Pyramid Pick from the Past
The Realm of Shadows (for Call of Cthulhu) [1997]
Published by Pagan Publishing
Written by John H. Crowe III with John Tynes
Illustrated by Blair Reynolds
204-page b&w softcover; $20.95
Editor's Note: Although this review has a defined "Spoiler Space," much of the review talks about elements that make this adventure special and noteworthy. Read at your own risk.
How you rate the many Call of Cthulhu campaigns, scenario anthologies, and supplements that have come out over its two decades of life would make for a potentially lively debate. But for the sake of argument, here is how I rate the various campaigns:
Certainly, Chaosium's Masks of Nyarlathotep deserves its much-lauded status alongside The Enemy Within campaign for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as one of the best ever published -- at least up until the last few years or so. It is still very good and still best typifies the archetypal "onionskin" format established with the publication of the very first Call of Cthulhu campaign, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, back in 1982. Two of Chaosium's more recent campaigns, Beyond the Mountains of Madness and Unseen Masters: Modern Struggles Against Hidden Powers -- both Origins Award winners in their own right -- are also amongst the best. Joining them would be at least two books from Pagan Publishing, the first of these being the equally award winning Delta Green campaign setting, along with its equally as good (and better in the eyes of some) supplement, Delta Green: Countdown . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: October 24, 2003
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