Taking a look at some Call of Cthulhu campaigns this week, starting with Spawn of Azathoth (1986), by Keith Herber, or, as I refer to it, low key Masks of Nyarlathotep.

The stakes are pretty high – Nemesis, the titular spawn, is a kind of evil star orbiting in the far reaches of our solar system. Periodically, pieces of Nemesis break off and land on a planet. If conditions are right, this seed will burrow to the core, gestate, and hatch as if from an egg, which happened once before, resulting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Another seed is on its way at the start of the campaign. 

Unlike Masks, there’s no conspiracy trying to abet the end of the world here. There are just a string of events, which players have a chance to intervene with. In fact, the pressing problem is not the seed itself, but an ancient magical fail safe that would freeze time for the inhabitants of earth in order to prevent the creation of a greater evil. 

The scenarios are a little bit of a tour of the Cthulhu Mythos, incorporating the dreamlands, the mi-go, the tcho-tcho, the Tunguska blast, (in shades of Hellboy) Rasputin and more. But they’re all rather sedate in character, lacking a lot of combat or mind-blowing alien encounters. The mix is a bit implausible at a glance, but the result is a surprisingly solid exercise in growing dread. 

I got this box from a vendor at the 1993 NecronomiCON. Herber was there along with folks like Greg Stafford, John Tynes and others, all of whom were extremely indulgent and patient with the slightly overwhelmed 14-year-old who just wanted to listen to them all talk. Herber was kind enough and, if I recall accurately, quite chuffed to be asked, to sign the box. It remains a cherished possession.