Real-Life Weirdness

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

And they're even allowed to dump that stuff into our water supply.

Most toxins and pollutants dissolve in it vastly increasing toxicity and area of spread.
I say that only half jokingly.

[vicky_molokh]

Yes, they have a warship LARP on a real warship; what?

[thorr-kan]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Yes, they have a warship LARP on a real warship; what?

That's just...I llke that.

[Daigoro]

If you can't see adventure possibilities in an underground stolen self-mummified monk smuggling ring, perhaps you've taken up the wrong hobby...
Mummified monk is ‘not dead’ and in rare meditative state, says expert

And something about the Mummies of Yamagata
The Gruesome and Excruciating Practice of Mummifying Your Own Body

And the Chinese-Arabian Honey Mummy
Mellified Man

[somecallmetim]

Apparently, 50% of the DNA sequenced from samples in the NYC subway system match no known organism. Sure, in the real world, its just a bunch of previously unsequenced bacteria, but the potential for a scan like that to find evidence of alien or ghoul DNA could make a fun plot point or start to a campaign. "CDC vs. the Mythos!"

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by somecallmetim

50% of the DNA sequenced from samples in the NYC subway system match no known organism.

Some of the samples are a close match for the alligator, though, except for some odd anomalies in the genes controlling growth and size.

[somecallmetim]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Some of the samples are a close match for the alligator, though, except for some odd anomalies in the genes controlling growth and size.

I like the way you think.

[William]

I learned about this recently and it seemed bizarre enough to be included in this thread... bizarre partly because it was considered normal, public behavior among a population that I can only hope I would have refused to be part of should I have lived in the day, for they were my countrymen, race, and rough economic level.

It is the spectacular lynching. It is something that, in the heat of a plot set any time before the modern day, a group might encounter as the effects of racism, a witch hunt, a red scare, or the equivalent phenomenon in the campaign's culture. Would your PC stand up against it if they saw it? Knowing that the mob might turn on him; that, if he survived, he might be unsafe in his home, exiled and penniless, for showing compassion to the victim?

Below are some short snippets from descriptions of a number of such events. Under the spoiler, because the descriptions are incredibly graphic.

Spoiler:  

This morning he was brought through Texarkana, where 5,000 people awaited the train. . . . At that place speeches were made by prominent Paris citizens, who asked that the prisoner be not molested by Texarkana people, but that the guard be allowed to deliver him up to the outraged and indignant citizens of Paris.

Arriving here at 12 o’clock the train was met by a surging mass of humanity 10,000 strong. ((He)) was placed upon a carnival float in mockery of a king upon his throne, and, followed by an immense crowd, was escorted through the city. . . Here Smith was placed upon a scaffold, six feet square and ten feet high, securely bound, within the view of all beholders. Here the victim was tortured for fifty minutes by red-hot iron brands thrust against his quivering body. Commencing at the feet the brands were placed against him inch by inch until they were thrust against the face.

-----

White Georgians tracked Hose down and prepared for his lynching. Two thousand people gathered for the killing, some taking a special excursion train from Atlanta for the purpose. The leaders of the lynching stripped Hose, chained him to a tree, stacked wood around him, and soaked everything in kerosene. The mob cut off Hose's ears, fingers and genitals; they peeled the skin from his face. . . . When he finally died, the crowd cut his heart and liver from his body, sharing the pieces among themselves, selling fragments of bone and tissue to those unable to attend.

-----

On the way to the scene of the burning people on every hand took a hand in showing their feelings in the matter. . . some struck him with shovels, bricks, clubs, and others stabbed him and cut him until when he was strung up his body was a solid color of red, the blood of the many wounds inflicted covered him from head to foot. . . . Life was not extinct within ((his)) body, although nearly so, when another chain was placed around his neck and thrown over the limb of a tree on the lawn, everybody trying to get to ((him)) and have some part in his death. . . . ((His)) body was swaying in the air, and all of the time a noise as of thousands was heard and ((his)) body was lowered into the box. No sooner had his body touched the box than people pressed forward, each eager to be the first to light the fire, matches were touched to the inflammable material and as smoke rapidly rose in the air, such a demonstration as of people gone mad was never heard before. Everybody pressed closer to get souvenirs of the affair.

[Anders]

During the peace negotiations between Sweden and Denmark 1613, both kings were banned from attending. They had sabotaged previous peace negotiations. However, they both attended anyway - in disguise.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Anders

During the peace negotiations between Sweden and Denmark 1613, both kings were banned from attending. They had sabotaged previous peace negotiations. However, they both attended anyway - in disguise.

nice ... can I get a link?