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View Full Version : Back to the Future: $$$



HMS Invincible
2010-09-19, 10:34 PM
We just wrapped up a d10 modern session where we found dozens of porno mags from the year 2016-2039. On our way back home, we find that we arrived 6 years into the future, so it's 2016 instead of 2010. Nobody had any money on them, so I go to the atm and check if my debit card still works. My balance reads $36,000,000.00.
After a bit of drooling, a thought hit me. This game is a bit old, and nobody bothered to adjust for inflation. Therefore, this isn't that much money. I need to turn it into something useful, or at least into more money.

In short, I have a bunch of money to invest, and dozens of porno mags from the future. How can I make money off this? I'm the absent CEO and owner of a moderate-sized retail corporation. I'm thinking:
1. Analyze Porn Mags
2. ...
3. Profit
4. Diversify into Military R&D
5. "test" next generation cool toys.

Edit: The world is sorta like shadowrun where modern technology exists with magic and the supernatural. None of the general populace knows about the fantasy part of the world. The game is pretty high power since at level one, we can already throw SUVs and fall 70 ft. with no damage. I have no access to any magic, so I'll have to focus on technology and augmenting my melee and shooting skills. My only super power is my money. =( I'm a "good" shooter and strong too, but so is everyone else.

JoshuaZ
2010-09-19, 10:48 PM
How much do you know about stuff that happened in the future? If you even just remember some of the prominent techs that gives you specific avenues for research.

Also, can you reverse engineer the cloak? Heck, even just showing it to the right people as evidence that you went into the future might be interesting. You might be able to pick up an extra million dollars from James Randi to start with depending on whether he considers a time travel claim to be supernatural.

HMS Invincible
2010-09-20, 12:12 AM
Technically, I'm still in the future. Hillary Clinton is now president and when I call people on my contact's list, they always ask where the hell I've been for the last six years. I'm from the past, but the magazines are from the future. It's just that the subject matter makes it a harder to make money. Unfortunately, the cloak is not mine to use. And the man who has it, has no interest in money.

Psyx
2010-09-20, 05:39 AM
You need to study those mags carefully... for the articles, of course... :smallcool:

There may be pop culture references in the texts or historical comments that are gold. Something like 'as much as a shock as when Green Bay won the 2030 Superbowl' would be fantastic, for example. But even other stuff could be taken to the bookies, such as people rising to political power and suchlike.

Look at the technologies and companies at the fore in the future and invest in them... though that may take a while. If -say- Daewoo dominate the advertising in the magazine, then they're probably a good investment. The style of advertising is key too: Some adverts are blatantly for up and coming firms, while some - when examined for style - are clearly for established brands. Invest in brands that are well-established in the future, and you're likely to see them profit closer to your own time frame.

It's possible to patent the look and feel of interfaces and technologies. Look at props in the photoshoots and items being advertised. Patent the look and feel of them.

See what contemporary artists and actors are viewed as all-time greats in the future. Buy memorabilia and first edition limited print-run recordings and stuff.

Why is the magazine printed on paper? Analyse it to find out what exactly it IS printed on, and invest in that. If we haven't moved to full-digital in 50 years, there's been a problem somewhere, and conventional print technology is still going strong. Look into it and invest.

HMS Invincible
2010-09-20, 11:13 AM
You need to study those mags carefully... for the articles, of course... :smallcool:

There may be pop culture references in the texts or historical comments that are gold. Something like 'as much as a shock as when Green Bay won the 2030 Superbowl' would be fantastic, for example. But even other stuff could be taken to the bookies, such as people rising to political power and suchlike.

Look at the technologies and companies at the fore in the future and invest in them... though that may take a while. If -say- Daewoo dominate the advertising in the magazine, then they're probably a good investment. The style of advertising is key too: Some adverts are blatantly for up and coming firms, while some - when examined for style - are clearly for established brands. Invest in brands that are well-established in the future, and you're likely to see them profit closer to your own time frame.

It's possible to patent the look and feel of interfaces and technologies. Look at props in the photoshoots and items being advertised. Patent the look and feel of them.

See what contemporary artists and actors are viewed as all-time greats in the future. Buy memorabilia and first edition limited print-run recordings and stuff.

Why is the magazine printed on paper? Analyse it to find out what exactly it IS printed on, and invest in that. If we haven't moved to full-digital in 50 years, there's been a problem somewhere, and conventional print technology is still going strong. Look into it and invest.
Wow, that sounds much better than my idea of hiring the actors while they are still auditioning/young and jump starting their careers.
I was going for a porn empire, but investing in stocks and patents sounds less sleazy.

monomer
2010-09-20, 11:29 AM
Wow, that sounds much better than my idea of hiring the actors while they are still auditioning/young and jump starting their careers.
I was going for a porn empire, but investing in stocks and patents sounds less sleazy.

Well, you can always invest in the stocks of the porn empires that you know will be doing well. Win-Win!

Psyx
2010-09-20, 11:31 AM
...And look in the publishing notes for what software and stuff was used for the editing. Invest!

Skorj
2010-09-20, 11:53 AM
Editorials in pron mags often complain about leading conservative politicians (and sometimes mention leading liberals). Knowing who will win elections should let you build a real power base, if you have the money to work with, by contributing to the campaigns of those who will become powerful, so that they see you as an important long-time supporter by that point.

Another_Poet
2010-09-20, 12:28 PM
You might be able to pick up an extra million dollars from James Randi to start with depending on whether he considers a time travel claim to be supernatural.

Except that in the real world he closed the contest in 2010 and the game is set in 2016 so they missed that boat (unless GM decides to houserule it in alternate history style, but if 36 million is chump change I doubt 37 million is much better).

grarrrg
2010-09-20, 12:59 PM
Something like 'as much as a shock as when Green Bay won the 2030 Superbowl'

:smallmad:
You might think you're funny.
But you're not.
GO PACK GO!
I'm watching you...

Telonius
2010-09-20, 01:08 PM
At least a few of those pictures are going to be of famous people who haven't yet posed for such magazines in the current timeline. How much are some people going to be willing to pay for a picture of <random actress>? Alternately, some of those actresses are going to be famous people who currently work for some wholesome family program. As long as you don't mind a bit of extortion, you could make some money that way.

Douglas
2010-09-20, 01:28 PM
Except that in the real world he closed the contest in 2010 and the game is set in 2016 so they missed that boat (unless GM decides to houserule it in alternate history style, but if 36 million is chump change I doubt 37 million is much better).
Got a source for that? Specifically, one more recent than the retraction of that decision here (http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/jref-news/640-million-dollar-challenge-update-its-not-ending.html)? That's the most recent update the Wikipedia page mentions.

HMS Invincible
2010-09-20, 07:59 PM
36 million is a lot, if I want to buy something commercial. However, I want to research military grade goodies. Just getting my hands on current generation stuff is gonna require a lot of bribes...I mean campaign donations. The blackmail/sell pictures idea is good, since it gets me money now. The only problem is people will start to question how I got these obviously doctored photos of people from the future. =.= Thanks for the ideas, I'll let you know how my fortune grows or burns down.

herrhauptmann
2010-09-20, 08:40 PM
Some of those magazines will have 'stories' in them.
Copy them and take them to get copyrighted (or literary equivalent of thepatent office) in your 'present time' and then DON'T LOSE THEM. Publish them each once in some dying magazine editorial, or better yet, on your myface.blog taht'll fall out of popularity well before the stories were actually published.
Now when the stories have been published by the actual authors in the magazines, you can sue them for plagiarism. The money you receive from those lawsuits should be enough to guarantee your material comfort (or at least pay for your next round of lawsuits). If the lawsuit settlement would be enough to put the mags out of business, go for a deal, half now, and 20% of profits until the profits paid out are greater than your originally requested amount + inflation + interest.
ex: You want 200$. (Using smaller whole numbers and no percentages) They agree to give you 100$, and give you a cut of profits that comes out to 10$ a year. 10 years later, they've given you the extra 100$. Banking interest says that the 200$ is now worth 220$, and inflation says that the 220$ is now 230$. In short, they now owe you money until they've given you 230$.
Pretty sure that's an almost example of a Zeno's paradox

Psyx
2010-09-21, 05:49 AM
:smallmad:
You might think you're funny.
But you're not.
GO PACK GO!
I'm watching you...


Heh. Picked the name out of thin air.
It's nothing personal: I think all football players are big girls for wearing helmets. :smallcool:



The blackmail/sell pictures idea is good, since it gets me money now.

You have 37 MILLION in the bank. Would you seriously start trying to blackmail people for the odd $100,000 here and there, with 'obviously' fake photos?



you can sue them for plagiarism. The money you receive from those lawsuits should be enough to guarantee your material comfort

As an occasional author, I think that you have a somewhat grossly inflated opinion as regards what writers are paid, the value placed on copyright, the ease of suing over plagiarism, and the size of such court settlements. Your figure of $200 is probably a bit optimistic. Sadly.

Saintheart
2010-09-21, 08:48 AM
...Oddly, this reminds me of the novelization of the Back to the Future, in which a Playboy from 1985 falls out of the DeLorean so Doc Brown of 1955 picks it up. He briefly looks at it, then has a minor YourHeadAsplode when he contemplates the fact he's ogling a woman who hasn't even been born yet from his perspective.

Which made me make the leap -- ewwww -- that you're looking at pictures of people who, by definition, are between 13 and 15 years old right at the time of your campaign.

Ew. :smalleek:

herrhauptmann
2010-09-21, 12:26 PM
As an occasional author, I think that you have a somewhat grossly inflated opinion as regards what writers are paid, the value placed on copyright, the ease of suing over plagiarism, and the size of such court settlements. Your figure of $200 is probably a bit optimistic. Sadly.

Probably not, since the one you'd be suing would the future versions of Playboy and such. Somehow I doubt the JK Rowling of the future is going to be published in a skin mag.

Ravens_cry
2010-09-21, 12:34 PM
Probably not, since the one you'd be suing would the future versions of Playboy and such. Somehow I doubt the JK Rowling of the future is going to be published in a skin mag.
I know Arthur C. Clarke had stories published in Playboy, though only after he got pretty popular if I recall.

Another_Poet
2010-09-21, 12:38 PM
Got a source for that? Specifically, one more recent than the retraction of that decision here (http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/jref-news/640-million-dollar-challenge-update-its-not-ending.html)? That's the most recent update the Wikipedia page mentions.

Oh that's great! Originally it was going to close in March '10 but I'm glad to see it won't. I thought it was a rather dubious decision to close it, since that goes against both the intention of the contest, and the stated policy when it was started.

Glad to see it will continue, if only so I can go win it one of these days. :smallcool:

HMS Invincible
2010-09-21, 01:11 PM
Which made me make the leap -- ewwww -- that you're looking at pictures of people who, by definition, are between 13 and 15 years old right at the time of your campaign.

Ew. :smalleek:
Well, if I had an almanac from the future, that would be much more useful. But I only have dirty magazines. When life gives you porn from the future, invest in porn.
One guy had the idea to look for political and technological hints about the future, and invest in that. I'll look into that, but it's funnier to tell the GM that I want to add a porno empire alongside my retail corporation.

Another_Poet
2010-09-21, 02:27 PM
Well, if I had an almanac from the future, that would be much more useful. But I only have dirty magazines. When life gives you porn from the future, invest in porn.
One guy had the idea to look for political and technological hints about the future, and invest in that. I'll look into that, but it's funnier to tell the GM that I want to add a porno empire alongside my retail corporation.

Well then the best you can probably do is either "discover" the most popular models a month before they would otherwise be discovered, and become their agent; or invest in the stock of the most successful mags. You could time this nicely too. If Famous Actress So-and-So does her first exclusive adult photo shoot in March 2020 for Magazine Y, then buy tons of Magazine Y stock in Feb 2020.

The problem from an RPG point of view is that these strategies will pay off piecemeal over years, rather than an immediate payout to help your character in tomorrow's adventure.

HMS Invincible
2010-09-21, 09:58 PM
Well, I didn't forget, I'm only investing half my fortune. The other half is going to buy high end guns, armor, and explosives.