than that they didn't go much into details, so I'll wait to see what we can expect.

It could be last expansion...

[JimCrim 21]

It's quite possible that they 'mysteries' mechanic is a bit different for this AO... allowing time for the personal investigation/resolution (and/or, it's a useful path if you succeed etc..) 

[Krysmopompas 73]

Yes!! Excited for this one. However it does feel like it could be a culmination - check out the card that looks like a strange remnants exploration card in the preview.

campaign mode - I’m in

[cheapmate 182]

9 hours ago, Krysmopompas said:

However it does feel like it could be a culmination - check out the card that looks like a strange remnants exploration card in the preview.

Think positive! It could also be the start of a new way of playing the game, laying a foundation for much more to come.

[Lorinor 67]

Well, I for one didn't have to get a campaign mode, but let's see how this 'll play out.

Expanding on the personal stories is a neat idea.

 

Oh my ... - that - that's a Mystic Ruins card... (Guess that means they are doing what I always wanted... )

Already pondering how exactly Nyarly is going to work...

 

While this is great news, at the same time, it's such a tease not knowing more... - They really crafted that preview carefully this time around.

[Eldritch Mike 24]

Don't know if I should laugh or cry. Incredibly excited but at the same time sad that it could well be a wrap-up, although as cheapmate said it could herald a new evolution in the game completely. Campaign mode will do that anyway - can't wait to see that.

But everything about this sounds great, and we still don't know a great deal.

One thought: the box cover, unless I'm mistaken, is depicting a federal raid on Innsmouth. New England side-board? If this is a wrap-up, it has to be doesn't it? 

 

[Krysmopompas 73]

Hey it looks to me like investigators trying to stop or track a shipment of stuff - in the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign from Chaosium/Call of Cthulhu, that kinda happened in a certain encounter involving a drunken Norwegian sailor.

Masks has the reputation of being the best module ever written for any game system, and I finally played it with a group a couple of years ago. It definitely lived up to its reputation and I’d highly recommend it. What an epic blast.

[Eldan985 363]

Well, this looks... sad. I can't get excited for it. It looks so much like a last expansion.

[player2439400 22]

4 hours ago, Eldritch Mike said:

One thought: the box cover, unless I'm mistaken, is depicting a federal raid on Innsmouth. New England side-board? If this is a wrap-up, it has to be doesn't it? 

It's Shanghai.

Edited October 7, 2017 by player2439400

[Eldan985 363]

You're right, it is.

https://hslu.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/img_7387.jpg

 

Comparing this, it seems to be the Shanghai skyline.

[Lorinor 67]

37 minutes ago, Eldan985 said:

You're right, it is.

https://hslu.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/img_7387.jpg

Comparing this, it seems to be the Shanghai skyline.

And since there is a hint about this in Dreamlands - if there is a sideboard in this expansion - it will most definitely be in Asia.

 

Seriously though,  it seems like they read my thoughts and reflected on my wishes what I would want to add to the game and then decided to give it to me all at once. Guess that's what true bliss in paradise feels like.

 

---

Also, stop talking about wraps, people, please. - If this is going to be the end, we'll be told, but as long as we are not...

We can expand this beautiful game some more, as far as I'm concerned.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Lorinor

[Eldritch Mike 24]

To be fair the article twice says "newest", not final, expansion. Hope? 

Shangai is a surprise though - I was hoping Dagon for an AO. Why a big box if no side-board? Unless there's just that many cards...

[Chronos96 15]

2 hours ago, Eldritch Mike said:

To be fair the article twice says "newest", not final, expansion. Hope? 

 

 

True. I'm just personally struggling to think of what else they could do. With this expansion, I think we've passed the original 54 investigators and while FFG can always make more, a full new eight investigators seems like a tall order. It feels like they've covered almost every profession unless they have John Doe the IRS agent.  That and the fact that most of the other ancient ones don't have a ton of lore behind them strictly speaking of Lovecraft's works. I hope they do have a China board but if they do end up making another big box expansion I'd really like a Europe board more than just Rome and London.

[Krysmo 19]

I don't see a board in this expansion, but maybe I'm wrong. The original module that they're cross-promoting with it used New York, London, East Africa, Australia and Shanghai as locations as well as a 'mystery' final spot. They can use the existing board for that with Arkham subbing for NYC I suppose.

Certainly with more assets (man it's getting big) and other cards plus personal stories and a campaign mode, they can fill a box with other elements, just like...dare I say it...Miskatonic Horror.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Krysmo

[Eldan985 363]

11 hours ago, Chronos96 said:

That and the fact that most of the other ancient ones don't have a ton of lore behind them strictly speaking of Lovecraft's works.

That's not really true, though. Strictly speaking of Lovecraft's works, most of the ancient ones already used are either extremely nebulous or don't show up at all.

Cthulhu has a lot of material. Azathoth has some. Yog-Sothoth has two or three stories. Shub-Niggurath is never described in his story, she's mainly mentioned as a thing various other creatures worship (the Mi-go, the people of Sarnath. Her Children were invented by Chaosium for the RPG.

Going into the expansions, Yig is one story. Most of the rest of his material seems to be taken from Set, in the Conan stories.  Ithaqua is never used by Lovecraft, it's an invention of Derleth and then used by others. Abhoth is by Clark Ashton Smith, again never used by Lovecraft. Nephren-Ka isn't even an old one in Lovecraft, he's an Egyptian pharaoh who made some kind of pact with Nyarlathotep. His only role in any story is that the Shining Trapezohedron is found by archaeologists in his tomb.

Hastur is a total mess anyway. He's in one old story by Ambrose Bierce mentioned as a god of shepherds. In The Repairer of Reputations and The Yellow Sign (which pretty much all his popular mythos is based on), Hastur is a place, not a god. Lovecraft quotes the name two or three times in lists of supernatural things and it's never clear, as far as I remember whether it's a god or a place. Using him as a god is, again, down to Derleth.

Hypnos is by Lovecraft, sort of, except he's in only one short story again, and there might be only a pretty normal dream or hallucination by one person. Atlach-Nacha is by Clarke Ashton Smith again. Shudde M'ell was invented by Lumley, in the seventies.

If we go into some covered by Arkham Horror? Chaugnar Faugn - Long. Cthuga - Derleth. Eihort - Campbell. Glaaki - Campbell. Quachil Uthaus - Smith. Y'gonolac- Campbell.

 

 

So, what I'm saying is that most of the old ones, especially the details used about their shapes, cults and goals, are not from Lovecraft. The popular mythos was mostly inspired by him, but written by others.  And the game is no worse for it. In fact, I'd say that a lot of the most interesting old ones in the game don't draw much from Lovecraft himself. Nothing is stopping them from drawing from other authors and there they have material to continue the game until the sun goes cold.

[Julia 2,810]

I think (talking in general) that investing time to develop a campaign system is pretty a huge effort to keep this limited in time at a single episode. So, commercially speaking, it's very likely that, if they did one, they want to do several more. Additionally, this boxset is advertised as a companion product for the RPG campaign, meaning that FFG and Chaosium have a mutual interest in the universe and in working together. So, I'd not be too surprised if Chaosium, once per year, were to release a bigger campaign for their RPG that's matched by a big box for the boardgame. And in any case (no idea if this was released for 7th edition or not) there's at least a Horror on the Orient Express campaign that could fit very well the Eldritch world.

In any case, the only thing keeping a product alive is the amount of copies it sells: there's no company in the world releasing games that don't sell because they like the design, and there's no company that stops releasing games that sell like crazy because they don't think any further product can be added (we've seen plenty of this in a ton of environments, from movie series to book series to games. How many other incarnations of Legendary or Muchkin are we gonna see? Endless, as long as what's released sells like it's selling now). So, if you wanna keep the lines going, keep buying what's released (or don't if you don't care, which is 100% fine of course)

[GBI 14]

9 hours ago, Eldan985 said:

That's not really true, though. Strictly speaking of Lovecraft's works, most of the ancient ones already used are either extremely nebulous or don't show up at all.

Cthulhu has a lot of material. Azathoth has some. Yog-Sothoth has two or three stories. Shub-Niggurath is never described in his story, she's mainly mentioned as a thing various other creatures worship (the Mi-go, the people of Sarnath. Her Children were invented by Chaosium for the RPG.

Going into the expansions, Yig is one story. Most of the rest of his material seems to be taken from Set, in the Conan stories.  Ithaqua is never used by Lovecraft, it's an invention of Derleth and then used by others. Abhoth is by Clark Ashton Smith, again never used by Lovecraft. Nephren-Ka isn't even an old one in Lovecraft, he's an Egyptian pharaoh who made some kind of pact with Nyarlathotep. His only role in any story is that the Shining Trapezohedron is found by archaeologists in his tomb.

Hastur is a total mess anyway. He's in one old story by Ambrose Bierce mentioned as a god of shepherds. In The Repairer of Reputations and The Yellow Sign (which pretty much all his popular mythos is based on), Hastur is a place, not a god. Lovecraft quotes the name two or three times in lists of supernatural things and it's never clear, as far as I remember whether it's a god or a place. Using him as a god is, again, down to Derleth.

Hypnos is by Lovecraft, sort of, except he's in only one short story again, and there might be only a pretty normal dream or hallucination by one person. Atlach-Nacha is by Clarke Ashton Smith again. Shudde M'ell was invented by Lumley, in the seventies.

If we go into some covered by Arkham Horror? Chaugnar Faugn - Long. Cthuga - Derleth. Eihort - Campbell. Glaaki - Campbell. Quachil Uthaus - Smith. Y'gonolac- Campbell.

 

 

So, what I'm saying is that most of the old ones, especially the details used about their shapes, cults and goals, are not from Lovecraft. The popular mythos was mostly inspired by him, but written by others.  And the game is no worse for it. In fact, I'd say that a lot of the most interesting old ones in the game don't draw much from Lovecraft himself. Nothing is stopping them from drawing from other authors and there they have material to continue the game until the sun goes cold.

What a well informed and competent post! Someone obviously has done his mythos homeworks, I say your lore is at least 6. ;-)

Only a few additions before I make my comment. Nephren-Ka is (like so many other AOs) mentioned several times by HPL, e.g. in the short story "The Outsider" but of course you are absolutely right, he is not a real AO and never plays a role in any story. You are also completely right that nearly  half of the AOs in EH are NOT from HPL whatsoever. But there are still AOs from HPL which so far have not appeared as AOs but only as epic monsters or not at all and I hope we will see them in the future expansions, including Rhan-Tegoth (The horror in the museum), Ghatanothoa (Out of the Aeons) and Tsathoggua (The whisperer in the darkness and others). If we include more non-HPL AOs we even have enough source material for half a dozen more expansions although I would prefer to complete the HPL AOs, especially Ghatanothoa is particularly interesting as an AO.

I am quite sure we will see more expansions, even after Masks of Nyarlathotep.

Edited October 8, 2017 by GBI

[player2439400 22]

New investigator....

 

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/22339010_851998598293470_8118410762526700331_o.jpg?oh=7a9e31470cd9d30cc98d8bd7592370e3&oe=5A47BBD4

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by player2439400
spoilers

[iGniGhted 113]

1 hour ago, player2439400 said:

New investigator....

 

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/22339010_851998598293470_8118410762526700331_o.jpg?oh=7a9e31470cd9d30cc98d8bd7592370e3&oe=5A47BBD4

 

well now... what the **** are resources?????????

[Soakman 1,000]

SEFINA as well! I LOVE SEFINA.

[ProfessorDetective 5]

On 10/7/2017 at 6:18 PM, Chronos96 said:

True. I'm just personally struggling to think of what else they could do. With this expansion, I think we've passed the original 54 investigators and while FFG can always make more, a full new eight investigators seems like a tall order. It feels like they've covered almost every profession unless they have John Doe the IRS agent.  That and the fact that most of the other ancient ones don't have a ton of lore behind them strictly speaking of Lovecraft's works. I hope they do have a China board but if they do end up making another big box expansion I'd really like a Europe board more than just Rome and London.

Well, to be fair, Forensic Accounting IS a skill in the Chaosium game, so a number-cruncher noticing a sinister pattern in the check-stubs wouldn't be too far fetched. You could make his/her ability about resource efficiency or something.

[Eldan985 363]

Though Trish Scarborough already works for the Black Chamber, which is a code cracking agency. Might be a bit close. I'd still love to see a biologist who's trying to dissect monsters. We can always need more academics, there's too many artists.

[hengst2404 35]

I would think the campaign mode would add life to the game and as long as folks are still buying the expansions, that FF would keep making them. I am always fascinated that some folks play with so many different expansions. My group generally does the base box and one expansion only per game. Sometimes we have added Forbidden Lore to complete the main set, but that and one is it. Anything else and we feel like it bogs things down too much. Guess everybody approaches things differently.