Handsignals

[General Pain]

This explains everything.

[kato13]

I think this has the original definitions in case anyone is interested.

[pmulcahy11b]

I like Pain's better. They're priceless! Where'd you get them?

[stilleto69]

I agree - Pain's was just priceless.

[General Pain]

I was cleaning up some harddrives and found a lot of old pix - the computer I'm using home has about 3250GB so I had to rearange things a bit hehe It was chaos. - better now

I was actually inderectly hoping someone had the original one - thx Kato

[headquarters]

-please bring these out for our next session -I laughed hard when I saw these .

for the meta gaming - you will need them next time .

[kato13]

Originally Posted by General Pain

I was actually inderectly hoping someone had the original one - thx Kato

No problem forced me to do a little reorganizing as well.

[Targan]

In my current campaign there has been at least one occassion on which some of the Navy characters in Major Po's coven/warband/street gang/unit used semaphore signals to communicate over line-of-site distances.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Targan

In my current campaign there has been at least one occassion on which some of the Navy characters in Major Po's coven/warband/street gang/unit used semaphore signals to communicate over line-of-site distances.

Things like that might actually make a comeback as radios and field telephones break down, batteries become drained, lightbulbs burn out for light signals, etc.

[Mohoender]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Things like that might actually make a comeback as radios and field telephones break down, batteries become drained, lightbulbs burn out for light signals, etc.

At the end of the 18th century, France had a system that was called the "Télégraphe de Chappe". That was abandonned in the late 1840's when it was replaced by electrical telegraphs. However, several tower are still in existence and such a system could be used again. It was capable of bringing a message from Paris to Toulon (roughly 900 km) in about 90 minutes.

Here is a website on it and a picture of a surviving one

http://visite.artsetmetiers.free.fr/.../chappe_a.html

[Earthpig]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Things like that might actually make a comeback as radios and field telephones break down, batteries become drained, lightbulbs burn out for light signals, etc.

With a name that ends in 11B, you think you have to wait for the batteries to die? We used hand and arm signals religiously in the field......We even made up some that we thought we needed that werent in the manuals...we even made up some for jokes......like the "finger" pointed up with a flat hand over the top (like a T) ....cover me I'm Fu"gg"ed, or the same finger with the hand underneath....Fu"g" you I'm covered... we even had one for Fu"gg"ing goat trail I've got a manual somewhere....maybe I'll dig it out and scan some pages....our made up ones might be more problematic(pics with camera & uploading but I think I can do it.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Earthpig

With a name that ends in 11B, you think you have to wait for the batteries to die? We used hand and arm signals religiously in the field......We even made up some that we thought we needed that werent in the manuals...we even made up some for jokes......like the "finger" pointed up with a flat hand over the top (like a T) ....cover me I'm Fu"gg"ed, or the same finger with the hand underneath....Fu"g" you I'm covered... we even had one for Fu"gg"ing goat trail I've got a manual somewhere....maybe I'll dig it out and scan some pages....our made up ones might be more problematic(pics with camera & uploading but I think I can do it.

Oh, yes, but you're not going to use hand and arm signals over a distance of miles, unless you have Steve Austin's bionic eye (I know you're old enough to understand that reference ). Communications over long distance was what I was referring to.

[Earthpig]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Oh, yes, but you're not going to use hand and arm signals over a distance of miles, unless you have Steve Austin's bionic eye (I know you're old enough to understand that reference ). Communications over long distance was what I was referring to.

OK then, semaphore, pigeons, Pony express, runners and field phones the non powered ones for short distances and some could be powered by generators or rechargeable batteries.

We could use Steve Austins running ability to carry messages quickly

[Marc]

The heliograph would be an alternative, if sun light is available. One of the fortified towers that exists near my town is called "La torre de l'heliògraf", the heliograph tower, because its old primary purpose as communication repeater. The tower is situated following the actual AP7 highway course, the ancient roman road "Via Augusta".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliograph


Another simple system available, very similar to the "Télégraphe de Chappe" described by Mohoender, is the use of a large rectangular signal panel, divided in 9 windows in a 3 x 3 pattern, each letter codified as a different configuration of the panel, depending if each window is open or closed. Sadly, I do not remember the name.

The use of these systems, with the help of binoculars, can provide a good and quick method to communicate different posts at visual range. It seems a logical development for organized areas where villages with, for example, bell towers, can provide safe spot for repeaters. Of course, isolated repeaters would be too much vulnerable, and their elimination could cause the failure of an entire network.

In game terms and under the traditional v1 or v2 setup, I think that systems as the "Télegraphe de Chappe" or the heliograph can be reasonable used between two or three important spots under the same local government.

And finally, at least here in Spain but surely in other places of Europe, a lot of small rural villages (those who have the best survival chances in Twilight world) keep the traditional bell strokes to inform the inhabitants about important things, like fires or the need of an urgent meeting. The sound of the bells can be easily heard from neighboring villages. The old "call to arms", the "somatent" bell stroke here in Catalunya, is still documented in the churches and could be easily recovered.

[Adm.Lee]

Semaphore towers might be a key feature of the cantonments we were discussing earlier.

IIRC, the Royal Navy operated a long-distance "telegraph" (not Morse's electrical one) before/during the Napoleonic Wars between the Admiralty in London and the main naval base of Portsmouth. I think it involved lanterns for night messages, too.