BTS in the 19th Century

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I've been toying around with Great Depression BTS-2...though I have nothing to present yet.

HOWEVER, Jason Richards, IIRC, was toying with Old West BTS-2 ideas (which would fit your 19th Century criteria). I'll see if I can dig up the thread for you.

~ Josh

EDIT: Here it is, Old West BTS.

See if that is at all useful to you.

[Lazlo Kid]

So I was watching Van Helsing this morning and for some reason got the idea that the 1800's would be a really good time period to run a BTS campaign.

Now, keep in mind it's been awhile since I bothered to look through the book (and I only really ever had the interest in it enough to purchase the 1st edition rules) and the one snag I came upon was the skill packages. Has anyone ever come up with "primitive" skill packages, or maybe know another sourcebook I might be able pirate them from?

I've already worked up a lot of information and character classes, equipment, spells, etc. for the entire Victorian era. Had it done long before VanHelsing was out. It was submitted to Pallaidum years ago, received the silent response and (I'm sure) has since disappeared into an archive box somewhere.

[filo_clarke]

I recommend trying to find an old copy of Cthulhu by Gaslight. Victorian-era horror, with great material on setting and characters. I've been using the adventure settings from old Cthulhu modules for my BtS games for years, and they work great.

[Randy McCall]

I've been toying around with Great Depression BTS-2...though I have nothing to present yet.

Try this... the deck plans for the Titanic...

http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/titanic ... c.htm#Maps

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I've been toying around with Great Depression BTS-2...though I have nothing to present yet.

Try this... the deck plans for the Titanic...

http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/titanic ... c.htm#Maps

That's cool and all.

But didn't the Titanic sink in 1912?

Great Depression is roughly (depending on who you ask) 1929-1941.

So I am not sure how much use those Titanic deck plans will be to me.

Still really cool though.

~ Josh

[Randy McCall]

I've been toying around with Great Depression BTS-2...though I have nothing to present yet.

Try this... the deck plans for the Titanic...

http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/titanic ... c.htm#Maps

That's cool and all.

But didn't the Titanic sink in 1912?

Great Depression is roughly (depending on who you ask) 1929-1941.

So I am not sure how much use those Titanic deck plans will be to me.

Still really cool though.

~ Josh

Depends on how time sensitive your campaign is going to be... after all, while the Titianic disappeared in 1912, there's nothing to say it isn't "somewhere else", to be found during the depression.

An here... better deck plans
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/pl ... ngle=Index

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I've been toying around with Great Depression BTS-2...though I have nothing to present yet.

Try this... the deck plans for the Titanic...

http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/titanic ... c.htm#Maps

That's cool and all.

But didn't the Titanic sink in 1912?

Great Depression is roughly (depending on who you ask) 1929-1941.

So I am not sure how much use those Titanic deck plans will be to me.

Still really cool though.

~ Josh

Depends on how time sensitive your campaign is going to be... after all, while the Titianic disappeared in 1912, there's nothing to say it isn't "somewhere else", to be found during the depression.

An here... better deck plans
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/pl ... ngle=Index

Ah...I get your angle.

Interesting.

~ Josh

[Randy McCall]

Ah...I get your angle.

Interesting.

~ Josh

Depression era history and disaters (Yahoo)
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Hi ... ury/1930s/

The Hindenburg, Bonnie and Clyde, the Hoover Dam, 1930 World Fair, John Dillenger, the War of the Worlds broadcast... if you can't find something here to hang your campaign on, there's no hope

Going back to the Titanic... you can also have your depression era players suddenly find themselves in the past on a ship they know to be doomed... and then let them decide what to do (obviously, there has to be a supernatural reason the Titanic is sinking, but still, the possibilities are there).

[Wise_Owl]

It's relatively easy to do, but beware, the Victorian Era is defined largely by Change. The Era of 1840 is VERY different from the era of 1890(to give you but a few examples, in that stretch of time London Bridge was rebuilt, the city went from pitch black to lamp-lights to gas-light to electric in some places, steam engines went from a novel curiosity to the major technological 'engines' of commerce, the population more than doubled, the population demographics changed radically, slavery was abolished, universal Male sufferance considered, Female Sufferage considered, the social mores of drink radically altered, the prudence movement emerged, Photography went from a scientific curiosity to an Artistic Medium, and an era of Sailing ships came to an end with the gradual increase in steamers).

I agree with Theurumancer in Spirit if not in what he actually says(Anarchists were not modern Liberals or Democrats, they were Anarchists. Modern Liberals would have been seen as quite socialists in some regards and reactionaries in others. Given that modern liberalism is based on the failure of 19th century political systems it's hard to aproximate, sorta like asking what a Leninist would be considered in the 1840's...). Though ironically I've seen the reverse far more often in 19th century games. Theurumancer is completely wrong about the role of women. This was the era of great moralizing railing against the Factory girls whose new independence threatened the great orthodoxy. More prostitutes than the male population could possibly sustain existed in London and the Golden age of Pornography began. The Cultured life usual presented to us as the 'victorian era' was a culture of the Elite Nobility of Britain and the middle class who aspired to be like them. This is also the time of emerging first-wave feminism.
However, he is spot on with regards to racism. Though again, this is often not portrayed accurately. An englishman was as sure of his racial superiority to the Irish and the Scotish as he was to the Black. There was a 'racial hierchy' at which the Anglo-Saxon sat at his peak. Read the fiction of the time, Kipling is a good example.
Though one important facet of Victorian life that is very different from today that often gets lost in horror games. The demarcation in our society between 'magic' and 'science' wasn't as firm for much of the victorian era. New scientific discoveries in every field were happening every day. The discovery of new species, entire new classifications of flora and fauna werent' unheard of. New Materials, Radiations and so forth with peculiar powers were emerging all the time. 'Modern' Physics and CHemistry were created during this era, but not formalized till after the turn of the century. At the same time, much of modern occultism also emerged from this period, with it's peculiar blending of orientalism and hodge-podge borrowing form ancient cultures. 'Ley Lines' will not seem wierd and talking about them in public will make you a respected speaker in most circles, not a lunatic. The Horror is still there, but the Skeptic is the exception in the 19th century, not the rule. Ironically of course at the same time, some things which in our time turned out to be true would be viewed as lunacy by many victorians(Mendellian Genetics for example).

[gaby]

The Spiritualism movement was Prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s.

People were trying to understand psychic abilities.

Ther were a number of Horror books that come out in the late 1880s & 1890s like Dracula and Mr Hyde came out.

The Majorty of BtS P.C.C can work.

[Randy McCall]

Most of the writers of the Cthuhlu Mythos were alive and publishing during this period, as were the early sci fi and fantasy authors. Hollywood cinema was turning out silent films and early talkies, including many serial adventures dealing with horror, and the early horror stars: Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff (the Mummy, Frankenstein), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), the original Nosferatu (European). Much of dark parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific was still unexplored, flight was developing into a serious means of travel, Edgar Casey was making his supernatural predicitions...

There's just so much to choose from.