The Inevitable Betrayal...

Just when you thought it was safe to start roleplaying again…

In the last handful of years, Chaosium have changed their base of operations, altered their marketing and production strategies (pulling themselves out of a huge fiscal black hole), ejected the dead wood, garnered new staff and re-imagined their core product. They’ve gone from strength-to-strength and kudos for that. A world without Chaosium would have been all the poorer for their absence.

Which begs the question as to why – WHY? – in the name of all that’s unholy, would they bother to re-release that abysmal waste of space and time, “Masks of Nyarlathotep”?

In the last week, announcements have been made and excitement generated; but I ask myself, what for? Another iteration of this bloated, incomprehensible time-waster is the very last thing that the hobby needs. So what if there’s a new rule system doing the rounds? If anything, that should have been a spur for the Chaos wranglers to get some of their new thinkers in a room and hammer out something of equal impact, but actually good, for the punters. Instead it’s this – the same-old, same old, cynically tarted-up for a new generation.

Advance material and reviews have all said exactly the same thing that they always say – pretty pictures; not enough source material; too much incidental material – and this all goes to prove that nothing about the offering has been changed in any significant way. Go ahead: find a current review and compare it to a review from the last iteration: Nothing. Has. Changed. The other thing that obviously hasn’t changed is the fact that most gaming critics will say anything you want in return for a bunch of slick, advance product...

The folk at Chaosium are simply crunching numbers. Every time they re-launch this dreck, there is a spike in sales, because – let’s face it – we roleplayers are all about the shiny. We generally have a bunch of disposable income and we may as well buy the “new” as not, just to fulfil our desire to be completists and to own everything in the range. Chaosium have learned that, if you slap a new set of artwork on it, you can sell just about anything to geeks.

The scuttlebutt roll-out in tandem with the launch has it that Chaosium are in line for a bunch of industry awards: that’s fine; let it be. You’ll notice that “Masks” is not in the running for any of them, but that doesn’t stop Chaosium shoving it in our faces. Chaosium have reached a level of capability where they can energise the fans and inspire a response – they aren’t as remote and impersonal as Wizards of the Coast (whom pretty much everyone regards as a bunch of corporate shills dressed up in “Lord of the Rings” hand-me-downs) because they’ve hit a sweet spot between being the cool kids and just another bunch of accountants. This re-launch will see that line being quite sorely tested.

Already the new material is being questioned at online forums – where are the pronunciation guides? Why are some sections filled with background material that’s not necessary, while in others - where such information would be welcome - it’s obviously lacking? These are complaints that have been around the block many times in the past and which have obviously not been addressed. It’s as if feedback and commentary from the punters is being deliberately ignored (and that’s not surprising since what Chaosium patently wants is something that can be re-painted every five years or so and trotted out as something “new” without having to do too much work on it).

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (probably each time this monster gets pushed back out into the world in a new frock): “Masks” is a monumental cluster-fuck. It’s the brainchild of Larry DiTillio, for a series of linked adventures along the lines of (the arguably better) “Shadows of Yog-Sothoth”, hopelessly muddled and obscured by the heavy-handed, so-called “editorial” input of Lynn Willis. It absolutely bewilders me that this mess ever saw the light of day, and that it continues to do so, whereas other material goes begging, or falls by the wayside – “Unseen Masters”, say, or even “Horror on the Orient Express” (which has its own issues, but still). I can only assume that Willis and DiTillio know where the bodies are buried…

So here’s a challenge. Put your wallet back in your purse (or pocket, or wherever). Take out your old copy of “Masks” and read through it again with a cup of coffee and your critical faculties working. If you feel at the end of it all that you desperately need a new copy of the same information, updated to the 7^th Edition rule system, then grab your credit card and do this:

Buy a copy of “Harlem Unbound” instead. Give credit where it’s due and reward smart, savvy roleplaying efforts; not lazy, inconsequential, catch-penny rubbish.