Calais

Just a ship being unloaded in the port of Calais

Dover

Dover is a town and major ferry port in South East England.  Its also the last part of the players journey in England.  From here, they'll board a ferry to France where they'll board the Orient Express.  Dover is famous for its chalk cliffs (the White Cliffs of Dover), and the narrow sea passage between England and France.  its strategic position has been evident througout history, archaeolgical finds have revealed that the area has always been a fous for people entering and leaving Britain and has been inhabited since the Stone Age - who knows what cults are hidden in the back alleys and basements of Dover.

Dover Train Station

Train

This photo comes from Shorpy (www.shorpy.com), and while its not really the Orient Express, I like the image and players likely wont know the difference.  Since this is just intended to enhance the mood and help players visualize what theyre doing and where they're doing it....

Anyway.  from Shorpy - March 1943, Needles  California.  Electrician B Fitzgerald cleaning the headlight of a locomotive at the Atchinson, Topeka, & Santa Fe yard.  All engines operating west of Needles are equipped with hooded headlights in accordance with the blackout regulations.  Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information.

Switzerland

London

Orient Express Ticket

I developed this a while back for a couple guys at the Yog Sothoth forum.  I've been trying to learn to make it better (adjustable dates, etc), but, for now - a first version of an Orient Express Ticket/

Merry Tentaclemas!

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Tentaclemas as I take a day off from the Orient Express

Switzerland

Theres something dead beautiful about Switzerland.  Contrasting the beauty of Switzerland with the horror of the Sedefkar Simulacrum.

Trieste

They're post cards - maybe they can be printed as post cards (with postage!), and write clues on the back so that they can "get some help from a friend somewhere"

Eastern European Border Guards

Its likely that at some point, players will interact with Border Guards checking passports and ensuring that contraband isn't being brought into the country on the Orient Express.

To the best of my knowledge, these guys are actually Romanian, but its not a huge stretch for players to imagine that theyre Serbian, Bulgarian, or Greek.

London

the adventure starts in London, so a few shots of London.

Vallorbe

Just the Vallorbe train station

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

While it is highly unlikely that players will meet him, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is the President of Turkey, and Turkey during this time period is undergoing massive social changes, so knowing a little about him can be helpful to really set the stage during the campaign.  He was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatürk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him (and forbidden to any other person) in 1934 by the Turkish parliament.

Atatürk was a military officer during World War I.  Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, he led the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Independence Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies.  His military campaigns gained Turkey independence.  Atatürk then embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms, seeking to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, westernized and secular nation-state.  Under his leadership, thousands of new schools were built, primary education was made free and compulsory, while the burden of taxation on peasants was reduced.  The principles of Atatürk's reforms, upon which modern Turkey was established, are referred to as Kemalism.

Tcherkesseui

Tcherkesseui is a Greek town that also serves as a customs checkpoint between Greece and Turkey.

Travel Poster

Travel Poster

Paris

An Automobile and a pair of Motorcycles outside a garage in Paris

A Paris street peddler

Dragoman

Dragoman is a small village on the Serbian/Bulgarian border.

Belgrade

Belgrade is the largest city in Serbia, and is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers.  Its Serbian name "Beograd" translates to White City.

After the first world war, Belgrade became the capital of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929).  During this period, the city experienced a rapid grown and modernization.  Belgrades population grew to 239,00 by 1931, and averaged 4% per year.  In 1927 Belgrades first airport opened.

The University of Belgrade

A view of the Cathedral in Belgrade

Trieste

Trieste is a seaport city in north-eastern Italy at the 'top' end of the Adriatic Sea.  Prior to the First World War, Trieste belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however with the Armistice, Trieste was occupied by the Italian Army and was officially annexed in 1920.

In the 1920s, the Slovene ethnic group (about 25% of the population) suffered persecution under rising Italian Fascism.  An official policy of Italianization was instituted, with public use of the Slovene language prohibited.  by 1920 all Slovene associations were dissolved, while names and surnames of Slavic and German origin were Italianized.

Italian Fascist "Blackshirts"

Brigue

Brigue is a small town at the foot of the Alps, it's also the last town the players visit before reaching the Simplon Tunnel.

Rakek

Rakek is a small town just north-east of Trieste, in Yugoslavia.

Montreux

Heres a hotel sticker.  They were commonly given away as advertizments and collected by travelers to show off how well traveled they were.  Print this out on a sticker and give it to players, sorry I don't know how big to make it "realistic" - for my own purposes, I've printed it at about a 2"x3" size.

Constantinople

Just a couple more photos of Constantinople so that players can get a better feel for the "feel" of the city.

Paris

How are you going to keep 'em down on the farm, once they've seen Paris?  Well, heres a map to help your players see Paris.

Milan