real life RPG inspirations
Need a 1920’s character photo?
I had a GM a while back who required us to all get photos for our characters. It wasn’t something I’d done before and I’m not sure we really used them much but I thought it was a decent idea.
Today I found (via Very Short List) this cool flickr set of 1920’s passport photos. They’re of famous people but they’re largely not recognisable (and not all of them are still famous). Perfect for a Pulp game or some 20’s Call of Cthulhu.
More and more real life RPG inspirations
Sophie revived our real life RPG inspirations the other day, I thought I’d follow up with some links of my own.
The first two come from Wired.com’s pretty fascinating Danger Room blog about the world of the military and national security.
- The US is thinking of starting up a special assasination squad – right or wrong (and I lean towards wrong) it would make a pretty fun game.
- While you’re running your assasination squad game, perhaps you could use some interesting spy tools.
It’s not from Danger Room, but the CIA has recently declassified their Manual of Trickery and Deception as well. It’s apparently all about using stage magic for spy purposes, but imagine if it had real magic as well?
Another one for the real life files
I know that the push for ratings is tough, but this might be taking things just a little bit too far. A crime TV host is accused of actually ordering killings so that his team could be there first with the scoop. Before the police even… read a little more about it here.
Real Life RPG Locations – Crazy Russian Research Centres
Thanks to Boing Boing, I found this cool site all about this high voltage electricity research centre in Russia – it’s based on the ideas of Nikola Tesla, it’s still active, it looks awesome and it shoots electrical bolts of up to 150 meters out at night.
This would make an awesome location for a modern RPG – either a location for a fight or just a really strange meeting spot.
Weird science lives!!!
In other news, I’m travelling for the next three weeks so don’t expect too many updates. I’ll schedule some for while I’m away however.
Modern Pirates – a real life RPG inspiration
Wired.com have printed an interview with a Somali pirate, asking all sorts of questions about they whys and hows of modern Pirating…
How are the pirates organized? (Are there pirate leaders, financiers, and specialists?)
The financiers are the most important since they organize and plan the big shot operations and are able to pay running cost[s]. Financiers always need to forge deals with traders, land cruiser owners, translators, business people to keep the supplies flowing during operations and manage the logistics. There is a long supply chain involved in every hijacking.
Pretty interesting stuff and it has all sorts of applications – for modern games obviously, but also for any other game. How do you orgnaise getting rid of that loot? It doesn’t have to be as easy as going down town and selling it off.