How to Survive Masks of Nyarlathotep (Probably)
Surviving Masks of Nyarlathotep in Classic Call of Cthulhu is less about living and more about lasting long enough to make your mark. Here’s your field guide to facing cults, cosmic dread, and the slow erosion of sanity in one of the deadliest campaigns ever written.
Let’s be honest: you’re not getting out of this unscathed. But that doesn’t mean you can’t last longer than most, and leave behind a hell of a story while you’re at it. If you’re sitting down for Masks of Nyarlathotep, you’re in for the most ambitious campaign Chaosium has ever unleashed: a multi-continent descent into horror, cult conspiracy, and cosmic dread. And yes, it’s every bit as dangerous as people say.
Still, there are ways to survive. Or at least fail well.
1. Bring Two Characters (Minimum)
Classic Call of Cthulhu is famously lethal, and Masks of Nyarlathotep turns that up to eleven. This is a story with firearms, tomes, diseases, betrayal, and rituals that burn minds to ash. It’s entirely normal for investigators to vanish, die, or suffer irreversible breakdowns midway through a chapter.
The smart play? Come prepared. Back-up characters keep the story moving when the first one drops. Better yet, link them: family, associates, colleagues from the university or the war. That way, when a contact shows up in Nairobi just as your occultist cracks, it feels like fate, not convenience. When the new character enters the story, it should feel like fate, not a Keeper (Game Master) patch job.
2. Take Notes Like a Madman
The connective tissue of Masks of Nyarlathotep contains information: letters, names, photographs, and receipts. Every scrap can matter. A scribbled address or odd symbol might be the one thing standing between you and a well-laid ambush. Masks’ clues often pay off several chapters later, so keeping a detailed, organized record is a literal lifesaver.
Keepers often provide dozens of handouts. Some are red herrings, but most hold genuine threads that will only make sense two countries later. Missing one can mean walking into a trap unarmed.
Organize:
A timeline of clues and locations
Conspiracy theories
Notes on suspicious NPCs (and hopefully not PCs)
Quest Portal's Notes widget makes this easier than ever. Not easy, but easier. Your sanity might depend on it.
3. Be a Coward (Strategically)
Courage is overrated in Classic Call of Cthulhu, especially Masks of Nyarlathotep. Bravery gets you eaten. Charging into combat is usually the fastest way to get killed. Outsmarting, avoiding, or sabotaging enemies from a safe distance saves your hit points, your SAN, and your life.
Successful parties survive by:
Avoiding direct fights unless absolutely necessary
Burning down temples from a safe distance
Outwitting cults rather than confronting them
Keeping a low profile in volatile cities
Most victories in Masks of Nyarlathotep are indirect. Delay rituals. Misdirect enemies. Escape with information. The goal is not to win, it's simply to die last.
4. Track Your Own Mind
The Sanity mechanic (SAN) is the sharpest tool in the campaign. Sanity loss creeps up, and a single bad roll can tip you into permanent incapacity. Monitoring your SAN lets you avoid high-risk Mythos exposure when you’re already fragile, preventing a total breakdown at the worst moment.
Watching your character unravel should feel terrifying. Lean into it. Symptoms of insanity, such as hallucinations, phobias, or obsessions, aren’t setbacks. They’re narrative fuel. Build scenes around them. Let them shape relationships and choices. But when your SAN gets low, be ready. That’s when the worst things start to feel right. (And the role-play can become the most fun.)
If you find yourself alone in a room with a Mythos tome and a candle… maybe just walk away.
5. Respect the Timeline
Masks of Nyarlathotep has a living, breathing world. Cults don’t pause while you recover from wounds in London or waste days hunting down supplies in Nairobi. Events unfold whether you’re there or not. The Keeper has a timeline. It moves. Arriving late can mean facing better-armed cultists, completed rituals, and situations too dangerous to challenge head-on.
You can’t do everything. You won’t stop every ritual. But you can delay the end long enough to matter. That is, if you choose your battles and move fast when it counts.
6. Play to the Tragedy
The heart of Classic Call of Cthulhu and Masks especially isn’t about saving the world (luckily?). It’s about the human cost of trying.
Think of the psychic who walked alone into the desert to stop a summoning, the thief who destroyed the last sacred text rather than surrender it, the priest who begged Nyarlathotep for mercy and smiled when the answer came.
You probably won’t “win” Masks in a conventional sense. But focusing on delaying or diminishing the enemy’s success allows you to survive long enough to inflict lasting damage and live to keep fighting in some form.
Your character won’t save the world. But they might slow its end. Or die making the attempt feel like it mattered. Even in failure, your character’s choices can echo.
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Final Thought: Dying Isn’t Failure
Masks of Nyarlathotep is a story about unraveling, being too late, being too human, and being too curious. If you play it safe, you’ll survive a little longer. If you play it well, you’ll leave behind scenes that your table won’t forget.
Sharpen your proverbial pencils. Keep your investigator’s passport handy. And keep your nerve. You’ll lose the first two. The last one’s optional.
TL;DR
Bring at least two connected characters.
Document everything.
Cowardice is a winning strategy.
Play your SAN loss for drama.
Move fast. The world won’t wait.
Measure success in story, not survival.
Next Steps
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