Other fillings are available.

The plan will be to give everyone a thread covering the last stages on their journey to London. If you're joining there, please let me know if you're not.

Sounds good. And - hello travel buddies!

I think it makes more sense for Olivia to come on board in Germany.

Hi everyone!
I will start in London.
Still looking for that perfect character picture! That's always the hardest bit, isn't it...

Bonsoir fellow travelers! I'm coming from Paris, let's see if I don't get arrested before I reach London...

Do we need to state how much money/stuff we are carrying?

Yes, but I don't need it to the exact new penny.

OK, let's see...

The Internet tells me things now are aprox x6.5 more expensive than in 1972.

So let's say, after paying for the Calais ferry (but not the subsequent train to London), Anais has the equivalent of 1d6x100 present-day euros. 500. Not even that bad, to start with.

That's about 3,250 francs at the final euro-franc exchange rate, or, yes, about 500 francs of 1972.

Am I doing this right?

Ooh, we roll for starting cash?

I'm happy to do that, I was just trying to guess what felt reasonable.

In reply to Jennifer Greene (msg # 9):

I have no idea, I'm making it up because I like randomness :)

According to the Money Matters section, my 500 francs = $100 = £41. The Guardian says the average weekly wage in the UK was around £32, so that sounds about right for Anaïs, a bit more than a week's wages.

Now to decide how many dozens of amazing boho dresses I can fit in that backpack...

No need to roll, no.

...I kind of want to now though.

Not being quite as ambitious as Anais, I'll have Jen sell most of her things in her college room in Oxford to other students before she hops a train to London. Let's say... £120 base, plus 1d20 x £20.

The dice bot approves of my faith, and has rewarded me with a '3'.

So that's £180 plus the personal effects I already PM'd Desmond about, a half dozen dresses of varying lengths, some shorts and tops, a trendy coat she spent far too much on when she first arrived in London, a notepad, three pencils and a pencil sharpener.

Which I'll keep track of, don't worry!

I like the idea of Jen and Debbie on the same train into London Paddington. Looking at the timetables from back then (you may guess I'm a bit of train enthusiast), your best bet is probably the 0840, arriving at 1015. Unfortunately, I can't offer you anything more glamorous than a three-carriage diesel multiple unit:

https://www.railcar.co.uk/type/class-117/summary

This will be a train that Jen will have seen operating on a daily basis in Oxford, nothing hugely glamourous.

At least Anais will get something a bit posher!

****

I will be adding a link to some relevant timetables which will contain passport regulations. The biggest potential hiccup this side of the Bosporus is likely to be Yugoslavia.

****
Anyway, I see that we have four women and one male driver. Desmond will be the perfect gentleman. His wife is waiting for him in Calais for one thing!
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:22, Sat 05 June 2021.

Is Debbie coming down from Oxford as well, or are we just meeting by chance?

I don’t mind what day we get there, as long as Jen has time to buy her travellers checks before we leave :)

In reply to Jennifer Greene (msg # 14):

It might be a good idea for everyone to meet up on the Sunday near Victoria station. I'm sure I can find a suitably cheap B&B near there... I'll start getting some IC threads up over the next few days.

XD I use Debbie's portrait in another game, so had a bit of "what just happened?" when I read that. Good to have the extra company!

I'll post back soon :)

Oh, I see familiar faces all the time here!
This specific portrait is not '70s' enough, but it was the closest I could find to what I have in mind. Crashed your thread as guided by our GM :)

Yes, the "20th century" section is sorely lacking in good '70s portraits. Wish they let us upload our own.

@Debbie Ouch! I wondered if that's what was going on from the context.

Right train now :)

Test test...does this portrait work?

Closest I could get.

Works for me.

Found this for Desmond.

They're both perfect :)

These portraits don't offer a lot of choice for my character, but happy to join you all.  This is my first PBP ever, though I used to play a lot of face-to-face ~20 years ago.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:14, Fri 11 June 2021.

Welcome to the roadtrip adventure!

Welcome!

Weird fact regarding the thread for Olivia - when I was 18, we did go on a school trip to East Berlin. And a classmate of mine did get arrested for taking "disrespectful" photos of the Volkspolizei. They had a point, actually, one of the photos caught one of the police peeing behind a bush. So yeah... he did it on purpose I'm sure.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:35, Fri 11 June 2021.

Welcome to the trip, Kimura!

The plan will be for people to overnight at a (fictional) Bed & Breakfast near Victoria Station called the Lincoln Guest House. This has such modern amenities as:

• A Lounge Room with a Colour TV
• Hot and cold water in every room
• Direct dial telephones, also in every room!
• A laundry service, available for a small extra cost
• Tea making facilities
• A games room with a pool table

Also, as this game is getting rather popular, we may need to bring a second van along...

Colour TV and ensuite bathrooms? A true palace! :O

Hot and cold water in every room!

And maybe Desmond's wife can drive the other van ^^

True, it never said "bathrooms". "Hot and cold water" might just mean a tap and a kettle :)

XD

Even so, I’ve stayed places in the last few years before the plague that don’t have that.

Desmond is treating us well!

I'm just setting up the thread for the hotel, where Jimmy and Himura will be starting.

By the way, on Jennifer's and my thread, are we waiting for GM or for Jennifer? I suspect we're all waitng for each other, and I'd love to have some conversation going!

(edit: corrected some typos)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:08, Sat 12 June 2021.

In reply to Deborah (Debbie) Levin (msg # 34):

Jennifer can post if she wants - I'll likely get a post up tomorrow otherwise.

All aboard the Mystery Machine! :)

Love the concept here, very rare to see something like this so jumped at the opportunity to come aboard. Jimmy is rather tall so I'm not sure how well he fits in a camper van, but he'll make do!

I thought we were waiting for the ticket conductor but I can post :)

I posted.

I saw when I went to post ^^

It's 4:34 am here, so will go back to sleep for a bit now.

Typos are an inevitable part of sites like RPol, but this did make me laugh:-



That's one heck of an introduction! :)

Oops *blush*

Ok, fixed :-)

Welcome to our two new American travellers!

The vans are filling up!

If the vans are left-hand drive...does that mean we just found two drivers? ;)

Hi All.

Glad to be aboard.

Also glad to be here.

Glad to see the Americans are bringing the shaggy look with them.

Casey looks like Brian's more svelt, serious counterpart.

Love the hairy, and good idea on the biography tags :v

That is a good idea.

I'm slowly building a list of his belongings as well.

In reply to Brian Ward (msg # 46):

Right on, man. (clenched fist salute)

Hey! Does anybody have a camera? Someone should but it doesn't seem right for my guy.

Maybe Himura? (stereotype, I know, man)

In reply to Casey Nelson (msg # 50):

Are disposable cameras a thing yet?

In reply to Jennifer Greene (msg # 51):

Sort of...

In 1966, a French company called FEX introduced a disposable bakelite camera called "Photo Pack Matic", featuring 12 photos (4×4 cm).

The currently familiar disposable camera was developed by Fujifilm in 1986, using 35mm film.

In reply to Casey Nelson (msg # 52):

Then Jen will buy a FEX at Dover, if she can’t find one in London :3

In the 60s in Japan they started making 豆カメラ (literally bean camera, I don't know what they're called in English).  They are quite tiny and were popular souvenirs among American troops serving.

https://naoyafs1.hatenablog.co...ry/2018/02/07/065656

If Himura had slightly more business acumen, or didn't have an intense loathing for capitalism, he might have wisely brought some of these along and sold them or traded them in a pinch.  Instead, like an idiot, he just packed his backpack full of cigarettes, and he is already dreading the day he runs out and has to try the local tobacco.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Mon 14 June 2021.

In reply to Himura Kanzou (msg # 54):

With luck they’ll last him to Turkey or points East where the prices should be low. Jen doesn’t smoke yet, so not a problem she’s facing.

The bean camera is interesting! I had no idea.

I found a Technicolor Techni-pak 1 Camera that comes out in 1972, that takes 20 exposures and will send it to you preloaded with a new film along with its photos when you send it in have them developed.

Sounds very Jen to me, so I’ll see how much they are in London :)

Camera was going to be the first thing I mentioned this morning, but you're already there. I was wondering from the start if I should bring one, but didn't really feel it fit with my character.

And great to have The Dude along! (And Casey, we're all friends here)

You're playing Jimmy cOlsen and you're wondering if a camera fits with your character? ^^

I look forward to discovering more about your character(s)!

And to working out what Jen thinks is photogenic...

No camera for Olivia, she has no talent for photography. She'd more likely than not just snap her thumb.

There's also Polaroid, but they're a bit controversial among your group at this point because of their involvement in apartheid South Africa.

It's Sunday, so shops will be shut, but you have Monday morning.

Booo, no Polaroids here! Down with apartheid!

Here come the Americans with the Marshall Plan. You guys are loaded!

Not over here sister.

That flight to Heathrow probably cost more than Brian's last car...
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:15, Mon 14 June 2021.

$650, so possibly.

In reply to Anais Gautier (msg # 62):

spent a few years workingwithout anything much to spend money on, so Casey saved up

I have actually visited the former in-town terminal Casey and Brian will be heading to; it is a wonderful 1930s Art Deco building that now houses the National Audit Office and is opened to the public as part of the annual Open House weekend - which will be two weekends this year.

It was initially operated by Imperial Airways, then later BOAC, who at the time of this RP were in the process of merging with British European Airways (who had their own terminal in Kensington) to become British Airways. There was also the Central London Air Terminal for British Caledonian. In both cases, you could walk straight onto a train to Gatwick Airport.

It's good learning about all the London/England of half a century ago. If I get to visit one day I will have a short list of things to try and find :)

In reply to Jennifer Greene (msg # 67):

It's changed quite a lot. The docks have closed and been redeveloped into a fairly gentrified area, many of the tower blocks being put up at this time are now coming down again and the Thames is a lot cleaner than it was, although I wouldn't suggest swimming in it.

The tallest building in the city at this point in time was what is now called the BT Tower.

Ha! Nicely done!

I've been to London several times, but went on family/school holidays a couple of times around ten years after this game is set. Fond memories.

In reply to Jennifer Greene (msg # 67):

If you want a good idea of the general aesthetic and attitudes of early 1970s Britain, you could do worse than watch Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Our English teacher showed us that while we were learning XD

Ministry of Silly Walks, Universe Song, things like that. I didn’t understand all the humour, but some of it was very funny.

Python aesthetic then ^^

In some sketches you can pick up some of the xenophobia (even/especially toward Europe) and racism and classism.

Never Be Rude To An Arab comes to mind.

There are a lot of programmes from back then that still get an occasional rerun on some distant digital channels, but they come with a "this programme contains outdated attitudes" qualifier as a warning. There are plenty more that will probably never see the light of day, and for good reason.

Monty Python were there to send up the establishment, amongst other things, but they weren't faultless. They were (mostly) extremely funny though.

I've never seen any show with such a warning. Not a thing here I guess.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Wed 16 June 2021.

I only see it on Disney Plus, though I've only watched that in English Language.

Not really a thing back home either.

Just to give you an idea, I am hoping to make one IC post a day, but that will be in just one thread and I don't expect you to post that often.

More like every two days or so, depending on my RL workload. Depending on how much research I have to do for a given bit, these can take a good hour to write.

I've added a Useful Resources thread. YouTube is a fairly good gem of footage, although be aware that 1970s colour film wasn't the greatest.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:24, Thu 17 June 2021.

Great resources link!

Slow pace is fine with me, and I do not mind just reading along until Olivia can join the crew.

Excellent resources.

Thank you for sharing those.

Sorry all.  I am going to have to abandon this game.

I am very lonely awith COVID and wanted to try connecting with people somehow online, but it just seems nothing online works for me.  I can see this isn't going to work for me and so feel it is best to get out before getting too involved.

Sincerest apologies.

I'll miss you Kanzou, here and on the other game you were GMing. Look after yourself and hope things get better for you soon.

Aww sorry about that. Good luck to you.

Sorry to see you go; hope things get better.


One classic 70s starter course would be... a glass of orange juice, literally served as a starter.

Another useful link: https://www.retrowow.co.uk/70s_2.html (with the caveat that a lot of stereotypical 70s stuff is more 1976-1979). Stock photo libraries are also handy if the original photo is dated, especially crowd scenes for identifying what people really wore. Gillian's a bit of a fashion victim in that regard :)

I'm just old enough to remember the 70s in the UK: three TV channels on a black-and-white TV that would break down two or three times a year; TV was mostly only broadcast from noon to midnight (except for the Open University on BBC2); no VCRs; telephones with dials; avocado bathroom suites; lots of orange and brown; petrol (all leaded - no such thing as unleaded petrol) came in grades from 2-star to 5-star (not all petrol stations offered 5-star); cars had vinyl seats that stank.

Sorry to see you go :( I hope you find something that does work for you soon - maybe try something roll20 or something with voice if you're feeling your isolation fiercely.

Best wishes.

Bro! I'm really really sad to see you go, given how well we've worked even in these early stages.

But you have to do what you have to do. Take it easy, and if you ever want to chat just send me a message. At least Jimmy has a contact if he ever gets to Japan, I guess. :)

Sorry to see you go as well. You had a really interesting character.

Oh no,

Likewise, if you need/want to talk to someone. I'm no professional but feel free to reach out. Even just to vent.

Good luck!
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 00:02, Tue 22 June 2021.

I have used Terminal 3 on more than one occasion over the years. Albeit as a British citizen. There are signs in the duty free area that tell you how long you should allow to walk to the gate.

Just started watching Treadstone on Amazon last night, being a fan of all things Jason Bourne.

Without giving much away part of it is set in (flashback to) 1973, so its a nice reference to lifestyles then.

In reply to James (Jimmy) Colson (msg # 90):

Noted. Thanks for sharing that.

I was using Blue for my American speech. Should I use no color for English/American?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Sun 04 July 2021.

You can bold it instead if you wish.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:26, Sun 04 July 2021.

Apologies for the delay, I'm having trouble finding the time these days. Will be back with French shenanigannes anon.

Slightly later than the game, but here's a street scene from Pathé of what women (and some men) were wearing in London during the 1976 heatwave/drought. (Not entirely SFW, as the cameraman has a disturbing focus on T&A that wouldn't be acceptable now!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP6hCx5_pYs

Interesting mix of blatantly 70s and clothes that would pass without comment today.

The 1970s was a pretty sexist decade all in all. At the time of this RP, it was still legal to pay women less then men for doing the same job.

Including, infamously, a local government job ad for the post of Equal Pay Officer :)

Unfortunately, my research suggests that there were no female gendarmes in the 1970s and that the French police at the time didn't use the rank of 'Lieutenant'. This makes my proposed title "The French Lieutenant's A Woman" rather hard to pull off...

This may be of interest to people:

https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no01-1973-74

I'm adding it to the resources thread.

Oh man, that is fantastic! I went straight to the toys section, so many childhood memories, and we still have a couple of the games there, the exact thing. I love that.

A sign we're in the 1970s... the main story in the tabloid papers for this weekend (5-6 August 1972) involved a butler:

http://content.time.com/time/s...33009,906208,00.html

In other news, Idi Amin is threatening to expel Asians from Uganda, the amount of lead in petrol is to be lowered and Manchester City beat Aston Villa 1-0 in the Charity Shield.

And on TV tonight, there's The Onedin Line on BBC and something called Doctor in Charge on ITV's London station, London Weekend Television. You probably won't be back in time for The Golden Shot:
http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/The_Golden_Shot
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:46, Thu 05 Aug 2021.

In reply to GM (msg # 101):

Eight months in jail awaiting trial for forgery/embezzlement. Blind me.

Computer died completely,and my housemate has a working deadline coming up so i can hardly use his computer right now. We are trying to raise money fora new one but that may take a bit. Thanks to corona and Brexit my mate hardly got any commissions in the last few years.

Good thing is this game is slow so you'll hardly notice :-)

In reply to Casey Nelson (msg # 102):

France is still using the guillotine at this point in time!

****
I've recently got a subscription to the British Newspapers Archive and it's a trip down some very interesting and un-PC lanes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:10, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

I actually saw a national touring company performance of Godspeed in Washington DC c. 1973 at Ford’s Theatre, if memory serves.

In reply to Casey Nelson (msg # 105):

I wasn't even born back then... I have visited Ford's Theatre, which of course is best known for the Lincoln assassination.

How is everyone at the moment?

doing fine, anxious to get together on the van

I'll echo what Casey said. All good here, but I feel a little like we're treading water at the moment. I think we'd welcome something of a fast forward to the vans.

We've spent three real-life months for this game - sitting in a restaurant in my case - and I'm not sure we need to roleplay every course. There's always a huge rush of adrenaline at the start of a game, especially when like this one the premise is so unique, so promising. But if you go too slow people lose interest - Jen's been gone two months, for instance. Anais has been on but not posted in that time.

I'm loving the game. But sometimes you need to move it along - I know from experience, I've run games here and elsewhere. It's much easier to take part than organise everything, and if people get bored or feel like they're treading water (not that I'm saying that's the case here) they move on. I think we're at the stage where we need to get everyone together, and then the group dynamic can really kick in.

And I love nostalgia as much as anyone, but we need to balance that with game/role play.
Just my two penn'worth.

You're quite right. I will get everyone in London to the vans.

I have to apologize. I found myself quite out of sync with everyone and finding it hard to close this gap.
I also suggest skipping to that point, with my character possibly coming in at the last moment to explain why there was no interaction with the rest of the group prior?

(on a side note, I am traveling for the next couple of weeks, so I will once again be sparse... but I'll try to post once synced)

That's a good idea.

Just struck me this morning that I think I've been to this station, back in 1988.

First time I ever went abroad. Took a bus with three of my friends overnight all the way down here, then to Dover the next day and took the Ferry to Ostend. Spent two weeks inter-railing around Europe (three of us had jobs so couldn't spend an entire summer!). Remember spending my first night abroad in a youth hostel (the nicest one I ever saw) in Brussels. There is a high plateau somewhere around the city centre (IIRC) and the sun came down as we stood there and turned the sky a wonderful rosy orangey-pink, which I can still see now.

Good times.

More likely than not - it was the main departure point for the pre-Channel Tunnel "boat trains".

I've been to this station many times since about 1985, whether it's the coach station or the rail station (it would be logical and sensible for Victoria Coach station and Victoria Rail station to be co-located, so they're not - they're about a quarter mile apart).

Sorry for dropping off like that; I thought I'd made it clear to everyone I was going on holiday, but I hadn't.

Went to Munich and also popped into Nuremberg, which is on our game's route.

Ready to travel.

Holidays?! Nice! Been to Munich, really enjoyed it.

Can everyone let me know where you're sitting please?

In my living-room. ;)

Standing outside with Nina at the VW buses.

Seated across the table from Desmond, along with Casey.

Same as George until we go out to board the vans.

We're boarding the vans now.

Standing outside with Nina, going to board the same van.

Who is still here?

I'm still here!

Well, that's two people who are still here.

I'm here, but I'm wobbling.

In reply to Casey Nelson (msg # 128):

Anything I can do in order to make you not wobble?

I'm still here. I see you bumped the Ad for the game, here's hoping there's some interest.

Who else is still here? I'm planning to do a 'soft reset' with just the players we have one in one van at the moment.

I did like Wimpy, particularly the bacon roll with tomato sauce. Memories...

In reply to James (Jimmy) Colson (msg # 132):

Still have one in my town.

In reply to GM (msg # 133):

Do the other players want to skip ahead to Brussels?

Yes please.

Since it looks like the posting frequency is seldom more than once a day (sometimes less), I second the yes, please.

Hi everyone, happy to be here. I believe I will be popping into the "Buying Bread" thread shortly unless I'm mistaken :)

Welcome aboard, Frankie!!

My first night abroad I was 21, on holiday (inter-railing) with three friends. Ferry from Dover to Ostend, train to Brussels where I spent my first night abroad. Still the best youth hostel I stayed in by some considerable margin, even allowing for the fact its been years since I stayed in one.

One of my first memories is watching a guy run flat out down the pavement across the road and fall flat on his face, whereupon we creased up laughing. Only then did we watch him get up, and he was disabled. Laughter rarely died so quickly.

I have been to those places I mentioned, think I have a picture of the carillon at the Mont des Arts somewhere, and I really did eat those two waffles which were sickly sweet! I can recall standing on the Mont des Arts that first night and watching the sun set, it was so beautiful.

Apologies for the delay in posting, I've been busy.

Talking about busy, I think today is the day I finally admit to myself that I don't really have the time. Sorry for the super long absence, thank you for everything, and you can NPC Anais or hand her over to a good player :)

Bye bye y'all!

In reply to Anais Gautier (msg # 141):

Thanks for playing!

Happy Easter everyone

In reply to Cat McLaughlin (msg # 143):

Same to you.

In reply to GM (msg # 142):

Np, could you please take me out?

If you've not already seen it, here is the game map:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1E-JKozuCP9tIK4N_X0hD683lq8B1drb3&usp=sharing

Oh, that's a long drive. We should get started

In reply to Cat McLaughlin (msg # 147):

Very long drive. Across Asia on the Cheap said you could do it in six weeks if you rushed it.