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Chaosium Digest Volume 08 Number 10
Chaosium Digest Volume 8, Number 10
Date: Sunday, November 13, 1994
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Australian Life in the 1920s (Mark Morrison) CALL OF CTHULHU
Nephilim Thoughts (Peter J. Whitelaw) NEPHILIM
Editor's Note:
WALKER IN THE WASTES: Finally out from Pagan Publishing is Walker in
the Wastes (Pagan Publishing, 224pg, $19.95). It looks like a
terrific adventure, all about Ithaqua, the Spawn of the Winds.
PENDRAGON QUERY: Dale Meier (MEIERDALEPAU@bvc.edu) says: "I'm planning
on starting a Pendragon campaign but my players don't want to have to
read through the basic background section. I have considered simply
making a packet of notes and having them read that, but I'm afraid
that even the length of the notes would turn them off. How can I get
them educated about the Pendragon setting without scaring them away?"
If you have any comments, ideas or perhaps even an article on getting
started and setting up in a Pendragon campaign, drop a line to Dale
and/or the Digest.
Recent Sightings:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Corrupted by the Dark", a five page article on
decay, introducing new creatures and new spells for CoC, White Wolf
#48 [October, 1994]
--------------------
From: Mark Morrison <bassst@zikzak.apana.org.au>
Subject: Australian Life in the 1920s
System: Call of Cthulhu
AUSTRALIAN LIFE IN THE 1920s
Copyright (c) 1994 Mark Morrison
The climax of H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Shadow Out of Time" takes
place in Australia, but few published scenarios for Call of Cthulhu
have been set here. Three Australian scenarios appeared in TERROR
AUSTRALIS, published by Chaosium in 1987, but that book is now out of
print. However, there are many generic urban scenarios which can be
easily adapted to Australian settings.
What is needed, then, is historical background on Australia during the
period. The following article discusses Australian life in white
society in the 1920s. Australian keepers should be able to supplement
this information with a trip to their local library; in particular I
recommend Robert Murray's book THE CONFIDENT YEARS (Allen Lane,
Melbourne 1978) as an excellent social history, and the source for
much of my material here. Keepers in other climes might have a harder
time finding material.
GOING OUT
The twenties were a new age of entertainment; there were new and
exciting things to do, and everyone was anxious to relax after the
grim years of the Great War.
`The pictures' were the newest and brightest thing around. In the
cities, huge and opulent cinemas were being built; previously films
had been shown in converted theatres. Ticket prices ranged from 1s.
to 1s. 6d. In the country. Films were shown in town halls, church
halls, and tents, and people would come from miles around, walking in
the dark if necessary. Rural areas were often served by a travelling
`picture show man', who would frequently show them the same films on
his return visits. The Australian film industry was small,
overshadowed by Hollywood, and all but killed off by the talkies.
Nevertheless, there were a few notable and successful local films.
Some people preferred live entertainment, and opera, dance, drama and
vaudeville drew large crowds. Invariably the audiences of such art
forms could be divided along class lines. Few performances consisted
of original Australian material.
Dancing was very popular, especially in winter. Most people would go
dancing once a week, usually Saturday night, although it was available
every night in the city. Country dances were held regularly, but that
might mean anything from fortnightly to annually, depending on where
you were. The dance was a much looked-forward-to social occasion, in
many cases the only chance to meet new people (and, more often than
not, potential spouses). Dances were held in plush dance halls (in
the art deco style), town halls, church halls, wool-sheds, outdoors,
warehouses, anywhere. Partners changed frequently - it was not done
to dance with the same boy or girl all night, and more than once
indicated that they were special; `steadies' would save the first,
last, and supper dance for each other. Prior to the war, dancing was
seen as somewhat shameful; the lapse of this view accounts for its
overwhelming surge in popularity.
The races were also an outing, particularly again in country areas
where the annual race meeting and picnic was a major event. The
cities had regular meetings, with special emphasis on the once-a-year
Cup meeting - the Melbourne Cup being the most famous.
There were many other places to go: there were church picnics and work
picnics, beach picnics and bush picnics (that Aussie staple, the
barbecue, was not a feature of the 1920s, but a later phenomenon).
There were balls, fancy dress or normal. Ice skating and roller
skating had been imported, and soon gained a following - the former
was seen as the finer, but was less common because of the extent
involved in establishing a rink; lakes don't tend to freeze over in
Australia the way they do in the northern hemisphere. Young people
went around in crowds, and in this way avoided chaperons - parents
would certainly worry if a pair were alone together!
Sport was popular. Football was played in the winter, and came in
four varieties: Rugby Union and Rugby League in New South Wales,
Australian Rules Football in the southern states, and British football
(soccer) just about everywhere. The summer belonged to cricket,
culminating in the annual Tests between Australia and England, the
Ashes. The legendary Don Bradman was a household name in the 1930s
for his batting feats against the English.
Tennis was all the rage in the 1920s. Groups of people would go off
together and spend a day on the courts. Australia held the Davis Cup
for 12 years, losing it to America in 1919, and many young hopefuls
were in training with an eye to getting it back.
Other sports included golf, fishing, horse riding (considered to be a
gentleman's accomplishment - Prime Ministers Hughes and Bruce were
both enthusiastic riders), shooting (most Australian native species
were protected), polo, ski-ing (in the Alpine regions of Victoria and
NSW), yachting, rowing, hockey and more.
Gambling was also something of a national sport. The only legal way to
bet on a horse race is to be there on the day; hence there was a
thriving industry of back-lane S.P. bookies (starting price
bookmakers). Such activity taking place in a building was known as a
tote. Two-up was another national gambling past-time, and there were
`schools', which were regular games that moved around the suburbs. In
essence, two coins were flipped into the air, and money was won or
lost depending on how they fell - heads or tails.
Cafes were new, and as popular as restaurants, serving simple fare in
loud and friendly surrounds. The Australian diet in the 1920s was
similar to the English, and no meal was complete without a cuppa (cup
of tea).
Of course, the amount of leisure was dependent on the amount of money
and time to afford it; nevertheless, people generally went out when
they could. Even in the Depression, movie audiences soared, as people
sought escape in leisure.
GROG, SLY OR OTHERWISE
Although Australia did not share America's blanket prohibition on the
sale and consumption of alcohol, the debate "to drink or not to drink"
was just as fierce. Hotels served alcohol six days a week (the
publicans were not game enough to take on the wowsers over Sunday
trading). During the war, closing time was cut back from 10.00 PM to
6.00 PM in an effort to stop drunken servicemen from running amok;
however, this enforcement outlasted the war, and applied everywhere -
if a restaurant was licensed, you could not have wine with your meal
after six o'clock.
The early closing gave birth to the infamous `six o'clock swill'.
Most office workers knock off at five o'clock, and it was on for young
and old to consume as much beer as possible before closing time. The
crush at the bar was truly alarming. Pub decor of the period featured
lots of tiles, so that the mess could be hosed away once the doors
were shut. 90% of all alcohol sold was consumed in this one hour.
The Prohibitionists were generally referred to as `wowsers', and
included church and temperance groups, and other moral-minded
citizens. They argued that the restricted hours were insufficient,
and campaigned for a complete ban on the sale of booze. They succeeded
in certain regions; Canberra was `dry' until 1928. On the other side,
the manufacturers campaigned just as hard; one poster depicted a man
dying in the arms of his family, with the caption "Just a drop of
brandy would have saved him". The hotel owners were not overly
involved one way or the other; as it stood, they were selling more
beer with less overheads.
Of course, in truth drinking did not cease at six o'clock. People
carried flasks to dances and other social gatherings, or simply loaded
up their car as a rolling bar. The manufacture of `moonshine' was not
an Australian experience, as liquor was legally available; instead,
the trade of `sly grogging' was widespread. Sly groggers would buy
their wares from the breweries in bulk, then set up a safe house where
they could sell it after hours, for people to drink there or take
home. Some hotels openly flaunted regulations, and sold drink to
those staying overnight. Police naturally frowned on all of these
activities, except when they had been paid off. Sly groggers were
particularly active in `dry' areas. The Northern Territory was
especially prone to abuse of the `blue laws'; given the extreme heat,
people simply refused to stop drinking at six.
AT HOME
Many Australians rented their houses; loans were available at good
rates, but most felt it was their lot in life to rent. A block of
land in the suburbs would cost around 100 quid to buy, and 1000 for
the house to go on it. Of course, one could get a smaller or older
house for 300 - 400 pounds, or an expensive villa for 2000 and
upwards.
In the inner city areas, the standard was the row house, or terrace
house, sharing adjoining walls with the next-door neighbours. Most
were built by speculators in the late nineteenth century, and might be
dirty, cramped, without running water or worse. Some were jerry-built.
There was a general move to the suburbs in the 1920s, as transport
improved. Cities stretched in strands along the train lines. The
staple suburban house was the `Californian Bungalow', on a
quarter-acre block. They were mostly one storey, and made of
weatherboard, cavity brick, concrete, or native hardwoods. Roofs were
slate or red-tiled (hence a popular period description of the
Melbourne sky-line, "Wotta lotta terra-cotta"). Floors were bare
boards or, if you could afford it, linoleum. Houses had verandahs,
and lots of windows. Predominant colours were white and brown. There
were large estates too, but a lot of these were being broken up into
separate dwellings (an accelerating trend in the Depression, when
fortunes were lost).
In the country, the standard was a house built of hardwood, with a
corrugated-iron roof (you could certainly hear the rain). There were
windows all round for the bright antipodean sunshine, and white
verandahs.
The less affluent `cocky' (farmer), which included most of the new
settlers of the period, had to make do with what he could build.
Walls were rough-hewn timber, sealed with mud. The floor was packed
earth, washed once a week to keep it firm. The roof was galvanised
iron, or bark. This was supposed to be a temporary dwelling until the
farm became successful; alas, for most it never did.
Back in the suburbs, electricity was new, and those who had it (34% in
1923) were mostly wired for light only. Those with full power could
enjoy the new appliances - by far the most popular was the electric
iron (all those shirt collars), followed by the vacuum cleaner. Also
hitting the scene were the washing machine, radiator and the
much-loved electric fan. Gas was common for cooking. Most clothes
were boiled, hand-washed and wrung out. Some people had an ice chest
for refrigeration, others had a Coolgardie safe - a box covered with
hessian or similar material which was kept damp. In the backyard were
a few chooks (chickens) and a veggie patch (vegetable garden).
AT WORK
The working week was between 44 and 48 hours long. Workers would do
eight hours a day, and maybe Saturday morning. As of January 1st,
1927, the average weekly male wage was 4/19/4, and the average female
wage 2/11/8. Government ministers were paid 1000 pounds annually.
The unemployment rate was between five and ten percent, but people
rarely expected to be out of work for more than a few months.
Queensland was the only state which provided a dole. Women had been
employed in increased numbers during the Great War, and were reluctant
to surrender their newfound freedoms when the men came home.
Half of the adult males were manual workers. Farmwork was still yet
to be overly mechanised. Shearers were almost nomads, moving from one
job to the next, living rough, and were ardent unionists. The craft
unions in Australia, and the Labor movement, gave the worker
considerable muscle. Bank jobs were considered `safe' occupations,
and a guarantee of a prosperous future.
IN THE 1920S, AUSTRALIANS WERE ...
WATCHING:
The Man From Snowy River; Robbery Under Arms; On Our Selection; Ginger
Mick; The Kelly Gang; The Sentimental Bloke; For the Term of His
Natural Life; Townies and Hayseeds; In the Grip of Polar Ice; Pearls
and Savages; While the Billy Boils; Joe; The Breaking of the Drought;
The Dinkum Bloke; and The Kid Stakes. 90% of the films screened were
American.
READING:
For adults: Around the Boree Log (John O'Brien); Australia Felix, The
Way Home, and Ultima Thule (comprising The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
trilogy, by Henry Handel Richardson); Working Bullocks, and Coonardoo
(Katherine Susannah Prichard); A House is Built (M. Barnard
Eldershaw); The Montforts (Martin Boyd); The Australian Encyclopedia
(Jose & Carter); and The Barracks Mystery (Arthur Upfield).
Earlier classics: Such is Life (Tom Collins); For the Term of His
Natural Life (Marcus Clarke); My Brilliant Career (Miles Franklin);
Jonah (Louis Stone); On Our Selection (Steele Rudd); and The Getting
of Wisdom (Richardson).
For kids: The Magic Pudding (Norman Lindsay); Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
(May Gibbs); Coles' Funny Picture Book; Seven Little Australians
(Ethel Turner); and the Billabong series (Mary Grant Bruce).
Popular poets (and poems) included Henry Lawson ("The Loaded Dog").
A.B. Banjo Patterson ("The Man From Snowy River", "Clancy of the
Overflow"), and C.J. Dennis ("The Sentimental Bloke"). More austere
poets were Hugh McRae, Christopher Brennan, Kenneth Slessor, and John
Shaw Neilson.
Newspapers around Australia: Sydney-siders read the Sydney Morning
Herald or the Daily Telegraph in the morning, the Sun or the Evening
News at night, and the Sunday Times, the Sunday Sun, the Sunday News,
and the Truth on Sundays. Brisbane residents read the Courier or the
Daily Mail. Melbournians read the Sun News-Pictorial, the Argus or
the Age in the morning, and the Herald at night. In Adelaide, they
read the Register or the Advertiser in the morning, and the Evening
Journal [which becomes the Evening News in 1923] or the Evening
Express and Telegraph (a pro-Labor paper, The Daily Herald, folds in
1924). Citizens of Perth read the West Australian or the Daily News,
or the weekly publication the Western Mail. Residents of Hobart read
the Mercury. There are also two national publications of note, The
Bulletin and Smith's Weekly.
SOME PEOPLE
The incomparable opera singer Dame Nellie Melba toured home in 1924
and 1928, the latter accompanied by the singers Browning Mummery and
John Brownlee; Melba had an unfortunate habit of giving multiple
farewell concerts, giving rise to the expression `to do a Melba'.
Another Australia prima donna was Elsa Stralia. Also loved was Gladys
Moncreiff - "Our Glad" - who sang in many musicals, but was best known
for `The Maid of the Mountains'. There was Madge Elliott (and her
husband Cyril Ritchard). The Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, toured
in 1926 and was so well received she came back in 1929. On the
screen, people were watching the dashing actor `Snowy' Baker, the
documentary-maker Captain Frank Hurley and the Hollywood starlet
Louise Lovely (an Aussie). Vaudeville audiences loved Stiffy and Mo,
particularly for Mo's irreverence to just about everyone.
Andrew `Boy' Charlton was a great swimmer, picking up his gold in the
1924 Paris Olympics (aged 16). Crawford & Hopman and Cox & Dingle
were Davis Cup pairs, male and female respectively. Hubert L.
Opperman stunned everyone by bicycling everywhere, in record times
(Sydney to Melbourne in 39 hours 42 minutes). Don Bradman was just
starting to warm up late in the decade; other cricketers going strong
were Bill Ponsford and Bill Woodfull. There were too many footballers
to name, but Roy Cazaly played for South Melbourne from '21 to '26 and
gave rise to the expression "Up there Cazaly!". Phar Lap was a great
Australian horse, and everyone conveniently ignored the fact that he
was actually born in New Zealand.
Aviators were feted and cheered. Ross and Keith Smith flew home from
England in 1919, and were promptly knighted. Bert Hinkler did it solo
in 1928 ("Hinkle, Hinkle, little star, sixteen days and here you
are!"). And of course there was Smithy, Charles Kingsford Smith, who
flew across the Pacific in '28, and as an encore flew across
practically everywhere else.
There were murderers, too. In Melbourne, Colin Campbell Ross hanged
for the murder of schoolgirl Anna Tirtschke, in 1921. In the same
city, Angus Murray went to the gallows for the murder of a bank
manager, Reginald Berriman, in 1920; Murray's accomplice, Richard
Buckley, stayed low until 1930 - when caught he was sentenced to
death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment. In Western
Australia in 1926, William Coulter and Phillip Treffene were surprised
poaching gold, and shot two policemen, Inspector John Joseph Walsh and
Sergeant Alexander Henry Pitman, and stuffed the bodies down a mine
shaft; they were tried and executed. And of course there was the
infamous Melbourne gangster Squizzy Taylor, who died in a shoot-out
with Snowy Cutmore in 1927.
From murderers to politicians, then, not such a strange step in some
people's opinion. Billy Hughes was the prime minister until 1923; the
`little digger', he tirelessly championed the underdog and the
soldiers, but was too fond of running things his way, and was
eventually ditched by his party. He was replaced by Stanley Melbourne
Bruce, who preferred S.M. Bruce ("Don't call me Stan"), who dressed as
an English gentleman, down to the spats, and governed just as
conservatively. James Henry Scullin, a Labor man, became PM in 1929,
a bad time for governments everywhere; he was a gifted orator, and
appealed to a wide spectrum of people, but was unable to weather the
storm of the Depression. Earle `Doc' Page founded the Country Party,
and seemed rural and a bit nervous, but he was a canny and competent
man who led his party for twenty years.
SOME COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS
Many American companies set up in Australia, to beat the protection
laws and import tariffs: Bryant and May, Cadbury, Columbia, Dunlop,
Ford, General Electric, General Motors, HMV, Holeproof, Kelloggs, ICI,
Nestles, Philips, Shell, Slazenger, Spaldings and others.
On the table was Hutton's Hams & Bacon, Keen's Mustard, Arnott's
Biscuits, Granose biscuits, Bushell's Tea, Rolfe's Tea, Nestor Cocoa,
Vegemite ("The World's Wonder Food"), Aeroplane Jelly ("I like
Aeroplane Jelly; Aeroplane Jelly for me!"), Foster's Lager, Peter's
Ice Cream ("The Health Food of a Nation") and, of course, Rosella
Tomato Sauce. Kids would enjoy a Violet Crumble, Wrigley's Doublemint
and Lifesavers ("The Candy with a Hole"). Then, there was Minties,
the Universal Sweet ("It's moments like this you need Minties").
People used Velvet Soap, Lux, and the fearsome Lifebuoy ("The Health
Soap"). Rooms were freshened with Pearce's Australian Lavender Water.
Aspro were taken for headaches and Rinso was used in the laundry.
Most cars were American, although some were assembled locally. The
indigenous Australian Six ceased production in 1925. For coughs,
colds and influenza, try Wood's Great Peppermint Cure, or Vick's
Vaporub. For sprains and such, there was Rexona, the Rapid Healer.
Shoes were blacked with Kiwi Boot Polish. Flies were killed with
Mortein ("Ain't no flies on me!").
Retail chains were Woolworths, David Jones, The Myer Emporium, G.J.
Coles and Co, Grace Brothers, Foy & Gibson and others. Hoyt's
Theatres were one of the biggest cinema chains, along with Union
Theatres. Angus & Robertson were publishers, booksellers, and
librarians.
--------------------
From: "Peter J. Whitelaw" <100102.3001@compuserve.com>
Subject: Nephilim Thoughts
System: Nephilim
I pretty much agreed with much of David Cake's Nephilim review.
Nephilim is an ambitious project and could be extremely rewarding.
However, it seems that, from the paucity of supplements planned by
Chaosium (detailed in V8.4), it is incumbent upon the players of the
game to get on and reward themselves without much in the way of
support from the publishers.
I really like Nephilim. It is the most challenging premise for an RPG
that I have seen since CoC way back when. I do have some real gripes
about it though:
* Proofreading of a standard so poor that we have not seen its like
since the FGU games of the early 80s.
* Complete lack of assistance to GMs with respect to the provision of
a sample scenario.
* The 'Major Arcana' supplement alluded to in the gamebook does not
feature anywhere in Chaosium's release schedule.
* We must wait at least six months until the first scenario,
'Mysteries of the Serpent Mounds', becomes available.
This last point is perhaps the saddest because it does little to
ensure Nephilim's commercial success. Surely, all those folks we are
trying to encourage into playing the game, particularly one as
challenging as Nephilim, will be more susceptible if they know that
there will be lots of material to support them. After all, we may not
like Shadowrun, D&D, Battletech, etc., but one of the major
contributory factors to their successes is the volume of material
available for each of them. One scenario planned in the next year for
Nephilim hardly cuts the mustard, does it?
To this end I hope all of those (including myself) who intend to write
their own material for the game will send it in to Chaosium in the
hope that some of it might feature in a book of short adventures, much
like 'The Asylum', for CoC back in '83. Perhaps this might encourage
Chaosium to offer us a little more support, even if they can't use
what we send.
In the meantime, for anyone who is having trouble with their
Astrological Modifiers, I have written a simple Spreadsheet in Excel
5.0 for Windows that churns them out a month at a time. Anyone who
would like a copy, just e-mail me with the format you need it saved in
and I'll send it to you. I haven't done any fancy formatting on it
and it has not had the benefit of rigorous testing, although I am
pretty sure that it correctly accounts for unusual enthronements and
the like.
I would welcome any feedback on the spreadsheet or the opportunity to
chew the fat with some folks on Nephilim.
All the best,
Peter
--------------------
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