4 ms·
For RPGers, this is one of the many elements from that time that show up in "Berlin: The Wicked City" for Call of Cthulhu. It doesn't get the attention that it
by foobiekr 3y ago
For RPGers, this is one of the many elements from that time that show up in "Berlin: The Wicked City" for Call of Cthulhu. It doesn't get the attention that it deserves as a module and setting. Weimar Berlin is practically mythos-tastic in and of itself.
- dmonitor 3y agoi can imagine why people aren’t so enthusiastic about role playing early 20th century germans
- rodgerd 3y agoGermany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.
- jojobas 3y ago[flagged]
- Gabriel_Martin 3y agoWhat point are you making here exactly?
- rodgerd 3y ago"The Holocaust was good because gays, homosexuals, and jazz shouldn't exist" is a very Nazi take.
- jojobas 3y agoThey didn't attract voters by peddling Holocaust, they came to power on the promise of tackling the perceived immorality of drugged-up parties, child prostitution and its contrast with poverty. Yes, "stolen victory" too, but who would care about that if the country wasn't in disarray?
- INGSOCIALITE 3y agoI can’t reply to the post below yours for some reason so I’ll hijack here… In 1923 at the height of hyperinflation the price of a loaf of bread was 100 billion marks, compared to 1 mark just 4 years prior.
- femiagbabiaka 3y agoLuxembergism was the adequate reaction, the Nazi Party, even at that time, was just as corrupt and depraved.
- jojobas 3y agoThe cutthroats who ran the revolution won't cede power to anyone, they didn't risk their lives for that. Every revolution is followed by the spider can where the most ruthless kill the rest.
- femiagbabiaka 3y agoHrm. I think you're right, but my mind has now gone to Ukraine.
- Gabriel_Martin 3y agoEvery other day I hear a reactionary takes on behaviors that would have been called "sexual bolshevism" at the time. Scary times.
- jojobas 3y agoAre you using the term Bolshevism in a positive sense, seriously?
- goos 3y agoI.. don't think that's what they're doing at all. "Sexual Bolshevism" was used in a derogatory sense by the Nazis, criticizing more liberal sexual views and practices by implying it was related to the Russian Bolsheviks. I think what the above poster is doing is comparing similar critique heard today, to what the Nazis were saying back then.
- jojobas 3y agoSo, if the Nazis hated it, it must be good... right?
- goos 3y agoI'm not entirely sure what point you're trying to make – things don't only exist within a spectrum of good and bad. The context of the thread was that, like modern western culture, early 20th century German culture was highly stratified, and as such, increasingly polarizing. So far I think your comments support this comparison.
- Gabriel_Martin 3y agoThe other reply is correct, I'm referencing the Nazi's brand of rhetoric. Today's rhetoric has the charming variety of "exactly the same" to "distinctly similar". Blood libel, for example being exactly the same as what Qanon believer espouse, and reactionary rhetoric about drag performers being distinctly similar to "degenerate art". A 1500 person poll had 50% of Republicans believing in a pedophile cult among democrat Elites[1]. 25% identify as believing in Qanon, which is literally blood libel [2]. So no, not using it in a positive sense, at all. 1: https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/30/which-groups-americans-believe-conspiracies https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/20... 2: https://www.prri.org/research/the-persistence-of-qanon-in-the-post-trump-era-an-analysis-of-who-believes-the-conspiracies/ https://www.prri.org/research/the-persistence-of-qanon-in-th... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Bolshevism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Bolshevism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art
- Barrin92 3y agoYes, it's sad how little attention that period of German history gets especially abroad. Babylon Berlin is a fantastic German TV production that captures the cultural side of the late Weimar period very well.
- ghaff 3y agoOf course, the musical Cabaret as well. Based on Christopher Isherwood's writings. Unsurprisingly, the film sanitizes things a little bit and makes it into a Liza Minnelli star vehicle--which actually improves on some book problems with the stage version but sort of makes it less interesting overall. Still worth a watch though. The stage version is still playing in London. The play uses the idea of being able to phone another table as well.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoI just watched this for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Enjoyable film, though I actually cried at the end, knowing what was about to happen there.
- Archelaos 3y agoTo get an insight into the time, I can highly recommend reading the diaries of Harry Graf Kessler.[1] Extensive excerpts are available in English translation under the title: "Berlin in Lights". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Graf_Kessler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Graf_Kessler
- treprinum 3y agoI guess its end by hyperinflation followed by nazis is not something people would be proud of.
- boondoggle16 3y agodon't forget the civil war!
- pgreenwood 3y ago
- TRiG_Ireland 3y agoA reminder that the famous photos of Nazi book burnings were mostly burning Hirshfield's research into the lives of trans people.
- zokier 3y ago> It doesn't get the attention that it deserves as a module and setting. Weimar Berlin is practically mythos-tastic in and of itself. I suspect weimar berlin is just pretty difficult setting to utilize; in particular you would be trying to draw inspiration from and evoke art/media of the time, which in this case would be stuff like German expressionist cinema and modernist literature which do not have exactly mass-market appral, compared to e.g. victorian era works.
- TillE 3y agoRPG setting books can be a ton of fun even if you're not into roleplaying per se. I picked up one of the AD&D Lankhmar books as a kid, and while I love Fritz Leiber, reading those books can immerse you in a richly detailed world in a way that Leiber's original work doesn't quite do. That probably applies even more to Lovecraft, who's one of my favorite writers, but I know plenty of people who don't like his writing but are really into Call of Cthulhu and other Mythos stuff.