The real thing behind the way folks feel is simply race prejudice - and I don't say I'm blaming those that hold it. I hate those Innsmouth folks myself, and I wouldn't care to go to their town. I s'pose you know - though I can see you're a Westerner by your talk - what a lot our New England ships - used to have to do with ***** ports in Africa, Asia, the South Seas, and everywhere else, and what ***** kinds of people they sometimes brought back with 'em. You've probably heard about the Salem man that came home with a Chinese wife, and maybe you know there's still a bunch of Fiji Islanders somewhere around Cape Cod.

"Well, there must be something like that back of the Innsmouth people. The place always was badly cut off from the rest of the country by marshes and creeks and we can't be sure about the ins and outs of the matter; but it's pretty clear that old Captain Marsh must have brought home some odd specimens when he had all three of his ships in commission back in the twenties and thirties. There certainly is a strange kind of streak in the Innsmouth folks today - I don't know how to explain it but it sort of makes you crawl. You'll notice a little in Sargent if you take his bus. Some of 'em have ***** narrow heads with flat noses and bulgy, starry eyes that never seem to shut, and their skin ain't quite right. Rough and scabby, and the sides of the necks are all shriveled or creased up. Get bald, too, very young. The older fellows look the worst - fact is, I don't believe I've ever seen a very old chap of that kind. Guess they must die of looking in the glass! Animals hate 'em - they used to have lots of horse trouble before the autos came in.

"Nobody around here or in Arkham or Ipswich will have anything to do with 'em, and they act kind of offish themselves when they come to town or when anyone tries to fish on their grounds. ***** how fish are always thick off Innsmouth Harbour when there ain't any anywhere else around - but just try to fish there yourself and see how the folks chase you off!

Innsmouth adds the threat of the Deep Ones to the problems that the investigators must deal with, in the form of the Deep Ones Rising track. If the Deep Ones Rising track ever completely fills up, the Ancient One immediately awakens. There are two primary ways for the Deep Ones Rising track to advance. Each time a gate is prevented from opening, such as by an elder sign token or an investigator ability, add one uprising token to the Deep Ones Rising track. In addition, there are special vortex spaces found on the Innsmouth board. Investigators cannot move into vortices under any circumstances (not even through the use of an item). Any monster that enters a vortex is immediately returned to the cup. For each monster returned to the cup in this fashion, raise the terror level by one. In addition, add one uprising token to the Deep Ones Rising track.

Federal Raids

In order to prevent the Deep Ones from rising, the investigators can gather evidence in the town of Innsmouth to convince the Feds to take action. This gathering of evidence is represented by filling up the Feds Raid Innsmouth track. During the Upkeep Phase, any investigator(s) in an Innsmouth neighborhood (either in a location or a street area) may spend 1 or more Clue tokens to place them on spaces on the Feds Raid Innsmouth track that are the same color as the neighborhood he is in. If the Feds Raid Innsmouth track is completely filled with Clue tokens (a total of 6 Clue tokens are required), then both the Feds Raid Innsmouth and the Deep Ones Rising tracks are emptied of tokens. Of course, this doesn’t prevent the Deep Ones Rising track from starting to fill up once more, but it at least delays the inevitable.

With the Deep One Rising track keeping the town of Innsmouth busy, the time is ripe for the appearance of Father Dagon.

Click the above image to download a pdf of this dreadful new herald (pdf, 856 kb)

This herald is truly nasty when combined with Mother Dagon, and for the ultimate in both theme and horror, try both heralds and Cthulhu!

Arkham Horror is a boardgame of mystery and madness set in Arkham in the 1920's. Players investigate the strange happenings about the town, and race to prevent ancient evil from surfacing. Playable with 1-8 players.