1920s Campaign Resources

Topics for the Lecture and Slice of Life series.
Discussion about historical events, people, items, etc. that can add to the flavor to any historical game setting.
Discussion and sharing of links and resources.
Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:29 am

A website I found (Sadly it has not been updated since 2004), which covers the darker side of the recording/music industry. The basic scam is fairly straightforward, you write your lyrics, send them in with a fee to the company and they set it to music, of course all the company is interested in is the fee and all you get is either sheet music or a recording done by the companies session artists.

The oldest known examples of the scam date from the early 1900s and may have died with the rise of the internet. The website which has a lot of interesting old documents re-produced is linked below, I'm thinking there may be a scenario in it, but I'm not sure:

http://www.songpoemmusic.com/
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Wed Feb 01, 2017 9:28 am

This is a blog related to the Song-poem scam. The owner makes available tracks from his collection, these are from after the classic period (1950s - 1980s), however in posts since May of 2016 he has been including scans of adverts by Song-poem companies, some of these are from the post WWII period, however quite a few are from the 1920s, including one posted on the 23rd of January 2017 which implies that the 'song-poets' work could end up being performed in an Opera House...

http://bobpurse.blogspot.com.au/
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Wed Feb 01, 2017 12:54 pm

The link below is to a channel which is doing a very interesting series for firearms collectors. At the moment they are focusing on weapons used in World War I. The value of this series is that they give you a detailed history of a particular weapon, an explanation of how it works, a demonstration of it being shot and finally the shooters opinion of the weapon.

The shooter they use is female, because she is the best fit for the average height/build of the WWI soldier they could find.

C&Rsenal: In Depth Firearm History


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClq1dv ... UUy0SiSDOQ
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Canageek
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Canageek » Sat Feb 04, 2017 4:12 am

Graham wrote:The link below is to a channel which is doing a very interesting series for firearms collectors. At the moment they are focusing on weapons used in World War I. The value of this series is that they give you a detailed history of a particular weapon, an explanation of how it works, a demonstration of it being shot and finally the shooters opinion of the weapon.

The shooter they use is female, because she is the best fit for the average height/build of the WWI soldier they could find.

C&Rsenal: In Depth Firearm History


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClq1dv ... UUy0SiSDOQ
I follow this channel and quite enjoy it, but I'd take any US history they talk about with a grain of salt; the presenter obviously has some very biased (and incorrect) views on the civil war. Probably not a problem with WWI history though.
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Canageek » Sat Feb 04, 2017 4:19 am

Some resource I found via Metafilter:

Take a Google Streetview tour of 2027 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia, aka ESP, the former Eastern State Penitentiary. It operated from 1829 until 1971, so easily a place investigators or their targets, informants and friends could wind up in.

A partial index of published architectural rendering. Covers 1900 and on, just click year at the top right.
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Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:52 am

Canageek wrote:I follow this channel and quite enjoy it, but I'd take any US history they talk about with a grain of salt; the presenter obviously has some very biased (and incorrect) views on the civil war. Probably not a problem with WWI history though.
Similar thoughts here, but I found this interesting item on a Civil War History blog about the birth of Battlefield Tourism in post Civil War America, which has a link to the pioneering brochure.

A Head Start to Battlefield Tourism by a VI Corps Carpetbagger

https://emergingcivilwar.com/2017/02/02 ... d-tourism/
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:31 am

What I am offering here are a set of short plays, which Keepers could make use of, either as the plot for a film being made or something put on by amateur dramatic societies to which the Investigators are invited.

A Touch of Nature by Benjamin Webster (c.1859) - One Act Play.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54172

Six One-Act Plays by Margaret Scott Oliver (1916)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39243

Contemporary One-Act Plays by B. Roland Lewis et al. (1922)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37970

Six Short Plays by John Galsworthy (Undated)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5060
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:34 pm

A quartet of sketch books published at the start of WWI, which are perfect for Keepers looking for illustrations to show Investigators.

London at Night by Frederick Carter (1914)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54166

Florence; A Sketch-Book by Fred Richards (1914)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54199

Canterbury; A Sketch Book by Walter M. Keesey (1915)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54197

Cambridge; A Sketch Book by Walter M. Keesey (1915)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54197
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Graham » Tue Feb 21, 2017 2:31 pm

A further set of short plays that Keepers might wish to make use of, this time by some very well known authors:

Echoes of the War by J. M. Barrie (Undated)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9617

One Day More: A Play In One Act by Joseph Conrad (1919)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17621

First Plays by A. A. Milne (c. 1920)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7805

Second Plays by A. A. Milne (c. 1921)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14734
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Canageek
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Re: 1920s Campaign Resources

Post by Canageek » Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:46 am

These aren't specifically 1920s, but this seems to be the thread everyone checks. I can put future posts like this in the Canageek's Resources Thread if you want.

The Appendix: This is a semi-academic journal that has now ended. I know, that sound dry, but it has a lot of useful stuff in it. From the first issue alone: The whole thing is just a great source for game ideas and adventures. Not all will work with The Call of Cthulhu, but there seem to be at least a couple articles per issue that are just right for it.
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