Thomas and Nikola: The End of Steam

  • Game Description – Chicago, 1893. They are calling it the Columbian Exposition, celebrating 400 years of Europeans in the New World. But most everyone knows it as the World’s Fair, held this year in the grand metropolis of Chicago. All the wonders of the modern world will be there–massive steam engines, amazing automatons, inventors galore. And the dawn of the age of electricity, brought to you by none other than masters Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. Come marvel at the wonders, gaze upon the stupendous, be amazed by the fantastic. Surely nothing could mar an event as grand as this. A BYOV Adventure. Costumes encouraged but not required. Game sold out? Hit us up online anyway, or just show up!
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  • Gen Con 2018! SATURDAY, 5PM-9PM, Union Station – Lincoln Rooms
  • See the Gencon Event Listing

 

Cast List

  • Thomas Alva Edison – The Wizard of Menlo Park. Edison is here demonstrating the superiority of his new DC electrical power–superior to steam, and to Tesla’s ‘dangerous’ AC power.
  • Mina Edison – Thomas’s wife. It’s rare to see her away from their New Jersey mansion, raising their children and entertaining guests.
  • Lewis Howard Latimer – Son of a slave who fought his way to freedom, Lewis helped Bell invent the telephone before bringing his five patents and innovative work on carbon filaments to the Edison Electric Company.
  • Nikola Tesla – The recluse and futurist has traveled from semi-exile in Colorado Springs to, in his words, ‘show the world what the future has to offer.’ All have heard of the rumors of bad blood between him and Edison.
  • Baroness Bertha von Suttner – Novelist and leader in the peace movement in Europe, long-suffering but dedicated friend of Tesla.
  • George Westinghouse – Founder of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. He began his career as an inventor with the rotary steam engine, but has declared that the future belongs to electricity. His company won the bid to light the fair using Tesla’s AC current–something Edison and his corporation have not forgotten.
  • Bertha Lamme – Last year became the first woman to earn an engineering degree from Ohio State University, and the first female engineer at the Westinghouse Corporation. A promising young gun in the field.
  • Friederich Krupp – Proprietor of Fried. Krupp Cast Steel Company and the richest man in Germany. An alchemist and industrialist, his company is proudly displaying their new 46 foot cannon in their own Krupp Gun Pavilion.
  • Josephine Cochran – Has a small booth, from which she displays her new ‘automatic clothes washing machine’.
  • Ottomar Anschütz – The German inventor and photography pioneer is here to demonstrate his new ‘moving pictures’.
  • Jonathan Luther Jones – One of the top locomotive engineers in the country. His friends call him ‘Casey’. Here representing the great Illinois Central Rail Line.
  • George Pullman – Rail baron. Due to falling production in the railway industry, he has had to slash wages in his company town of Pullman, jut south of Chicago.
  • Cyrus Hopkins – Journeyman engineer working shifts on the rail lines bringing attendees to the fair.
  • Amelia Feldspar – Top aide to US Secretary of the Senate Anson McCook. It’s no secret she is in attendance with government contracts in mind.
  • Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr. – Mayor of Chicago. Bringing the Fair to his city has made him very popular with his constituents.
  • G.H. Thiel – A Pinkerton Agent. Her company has been banned from federal government work, but Mayor Harrison has hired Thiel to be on hand for the duration of the fair as ‘special security’.
  • Patrick Eugene – A Chicago newspaper distributor.
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton – Suffragist and social reform leader. Certainly the fair’s dedicated Women’s Building must have won her approval.
  • Melody Malone – A Chicago socialite. She has been traveling in Europe, but returned to her home for the spectacle of the fair.
  • Herman Julius Belville – A local hotel owner and investor.
  • The Great Danton – Acclaimed magician from London, he is leaving American audiences breathless with his ‘Transported Man’ show-stopper.
  • Olivia Wenscombe – The Great Danton’s assistant.
  • Harry Houdini – A struggling stage magician, he spent his last dime to buy a spot on the stage here in Chicago.
  • Wilhelmina ‘Bess’ Rahner – Houdini’s new assistant, a former stage magician herself, has replaced his brother in his act.
  • Arthur Conan Doyle – The Scottish writer and doctor is on sabbatical in the States, having recently killed off his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes.
  • H.G. Wells – The novelist, futurist, scientist, and social commentator has a friendly rivalry with his countryman Doyle.
  • Helena Wells – H.G.’s sister.
  • Mark Twain – The great American writer, humorist, and lecturer. He is currently living the life of the ‘financially unfortunate’–i.e. facing bankruptcy.
  • Madame Vastra – A British socialite, she has a distinct air of authority about her.
  • Jenny Flint- Madamee Vastra’s maid.

 

† This character may be challenging to play.

 

 

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