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Saturday 28 September 2013

Gold mine discovered!

We had a look through the Oxfam book shop today and came across something that just couldn't be left behind, especially for £3.

This book is full of short articles that cover true facts that are weird or downright strange.

The book is divided into 18 chapters that start off with science and nature related items and moves on to the main reason I bought the book... there are chapters on hoaxes, unsolved mysteries, world explorations, strange customs and legendary beasts. From just a quick flick through the book so far, it looks like ideal fodder for pulp style adventures, even if the science chapters are 37 years old and out of date.

Each article is less than a page long, so is perfectly formatted for plot ideas and easy to flick through for inspiration.

Who knew that the world's largest nugget of gold was almost as tall as the man who found it and weighed nearly 187lbs? Useless? Maybe... but fascinating none the less.

Another example, also involving gold is the tale of a gold mine in Arizona where you could tap the wall gently and bars of solid gold would tumble to the ground. There are official records to show a number of prospectors all claiming to have found this mine and made quite a lot of money, but each time one of these prospectors returned, they were killed by the Apache tribes in the area, who believed that the prospectors had become greedy and tainted. You can't get more pulp than a mysterious gold mine protected by Apaches can you?

I may pull out (metaphorically speaking) any good ones and post them into the Plot Hooks section.

5 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. From a quick flick through, it looks very promising as a source of weird and wonderful plot hooks that would be ideal for loads of different games. The gold mine mentioned above could be a fun one for Dead Man's Hand

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    2. Pretty good for Pulp Alley too.

      Replace the Apaches with cultists or the mine with a burial ground full of artifacts and it'd do for Strange Aeons or the like.

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    3. Exactly my thinking too :)
      I suspect I may have to write lots of articles based on this book!

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