Mythos Tomes – Amongst the Stones

Location:  Roger Carlyle’s Library  Physical Description: Bound in the skin of a Hunting Horror, handwritten contents with few inked sketches of high-quality, 96 pages in length, a written note from the author (described below), no date of publication or publisher Author:  Justin Geoffrey, an avant-garde English poet of questionable repute, born in 1898 (will die in 1926). Rare review pieces will describe him as an obscene blend of de Sade and Baudelaire. In an interview with the poet (Library Use), he discloses his interest in poetry began after a summer night spent sleeping in a long-abandoned, decrepit farmhouse. He recounts spending many nights as a youth sneaking from his bedroom and wandering the woods in

Read on…Mythos Tomes – Amongst the Stones

Mythos Tomes – Pnakotic Manuscripts

Location: Roger Carlyle’s Library. Professor Cowles may be able to point them to another copy in a nearby location, particularly if they fail to recover this tome.  Physical Description: Massive single volume with red leather binding. The translation date of 1485 does not correspond to the more recent binding material (Library Use). No title on the cover, but the title page reveals the name with the subtitle “Translation and remarks from ancient Pnakotik Scrolls.” Marginal pencil notes in Carlyle’s hand visible at the beginning of the text. Several pages have had sections carefully removed, presumably illustrations. Author: Unknown author and translator. Publication History: A translation of the Pnakotica, originally written in classical Greek. Five bound

Read on…Mythos Tomes – Pnakotic Manuscripts

Mythos Tomes – Sélections de Livre d’Ivon

If you wish to see some additional background information related to the Book of Eibon, as well as an aggregated presentation of each tome, proceed here.  Location: Roger Carlyle’s Library (America) Physical Description: Handwritten manuscript bound in decaying blue calfskin Author:  13th century, Gaspar du Nord’s French commentary on Latin Original. Du Nord was a sorcerer from the Averoigne region (South Central France) that saved himself from the church’s persecution by disrupting his master’s monstrous plans.  Publication History: A handwritten copy by du Nord from an earlier Greek and/or Latin manuscript. The desk in Carlyle’s office reveals the book was purchased as part of a large collection in an auction at a Bavarian estate in April

Read on…Mythos Tomes – Sélections de Livre d’Ivon

Roger Carlyle’s Books – A Player Project

  The rare tomes hiding in Roger Carlyle’s library present tantalizing treasure for Investigators to hunt in the New York chapter. The quest for these hidden books can help further stimulate player interest in Roger and his ill-fated expedition during the hectic aftermath of Jackson Elias’ death. Your group will likely first learn of the books in Jackson’s bewildering note reticently provided by Jonah Kensington (Carlyle Papers, America #13), and Erica Carlyle may help lead them to Roger’s stash. It may be helpful to add additional clues pointing to these valuable tomes throughout the chapter. Once your players learn of the books, they may pursue several different paths to obtain them, and you may want

Read on…Roger Carlyle’s Books – A Player Project

Random Events – New York

The main campaign delivers an open world for your players to explore, choosing what leads to pursue, cultists to investigate, and NPCs to interview. The metropolis of New York offers plenty of potential for chance encounters to enliven and disrupt your players’ dogged attempts to understand Jackson’s brutal murder and begin to uncover the truth about the Carlyle Expedition. These suggested random events can provide inspiration for some exciting improvisations that may be used in a variety of ways to punctuate your session at the beginning, middle, and end. We will start with events for the premiere location in New York, Manhattan proper: Cultists – As the chapter gets underway, your Investigators may have increasing

Read on…Random Events – New York

Mythos Monsters – The Chakota

A unique Mythos monster worshipped by the New York sect of the Bloody Tongue as a spirit minion of their god, the Chakota provides a horrifying physical encounter in the Ju-Ju House basement for Investigators. Housed in a deep pit covered by a massive stone block, the PCs usually must make intentional efforts to expose this creature and may suffer dire consequences for their curiosity. Here we will explore this Mythos entity found only in MoN and discuss some additional ways to incorporate it into your campaign in the absence of a harrowing basement encounter.  Described as a spirit in the campaign book, the Chakota appears in the New York chapter as a very physical

Read on…Mythos Monsters – The Chakota

Jackson Elias – Your Quest Giver

CAMPAIGN SPOILERS BELOW In taking on the incredible task of leading your players through the Masks of Nyarlathotep, you will be joined at its outset by a charming, worldly fellow, one Jackson Elias. Aside from the titular villain, no other character in the campaign can come close to the legendary fame and importance of the daring author. You will lean heavily on your faithful companion to put your players on the path to investigate the Carlyle expedition and unearth the cultists’ dire schemes. Through Jackson’s interactions and revelations, you will stimulate your player’s intrigue. And through his untimely demise, you will provide them with personal motivation to take up the investigative mantle while seeking vengeance.

Read on…Jackson Elias – Your Quest Giver

Chapter Inspiration – NYC

Turning to New York, we have a nearly endless selection to dig into, but we’ll focus on some inspirational imagery. When imagining Prohibition-era East Coast life, we can’t help but draw from the HBO series Boardwalk Empire simply for the incredible costume and set-work alone. While primarily set in Atlantic City, the show includes a good deal of underbelly New York action. The gritty New York gangster film released in 1939, The Roaring Twenties, begins in the trenches of the Great War and offers some classic genre imagery in black and white, as well as incisive social commentary. For fans of such films, this is an absolute classic and features the last paired casting of Bogart and Cagney.

Read on…Chapter Inspiration – NYC

Ju-Ju Rising – Backup Cult Hideouts

  A well-paced New York chapter typically concludes with a climactic confrontation involving the Cult of the Bloody Tongue. The campaign book presents the Ju-Ju House as the likely site of this potentially explosive conclusion; however, a hasty team of Investigators may move quickly to shutter (or burn down) the cult’s headquarters well before the end of the New York chapter. Having some alternative sites for a secondary base of operations and dramatic showdown with the cult and its leader, Mukunga M’Dari, will allow you to keep the tension running throughout the chapter.  First, we’ll touch briefly on a popular secondary location for the chapter climax, which often occurs at Erica Caryle’s house during a

Read on…Ju-Ju Rising – Backup Cult Hideouts

Mythos Tomes – Africa’s Dark Sects

Physical Description: Very poor condition with a cracked spine, blue pasteboard covers with marbled endpapers and tattered blue-stained page edge, multiple dark stains around the edges of dog-eared pages. Multiple marginal notes in two different hands. The bookplate inside the cover states the work belongs to Harvard University’s Widener Library Author: Nigel Blackwell, a descendant of British East India Company merchants, an amateur explorer with various assets throughout Africa. Reported to have died during an expedition to the Belgian Congo. Publication History: Immediately banned after a limited print run in 1920. Only 13 copies remained following the work’s seizure and destruction per the dictates of the Obscene Publications Act. The posthumously published book and its

Read on…Mythos Tomes – Africa’s Dark Sects