A solar eclipse occurs at the climax of Masks of Nyarlathotep, but many more eclipses can be integrated into the campaign. While the campaign discusses future eclipses, in case the Keeper wishes to extend the campaign, you can also use earlier eclipses to foreshadow the importance of these events..
Working backwards from January 14th 1926 there are four main eclipses that most easily tie in to the campaign:
- July 20th 1925 – in the middle of the campaign.
- January 14th 1925 – in the New York chapter.
- March 28th 1922 – for the prologue in Peru.
- May 29th 1919 – for the Carlyle Expedition.
Each of these solar eclipses are discussed below, including how I’ve used some of them in my Masks campaign.
The Eclipse of July 20th 1925
An annular eclipse over the Southern Pacific Ocean, with totality visible from the Tasman Sea (between Australia and New Zealand) to the south of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, of the coast of South America). This isn’t the easiest to work into the campaign, but the investigators might be in Australia around this time. If they are sailing to Sydney, then they might see the start of the eclipse on the voyage.
This eclipse also passes quite close to the common estimates of the location of R’lyeh. This gives you a chance to incorporate additional material related to Cthulhu itself. However, Masks is probably big enough already without that.
The Eclipse of January 24th 1925
This is probably the easiest eclipse to work into the campaign, and several others have suggested doing so. The investigators will almost certainly be in New York at this time, as this is just over a week after the inciting incident in Jackson Elias’ hotel room. Some of the ideas I have seen or had are:
- All of New York stopped to watch the eclipse, so it is a good time to hold a social gathering. A party thrown by Erica Carlyle is one good option. Alternatively, many people are gathered in Harlem as the eclipse was not total over lower Manhattan.
- The investigators could break into a location of interest while the occupants are out watching the spectacle. Ju-Ju House might not, however, be unoccupied because…
- Mukunga M’Dari could summon a Hunting Horror. Daylight dispels Hunting Horrors, so the eclipse provides a limited window when they can be active.
- The US Navy airship, USS Los Angeles, is in New York to observe the eclipse. If you are running a pulp campaign, this could combine with a Hunting Horror for an exciting combat set-piece.
In my own campaign: I had a benefit at the Carlyle estate for the New York Astronomical Society. Most of the investigators attended that either as guests or hired help (depending on Credit Rating). Meanwhile, the cult summoned a hunting horror to the Carlyle mansion to retrieve Roger Carlyle’s books during the eclipse. Much chaos ensued, reaching a climax when Mr Barrington-Smythe (with a very good Cthulhu Mythos roll for spontaneous casting) dispelled the beast. This also led to some rather awkward explanations needed to get Erica Carlyle back on side.
The Eclipse of March 28th 1922
A total eclipse visible from Peru to Egypt. The prequel adventure in the latest edition of Masks is in the right location, but out by a year. Moving it to March of 1922 means that they could be at the Ruins for the eclipse. Since Peru is right at the beginning of the eclipse, the sun rises in eclipse.
In my own campaign: Larkin planned to reach the ruins on the night before the eclipse.The Kharisiri could then sacrifice the investigators to the Father of Maggots at dawn. The investigators headed to the pyramid without Larkin, however, and reached the ruins ahead of him. They dealt with Larkin, de Mendoza, and sealed the ward before the eclipse, but saw the it at dawn as they prepared to leave the highlands and return to Lima. I could have added an extra day to the journey to alter the timing, but chose to preserve player agency. I’m happy to move the start of events to align with events like the eclipse, I’d rather avoid directing the investigators actions unnecessarily.
The Eclipse of May 29th 1919
This eclipse starts over South America and finishes over Africa. It passes over modern-day Tanzania, to the south of Kenya and the Mountain of the Black Wind. A partial eclipse, is however, visible from there, with about 2/3 of the sun covered a little before 6pm local time. The timeline given in Masks has the Carlyle expedition in Egypt at this stage – they don’t reach Kenya until July or the Mountain until August. If you move the timeline a little then the rite carried out by the Carlyle expedition (given as 8th August by the book) to be conducted under an eclipse. This would, however, mean realigning a lot of different dates, or finding some way to compress the expedition’s timeline.
In my own campaign: My players had already had a number of accounts of the Carlyle expedition by the time I realised this was a possibility. In fact, it was the investigators who discovered it. They had purchased two of Miles Shipley’s paintings in London, and when examining the Black Mountain a successful Astronomy roll from Dr Kapoor noted that the scene was under a total eclipse of the sun. That led to an enquiry about when forthcoming eclipses were, and whether or not there had been one when the Carlyle expedition was in Kenya.
Other Solar Eclipses for Masks of Nyarlathotep
Keepers are well advised to run some smaller scenarios before tackling Masks. You might also want to additional scenarios to build the investigators’ relationship with Jackson Elias. There are several other eclipses in the early 1920s that could be used as foreshadowing.
Over-fitting to the eclipse cycles, could spoil their significance in the campaign, so exercise some care with this. One interesting idea, however, could be to use an astronomical expedition as a way to form the group of investigators. The investigators could travel to Peru in 1922 and also to New York in 1925. An expedition investigating the importance of eclipses to ancient peoples would have a good mix of archaeology, occult lore, research, and field skills. This would make a fine team of investigators for Masks.
Further Reading and Resources
I found The Sky Live to be a most useful source of general information about solar eclipses. They have a list of solar eclipses by decade, with eclipses of the 1920s being the most relevant. On the page for each individual eclipse is a map where you can select a location and see a rendering of what the eclipse would look like from there. This could also be very useful if you are moving Masks to another time period and want to find an eclipse to work toward.
There’s a lot of information online about the January 1925 eclipse in New York. One of my favourite finds, is video footage from the USS Los Angeles. Likewise, this Pathé newsreel from the time gives a window into the past. Wikipedia entries for the eclipses tend to be technical rather than historical, but Wikimedia commons has media relating to the New York eclipse, and there’s also a scan of the New York Times coverage online.
Sadly, there’s less about the eclipse over the Indian Ocean in 1926, although there is an account in the scientific journal Nature.