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I'm writing, for my master's class, a screenplay for an adaptation of one of Poe's stories. But my team (we are writing this in groups of 3 students) decided to do a pastiche/parody and have an alter ego of Poe, nicknamed "The crow", telling this story in a tavern to his two friends, Walter and Donny, who are angry at him because he left before the final of the tournament and they lost.

I have two problems with the setting: the first one is... what tournament. We thought about making them play darts, but turns out they weren't still invented. What could be played in teams of 3 in a tavern context during the years of Poe's life?

The second one is that Walter, as the character it parodies, is an ex-soldier. But... what war could he be referencing, instead of Vietnam?

I thought that maybe there where some history buffs and nerds around in the forums, and any tips would be very very helpful! (also, if this short film ever gets made (as unlikely as it is), you'd be in the credits, in a special thanks fashion. WHAT HONOR!)

Now, back to writing! I have to have this baby roughly finished* before 4 pm!

*Without some of the details, like the stuff I'm asking here.

As long as there's been alcohol, there have been drinking contests.

It'd help to know exactly what time period your story's set in. Like, what year.

Supposing that it takes place between EAP's birth and death, Walter could've been part of the (First) Seminole War. Maybe the Second, too, but he got shot in the leg and carted home or something.

Also I agree with bhamv about the drinking contest.

Good idea about the drinking contest! Why didn't I think of that, we already have "Crow" drinking absinthe all the time!

About the years, Edgar A Poe's lifetime is more or less the time period (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849).
I'll have to look at these "seminole wars"!

Thanks a lot, guys!

There was also the war of 1812. If you guess when it was fought, you get no cookie.

North_Ranger said:

There was also the war of 1812. If you guess when it was fought, you get no cookie.

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Was it the one with the spaceships?

There were several wars with indians including the Seminole wars. Oh and there was the "Sumatran" "War", but don't do that because no one will have heard of it. At the very end of his life was the Mexican American war

---------- Post added at 03:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

As for games, you're lucky I know wars, America is my weak spot and all I can think of is cards. :\

You are a terrible American Twitch. War of 1812 is also cool.

Indeed it is cool. I mean, them Brits actually burned the White House. Plus, I understand there was a lot of interesting things going on in the Gulf of Mexico during and after the war.

Just remember that Poe had a drinking condition, they's be thinkin--two drinks and the dude would go into one of his 'alcoholic' rages. If you want some good reading material that really draws you into the time (and perhaps more inspiration), read The Poe Shadow. It's Matthew Pearl's quasi-historical account of how Poe may have really died.

North_Ranger said:

Indeed it is cool. I mean, them Brits actually burned the White House. Plus, I understand there was a lot of interesting things going on in the Gulf of Mexico during and after the war.

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Yep, there was the Battle of New Orleans, lead by future president Andrew Jackson. It was actually fought AFTER the war was officially over. A peace treaty had been signed over in Europe just a few days before the battle was fought, and obviously no one participating in the battle had heard the news yet. And yea, we kicked the British asses.

Here's an awesome song about it:

Deschain said:

You are a terrible American Twitch. War of 1812 is also cool.

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No. There are no good wars.
The only exceptions being the Revolutionary War, World War II, and the Star Wars Trilogy.

Have them playing some kind of card game. Reading Pride and Prejudice taught me that card games, musical instruments/singing and book reading were the three most common forms of entertainment around that period.

Have them play in a horseshoes tournament.

Thank you, guys! Lots of interesting ideas in here!

I'll have to see what my teammates think about them, but I definately like the wars against the indians as a background for Walter (After all, he is a racist character), or the horseshoe competition, for example.

His drinking is part of the plot, actually. He is telling them what happenned to him visiting his friend Roderick Usher, wich they dont believe because he keeps drinking absinthe and getting drunker and drunker while he speaks.

Why absinthe? Cognac would seem more appropriate.

HCGLNS said:

Why absinthe? Cognac would seem more appropriate.

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Because of the alleged allucinogen effects of absinthe. Of course, every kind of alcohol can lead you to delirium tremens, but absinthe had a strong public campaign against it and "the green fairy".

Also, because of this, it links with the Dude as a drug user, wich we wouldn't get if he was just an alcoholic... Even if my temamates decided to tone down the pastiche... I wanted the main character to be called "the Crow" and a lot of the dialog were distorted quotes from the movie... They decided to go another route and actually make Donny kind of aware of what people are saying and remove almost all of Walter's military background, for example.

But whatever. This thread brought me lots of cool ideas that I'll try to have in the finished product.