Clickity Clack

"Brave-as-a-noun" went completely old school to produce props for a new Call of Cthulhu campaign.  He used an actual vintage typewriter to produce teaser messages that he then mailed to his players.  That's insanely cool. 

 

Beethoven Letterlock

Letterlocking Videos brings us this recreation of the pentagonal folding technique Ludwig van Beethoven used in as 1814 letter to Johann Rupprecht.  If you're not familiar with letterlocking, it was the technique used to keep correspondence private before the widespread adoption of postal envelopes.  It's a great way to kick up the immersiveness of any pre-modern era written messages.

Vintage Mailing Tubes

Michael Stueber was kind enough to send over this video from historical re-enactor supplier VICO Expeditions, which specializes in reproducing vintage camping and expedition gear.  Their latest offering just happens to be of interest to classic-era Mythos prop makers- period accurate mailing tubes.  They were used from the early 20th century to the 1950s to post all sorts of small items that didn't warrant a full-sized box.

The tubes were relatively air and water tight, with a fastening mechanism that uses a thread to rip a glued paper ribbon that seals the tube during transit.  Mr. Stueber correctly surmised that it's exactly the kind of fascinating period details I love.  You can find a previous discussion of period packing materials over here.

 

The Post

 The aptly named Letterlocking Videos is back.  Their latest recreates a 1689 letter to the Count of Argeson in France.  It was discovered, unopened (!) in the Brienne Postal Archive.  This one is interesting because the missive is enclosed inside an envelope cut and folded by the sender and sealed with a starch wafer. 

Going Postal

Rachel Peters at the Random Creativity blog has posted a nice selection of air mail stamps for postal props.  It's available as both a JPG and high resolution PDF file via the link.

Printable Air Mail Labels

The wonderful folks at WorldLabel consistently impress me.  This time around they bring us a collection of vintage-style airmail labels perfect for postal props.  The printable PDFs feature fill-in-the-blank form fields and customizable fonts. 

Vintage Parcel Labels

The clever marketers at the World Label corporation deserve a lot of credit.  They regularly post vintage postal material like these customizable vintage parcel labels. The PDFs just so happen to perfectly fit their adhesive label sheets, but they're equally handy for prop use.

Dead Letters

Cisticola has posted another prop from the classic "Call of Cthulhu" adventure "The Haunting".  This time it's the postcard from the Roxbury Insane Asylum.  You can download the clean version from his site.

Going Postal

Philatelist Michael R. Maranda brings us postage stamps imported from the city of Ankh-Morpork.  I'm a sucker for postal props.

Over There

VonMeer brings us this mailing coupon from World War 1.  It was used to post Christmas care packages during the closing months of 1918.  Click through for the high resolution version and directions on how to put together a prop version of a period packet.

Vintage Egyptian Postage

Here's a classic era (1922) Egyptian postage stamp ideal for period correspondence.  Just print and trim to size with a perforating pattern cutter.

Arkham Sanitarium Postcard

Today we have a vintage painted color postcard of Arkham Sanitarium dating back to around 1920. This view shows the front approach to the sanitarium and the two immense United States flags that flew in front of the compound until August 26, 1924, when they were destroyed during a massive storm.*

This is one of the postcards that will be part of the Arkham Sanitarium prop package, but feel free to print out your own. The package itself is now in the home stretch and should be mailed out in approximately two weeks. I've received the funds from Amazon payments and will be sending out all the materials for production on Tuesday (Monday being the Labor Day holiday here in the US).

Just click through for the full sized graphics.





* A very real storm that ravaged the area where Arkham would be located. Winds up to 90 MPH knocked over trees, drove ships in harbor aground, and tore off roofs. The damage would have been even worse, but the storm peaked at low tide, sparing coastal areas from an overwhelming storm surge.

Miskatonic University Postcard

A vintage postcard showing the front campus of Miskatonic University. The lack of paved crosswalks would date it to sometime before 1924. Click through for the high resolution version.



This is based on a postcard of Brown University's front campus dating to around 1910. I believe the spot where this picture was taken is in front of the John Hay library, just north of the intersection of Prospect and College Streets. I'm guesstimating it's about 10 meters south of where the H.P. Lovecraft Memorial is located today.

Arkham Sanitarium Postcard

A prop postcard of Arkham Sanitarium, based on a period painted-color example. To produce the finished prop, click through to download the high resolution version, download the back and postmark over here, and then:

1. Print the front image on cardstock and trim it to 4" X 6".
2. Adjust your printer document size to 4" by 6", flip over your trimmed card, and print the back side.
3. Apply stamp.
4. Run the back side of the card through the printer again to apply the postmark.

Optionally, you can follow that up with a rubdown with fine sandpaper along the corners and edges, then apply a light wash of tea to age the finished postcard.



Update: It escaped my age-addled memory that I had a new card back already finished. Just click through for the high resolution version.

Arkham Historical Society Postcard

Only in Lovecraft's world would a quaint building like the Arkham Historical Society be such a valuable resource in the fight against eldritch horrors. To produce the finished prop, click through to download the high resolution files and then:

1. Print the front image on cardstock and trim it to 4" X 6".
2. Adjust your printer document size to 4" by 6", flip over your trimmed card, and print the back side.
3. Apply stamp.
4. Run the back side of the card through the printer again to apply the postmark.

Optionally, you can follow that up with a rubdown with fine sandpaper along the corners and edges, then apply a light wash of tea to age the finished postcard.

Postcard front:



Postcard back:



Postmark:

Downtown Arkham Postcard

A view of downtown Arkham looking north from the bridge over the Miskatonic River, based on a mildly retouched 1922 postcard. To produce the finished prop, click through to download the high resolution files and then:

1. Print the front image on cardstock and trim it to 4" X 6".
2. Adjust your printer document size to 4" by 6", flip over your trimmed card, and print the back side.
3. Apply stamp.
4. Run the back side of the card through the printer again to apply the postmark.

Optionally, you can follow that up with a rubdown with fine sandpaper along the corners and edges, then apply a light wash of tea to age the finished postcard.

Postcard front:


Postcard back:


Postmark:

The Secret World

The talented James Kelly sent over a story at Kotaku featuring this intriguing prop/marketing tool.



The postcard leads to the Kingsmouth website, which is itself a marketing effort for "The Secret World", an upcoming conspiracy/supernatural MMO from Funcom. Kingsmouth appears to be one of the central game locations, and given the name (Kingsmouth = Kingsport/Innsmouth) it's role as a classic Lovecraftian small town, complete with dark secrets, underground tunnels, and horrific historical events, should come as no surprise.

The game looks like it could be ten flavors of awesome if, and it's a big if, the dev team is committed to producing a massive amount of content. I like first person shooters as much as anyone, but I think the audience for an occult mystery MMO is looking for more than just the bang bang. They want interesting stories and, dare I say it, actual mysteries. Crafting either is something few online games have had any success at, relying instead on contrived storylines that consist of collecting plot tokens. I'm skeptical, but if they can pull it off I'll happily plunk down my $15 a month.

Vintage Tasmanian Postcard

Most of my paper props are pretty obscure, but this bit of ephemera is based on a single line from Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness":

As the newspapers told, we sailed from Boston Harbor on September 2nd, 1930, taking a leisurely course down the coast and through the Panama Canal, and stopping at Samoa and Hobart, Tasmania, at which latter place we took on final supplies.

Undoubtedly, the members of the Miskatonic expedition took advantage of the stop in Tasmania to post off their last letters and postcards home. This vintage postcard is exactly the kind of thing they would have found in the gift shops surrounding the port. Just click through for the full sized version, download to your computer, and print it out on cardstock.

Postal Brushes

The always helpful Alban sent me a link to these useful Postage Brushes featuring modern and classic postal embellishments. The set is usable with both Photoshop and GIMP. There are few better ways to start a scenario than to have a mysterious package delivered to the player's door.

Orne Library Postcard

From 1926, the main entrance of the Orne Library at Miskatonic University. Click through for the full-sized version.



The Orne Library is the third of the "Life In Arkham" postcards. After the release of the first two I received a lot of requests for more "recognizable" locations, and this is the result. I wanted a location that would fit in with the upcoming Miskatonic University package and looked to Brown University, one of Lovecraft's primary inspirations for his fictional college, to find it. When I discovered an almost pristine 1921 postcard of the school's library I thought it would make a perfect stand-in for the Orne Library.

The image here is freely available under a Creative Commons license. An actual postcard will be included with the Miskatonic package that should be (he said, crossing his fingers) available at the end of this week.