1935 - Adventures of Doom

I originally focused on 1935 as a game setting as it was just before World War II and I thought that the war would be an adventure rich backdrop for a table top game. It would be current enough to have many modern conventions (phones, cars, plane, fire arms) but still be limiting when required. It would also have a recognizable political landscape with America, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc all more or less similar to what we know today. Also it is the middle of the Great Depression--plenty of fodder there too. But as I researched the year more, I became immersed in the shear enormity of this key year (at least to American history). Here's a few zingers...

Folks born in 1935:

• Elvis Presley
• Bob Denver (aka: Gilligan, born the day after Elvis)
  
• Donald Sutherland
• Gene Wilder
• Phil Donahue
• the Dahlia Lama

Interesting events of 1935:

• Amelia Earhart flies to Hawaii non-stop from CA
• The Lindberg baby trial begins and ends culminating with Hauptmann's execution
• The Dust Bowl storm hits April 14th
• Social Security Act is signed by FDR
• Germany breaks the Treaty of Versailles and re-arms ignoring the UN
• The Luftwaffe is created
• Howard Hughes sets the air speed record of 356 mph
• Babe Ruth retires
• Goddard uses gyroscopes to stabilize rockets
• RADAR is developed for military use
• Fascism crops up in virtually every country in some form
• The Boulder Dam completes
• Parker Brothers launch the Monopoly board game

This is only a small taste of this year. The mid 30's is also the era of Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger. The Hindenburg commercially launches in 1936 and is destroyed in its infamous crash in 1937. The great inventor Tesla is still alive and living in New York. Egyptology is just taking off although 1935 will see the death of America's first PhD in Egyptology, James Breasted. The events go on and on and on. It is a fantastic era. I hope to have a lot of fun with it.