Bentley's Telegram Code

When you're running a Call of Cthulhu scenario in the classic era there are few clues more intriguing than a telegram that appears to be total gibberish.  It's obviously a code of some kind, but what does it say?  Having your players decode the message is about as immersive as it gets.

Thanks to the Internet Archive, creating that ciphered handout is absurdly easy.  Just download the 1921 edition of Bentley's Complete Phrase Code, encode your message, write it out on one of the blank telegram forms available here, here, here, and here, on Propnomicon, and you're good to go.  You can't beat providing a copy of the codebook to your investigators and having them actually do some cool investigating.

 

 

Telegraph and Telegram Codes

The invaluable Raven provided links to a treasure trove of telegraph code books in the comments to last week's scans of a vintage telegram.

The Telegraphic and Signal Codes Directory by John McVey links to scans and transcripts of over a hundred different code books dating back to 1845. The majority were intended to save the user money by keeping their messages as short as possible, back when every word was an extra charge for the sender. A few were genuine ciphers designed to keep information private. That's no small matter in an era when the very nature of the transmission meant multiple people read the text of a message.

Some of the more interesting codes were designed to serve niche interests with a specialized vocabulary. Like the "Police Telegraph Code of England for 1893", with its shorthand for listing the offenses and description of a criminal suspect.



This might all seem rather dry and academic, but it's an incredible resource for adding verisimilitude to a narrative with period props. A coded telegram just screams "clue", especially if it's found on a dead body or at the scene of a crime. When the players discover a copy of the book it was encoded with (helpfully printed out ahead of time) you'll not only move the plot along, but give them a genuine sense of accomplishment for doing some real detective work. How cool is that?

As an example, the police codes mentioned above would be ideal for official messages regarding the bloodthirsty serial killer that was stalking England in 1893.

1930 Telegram

From "combomphotos" on Flickr, some high resolution scans of a blank telegram from 1930. The set includes both the front and back.

Customizable Radiogram Telegram

You can never have too many vintage-style telegrams.

This is based on a mix of the RCA and Imperial "Radiogram" forms in use from the 20's to the 40's. Once you've downloaded the PDF from Google Documents you can customize the message text using the embedded form fields, then print, trim to size, fold, and insert in a coin or business envelope. For best results use a color printer, but everything is legible if you use a monochrome inkjet or laser printer.



This telegram prop was originally created for a group tackling Chaosium's epic "Masks of Nyarlathotep" campaign for the "Call of Cthulhu" role-playing game. The players are keeping a written record of the adventure in a leather-bound journal, an idea inspired by the "Grail Diary" from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". I was asked to produce improved versions of the included handouts as well as supplemental materials like period maps and ephemera. By the time they finish the campaign the journal should be an impressive piece of work, crammed with all kinds of paper props.

1912 British Postal Telegram

This was a fun little project I did for a friend's daughter working on a report about the sinking of the Titanic. It's a reproduction of one of the telegrams sent out immediately after the disaster, recounting the number of passengers saved. Here's the original source file:



Here's the blank reproduction of the above, in both JPG and PDF formats. Click through for the high resolution JPG.



You can download the PDF from Google Docs over here.

Western Union Clockface

Caillean McMahon, Maureen Hennessey, and curator Francesca Tronetti of the Women in Technology Project have been producing an amazing number of useful telegram and telegraph related paper props. Their latest is a Western Union clockface for the synchronized wall clocks found at every office.



Applied to a cheap clock from a big box store or the Goodwill this would make a nice background prop for your gaming room.

Trans-Antarctic Telegram

Today we have another wonderfully creative pair of items from Caillean McMahon, Maureen Hennessey, and curator Francesca Tronetti of the Women in Technology project. These blank telegrams from the famed Imperial Trans-Antarctic Telegraph Company are more of an alt-history item than a purely Lovecraftian prop, but I like the whimsical concept and period presentation. Just click through for the full-sized versions.

Blank Telegrams From Great Britain

These telegrams from the 30's and 40's come to us via the kind generosity of the Women in Technology Project, with special thanks to Caillean McMahon, Maureen Hennessey, and curator Francesca Tronetti. They previously donated a Western Union Night Letter, and I'll have more of their work later in the week. Just click through for the high resolution versions.

Naval Document Reproductions

The Navy and Marine Living History Association has assembled a library of reproduction Civil War-era Naval documents for historical reenactors. It's a treasure trove of useful historical props easily adapted to game use. You'll find shore passes, discharge papers, provision receipts, notepaper, muster rolls...the list goes on and on. One of the real gems is this blank Western Union telegraph form from the late 1800's:

Imperial Cable And Wireless Seal

From Great Britain, the seal used on Imperial Cable and Wireless telegram envelopes. Just click through for the full sized version.

Blank Night Letter Telegram

This blank Night Letter Telegram was created for the "Women in Technology 19th Century" project and was sent to me courtesy of Maureen Hennessey, Caillean McMahon, and Francesca Tronetti (the curator). Click through for the full sized version.

Vintage Atlantic Cable Telegrams

As part of his comprehensive website covering the history of the telecommunications cables crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Bill Glover has created an amazing archive of vintage telegrams. It's an invaluable research source for anyone looking to duplicate international telegrams from the late 19th to the middle 20th centuries.



A hat tip to Alban for discovering the link and passing it along.

Period Telegram Blank

So a couple of weeks ago I bought a 1918 telegram off Ebay with the intention of copying the details for a blank prop. I scanned it as soon as it arrived, but I didn't get around to cleaning it up until tonight after dinner. After importing the scan into Illustrator I had begun the long, tedious process of tracing the lettering when my email pings. I open up Gmail and discover a message from Philip Obermarck asking me if I'd be interested in hosting a blank telegram form he's created as part of a project.

Wait, it gets better.

Here's the scan I was tracing just a few hours ago. I'd just finished the "P" and "O" in "Postal" when Mr. Obermarck's email arrived.



Here's the full sized .jpg of the absolutely gorgeous pdf file that he sent over.



Seriously, what are the odds of something like this happening? At the exact same time I'm working on a new blank telegram he just happens to send one over, from the same company and time period mind you, all formatted and ready to use?

I'm very grateful to Mr. Obermarck for the opportunity to host his work. Click through on the picture above for the full sized, CC licensed artwork.

More Telegrams

A kind emailer sent me a pointer to a collection of blank telegram forms for "Call of Cthulhu" players. It doesn't look like the site has been updated since 2003, and the other pages are dead, but for now it offers ten different designs for Keepers looking to liven things up.

Period Western Union Telegram

What would a "Call of Cthulhu" prop site be without the obligatory Western Union telegram?

Click the picture below to get the full-size, high resolution version and then save that to your hard drive.

If you just want to bang out a quick and dirty telegram, open the blank telegram image in a graphics program, add a layer with your message text in a typewriter font, and print.

If you want something a little more realistic you'll need some yellow paper and a word processing program. Open a new 8 1/2" by 11" document and put the blank telegram image on the top of the page. Then use the bottom half of the page to type out your message, again with a typewriter font. Print out the document, cut the page so the blank telegram is on one sheet of paper and your message text is on the other, and then carefully cut out the strips of paper containing your message text. Then use a glue stick to attach the strips of text to the blank telegram sheet.

Tada! An almost instant telegram.



Here's a rough guide to how your document should look if you're using the more involved technique I described above.



Here's an actual Western Union telegram to give you an idea how it should look.