The game takes place primarily in Arkham, a fictional city set on the banks of the equally fictitious Miskatonic River. Arkham has two main suburbs, Innsmouth and Kingsport, that have developed from what were quaint seaside towns in the 1920s to become burgeoning cities in their own rights. Arkham itself is home to about five million people, one million of which are located in each of the two port towns. Connecting the main city to the ports is a suburban sprawl familiar to middle America. Since the game takes place in what in our world we know as the New England area (not far from Boston), there is a leafy, verdant feel to these suburbs. However, by and large not a lot of the action takes place in the sprawl. Instead action focuses on the considerable neo-Gothic inner city spread of Arkham, or the more antique and even more dark townships of Innsmouth and Kingsport. Those who are familiar with the writings of HP Lovecraft (the eminent 1920s horror author, upon whose work the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game is based) will recognise these names as synonymous. While there is a dark undercurrent to the gameworld of the Arkham Avengers, the Cthulhoid element is minimal so far. Basing the game in Arkham is a handy parallel universe convention. Lovecraft’s shadowy Arkham of the 1920s is reimagined in the game as a bustling modern metropolis, but certain standards like Miskatonic University, the Arkham Observer newspaper and the general “old world” feel of the city is retained.