Masks of Nyarlathotep: Gamer Prop Set

An anxiety-inducing collection of props and handouts for the famous Call of Cthulhu campaign – Masks of Nyarlathotep

If you’re at all familiar with Masks of Nyarlathotep, you have probably run across mention of The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s Gamer Prop Set. It’s a third-party pack of props, handouts, and audio files for the famous Call of Cthulhu campaign. Well I’m finally running masks, and have grabbed this beauty to add a bit more flair to our table. Tax and postage to the UK is rather painful – taking the base cost of £108 up to £163.20. Thankfully a kind British soul from the Masks of Nyarlathotep Keeper’s Support Group was able to help me out.

Not that I don’t think this prop set is worth the price, as we shall see. First let’s take a look at the main contents. There are some physical props and well over a hundred handouts. This includes high-quality versions of all of Chaosium’s Masks of Nyarlathotep handouts, plus some extras. You might wonder why you need copies of handouts you already own – well my friend, these are no ordinary handouts. The production quality is second to none.

I’m throwing no shade at Chaosium here. They couldn’t include this level of material with the campaign; they would have to double the price of the game and that would be unpalatable for most customers.

In the unlikely event that you are one of my players, stop reading now, or I will hurt you in a creative manner.

What’s in the box

Looks pretty good, right?

Each leg of the journey has its own folder containing everything you’ll need for that stage of the adventure. There’s also a very handy sheet that links each of the handouts to the reference numbers in the official Masks of Nyarlathotep books, so you won’t go mental when referring to campaign material.

None of the handouts (other than the Chaosium maps) have numbering on the sheets, but there’s also a description so they’re quite easy to locate. Assuming you’ve kept each scenario in its own folder – you’d have to be a madman to mix them all up.

The evidence folder (Roger Carlyle’s medical records) is sealed – so I don’t even know what’s in there yet. Looks pretty cool from a peek through the side…

Here we have the chunkier stuff. A period world map, USB voice recordings in a neat Ediphone cylinder box, an actual scroll for the China stage, and a Nansen passport for every player (including stamps and stickers for use as they tour the world.

The passport stickers cover a wide array of fun possibilities, such as deportation and visa suspension.

I had already picked up a 1920s world map for the game, but this is far more practical at about 1/5th the size. Let’s start with Peru’s folder.

Legs of the journey

Peru is merely an introductory chapter to the campaign, so naturally it has the fewest handouts. Still, you can immediately see the sort of quality you can expect for the main story arc. The notepad page is… well it’s an actual notepad page. The radiogram looks and feels authentic, the map quality is excellent, and the newspaper clipping seems like the real deal. The Chaosium map reprint is also of very good quality.

At this point I was a little overwhelmed. The American stage has a lot of handouts, and seeing them all laid out in front of you can be a bit daunting. There are many more newspaper cuttings, the first physical prop (a box of matches from the Stumbling Tiger), a large map of New York, another of Harlem, several photographs (one rather grisly), and a vast array of notes and correspondence. It’s all very, very good.

The recording of Jackson Elias for the will reading is a lovely touch.

Another massive info dump awaits us in London. I’ll not cover the contents – there’s a full listing on HPLHS’ website.

Higher resolution version available here.

Mercifully fewer handouts to juggle in Cairo.

More excellent material in Kenya. Last but not least, and likely the final stage of the campaign – Shanghai and Dragon Island.

Does one need this to run Masks?

No, of course not. Chaosium’s slipcase gives you everything you need to run a great campaign. That said, I enjoy making props to add a physical dimension.

I wouldn’t have the time, skill, or patience to create this many handouts; reading and digesting the campaign books is keeping me more than busy. This is an ideal solution.

I’m pretty sure that this set will entertain my players, but even if it doesn’t, it will entertain me. It’s important for the GM to have a good time, too!

Final thoughts

The HPLHS Gamer Prop Set is bloody awesome. Although it’s not cheap, it’s great value for money. It’s very time consuming making your own props and handouts, and unless you have superb arts and crafts skills, they are unlikely to come out as well as those provided in this pack. A Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign can easily last a year or two, so you’ll get your money’s worth over the duration.

You might run this multiple times if you have more than one gaming group – in which case this is a no-brainer. It’s worth noting that you can purchase replacement Nansen passports.

I’ll add that you can get additional stand-alone props for this campaign, such as the Eye of Light and Darkness. Such luxuries are a little too much for me, but perhaps you are willing to go that extra mile.