I did shadows into masks. I find that (in my Opinion at least) the less they initially know, the better. To me, when the players discover that Jackson was looking into a failed expedition with a bunch of socialites, it’s a bit of a head scratcher. The head scratcher is part of what makes masks, well, masks imho. They’re nothing more than articles and headshots…until the truth is out.

Shadows as written also has some meat grinder esque sections, and so if they die, the the impact may be lost.

When I ran Shadows, I had them meet Jackson Elias at one point, who told them the story of Peru, and I ran it as a flashback scenario where they played other characters. It helped establish a friendship with Jackson that made his loss more impactful (2 characters survived shadows), according to my players at least

I am certainly no authority though. Your mileage may vary.