Shadows of Yog-Sothoth (1982) is the first campaign for Call of Cthulhu. Being the first, it is considered a classic (to the point that it was republished in 1989 as part of the book called Cthulhu Classics), and it is, but it only shows some of the promise that would be achieved by the game in the future.

In a nutshell, the Order of the Silver Twilight is working to wake Cthulhu up early. The campaign is episodic, with players uncovering a global conspiracy and attempting to find the means to foil the plot. Each individual episode is good (particularly “Devil’s Canyon,” which finds players on a haunted film set in the Mojave desert) and they sort of act as a Lovecraftian greatest hits, culminating with the rise of R’lyeh, but they just don’t feel like a cohesive story to me. Which is fine, because it was the first outing and written by a large team. It feels like the equivalent of a TV pilot, where you can see the future potential but things are a little rickety.

Of particular note is Carl Stanford, the primary antagonist. A cunning sorcerer, he’s probably one of the Call of Cthulhu game’s most memorable adversaries. So much so that it is likely he escapes the climax of the campaign, after which he shows up as a minor player in the events of Masks of Nyarlathotep (I like his appearance there a lot, diminished in prestige and power, but really no less ambitious or formidable).

One of the great joys of the book is Tom Sullivan’s art throughout. If there is something that unifies the disparate chapters, its his consistent talent for atmosphere.

Oh, and if the main campaign seems a bit wobbly, one of the bonus scenarios, “The Warren,” is a straight up classic that nails the Lovecraftian source material.