PDA

View Full Version : Ignored or an Illusion?



Revlid
2008-02-17, 05:00 PM
I'm currently setting up an Urban Fantasy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UrbanFantasy) game using D20 Modern - but I'm in a bit of dilemma.
The characters will be members of an organization set up to prevent knowledge of magic (and the creatures it entails) becoming public. They're not necessarily magic users, just people who know about its existence and who have certain skills. They're largely incompetent and rather unsubtle, so what is the effect that really prevents people knowing? I've narrowed it down to two options:

a) Cynical: People are stupid and comfortable with what they know to be true - as long as the immediate danger is removed by the players, the public will (given a half-plausible explanation) move along with only a slight niggling feeling, their own minds carefully erasing and filling in the blanks. The few weirdos who actually think something's going on will only support the view of normality with their fanaticism. This won't stop cameras or film of an event from blowing the lid.

or

b) Illusion: Human's minds are wired to not be able to comprehend magic - where those who can perceive magic see a 12 ft tall demon, they see a psycho in a costume. Where wizards see a water elemental, they see a burst pipeline. This reduces the job of the players to clean-up and damage control, but is easier to swallow and probably offers more opportunities for humour. ("Bystanders see you chasing after the helicopter, waving a bazooka and swearing." "I throw a fireball at the dragon!")

What do you think?

Mr.Bookworm
2008-02-17, 05:05 PM
I'd go with being an illusion.

Besides being funny and more interesting, it also provides a plot hook as to why human brains are wired that way.

Parvum
2008-02-17, 05:14 PM
Both. Though lessen illusion's loose perameters a bit (because if you've got a demon corpse, it doesn't take a correctly wired mind to figure out it's not something normal).

RTGoodman
2008-02-17, 05:14 PM
b) Illusion: Human's minds are wired to not be able to comprehend magic - where those who can perceive magic see a 12 ft tall demon, they see a psycho in a costume. Where wizards see a water elemental, they see a burst pipeline. This reduces the job of the players to clean-up and damage control, but is easier to swallow and probably offers more opportunities for humour. ("Bystanders see you chasing after the helicopter, waving a bazooka and swearing." "I throw a fireball at the dragon!")

I'd go with that one - it seems better for a fantasy setting anyway, and I believe it's the way they do it in the normal d20 Modern fantasy setting, Urban Arcana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Arcana).

daggaz
2008-02-17, 05:25 PM
Id go with number one myself...seems way more realistic and plausible. I mean, ok, our brain is somehow not wired to "see" magic, but then... umm.. it comes up with physical imagery that matches somehow for every conceivable situation?? Not to mention... what if two people, or a crowd of people, see the "helicopter" at the same time?

Seems to me, if you are in a setting where there even exists a group trying to keep magic a secret, then magic must be a rare and seldom witnessed event anyhow, making scenario one even more fitting. Especially with the lone wierdo here and there freaking out about ghosts etc..

Besides, its so true that humans react that way. Millions of folks totally believe those buildings fell thru themselves at freefall speed due to a simple fire, despite seeing them explode/implode on live television.

holywhippet
2008-02-17, 06:14 PM
Don't forget apathy as a reason for disbelieving. If you don't get an explanation at first, and can't find one soon after, many people will just lose interest and put the incident out of their minds.

Another possibility is plausable lying. If a 20 foot giant stomps through the city, send out a press release saying it was a prototype that some idiot took out for a joyride. People will often believe absolute crap if it's presented to them correctly.

Sebastian
2008-02-17, 06:55 PM
AFAIK the way brain works is more like a), when you remember something what the brain does is replay the events going from point A to point b, c, d, e, etc putting the pieces together in the more logical way, but if something happen in a most illogical way like a,b,e,m,g,h,i then the brain either fill the blanks or ignore the "out of continuity event or try to replace them with something that make more sense or all of them.

example, if tomorrow you go out of your home and see a giant pink rabbit crossing the road, at the moment you could even be sure to have seen it, but soon you'll start to doubt it and in a week or two you probably won't even remember that it happened because there is nothing to link that fact to the rest of your experiences, it is something so out of place that the brain simply can't catalog and just let it go.

Of course if you keep seeing the rabbit every day, or you have some kind of proof, then things would be different, but that is part of the problems your players should try to solve.

This is expecially true if when the events happen the observers are in a very stressful situation/in danger then it is very easy that they'll attribute the more weird part to the excitement and rather than see you cast a fireball to a dragon they'll say something like "well, then that guy must have some kind of grenade because he did some gesture and then there was this huge explosion that blew up the thing in the sky, an helicopter probably, but with all that confusion was hard to say, think that for a moment I even thought it have wings, like a huge bat, weird uh! ha, ha, ha!".

Collin152
2008-02-17, 07:29 PM
If you say thing with an authoritive, everybody-knows-it manner, and do not claim to be an expert, people will believe you. It's easier that way. After all, only a lunatic would really believe they sa a dragon that night when it wsa clearly just teens with fireworks.

Prometheus
2008-02-17, 08:01 PM
Illusion, kinda. I think what was always implicit about the term "occult" was that it was rare and inherently secretive. I don't know how magic is used, or for what purpose, but the point is that good or bad, almost everyone who uses it has a reason for hiding it beyond any strategic gain they could get from unveiling it. The character's task would be to protect this tradition (for whatever reason) from those few who don't want to hide the magic.

My guesses as to why it is held secret:
-magic is cast with knowledge, and the total amount of magic in the universe in finite. Therefore, you only let someone else know if their aide will help you more than it will cost you - and even then, you let them know very little and the both of you have every incentive to preventing them letting anyone else know.
-magic is dark or evil. Therefore it serves best with the ignorance of the populace. More importantly, anyone reasonable person that learns of it will righteously destroy th casters of magic. Therefore, they only let the unreasonable know - those who are evil, or are so mad no one would believe them.

Maybe I'm too much of a skeptic, but the whole, magic exists but no one believes it so no one knows is obviously implausible.

Dragonmuncher
2008-02-17, 09:56 PM
I'd go with the denial/cynicism thing. That's how it was done in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And yes, it does sometimes have weird consequences (Oh, that pack of vampires that attacked the school were just gang members on PCP), I'd say it's less odd than "Oh, everyone thinks the dragon is just a helicopter."

Plus, it allows you to have the PCs just be people who have been able to accept the truth, instead of having a weird biological reason why they can see monsters.

Admiral Squish
2008-02-17, 10:12 PM
I vote illusion. Easier to explain, harder to deny. But, I think to give your players some 'crowd control' incentive, they should perceive it as normal, unless it's explained to be otherwise quickly.

Revlid
2008-02-18, 06:13 AM
The consensus seems to be on a mix between the two, which I like. Sebastian's way particularly appeals to me. An element of illusion for the more outlandish stuff, and cynicism/apathy for the rest.

Thanks!

Learnedguy
2008-02-18, 06:19 AM
Have the smart hero scream "AAAAAAND CUT!!!" after every major fight.

Revlid
2008-02-18, 11:46 AM
Have the smart hero scream "AAAAAAND CUT!!!" after every major fight.

Hah, awesome. The guy who usually plays smart hero thinks like that, so he might try something along those lines.

On the other hand, it'd be pretty cool to drop an actual film set with monstrous costumes in front of the heroes - they panic when they realize that the regular humans all know what the monsters are, they panic when they realize that they've just invaded a film set, and they panic when (if) they realize something truly magical (see: bad) is going on "behind the scenes".
And panic is always a good thing. :smallbiggrin:

Dan_Hemmens
2008-02-18, 12:04 PM
I'd go with 1. But cut the "people are stupid" angle.

Unknown Armies handled this best. Its angle was "most people have better things to think about than whether magic exists".

Thinker
2008-02-18, 12:16 PM
Have you considered the MIB route? Have some device that lets you reprogram the last x minutes of the person's memory. It also leaves open room for every reason a device doesn't work in other things (breaks, malfunctions, gets lost, someone is immune, etc).

Collin152
2008-02-18, 04:20 PM
Have you considered the MIB route? Have some device that lets you reprogram the last x minutes of the person's memory. It also leaves open room for every reason a device doesn't work in other things (breaks, malfunctions, gets lost, someone is immune, etc).

Like the Modify Memory spell. Modify any five minutes of memory.
Or programmed Amnesia. Rewrite it all.

Revlid
2008-02-19, 07:58 AM
Have you considered the MIB route? Have some device that lets you reprogram the last x minutes of the person's memory. It also leaves open room for every reason a device doesn't work in other things (breaks, malfunctions, gets lost, someone is immune, etc).

I have considered it, but didn't put it in, precisely because it is the MIB route. I'd like to keep comparisons to a minimum. :smallwink:

Plus, wiping people's memories is more morally questionable than my (surprisingly moral) PCs would go for - they're not a faceless government organisation, they just work for this private organisation, and only the most amoral of them (smart hero, fyi) would meddle with minds using magic.
Considering how dangerous this would be, he'd likely be opposed by the rest of the group, who would rather give the involved party a plausible explanation than risk melting their brain. Harry Potter magic this ain't. Most of the time it seems to have a very black sense of humour. :belkar: