Real-Life Weirdness

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anders

Ancient Egyptian Mummy speaks again!

So scientists are researching ways to reproduce the way ancient people sounded. I'm sure that can't be used to summon entities that only answer to one voice...

Or the only way to re-seal the tomb is with the voice of its builder.

[Johnny1A.2]

Got a villain you need an obscure hidden lair for? Looking for an unusual HQ for your protagonist/PCs? You might draw some inspiration from this:

Architect transforms abandoned factory in luxury home

It's got the look, anyway. Transplant it to a suitable location, and...

Also, from the same site:

Abanonded Amusement Park

There's something about that sort of thing that lends itself atmospherically to horror/supernatural storylines. It can be a background...or a plot element. I could put together a symbolic storyline around it, something about the supernatural resonance of joy and happiness being displaced by sorrow and loss...

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Or the only way to re-seal the tomb is with the voice of its builder.

*Listens to reconstructed recording*

"Klaatu, barada n *cough* *mumble*." There, I've said the words.

[William]

Want a remote cultural oddity for your players to come across? Ship in a bottle session with some different color? Try modeling an island society off of Kihnu Island Estonia, also known as the Isle of Women: of the 300 permanent residents, almost all are women and children! Women run most of the municipal institutions and populate many of the island's survival industries.

Why? Because the men, who fish in the Baltic Sea, spend months of the year on long trips at sea, away from the happenings on land. Most of the women say they like it; they have many traditions they have passed down for a long time and they're proud of their lifestyle.

It's the first place featured in this Youtube video.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by dcarson

If you are running a Weird War II type campaign this bit from Wikipedia seems like it should mean something
Using 3000 year old wood should have some mystical meaning.

My stepfather makes pens as a hobby; glancing through one of his catalogues I found where one could purchase pen blanks made of ancient bog wood, 4,000-6,000 years old. Perhaps more interesting, ancient kauri wood - which is 30,000+ years old - was also available. Useful for those times you need a pen that is mightier than an artifact sword. You could probably also use them to craft a small wand (or connect multiple together for a longer one), possibly disguised as a fancy pen (or use special materials for the innards of the pen and its ink as well to craft something very suited for symbol magic or similar).

[(E)]

I happen to have some slabs of swamp Kauri in my shed, the biggest is about 7 meters long and probably weighs a couple of hundred kilos so a fairly mighty pen could be made.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by (E)

I happen to have some slabs of swamp Kauri in my shed, the biggest is about 7 meters long and probably weighs a couple of hundred kilos so a fairly mighty pen could be made.

Some pens, some staves, a few suits of wooden scale armor...

[Dr. Beckenstein]

There is a society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots. Asimov would be so proud.

http://www.aspcr.com/

[vicky_molokh]

Looking for unorthodox, divergent-tech-path guns? Having trouble remembering the difference between clips vs. mags vs. drums and pistols vs. revolvers?

Here's an invention for you! A an 'automatic pistol revolver', with both a magazine of sorts and a drum of sorts.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Looking for unorthodox, divergent-tech-path guns? Having trouble remembering the difference between clips vs. mags vs. drums and pistols vs. revolvers?

Here's an invention for you! A an 'automatic pistol revolver', with both a magazine of sorts and a drum of sorts.

Hmm... If I'm looking at that right, it appears the magazine feeds a round into the bottom chamber of the two-chamber revolver; this rotates to the fire position, and the empty chamber takes its place to be reloaded with the next round. It looks like there's a mechanism in the middle that pushes the spent cartridge out through the back during the rotation. It's certainly interesting, and quite game-worthy.