Beyond the Mountains of Madness - Hardcover

SPOILERS- Slow pace can drag out excessively at times and there were a large number of grammatical errors that sometimes disrupted the flow of the game with having to wrap our heads around what was said, and sometimes there were things laid out in a strange manner like when a player becomes the silent witness if feels as though the need for the sacrifice to be alive should be included in the witnesses dedicated text box. Besides the editorial gripes on my part which are mostly personal the premise and story are amazing and only fall short due to the pace of the story.

Really fun just to read as a Keeper as the horror is fun and it gives fun advice on how to make the players get that feeling. The adventure is defiantly on the rail-roady side and is a slow burn, but this fits with the premise as it is an Antarctic expedition and within locations is where most of the player choice comes in, though the places you go are pretty set in stone. Most of the adventure seems pretty good to just go and run as is or with minor changes, though some parts seem like they require more work to run, specifically the chapter which covers what is one of or the climax(s) I feel are unclear as to how the players are even supposed to approach it to have any chance of survival. The book also provides plenty of useful information for running Antarctic or more general cold-weather adventures in the 20s or 30s. As for the book as a product the paper is a good looking and feeling B&W with it having more of a matte texture rather than the glossy feel of other full-colour CoC books, there are a fair few typos throughout the book and there is one or two of them in every chapter. This hardcover also includes the PDF for free which is a really nice touch that elevates this as a product over something like a DnD adventure of comparable quality where you could have to get the PDF separate. Overall I think this is a really cool adventure with some potential pitfalls depending on group and Keeper which is a good value if your looking for this kind of experience.

The adventure is overall excellent and allows the players to branch off in a few different paths (especially at the beginning), is a slow burn story where the horror gradually builds throughout the adventure, and placing the harsh environment of Antarctica as it's own antagonist are brilliant. I enjoy many of the NPCs even if it seems like there can be too many at some times, and the overall feel of the adventure is fantastic. Another thing that is enjoyable is that there are several suggestions of how to keep the payers going after the adventure ends (having several loose threads dangling) which is very nice for Keepers and Players who want that. However, there are some things that date this adventure. A large amount of word count is dedicated to how to kick problem "characters" out of the expedition before it even begins. The deep backgrounds at the back are overall interesting but some, like the Elder Thing writing could be greatly condensed. There is also a section where the book recommends Keepers keep a copy of At the Mountains of Madness at the table to handout to players to read at a certain point of the story. That's just a bad design decision imo. In addition, because very large threads at the end aren't completely wrapped up so a campaign can continue certain parts of the ending feel unfinished and disappointing rather than giving a sense of inevitable dread as I'm sure the intent was. Overall this is a great book and the problems can be solved with some forethought by a Keeper. Though my recommendation is for a more experienced Keeper to run this game, especially if being played with the 7th edition rules as it's just another layer of updates that must be accomplished.

This humongous hardcover is the thickest of all my CoC books. The spine width is 1-1/8". The only book thicker than this is The Masks Companion. This is thicker than the Keeper Rulebook by 1/8". Inside is B&W. Paper is not glossy since it is not printed in color. This previously out of print book is at least 4x the price on the secondary market. The original price for this in SC was $39.95 in 1999. This classic campaign, one of the top 3, won't be revised for 7e for another 4+ years.

This is a big campaign and a big book - a great, big book. I'm a huge fan of "At the Mountains of Madness" and the creators of this campaign have developed a world of CoC roleplaying as a sequel to that story, but also gives an Antarctic milieu in which to set a number of adventures. The campaign itself promises many game sessions in an extended set of related adventures. Can't wait to run my players through it!