Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth (Review and Deep Dive)

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First introduced in H.P. Lovecraft’s iconic 1931 short story The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the fictional Massachusetts seaport of Innsmouth has been an iconic part of the Cthulhu Mythos for almost a century, with its Dagon-worshipping inhabitants and monstrous fish-like Deep Ones appearing in countless novels, films, television shows, comic books, video games and even a recent D&D Ravenloft Domain.

Innsmouth has also been a major part of the Call of Cthulhu RPG since the earliest days of the game, serving as a focal point for numerous scenarios and campaign settings, including the popular Escape from Innsmouth supplement which was released in the 1990s.

Now, Chaosium is returning to the troubled town with a new setting guide entitled Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth, which seeks to breathe new life into its sinister streets. You can pick up the book now in both hardcover and PDF from your local game store, Chaosium, DriveThruRPG and Amazon.

So are there new secrets to be discovered in the depths of Innsmouth? Below, we go fishing for answers.

What is Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth about?

Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth is a 274-page, Keeper-facing sourcebook written by Chaosium Creative Director Mike Mason, with additional content from Sean Branney and Andrew Leman. The book is designed to provide Keepers with everything they need to run standalone scenarios and larger campaigns in and around the infamous town.

The content is built primarily around Lovecraft’s classic The Shadow Over Innsmouth as well as material found in the groundbreaking Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement Escape from Innsmouth, which first hit shelves back in 1992, with a second edition later released in 1997.

In other words, this new volume is effectively a third edition of Escape from Innsmouth, now folded into Chaosium’s recent Arkham Unveiled line and being fully compatible with Call of Cthulhu 7th edition.

And while longtime Keepers and Call of Cthulhu grognards will likely recognize much of the source material from both the work of H.P. Lovecraft and past Chaosium supplements, the vast majority of the book has been rewritten, expanded or reworked from the ground up, offering plenty of fresh takes on a well-trod part of the Cthulhu Mythos.

It’s also worth noting that the default campaign year has shifted from 1927 to 1922. This earlier five-year period gives Keepers a bit ore runway to build a campaign before the climactic events described in Lovecraft’s story ever come into play (without giving away too much, the town is dramatically altered in a way that would make running a standard campaign a bit more challenging – although the book does have suggestions for how to do this).

Below is also a quick rundown of what you’ll find in each chapter:

• Introduction: Sets up the book’s purpose and its place in the Arkham Unveiled line, and includes the “Interpreting the Shadow Over Innsmouth” essay addressing the real-world history (and controversies) surrounding Lovecraft’s original story.
• Chapter 1: Welcome to Innsmouth: Covers the town’s public and secret history, its founding, a detailed Innsmouth chronology and a broader overview of the surrounding Miskatonic Valley region.
• Chapter 2: The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Digs into the Esoteric Order of Dagon and the Deep Ones, including their biology, history and society, plus guidance for Keepers who want to run campaigns after 1927.
• Chapter 3: Investigating Innsmouth: Offers hooks for getting investigators involved along with sample Innsmouth backstories. It also includes a range of new and altered character skills, including Lore (Innsmouth), which measures how much a character knows about the town’s public and secret history. Navigate (Innsmouth), which is an altered version of the standard Navigate skill, refocused on the town’s tangle of streets and back alleys. Reassure (APP/5), which is a new, lighter-weight cousin to Psychoanalysis, letting a caring word from a friend help a shaken investigator recover Sanity or push through a phobia without a trained professional. The chapter also covers local clubs, societies, general information and gossip tables for running the town.
• Chapter 4: Guide to Innsmouth: The meat of the book, this chapter breaks the town down into nine numbered neighborhoods plus its outlying environs, each with its own address directory and NPCs. In total there are over 100 points of interest, with virtually every nook and cranny of the town fully mapped and detailed.
• Chapter 5: Appendices: Six adventure “seeds,” a full set of play aids (stat blocks, artifacts, name tables), a bibliography and resource list, plus a detailed index.

What is the Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth setting like?

The book does an absolutely incredible job of creating a fully realized sandbox for players to explore. The amount of lore and locations packed inside is enough to run a campaign for years, with writing that’s both evocative and informational. Even if you’re already familiar with Innsmouth, there’s still a ton of new information and new ideas here for Keepers to draw on.

The book also includes plenty of NPC entries, with detailed backgrounds and multiple ways to play them. It’s these characters that really bring the setting to life, and they have enough narrative meat to them to create hundreds of potential scenarios. The Deep Ones and Esoteric Order of Dagon (the primary antagonists in Innsmouth) are also fully fleshed out, but flexible enough that they can be run as standard threats, played off one another or even transformed into unlikely allies.

It’s a unique approach to a setting book, offering a sandbox that’s both deep and malleable. Two Keepers using the book are likely to end up with two very different versions of Innsmouth, even if they both tap into the same source material.

What are the scenarios like?

Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth doesn’t include any full adventure scenarios, which definitely may feel like a miss to some Keepers. What it does include, however, are six scenario “seeds” designed to be run as one-shots or used to flesh out a larger Arkham-Innsmouth based campaign.

These seeds are brief, but also more fleshed out than a one-line adventure hook. Each of the six entries is about half a page in length and includes a Setup (listing the situation and how players might get involved), Backstory (diving deeper into the overall mystery), Research (offering bulleted secrets and clues for PCs to follow), Truth (explaining what really lies at the heart of the story) and Possibilities (bullet points listing likely outcomes from the scenario).

The result are adventure options that are short and sweet, yet also offer Keepers plenty to chew on in terms of content. All of them are well written and can likely be run with minimal prep. You also don’t necessarily need to run these as part of a larger campaign, and virtually all of the seeds can be easily tweaked to drop into just about any existing Call of Cthulhu campaign.

What additional materials are included beyond the book?

Both the physical and digital versions of Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth include four separate inserts that are designed to support the primary book:

• The Innsmouth Courier: A facsimile newspaper meant to double as an in-game prop and clue.
• Player-facing maps: Featuring a variety of maps of the town and floor plans for specific locations.
• Keeper-facing maps: Includes some additional player handouts and Keeper-specific maps.
• NPC Portraits: A collection of images of notable locals Keepers can share with players.

It’s worth noting that you can also snag all four for free from Chaosium under the “Downloads for this Product” section of the product page.

What’s the art and design like?

Recent Chaosium releases like Campfire Tales: Scouts Against Cthulhu and Pulp Cthulhu: Clockwork & Claws have been a bit uneven when it comes to art direction. Fortunately, Innsmouth doesn’t suffer from those same issues. In fact, this is some of the best art work we’ve seen from Call of Cthulhu in years, with images that are absolutely dripping with dread and atmosphere. One minor knock on the art is that the NPC portraits don’t feel quite as polished as they could be, but that’s a small quibble on an otherwise masterful illustrations.

The maps also deserve their own callout. They’re extremely well done, giving Keepers a clear, usable sense of the town without sacrificing any of its creeping atmosphere. Floor plans are also included for several key locations, which are fantastic references for both players and Keepers.

Beyond the visuals, the writing itself is sharply done, delivering exactly what a Keeper needs without padding things out or burying the useful bits in prose. That extends to the layout as a whole, which is clean, well-organized and genuinely easy to reference and flip through mid-session – no small feat for a book this packed with locations, NPCs and lore.

How much is Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth?

The standard hardcover retails for $59.99 USD (not including shipping and handling), while the PDF is going for $29.99 USD (with fulfillment handled by DriveThruRPG). A separate leatherette edition retails for $99 USD, which features the deluxe treatment we’ve seen with other recent Chaosium products.

When was Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth released?

Both the physical book and PDF version were released on July 22nd, 2026. Notably, the book has been teased for some time now and it was also featured heavily at Gen Con, making it one of the biggest Chaosium releases of the year.

Is Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth worth picking up?

Pros

• A living, breathing town: History, neighborhoods, NPCs, factions and Deep One lore are all covered in depth, making the setting feel alive and offering enough content to run a campaign for years.
• Genuinely flexible: Optional takes on NPCs and factions like the Esoteric Order of Dagon make it easy to build a version of Innsmouth that’s distinct from anyone else’s.
• Incredible art: Chaosium has definitely stepped up its game, producing one of the most gorgeous illustrations we’ve seen in years, with imagery that brings the dreaded town and its terrifying inhabitants to life.
• A sinister seaport sandbox: The content is both incredibly flexible and also structured enough that Keepers can respond to players who may go off the beaten path.

Cons

• No full scenarios included: The adventure seeds are solid but having at least one ready-to-run scenario would have been appreciated.
• Overly familiar territory: While much of the content is new or updated, we’re still talking about a setting that has been explored in depth in countless forms of media and two other past Call of Cthulhu RPG products.
• Lack of mechanical meat: While there are a handful of new character options, it would have been great to see some additional material to help better integrate PCs into the setting.
• Not beginner friendly: If you’re looking to run your first Call of Cthulhu campaign, the material presented in this book may be a little overwhelming. That being said, it’s a great option for relatively experienced Keepers.

Final thoughts and review score

Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth is about as complete a treatment of the town as Keepers could ask for, packed to the gills with lore, NPCs and enough flexibility that no two tables are likely to run it the same way. The lack of ready-made adventures and new character options are minor drawbacks, but hardly a dealbreaker.

The end result is an absolute classic Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement. Whether you’re a returning visitor to Innsmouth or a landlubber looking for your first taste of fish and fear, this is one book worth getting your hooks into.

Final Review Score: 19 out of 20

You can pick up Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth now in hardcover and PDF from your local game store, Chaosium, DriveThruRPG and Amazon.