Real-Life Weirdness

[L.J.Steele]

Using high tech to read folded letters -- 17th c letters folded in a way that opening them would destroy internal wax seals. The 17th c techniques might be an interesting touch in a historical game.

https://www.economist.com/science-an...entury-letters

[Varyon]

Currently, the Suez Canal is blocked by a giant container ship that got turned sideways and ran aground, which isn't doing global trade any favors. The official story is that this was due to a combination of high winds and poor visibility (it happened during a sandstorm). My bet is PC's needed to stop some cultists transporting dangerous artifacts via the canal.

[Anders]

In the 1920s, a Soviet scientist kept a dog's severed head alive and responsive to stimuli for several hours. See here for a recap and here for a decidedly creepy video. Now, officially these experiments led to the development of the heart-lung machine but no more advanced techniques for keeping severed heads alive. But who knows?

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Currently, the Suez Canal is blocked by a giant container ship that got turned sideways and ran aground, which isn't doing global trade any favors. The official story is that this was due to a combination of high winds and poor visibility (it happened during a sandstorm). My bet is PC's needed to stop some cultists transporting dangerous artifacts via the canal.

And a few days later, hundreds of ships are clogged up in traffic jams at both ends of the canal, wreaking havoc on the world's economy, just as the end of the "Corona-Crisis" (?) seems near.
Congratulation, players. You stepped right into the master villains trap. :)

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein

Congratulation, players. You stepped right into the master villains trap. :)

Eh, I'm not a big fan of Xanatos Gambits. I prefer to think of it as the sort of disaster PC's would tend to leave in their wake when the GM opts for realistic consequences.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Currently, the Suez Canal is blocked by a giant container ship that got turned sideways and ran aground, which isn't doing global trade any favors. The official story is that this was due to a combination of high winds and poor visibility (it happened during a sandstorm). My bet is PC's needed to stop some cultists transporting dangerous artifacts via the canal.

It would make an excellent setup up for a mummy game. Mummy bring transported on the ship, cultists summon a storm to stop it and get their master off, now the PCs need to track them down before they can awaken Imhotep once more...

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Mummy bring transported on the ship, cultists summon a storm to stop it and get their master off, now the PCs need to track them down before they can awaken Imhotep once more...

Unfortunately for the cultists, the mummy is in a container six layers down in the middle of the stack. So they need the ship to be unloaded, and are currently trying to keep it from moving.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Unfortunately for the cultists, the mummy is in a container six layers down in the middle of the stack. So they need the ship to be unloaded, and are currently trying to keep it from moving.

Okay, so they wait for the mother of all chainsaws to arrive to cut open the wreck.
And, of course, this will attract the brother of the great old one (TM) that the pc made a head shorter a few months ago. Like the big bad planned. :-)

Man, this thing really write itself.

[SolemnGolem]

Apparently the container ship did a frivolous complex maneuver in the shape of a ...well, let's call it an eldritch symbol... before it got to Suez and ran aground.

(Google "Evergreen GPS route" but be warned you'll likely see crude wall-graffiti-level naughtiness if you do.)

Looks like if you vandalize Poseidon's domain, you can find yourself wedged uncomfortably in a narrow channel as karmic retribution.

[seaweedbrain]

I was thinking the PCs did it,so another ship (the actual target) would end up going around the horn of Africa and it's disappearance could be chalked up to pirates.