Structure and Theme

Concerning Structure

My first thought was that this would be an adventure set in one room where the investigators sort through clues and the history of the mask is revealed through 3 or 4 flashbacks before the bad guys barge through the door. The “present day” part would form a frame narrative around the flashbacks take place in times and locations influenced by player input and as there will be several of these flashbacks it would be too much of a hassle to create characters for all of them. Therefore, my reasoning is that the players will create investigators for the 1930s US and these PCs will then serve as sort of avatars during a flashback, their skills adjusted to suit the period (or actual avatars if this turns out to be some kind of Yithian plot). For example, a Detective could be a sheriff or a Military could be a gladiator or a samurai warrior etc.


After giving it some thought, I realized that I would need to expand this concept a little bit and the reason for it lies mainly with players and character creation. I believe that the players' enjoyment of any given adventure depends heavily on how much they like their characters and feel in control of their actions. Thus, players creating their main characters for the 1930s but then getting to do very little with them would be problematic. Therefore, to reward the players' creative and emotional investment in their main characters, I decided to expand the “present day” part of the adventure and make it a bigger part of the story so that we will have two parallel stories which feed into each other so that the information gathered during the flashbacks can then be used in the present day to tie both narratives together for a satisfying ending.

The present day narrative is going to more Purist in its approach whereas the flashbacks could end up being Pulpier. I just finished reading Graham Walmsley’s Stealing Cthulhu and I highly recommend it, lots of good stuff there. A couple of things especially stood out for me regarding this exercise. First of all, I liked Mr. Walmsley’s thoughts on pacing and raising the threat level gradually to create that feel of HPL style horror. I believe I can use the concept of gradually rising threat with the 1930s narrative by making the PCs encounter occult clues and cultists before moving on the monsters and, finally, the big reveal. However, with the flashbacks I might have to abandon this concept or at least not use it to the same extent as these episodes will be shorter and the pacing will probably be more fast and furious. Secondly, Mr. Walmsley recommends using just one type of Mythos monster in a given adventure, but because of the improvisational structure of this thing I am pretty sure I will end up using several different monsters. I will try to tie them around one or two themes though.

Concerning Themes

Ever since running White Wolf's Inquisitor almost ten years ago I have paid more attention to the theme and mood of my adventures. Obviously, Lovecraftian horror will be the main mood here. Regarding themes the most obvious one with the Unnamed Mask will be Cthulhu. Why? Well, first of all, The Great Old One is featured prominently on the mask. Also, I have decided that the location for the 1930s part will be New Orleans, and as we know from The Call of Cthulhu the crescent city is one of the prime locations of the Cthulhu cult.

What themes does Cthulhu bring to table then? Again, Mr. Walmsley has some great thoughts on this, and Kenneth Hite's thoughts in Trail of Cthulhu are very valuable as well. Cthulhu is all about the end of the world, the seas, water, dreams, visions, imprisonment, and insanity. I will try to emphasize these in both the 1930s narrative as well as the flashbacks. This will also help in creating a more coherent, thematic feel for the adventure as a whole. Also, I think I will try to use the color green often when describing locations, NPC clothing, book covers etc.

Dreams and visions are great, especially with Cthulhu, in imparting mood and premonition of what is to come if the investigators fail and the Old One rises. I will use them to show the investigators glimpses of a future where Cthulhu reigns and people have taken to the streets in a rebellion of body and mind.