Re: [DL] handout's

[Brett Dixon <balance@tubas.net>]

On Monday, November 25, 2002, at 09:38  AM, Jay Anstiss wrote:

> Howdy folks,
>
> I need a bit of help - does anyone have or know of a site that has 
> either a
> printable copy or an example of a western union telegram? A friend of 
> mine
> is due to start running a game this week and plans on using them. I 
> have
> volunteered to try and track down some handouts for him, but I've not 
> had
> much luck with the telegram. Any help will be greatly received!

I've mostly just used all-caps typed slips with the 'style' of a 
telegram... I.E. write out 'STOP' instead of period, etc.

Getting the style right isn't easy...

For my Halloween game I had a lot of fun making the props. The Posse 
took a break from normal and played Men in Black Dusters, so I gave 
them a briefing pouch full of documentation related to the 
investigation. I had about 20 pages full of stuff, some of which were 
cut to separate pictures I had ganged onto the same page and similar. 
Even though everything was printed in one massive print job, i made 
each segement of the handouts individual. I took linked pages (I.E. a 
three page document that was part of the overall handouts) and abused 
it so it would jhave theat little tiny bit of 'stickiness' real 
documents get because the paper has aligned creases. A few other 
documents got rips and tears (taking a scissors blade to the edge of 
papers changes the feel of the paper in a subtle way) and one even got 
a brown stain thanks to some soy-sauce (Umm, tea is recommended for 
this, but I don't make real tea, but i do have soy sauce!).

Basically, even if the format is off a bit, having a good handout can 
be enough,

For more informative stuff, does anyone know ow telegrams were 
'addressed'? Would someone send a telegram to "John Doe, Deadwood" or 
was more information needed.

-Balance, who does telecom for a living these days, but thankfully 
doesn't have to support telegraph gear.