Shadows of Yog-Sothoth: A Global Campaign to Save Mankind (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)

This 2004 reprint has some additional material as well as updated statistics for use with 6th edition rules.Player handouts are now in the back of the book, unlike the original where they were all stapled into the middle. NPC, creature and spell statistics have been updated for 6th edition rules. NPC portraits have been added as well as quite a bit of new art.New text has been added such as tables for NPC location/function and charts that "connect" clues, NPCs and locations. Some of the new additions are very helpful for the Keeper in that they present additional NPCs, background material and advice.Overall, I would highly recommend this for new and old players alike. The only complaint I have is the somewhat hard-to-read text/fonts they've used on some of the player handouts.edit: I ran this entire campaign for friends over the course of about a year. We played online using Roll20. I was easily able to convert this to 7th edition stats. I didn't convert the whole thing at once, mind you!

I have to admit, I’ve only been playing Call of Cthulhu since my birthday earlier this year, and as such, have been playing Seventh Edition. That being said, I really am seriously enjoying this book. It’s a really fun story, going into an intriguing direction, although I will say, if you’re only used to seventh edition, reread the section in the Keeper book on converting older editions. It’s easy enough to do, but it’s absojutely vital information. The book is also a bit old fashioned when compared to the setup of 7th edition printed material, but, I like old fashioned stuff. There are a ton of Cthulhu Mythos detailed things to be found here.

This is a classic CoC campaign. It's movable from the 1890's to the present, even though it's written for a 1920's era. It would port easily to the 30's, 40's, or 50's without much modification. 1890's or modern would require some modifications, but it's not difficult. It's a fun game with a lot of opportunity to encounter both human and mythos baddies. San checks for all who read this tome.

Quiet a good read, i found the secret society part to be a font of new ideas.

This is a nice scenario book. I can recommend it, having said that it is not perfect. The plot was ok, but not marvelous. A bit to linear and simple, but all in all good.

This 176 page soft cover book is a seven part campaign adventure for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. Set in the late 1920's, the scenarios can be played independently or as part of a massive campaign to halt the threat of a sinister cult who is trying to raise the city of R'Lyeh from the ocean's depth and release the Great Old Ones on the world. The campaign is geared towards more experience players although you could take a couple of newbies along as well.In the first scenario, the investigators learn of the Group called the Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight. The group has a secret cult interior that most of its members do not even know about. The investigators will join the Order and attempt to infiltrate its secret cult in order to discover its sinister intentions.In the second adventure, a new group called "Look to the Future" attempts to finance and carry out the plots of the Silver Twilight. This adventure will result in a player or two taking a short but memorable jaunt into the future.Part three takes the investigators to Scotland and the town of Cannich to encounter witches and the mythical Serpent people, in search of a missing archaeologist who discovers some ancient Pictish ruins and a mysterious disk. A tale influenced by Arthur Machen and Robert E. Howard!The fourth adventure finds the investigators contacted by a Hollywood millionaire who wants them to find out the source of the problems on the set of his new film. They'll encounter ghostly images on an outtake reel and discover the sinister history of Devil's Canyon.From Hollywood to Portland, Maine for the next scenario as the true plots of the Silver Twilight unfold and the investigators are faced with three terrible deathtraps.Scenario six takes the action to one of the most mysterious places on Earth-Easter island and it's massive stone statues in what will be the most dangerous adventure yet.Everything climaxes in "The Rise of R'lyeh" as the investigators travel to that island, now risen from the ocean, for the final battle against the Lords of the Silver Twilight.In addition to these seven connected adventures, the book also provides two additional scenarios geared towards newer players. "People of the Monolith" is based upon "The Black Stone" written by Robert E. Howard in probably his most famous Cthulhu Mythos tale. The other scenario, "The Warren" takes the players to Boston to investigate the deserted Boucher estate and attempt to locate a friend of one of the investigators.While I've been role-playing for over 25 years, I'm a relative newcomer to "Call of Cthulhu". What impresses me most is how great a job the designers do in making things easy on the GM or Keeper. It makes no assumptions that you're already an expert and leads new Keepers like myself along with thorough information. The inclusion of handout materials in the form of mock newspaper articles, telegrams, photos, etc, that can be copied for the players is a great touch and does a far better job of conveying the feelings of suspense and dread than I eve could if I merely tried to describe the action for the players. They realize full well how important mood is to this game and do everything they can to help the keeper convey that to the players. They even provide tips on what kind of music would be appropriate to play in the background during certain adventures. I never saw that in D&D before! An excellent campaign for players of this game. Better for experienced players but even new players can get through it with a little help from the Keeper.Reviewed by Tim Janson

First of all, I would like to say that I am a huge fan of the Cthulhu Mythos and an avid game master.I ordered this magnificent book because I feel ready to finally dive down the pen and paper version of the Mythos, after years of playing D&D.The quality of the book though simple, has something very elegant. I am very satisfied by the artwork that as I have come to know from YouTube videos and from the book's intro, it has retained many of the original artwork from 1982, when it was first published. Though paperback, it is quite sturdy and comfortable to hold and fold without damaging it. Hopefully, this will be the case after multiple uses!The content is a CoC fan's paradise. There is a little bit of everything and though I am still in the process of reading it from cover to cover at least once, I am already excited to run this campaign! Again, I have read from reviews and heard in YouTube videos that this campaign sometimes appears to not be cohesive and just throws in Mythos stuff, but that remains to be seen from my side as well.Finally, the arrival of the item was prompt and the packaging was excellent.In summary, this is a must have book for CoC game masters and a wonderful addition to their collection. The retro, spooky element of the artwork in combination with the fact that though paperback it appers quite sturdy, makes it an amazing choice.

80年代にホビージャパンから出ていた日本語版の初版よりこの第2版は大幅にパワーアップしています。シナリオの数、構成は一緒ですが、まずNPCのイラストが大量に入っています。特にカール・スタンフォードのイラストは彼が有名人だけに貴重です。また、シナリオそのものもだいぶ強化されています。もともとのシナリオは導入があいまい（特に最初に行うシナリオの導入方法が初版ではほとんど何も記載されていなかった）なのが、かなりバリエーションを提示しています。またNPCも追加されています。色々とやりたくなるシチュエーションなのですが、シナリオに書いてある情報だけだと、キーパーのアドリブか事前準備が大変になりすぎる傾向があった、シナリオ１と２の部分が大幅に増強されているのが大変良いです。また、昔の日本語版では、ハンドアウトの一部は、情報の概要だけが記載されいなかったのですが、2版では具体的な内容（手記なら手記、チラシならチラシにちゃんとなっています）そもそも、日本語版はクトゥルフの呼び声TTRPGが出た時でもかなり初期に出版されたシナリオだったため、キーパーもプレイヤーもかなり不慣れで、そこでこの髙難易度シナリオはかなり挫折した人も多いのではないかと思いますが、この第2版ベースでやればだいぶこのキャンペーンの印象も変わるのではないでしょうか。ということで、昔の日本語版をしまい込んでいる人は、ぜひこの2版を使って往年の名作キャンペーンを復活させて楽しんではいかがかと思います。

Good update - I've still got the original 1982 edition but this copy will pick up the wear & tear from now on.PS - make me an offer on the original - I'll throw in a schematic of a Zeppelin in 15mil!!

Old nostalgic book, in a new print.

Shadows of Yog Sothoth was Chasium's first campaign-length adventure for Call of Cthulhu. It was first published in 1982. While the story was entertaining the execution was amateurish and the adventure just wasn't up to the standards set by later CoC campaigns. I would give it two stars.This version (released in 2004) is a revamp, an attempt to bring it up to standards of other campaigns. On the whole they've made a good fist of it and I would award it 3.5 stars if I could. They've put a lot of meat on the bones, adding over 60 pages of new material, to make it twice as long as the original SOYS. There are more handouts and a few new scenes. The NPCs have been fleshed out and portraits provided for every one. There are also numerous sidebars packed with advice and alternative suggestions.But for my money they haven't quite gone far enough. For example the two things that bug me most about the original are:1. The introduction is very weak. The investigators join a masonic order (the Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight) and start prying into the order's affairs when a member goes missing. But the investigators have no real motive for doing either of these things. The revamp includes a sidebar discussing this and provides a few suggestions, but suggestions is all they are. To my mind the best of these is that the investigators have been hired to find the missing man and the trail of clues lead them to the order and so they join with a view to continuing their investigations. Now if they'd simply run with this idea and extended the first chapter to cover the preliminary investigation I'd have been very happy. But the GM is left to do the work.2. The first half of the campaign is built on a series of extraordinary coincidences. In the first chapter our heroes join the Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight in Boston and discover that it's a front for Cthulhu cultists. In the second chapter a wealthy businessman hires them to investigate mysterious doings in New York and again they encounter the Silver Twilight. In the third chapter a second wealthy businessman hires them to investigate mysterious doings in Scotland and again they encounter the Silver Twilight. And in the fourth chapter a third wealthy businessman hires them to investigate mysterious doings in Hollywood and again they encounter the Silver Twilight. This just isn't credible. Wouldn't it be so much more believable if the investigators moved from one chapter to another by following up on clues that'd discovered themselves? That's what happens in other CoC campaigns. Now the original edition of SOYS did include one such clue in Chapter One, a letter pinpointing cultist activity in Scotland that a proactive party could follow up on to jump straight into Chapter Three without the waiting for a wealthy businessman to contact them. Now while the revamp still includes all those wealthy businessmen additional clues have been included to encourage proactive play. Chapter One includes a clue leading to New York and Chapter Two includes a clue leading to Devil's Canyon, which is where the second half of Chapter Four takes place, but there is no clue to lead investigators to Hollywood, where the first half of Chapter Four takes places. A couple of newspaper articles linking Devil's Canyon to Hollywood would do the job, but none are provided.So while these shortcomings are easily remedied by the GM, we buy products like this so we don't have to put in the work ourselves. If they'd gone that little bit further I'd have awarded four stars.In short, this version is much better than the original but still not up to the standards of other Chaosium campaigns. However what shortcomings remain are easily remedied by the GM.