The plot of EFI is simple - at first. Our Intrepid Investigators, always looking for that next adventure, receive word that store manager Brian Burnham has gone missing in Innsmouth - and evidence suggests he may have been framed for the robbery of his own store. Of course, Innsmouth being what it is, the locals are no help and do not appreciate snoopers... plus there's a terrible cult keeping tabs, horrible hidden secrets that have nothing to do with the fish-person rape, disappearances and weirdness, and the (such a tragedy that Cassilda and Camilla would tell them to tone it down) family of Thomas Waite. From a paranoid and difficult search for evidence to a daring escape from a riled up town, EFI brings a classic CoC plot with pulp, mystery, and action to spare - not to mention a few serious SAN losses to boot! Hey, something's gotta spook them when they get used to the fish-faced horrors of the deep. 0/1d6 SAN loss, my ass...
The first thing I noticed when putting together the material for EFI was just how damn huge the scenario decided that Innsmouth was. Now, I don't know about you, but when I first read The Shadow Over Innsmouth I assumed it was much smaller - a coastal town similar to someplace like Saugatuck, MI (which is actually situated on a lake but the same idea applies), perhaps once even a bustling resort town, now turned sour. Manufacturing is really only gold refining, shipping, and fishing; there wouldn't be a big factory district, and where there was industry, it would be near the docks and the river. The place's main draw would have been the architecture and beaches, and the majority of folks would likely have lived in one or two districts. Innsmouth never seemed large to me in the actual HPL story, so I was a little confused to see it so crazily expanded here. I never used half the locations involved - I think I picked like five or six within a few key districts I knew the players would want to explore, and left it at that. To be fair, this insane amount of areas to explore is useful if you're planning homebrew scenarios in Innsmouth, but not so much if you want to run EFI or "The Raid on Innsmouth". As for the sinister seeds portion, those again never were used, but could always be fun pointers for making offshoot adventures elsewhere. A good Keeper would scavenge everything offered in this guidebook and apply it to other places, and this will greatly depends on your campaign and its needs, but in my opinion I think there's almost too much here to work with. Come on - do we really need five or six abandoned churches, scores of empty houses, and numerous human and non-human NPCs you will honestly (be super honest and I mean it) never even use? Drop the Black Fan and call it a day, EFI - not even it can hide how over-stuffed you are. Besides, the Bloated Woman needs it back and she's not a patient goddess.
Another thing I noticed is that the amount of possible clues in EFI is another one of those infinite prop black holes you can get stuck propstorming in until the shantak come home. The clues you can find are almost enough to be a full campaign in and of themselves, and surely are if you run both EFI and "Raid". If you're just running EFI like I did, though, there are WAY too many clues, not all of them physical, for any one solid game involved in Innsmouth. Seriously, it's as if this was pushed to be a full campaign, something like a Shadows of Yog-Sothoth or MoN, when it should have simply remained a guidebook and set of adventures. It gets to the point you start to wonder just how much the Esoteric Order of Dagon cared to eliminate all anti-EOD sentiments. Did Obed Marsh's followers just get super lazy or what? You as Keeper must pick and choose the props to use, and you as Keeper must also put in the crazy amount of effort to make them appear water-logged and ruined. That does go without saying, yes, but it's even more important here. As an example, the priest's journal I made was hand-written in ink, coffee-stained for weathering, and Japanese-Binding-Stitched together with tan batik cloth I had from a Yellow King cosplay (Yes I did have yellow batik fabric too, and no I will not be binding a prop copy of The King in Yellow with it - but I should). The result looked so convincingly moldered that one player actually picked the journal up and sniffed it to check for mildew. Now that's realism! As usual, the more effort you put into these props, the better, but damn are there a ton of them. I think EFI may actually rival Still Waters for the number of props involved for the scenario itself!
These, however, are personal nitpicks, so on to the positives - despite player familiarity with Innsmouth, Deep Ones, and their ilk (my players are all avid Lovecraft readers or at least passingly familiar with his works), not a single person didn't find the atmosphere in Innsmouth scary. Everyone was on edge from the moment it became clear the townsfolk didn't want them prying, and it lasted for two full sessions of awesome gameplay. The foreboding and decaying buildings, the dreary grey and perpetually drizzle-soaked streets, the guttering glow of gas lamps on the sidewalks, and the cast of miserable, run-down, low-life, destitute characters really help Innsmouth shine if you play it right. The final escape should be tense, exciting, dangerous, pulpy, and action-packed. Never let them have a break, always make them need to keep moving. My players crashed their getaway car, blew it up to get rid of the swarm of hybrids after them, ended up trekking through the sewers and meeting the shoggoth there, had to trek through the swamps, and then stole a manhunt party's pickup truck to escape into Arkham. Ramp up paranoia, edge into tragedy, and make the players feel the sheer misery of Innsmouth - for it is a town of nothing but misery at the hands of dark forces - and the roleplay moments will pay back in dividends here.
Speaking of characters, they once more make this scenario. Thomas Waite and his family are particularly tragic - I portrayed Ramona as a 7 year old innocent, the father as a world-weary sexual abuse survivor on his final nerve, and the fish-wife as a mad wretch who hated life on land and was every bit as forced to marry Thomas as Thomas was to marry her (nobody said all Deep Ones were horrible, and how dare you be so racist?!). The entire Waite family's story is one of tragedy and it needs to be told with drama, compassion, and compelling determination. Plus, if the wife kills Ramona, it's even more horrific to see a dead little girl than a dead teenager. Serious potential also exists with star-crossed lovers Brian and Ruth, the staff of the Gilman Hotel, and Lucas Mackey, and more. There are lots of random shuffle-on-shuffle-off characters, though, so don't be too terribly surprised if you have to pick and choose the ones that fit your campaign. I can't stress this enough - you will absolutely NOT get to every single thing there is to do in Innsmouth, I promise you that, unless your goal is to scour every nook and cranny. Discourage this with inauspicious encounters, SAN loss, and more. Once again, this kindly Keeper highly recommends using and abusing the Shoggoth. In fact, in the sewers, I used simple whistling and creepy sloshing sounds to depict it getting closer.
"What the heck is that?" asked one player.
"Tekeli-li!" joked another.
I gave that player a sick, evil grin, and nodded madly.
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me, REALLY?!"
Shortly thereafter, mass hysteria once more broke out at the table. Everyone saw the shoggoth, everyone squished into a narrow alcove, and everyone (including poor Ramona) watched in absolute horror as the protoplasmic monster ripped poor Thomas Waite's arm off. The Soldier PC suffered an intense PTSD flashback and nearly murdered the Gangster PC, who himself managed to lose only a few points and kept his wits about him. Both pointed guns at the other out of panic and fear, and sheer chaos reigned at the table. I have absolutely never seen such amazing roleplay at my table, and it's all thanks to the high-stakes tension and nature of this scenario.
That said, I am a little on the fence with this one, guys. For what EFI is, it's a great module. It's fun, fast-paced, and interesting, plus it runs smoother in play than it does on paper, always a good sign. It definitely requires some tweaking, but it's still servicable after all these years. The mystery and intrigue building up to a high stakes chase at the end really shines as an example of great classic CoC scenario design. Is it any wonder it's been adapted, and re-adapted, so many times in so many ways? That said, EFI has its flaws - there's too many clues spoiling the players for choice, making the scenario too obvious for HPL fans and too tedious for experienced Investigators. The sheer size of Innsmouth is IMHO absolutely ridiculous; shrink it down somewhat and cut out whole areas entirely (do we really need two or three different slums? Really, Chaosium?). Don't be afraid to toughen up the enemies since some of them really are too easy, but at the same time be aware of how you're using the difficult enemies like the shoggoth. The roll-for-accident/barrier tables work, but for random encounters, just pick a few - having tables for them is so clunky and just pointless as all hell. Adjust some of the SAN loss - Innsmouth Lore should absolutely not start costing a bunch of SAN for a picture of a Deep One, however tacky it is, nor should it give such high boosts to Cthulhu Mythos. In fact, just put the points for Innsmouth Lore into Cthulhu Mythos instead, or cut it out entirely. When are your Investigators really ever going to use that skill, anyway?
All in all, I would give this scenario a solid 6/10 Innsmouth Gold Ingots for how enjoyable it is in play. EFI is good clean classic CoC fun, and you owe it to yourself to get your webbed, batrachian paws on a copy of it. I promise you will never have a more intense, classic-spirited, interesting time running a campaign. I don't know if I'd personally ever go back and run EFI again, but it did have some great lessons to teach this young Keeper of Arcane Knowledge in her endeavors. Just be wary of its copious flaws, and be prepared to scavenge it for later campaign material. As for the module as a whole, only 4.5/10 EoD sacrifices for that. It's just "Okay" as a guidebook to Innsmouth and has some good ideas, but it's so damn clunky to work through. Seriously, dear lord, Chaosium, do not ever go back to this kind of campaign design and awkward map layout - it's clunky and awkward as all get-out. What the hell were you thinking, did Nyarlathotep put you up to this?