Miskatonic University Campus

Hello Pods!

I'm taking requests. This is a call out to all research assistants -- if you have any topic ideas for the History Department Lecture Series, we're all ears (Literally. Roll SAN if you accidentally see us in the full light of day).

Got any particular era that you want to hear covered? Want me to find something for your current campaign location? Heard about any strange phenomena, or interesting local folklore?

Even if there's not enough meat for a whole lecture, this thread is a great place to hammer out history details for your games. I'll use my best Google-Fu to dig up answers even if it doesn't make it into a segment. And hopefully you'll be able to recruit others for history research here, too.

For the show segments, I try to cover stuff that's off the beaten path, but I'd be more than happy to dig up new stuff on old favorites if that will help your game somehow. My goal is to find stuff that suggests lots of possible plot hooks. I do think truth is stranger than fiction, and starting with real events (or myths) can add a lot of good detail to your game sessions.

Might I suggest my local ghost story The Haunting of Betty Potter's Dip and more. While it is kind of interesting in it self, it might be better as part of a lecture on Mathew Hopkins.

I wonder if anyone has ever incorporated Rasputin into any of their overseas campaigns. He certainly rings of Lovecraftian characteristics, and his life was interesting to say the least. Guillermo Del Torro even used him as a character for one of the baddies in Hellboy, an overtly Lovecraft based film. I'd like to learn more about him, and the mysteries and stigma surrounding him.

Zombieneighbours wrote:Might I suggest my local ghost story The Haunting of Betty Potter's Dip and more. While it is kind of interesting in it self, it might be better as part of a lecture on Mathew Hopkins.

Excellent find. I want to add more Colonial America and English Civil War stuff. It's funny how much the Salem trials capture the imagination of Americans, but actually witch hunts were so much more severe and frequent in Europe.

Wordcraftian wrote:I wonder if anyone has ever incorporated Rasputin into any of their overseas campaigns. He certainly rings of Lovecraftian characteristics, and his life was interesting to say the least. Guillermo Del Torro even used him as a character for one of the baddies in Hellboy, an overtly Lovecraft based film. I'd like to learn more about him, and the mysteries and stigma surrounding him.

Great idea. I might look for a good way to package that into a segment that would suggest usable plot hooks. Turn-of-the century St. Petersburg would be an awesome setting for a scenario.

Dr. Gerard wrote:

Zombieneighbours wrote:Might I suggest my local ghost story The Haunting of Betty Potter's Dip and more. While it is kind of interesting in it self, it might be better as part of a lecture on Mathew Hopkins.

Excellent find. I want to add more Colonial America and English Civil War stuff. It's funny how much the Salem trials capture the imagination of Americans, but actually witch hunts were so much more severe and frequent in Europe.

It is local folk lore for me, Colchester is England's oldest town and my nearest town. I walked, drove or rode through betty potters dip pretty much every week for years until I moved into town.

What about also doing legends and lore from the Roman time period? I'm sure Cthulhu Invictus Keepers and players would love it.

Zombieneighbours wrote:It is local folk lore for me, Colchester is England's oldest town and my nearest town. I walked, drove or rode through betty potters dip pretty much every week for years until I moved into town.

Are you still near there? And...do you have a portable recorder?

Dr. Gerard wrote:

Zombieneighbours wrote:It is local folk lore for me, Colchester is England's oldest town and my nearest town. I walked, drove or rode through betty potters dip pretty much every week for years until I moved into town.

Are you still near there? And...do you have a portable recorder?

Yes, and yes, in principle. I have access to a very basic recorder, if I can mug my girlfriend, My new job might give me access to semi decent digital recorders (and I think my other halfs jobs does too), and their is a local film/media charity I think I can hire one from for a very reasonable price.

Fancy being a correspondent?

I've been thinking about ways to get field recordings into the segments. If you have any interest, we could write up a short script together (about 370-400 words is ideal), which you could take out to the location and read near the tree or cottage. Is that practical? If you'd rather just gather sound from the location, we could do that too.

I think you're right that the segment should focus on witch hunting and Hopkins, but it would be an amazing ending to be able to say "hanged from this tree" etc.

Looking at the calendar, it would be fantastic to put that in a the show for the week before October 21st, the date she's supposed to appear. It's a little unfortunate that there won't be a show on the 21st. But unless I'm mistaken, the show that will air on October 14th will be recorded on October 7th, so that would be our deadline.

Do you think you could get a recorder and get out to the location by then?