Escape from Innsmouth

Call of Cthulhu RPG

by Kevin Ross, Scott David Aniolowski, Fred Behrendt

"Innsmouth was once a prosperous trading town located on the north coast of Massachusetts. Early in the 19th century her great sailing ships traveled the world in search of trade and treasure. A series of mishaps brought the town to the brink of financial ruin, but it was saved when Captain Obed Marsh discovered a secret source of gold among the islands of the South Pacific. Prosperity returned to Innsmouth, but only for a short time. The gold held a price that now, nearly a century later, has left the town a decaying hulk, its diseased citizenry mere shambling parodies of what were once people. Shunned by its neighbors, Innsmouth slowly dies. Some whisper that old Obed Marsh made a pact with the Devil. Others know the the town itself has sold its soul, bringing down a curse and forever sealing its doom. ESCAPE FROM INNSMOUTH is based on H.P. Lovecraft's popular "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," a haunting tale of a nearly forgotten town cursed by a blasphemous pact. ESCAPE FROM INNSMOUTH contains pertinent information about the town and its residents, maps of important locations, and two lengthy scenarios. A 17x22 inch players' map is also included."

Genres: Role Playing Games, Horror, Cthulhu Mythos, Reference

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[✨ Bookferatu ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something fishy this way comes.

Anyone who has read Lovecraft’s popular “Shadow Over Innsmouth” story will know that the once prosperous New England town of Innsmouth fell to decay after being cursed by a blasphemous pact with the sea-dwelling "Deep Ones".

Escape From Innsmouth is a Call of Cthulhu campaign setting from Chaosium for anyone interested in roleplaying in the haunted seacoast town where strange, half-human webbed inhabitants with palpitating gills wait bound in service to the fully tainted creatures from deep waters.

Being a Lovecraft fan with a special affinity for Innsmouth, I read this neat sourcebook mostly out of a love for the story since I am always wanting more when it comes to the background and history of the infamous accursed community, but I also read it for inspiration.

I've been reading a few other adventure sourcebooks to get some ideas for future writing projects, but writing projects aside, it wasn't very long before I really wished I had a group of players to run this suspenseful campaign with so that I can really become involved in the CoC horror roleplaying game!

Though Escape from Innsmouth is just one (and the final?) book in the line of Lovecraft Country supplements for the Call of Cthulhu game (at least so far), it is easily THE one I would want to start with because it was fun and interesting and easy to read and I found it quite satisfying and well-paced, offering many fine scenarios to get into deep trouble and plenty of foul fishyfroggy!folk and other Innsmouth monsters to encounter.

The campaign book is layed out well and contains the right balance of background information on locations, specific buildings and notable fishmonster people within Innsmouth outlined in excellent pencil portraits alongside in-depth descriptions for each mob and also includes a really cool players' map of the twisted town to help visualise adventures. There are six different scenarios including the climatic "Raid on Innsmouth" and plenty of overall inspiration in this creepy setting that establishes the perfect mood for investigating and resisting the icky Innsmouth folk.

Lots of interesting reading even if you are not playing the game but just in need of a nice supplement, or like me, want to build up writing resources. I've generated a lot of really fun ideas from this and will be keeping it handy for future reference!

Escape is an enjoyable campaign book that I would highly recommend to gamemasters and investigators for fishy good adventures!

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first exposure to CALL OF CTHULHU was this book. I wasn't a big fan of the Mythos yet and I was actually a die-hard Vampire: The Masquerade gamer at the time. It and Dungeons and Dragons were my bag instead. I had, however, heard that Call of Cthulhu was the most mature and well-written of the setting, though. Innsmouth seemed to be the best sort of place to start and it left a powerful impression on me. I was about sixteen, though, and never ran COC.

Coming back as a forty-two year old man is a different experience and I have a great appreciation for the book still. I also recognize this book is more or less the basis for CALL OF CTHULHU: DARK CORNERS OF THE EARTH. Which means that the book is probably Chaosium's most played product even if they don't realize it.

The premise is pretty obvious with Innsmouth being the same isolated town from THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH, thoroughly corrupted by the Mythos and populated by the Deep Ones. The untainted humans are cowed, drunken, and miserable if they're not completely insane themselves. The Deep Ones are also awful frog-looking humans with their own nightmarish evils afoot. This is not a book sympathetic to the Mythos and I appreciate the straightforwardness that being a hybrid makes you a monster personally as well as genetically.

Innsmouth is not really a place that you can make a center for a game as any humans fighting the Mythos will be killed after their first signs of resistance but you can definitely make some interesting short adventures before the raid. The actual Raid itself is sort of ridiculous and I love it, though, with the submarine shelling of the Deep One City and the chance to kill Dagon himself.

[Sean Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great expansion of all tings "Innsmouth" established by Lovecraft. Wonderful detail and thorough world-building of the accursed city and its surrounding areas. This campaign book is divided into two distinct acts, the 'escape from' and the 'raid.' I didn't run this campaign but I found the first act to be the stronger, and think the book could be organized a bit better (I do own the 1992 edition!)

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un clásico, ni más ni menos. Este libro detalla la historia, geografía y habitantes de la mítica ciudad de Innsmouth, e incluye una campaña corta de 3 aventuras que culmina en la legendaria redada federal en la ciudad maldita. Se puede completar con las igualmente excelentes aventuras del suplemento "Antes de la caída".

Eso sí, mucho cuidado. Las aventuras son complejas, y la última es una verdadera picadora de carne, siendo además muy compleja de dirigir. Pero la experiencia es sin duda recompensante. La Llamada de Cthulhu mantiene su línea de tener, posiblemente, los mejores suplementos de aventura de todos los juegos de rol que conozco.

[Dani Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno de los mejores módulos de la Llamada y de los que más he disfrutado jugando.
Irónicamente, la parte de la Redada aunque leída es genial, jugada me pareció algo tediosa, demasiado centrada en el combate.