A Resource Guide for Live and Tabletop Roleplaying Games set
in the 1920s, including Lovecraftian Horror and Gangster Genre Games.


by Gordon Olmstead-Dean - About the Author

 

What's
New!

Learn more about Live Roleplaying from the LARPA Home Page. LARPA is the only Organization in the world dedicated exclusively to the promotion of all  Live Gaming
 

NEW- Physical Resources for 1920's Live Roleplaying!
Forms, Postage Stamps, etc
Local Aficionados pose in 20's Costuming at a The Flying Circus Airshow in Bealeton VA.- Courtesy of Kate Bunting, Photo by Val Kilgallon

     
History and Timelines
    The General History of the 1920s, and the years before, including the Victorians, the Gilded Age, and The Great War (World War I to us).
The Great War 1914-1918 
    The Great War, or the World War.  If your character was alive in the 1920s, it had a profound effect on you.
General Culture and Hobbies
    Smoking, Drinking, Sex, and Miniature Golf are at the top of the list.  Herbert Hoover, Business, and Soft Drinks.  Includes Book Reviews.
Arts Film and Stage
    The 20s were the first golden era for the Silver Screen, and saw the likes of Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Fitzgerald. Explore the era that saw the birth of talkies. Also plenty of Vaudeville Links.
Gangsters Crime & Prohibition
    Prohibition is a "must know" for the period, and interesting for more than historical reasons. Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Seigel, all got their start in the Roaring 20s. Also includes other crimes - the Sacco Vinzetti Trial, and the Black Sox Scanal.
Photo References
    Pictures of the Period.  Some collections are all 1920s, some have mixed materials. For pictures of Famous Stars, check out Films and Theatre.
Radio and Phonographs
    The 20s saw the birth of radio, and the last gasp of the old Wax Cylinder machines. 
Transportation
    Trains, Ships, Automobiles and Aeroplanes. No era saw more progress in the way we go places.
Costuming
    "Puttin on the Ritz" - learn the secrets of attire for the "flapper" and the "drugstore cowboy" - and for normal folks. Costuming for the 20s can be cheap and easy.
The Occult
    Many games touch on the forbidden knowledge of the Occult. Spice up the standard dull run of "Cthulhu" references by picking up a working knoweldge of the occult systems of the 1920s.
Geographic References
    Find out about specific Cities during the Period.
Library Resources
    References to 20's texts online, or to Library sites with reference information. A good GM doesn't "make it up" - if you don't know something, look it up here!
Utilites
    Interesting net sites that are useful when running a historical game. Distance between points, perpetual calendar and more. Was March 13, 1926 a Tuesday or a Thursday?
Psychology
    Learn how psychology and psychiatry really worked in the 1920s
Medicine
    Medicine has advanced a great deal since the 1920s, however this was hardly the dark ages. Diabetes was defeated in the 20s, and many other advances came about.
Games
    Find out about specific games and systems set in the 1920s
Slang
    From "the bees knees" to the "struggle buggy," find out how we talked and wrote in the Jazz Age
The Resource Guide for Live and Tabletop Roleplaying Games set in the 1920s,
including Lovecraftian Horror and Gangster Genre Games is the property of Gordon Olmstead-Dean. Articles found on these pages may be freely distributed unless otherwise specificed.
    

The New 1920s page has had
    
Last Updated April 14, 1999