Mysteries of Montreal

Today's Google Doodle is to celebrate the 16th Birthday of Henrietta Edwards , a Montreal native who went on to have a huge impact on Canadian Politics, and Woman's Suffrage in general. Not to steal the thunder of the Watch House , who usually takes the Google Doodle as a starting point for gaming inspiration, but I felt I could not allow this one to pass, due to direct link of this personage to Montreal, and the 1920s. Henrietta came to be known around Canada as one of the Famous Five . For those outside Canada, that is not from the books by Enid Blyton, but a group of 5 women who fought for, and won, the right of Canadian women to be considered as persons in 1929. Amongst her other life works, she was also an author, and the founder member of the Victorian Order of Nurses . She was born in Montreal in 1849, and lived there until she moved with her family to Saskatchewan in 1883. From there she lived in various parts of Canada (the Famous Five all met and worked in...

Inspirational Artefacts artefact / ˈɑːtɪˌfækt / noun: something   made   or   given   shape   by   man,   such   as   a   tool   or   a   work   of art,   esp   an   object   of   archaeological   interest. On my daily trolling of the internet, A Tumblr site has been brought to my attention that has some wonderful artefacts, that just scream out to be used in scenarios. With this in mind, I am starting what will be a new semi-regular feature on the blog, Inspirational Artefacts. Artefacts in your game. There are a number of ways these artefacts can be dropped into a game. It maybe that the item has been brought to a local museum on a tour, or maybe the investigators are the actual archaeologists who discover them. It could be that the item is found in the lair of the cultists the investigators raid, or even up for sale in the local occult store/jumble sale/auction. The gr...

Just as I get an email from Chaosium saying that the Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter has been shipped, and other details released for the 7th ed. Kickstarter suggest an early 2015 delivery, I am sorely tempted by another Kickstarter that is just about to close. This time, for wonderful reproduction handouts and props for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Campaign . Helpfully, they have recently posted a summary of what you get for each funding level. Click to enlarge, and read what each level currently offers. This Kickstarter has been fully licenced by Chaosium. Ok, so I am swithering whether to enter at the $65 or $85 mark. The difference being a few photos and the soundtrack. I have not been one for using soundtracks in game, but with modern technology, it becomes easier to manage, and therefore I am considering in as an option, plus of course the $10 international shipping... and maybe an eye of Light and Darkness for another $75...

Montreal Standard, 12 January 1907, page 16. HATCHET HOBOS OF CHINATOWN REGARD NEW POLICEMAN AS A TRAITOR TO HIS RACE Montreal’s Chinatown accepts the installation of the new Chinese policeman as an official recognition of the dignity and importance of the district. It is as great a matter to crow over as if a Celestial had been elected alderman in the City Council. “Oh, yeth, we have policeman now. He” – with a swell of pride – “he carry revolver and baton, too!” Chinatown is having much to play with the new toy. Fan-tan has for the nonce lost a little of its absorbing interest. All sorts of tiny troubles are taken to the policeman for arbitration, and he is expected to be a library of miscellaneous information, while if some Chinamen are having a little wordy spar at 3 am, another Chinaman will bolt round, waken up the policeman, and gravely inform him that there is a stupendous case on hand, and that it would be wisdom to telephone for the patrol wagon and a detachment of ...

Want to know where the criminals live in Montréal? Where are the hoods? Well now you can find out. Stats have been taken from three correctional institutions in Québec, Bordeaux Prison, Rivière-des-Prairie Institution, and Centre de Detention Tanguay. The data shows us where those convicted originate from. In terms of Montréal, this can give an insight into the origins of the criminal element in terms of which parts of Montréal they live in. This is not a map of where crimes are commited, that's a completely different map. The three hot-spots, or hoods, on the Island of Montreal are Montréal-Nord, Saint-Michel and Hochelaga. To those that live in town, that will come as no great surprise. The other hot-spots in the province not around the town of Montreal (which considering the percentage of the population of Quebec that live in the area, it's no surprise the majority come from in or near the city) are in the north of the Province, which, considering the economics of th...

I would very much like to draw your attention to American History Too , a thirty minute podcast, coming very much from an academic stand point, being of direct use to students studying history at University, particularly Edinburgh University, but of course, learning and discussion are by no means the preserve of mere students, some may even say they're even wasted on students. As a further gaming link, as if one was needed, you may have heard of one of the podcasters before in gaming circles. Dr Malcolm Craig, is a real renaissance man, as he is also the Writer/Creator of both Cold City and Hot War , two excellent indie mythos RPGs  that I can thoroughly recommend to readers of this blog (if they don't already know about them that is). One criticism I would make, they need to work on their logo, but hey, I'll let them off since they're just setting out. Go check them out, they now have a whole two episodes for you to listen to.

In the run up to Halloween, Friday's Gazette had this nice article on ghosts in Montreal . Montreal has been called a city of words, a city of design, a city of neighbourhoods, the city of Mary.A few years ago Gilbert Rozon, founder of the Just for Laughs Festival, suggested it should rebrand itself as a city of creativity. Good slogans, all of them; nice phrases. But the more you look at the long and tangled history of our mountainous island, the more it seems clear that at heart, Montreal is a city of ghosts. It's rather a long article, and mostly from the modern day, but it has some great spooky stories in there, perfect for investigators to look into, and many of which can be easily ported to any other era, and used either as non-mythos stories, or as intros into something deeper.