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Old 10-17-2019, 03:58 PM   #11
johndallman
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

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Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
Oh, yes, very much so. My usual assumption is that anyone playing with a ouija board is offering an open invitation to whatever is out there, even if they don't believe in spooks. Playing with things like that in a Horror game is dangerous, and it's not that much safer in many other genres related to Fantasy or Urban Fantasy.
Whereas in a more cynical setting, it's a contest of Sleight of Hand (or its default) between the people trying to determine the result.
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Old 10-17-2019, 07:29 PM   #12
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

I could have sworn I had already posted this, but I think what I would do is say it is merely ideomotor action. But ideomotor + psychic = genuine divination.
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Old 10-18-2019, 12:27 AM   #13
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

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Whereas in a more cynical setting, it's a contest of Sleight of Hand (or its default) between the people trying to determine the result.
Well, you can have cynical horror, so I'd say 'a less fantastic setting,' rather than 'a more cynical setting.' Either way, though, it's outside the intended scope of this thread.
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Old 10-19-2019, 01:27 AM   #14
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

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Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Whereas in a more cynical setting, it's a contest of Sleight of Hand (or its default) between the people trying to determine the result.
Well, you can have cynical horror, so I'd say 'a less fantastic setting,' rather than 'a more cynical setting.' Either way, though, it's outside the intended scope of this thread.
Not necessarily. Even if evil spirits and other supernatural horrors are real, there are still certainly also going to be con artists, hoaxers, stage magicians, clever amateurs who like to fool their friends, etc.

It could easily be a viable 'hook' in a horror game for a con artist who's been using a board to con people for a while to encounter the real thing. He or she might well be less psychologically equipped to handle it than a person off the street, too.

Also...evil lies and deceives. Imagine a real, functioning board and user who are controlled by something Nasty...but who pretend to be a con artist. That is, it's a double-hook. First you rope in the naif by pretending to be a real medium. Then you let the naif figure out what's going on. When, when he or she is sure you're harmless, or at worst just a grifter...you begin the real con...
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Old 06-23-2023, 11:35 AM   #15
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

Had a plot idea or adventure seed occur to me: A toymaker around the height of the Furby craze decides to make a competitor. The cute, furry toy has an internal, electronic ouija board a bit bigger than a postage stamp, along with a conductive pointer set to move randomly for a while if the toy is moved. The mini-ouija has conductive panels, so that whenever a circuit is completed by the pointer for long enough, it makes a sound corresponding to that letter, which stops when the pointer moves on. This gives the toy a fairly slow manner of speaking, as well as rarely coming up with anything comprehensible - at first.

The 'Furouija' (or whatever it's called) is cute enough and cheap enough that a fair number of them are sold, but like the toy that it's ripped off from, purchasers soon notice some issues. For one thing, the internal capacitors can hold a charge for a while even after the batteries are dead or removed, which creeps people out, but also lets the company dismiss certain issues. Unfortunately, the Furouija exists in a Horror setting, so some of them, are genuinely possessed or haunted.

Can the PCs get these evil toys recalled?

What damage have they done in the meantime?

Will little Suzy ever sleep with the light off again?
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Old 06-24-2023, 05:09 PM   #16
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

GURPS Horror p. 47 has them.
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Old 06-24-2023, 08:07 PM   #17
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Default Re: [Horror/Spirits/Urban Fantasy] Ouija boards in GURPS games

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GURPS Horror p. 47 has them.
Has Furbies with ouija boards?

EDIT: Looking through my copy of GURPS Horror right now would be kind of inconvenient, so did you just mean it has ouija boards, which I already knew (it's in the OP), or did you mean it has stuffed toys with build-in ouija boards, which I don't recall and would be a bit surprised by.

OK, later EDIT: So, I had a look, and I was right, it was a waste of time looking up something that I'd already looked up.
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Last edited by Prince Charon; 07-01-2023 at 07:35 PM.
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