Escape from Innsmouth by UndashingOne
INTRODUCTIONS: A low fishy stench…
Original SA post
INTRODUCTIONS: A low fishy stench
This is the Escape from Innsmouth module for the 1920’s Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. This adventure fits in with the Lovecraft Country series of the game. This adventure came out all the way back in 1992, so its 20 years old, and is 157 pages long.
This book describes Innsmouth as it appeared immediately after it was visited by an outsider in the short story “A Shadow Over Innsmouth”. February, 1928, is the date that the story gives for the massive government raid on the corrupt fishing town. However, the introduction encourages the Keeper (CoC lingo for GM) to change the dates and extend the time the government investigates the town before launching the raid.After the introduction, the book is divided into the following sections:
Mysterious Innsmouth : A basic history of the region. If you really want to know what Innsmouth was like before the Revolutionary War, this is the section for you.
Welcome to Innsmouth : This section goes over the climate and township government, i.e. useless fluff. I suppose this would be important if you were writing a census report on this fictional town. It includes a side bar with Innsmouth specific spells, like Call Fish, Command Shark, Breath of the Deep, and a variant for Wave of Oblivion. Yawn.
The Shadow over Innsmouth : This section goes over the basics of the infamous Innsmouth Look, what a hybrid is, the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and where to go to research more. If you read the story, this section is completely unnecessary.
A Guidebook to Innsmouth & Environs : This is our map section. It includes some characters that are completely irrelevant. The Marsh Family are basically the only ones that are significant. There’s one guy, Dr. Luther Bloom, who’s some nutty alchemist and will help out the PCs. The gist is that Innsmouth is a town long in disrepair and only has the Deep Ones going for it. If figure this section is only relevant if you’re running the Escape From Innsmouth scenario. If I was running this, I’d just use the city creation rules in Damnation City.
Escape from Innsmouth : The first of two scenarios, this one has the PCs tracking down the 18-year-old manager of the last human-ran store, the First National Grocery. His name is Brian Burnham. He’s hopelessly in love with some Hybrid, and it’s up for the PCs to help them elope. Or kill them. I’d kill them.
The Raid on Innsmouth : The second, more expansive scenario, where the Investigators take on the roles of the military and participate with the combined Marine, Coast Guard, and Navy forces.
The Raid on Innsmouth is where I’ll be focusing most of this review on. It’s where the actual adventure is. Everything preceding it is fluff that isn’t really necessary if you’ve already read the H.P. Lovecraft story. In my opinion, these sections give away too much. Innsmouth is supposed to be unfamiliar and alien. I shouldn’t know the exact layout of the town and the exact date when the Marsh family went through their Change to Deep Ones. However, if anyone would like me to revisit these sections, I will.
The Raid on Innsmouth is further divided to the following sections:
Project Covenant
-Prelude, introduces the main NPCs , and who the Investigators will report to.
The Esoteric Order of Dagon
-“A direct assault by two squads of Marines against the headquarters of the despicable cult.”
The Marsh Mansion
-“A sneak attack by a single quad of Marines against the home of the most powerful family in town; the taking of prisoners is the prime objective.”
The Smuggler’s Tunnels
-“Two squads of Marines on four boats will row up the tunnels that run under Innsmouth.”
Devil Reef
-“A Coast Guard Contingent will be stationed offshore to patrol the reef and harbor under the command of Commander Hearst.”
Y’ha-nthel
-The U.S. Navy has assigned a submarine to torpedo the site of the alleged underwater City.”
Each of these sections have their own objectives. I would run them in the order presented here as the PCs gradually grow deeper and deeper to the town’s fishy secret. However, I leave that up to you all. Which part of the raid would you like to see first?
COMING NEXT: Project Covenant