written by Keith Fierber
published by chaosium, inc.
126 pages
$19.95

For three thousand years, the bloodline of a fallen Egyptian priest has been guarded by a conspiracy intending to fulfill his prophecy of doom and revenge. Their plan involves nothing less than the coordinated attack of several terrorist groups with the summoning of dozens of monsters from the stars to wreak havok across the planet.

In 1927, bold investigators must take up arms against the Brotherhood of the Beast in an effort to prevent global domination by a charismatic demagogue and the vile cultists who, with him, intend to release the great deceiver Nyarlathotep upon an unsuspecting populace.

The Day of the Beast is a lengthy campaign which documents the introduction of a group of investigators to the Brotherhood and their schemes. Not presented as a straightforward chain of events, the book instead develops several individual elements of the conspiracy in Part One: Forebodings of Doom - a series of four adventures intended to be dropped into an ongoing campaign, interspersed between other, unrelated material.

The effect is a stunningly well-produced, gradual foreshadowing of coming events, guaranteed to illicit dread from the sturdiest of player characters. The stories in this portion of the book are excellent, introducing a recurring psychic NPC named Paul Lemond and utilizing him to spur the players to action against several independently solvable puzzles; the "classic" feet of a Chaosium short, in which investigative skills are most required.

The remaining eight adventures are broken down into two parts, the first presenting the Brotherhood for the first time and acquainting the party with several of its key players and machinations. Herein, the group will face more danger than before, as each story raises the stakes a little higher than the last. The physical aspects of these adventures will be more grueling for the investigators as well, as many of them contain settings or scenes in which the characters must combat mythos-beings or explore foreign (in some cases, very foreign) locales to gain information. All four adventures are meant to be run in succession, and one can easily be excluded should PCs circumvent its plotline.

The last part of the book details the culmination of the Brotherhood's plans, and brings events very close to home for the players. They are repeatedly called to arms against their foes and one step from death in nearly every episode. Worldwide events drive these four adventures, with the most pivotat campaign personalities and groups involved in actions crucial to their ultimate goals. Also meant to be presented as its own storyarc, these stories bring the campaign to a satisfying close (though perhaps not for the investigators themselves, as the final encounter is particularly lethal and sanity-shattering).

Originally printed in various forms before as The Fungi From Yuggoth, this product embellishes on the original with several new adventures, new artwork, a clearer and more cohesive backstory and hints and strategies for expanding the story or transplanting it to modern day.

A suggestion I cannot endorse enough: the magnitude of this supplement being adapted to an "XFiles"-like setting leaves me shuddering...

Overall, the presentation of the work is superb, with first-rate organization being the most marked improvement over its predecessor, but the inclusion of a detailed timeline and boxed text providing advice and peripheral data are close seconds. An extensive introduction, new maps, an inclusive index and a host of useful props round out the package.

If your players enjoy interacting with a host of dubiously motivated NPCs, relish the fear at what lies around the next corner and believe that everyone should have a chance to save the world, then all will find something to cherish within this epic campaign. The Day of the Beast approaches... what are you going to do about it?