Wall Street Crash of 1929 influence in "A Time to Harvest"

[Agrivar]

The Wall Street Crash began on October 24, 1929, and the "A Time to Harvest" campaign starts in the following year. I wonder how the start of the Great Depression could influence the campaign setting.

How bleak would the Miskatonic University students consider the times they are living? Would there be a "divide" between students whose families weren't affected by the Stock Crash, and others whose families are suffering hard times? Would they have noticed a poverty upsurge in Arkham? How concerned woud the students be about their future? Or would the Miskatonic University be some king of "ivory tower", unaffected by the economic crisis (after all, if the student's families were suffering finantial troubles, they would haven't been able to paid their tuition... or maybe they have had to resort to a loan?

I am from Europe, so I suppose that anybody born in the USA will have a better knowledge than me about this time period, and I'm curious to hear any idea about this topic.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Agrivar

[morganhua]

Those are great questions.  I grew up in the US, but we never really studied it that much in school.  I guess more than the kings of England which we only learned in our English class when we had to read Shakespeare.  aTtH starts in Aug 1930, so that's about a year after the stock market crash.  Looks the game starts close to the time of the first of the big bank runs where people stood in line and withdrew all their money out of the banks which caused banks to collapse and close their doors.

Here's info about the progression of the Great Depression:

http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression

[Morgan Blackhand]

This is a very important question, Agrivar. The Depression hit hard on people of every income. The most direct impact in the game probably is the Credit rating skill. I bet Credit rating can suffer a lot for it!
One of the PCs of my group is the son of a wealthy industrial mogul. He is studying Metallurgy at Miskatonic, with all the expenses paid by his dad. At the beginning of the campaign the entire group is living in a nice mansion in Saltonstall Street, property of the aforementioned PC father. The character invited his student friends to live with him 'cause the only company he got was his driver/butler (that keeps an eye on him and informs the industrial). I think it can be interesting if the family wealth suffered in the Great Depression and the PC don't knows it.

Here's a pic that sums up the hardships of those years.