Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Since I have used soft serve to seal the deal on a number of dates, it can be used for sex.

You could also barter soft serve to have somebody killed, and a tyrant could pay the secret police in ice cream. Or you could just eat it. Exchanging X for Y doesn't make X the same as Y. In my experience soft serve is too low value to be of interest to most prostitutes, (and presumably hit men and secret policemen) though.

[AlexanderHowl]

I do find it insulting that someone would equate ice cream at an end of a date with prostitution.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I do find it insulting that someone would equate ice cream at an end of a date with prostitution.

Your partners have agency and either the ice cream was transactive or just a detail. If the latter it doesn't support your thesis. Presumably you were wearing shoes, sat in chairs, had vaccines, somewhere an airplane was nearby, and none of these things meant that you were any more or less into each other.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

AlexanderHowl's statement was more definitive than yours.

Technology is used for X doesn't necessarily mean that all forms must be used for X. He took my point further, but you seemed to take it to its most superlative.
I assumed facetiousness rather than sarcasm. My mistake. Those can be hard to distinguish in person, for me, let alone in text.

[Phil Masters]

Soft serve icecream is indeed a really terrible weapon, and anyone who’s seen a few commercials for luxury brands should know it has perceived aphrodisiac qualities for sure.

I don’t know how well it serves as a tool of totalitarianism (I know it was popular in Soviet Russia; bread a circuses are a tool, I guess), but it’s certainly a bit viscous, especially when it starts to melt.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Soft serve icecream is indeed a really terrible weapon, and anyone who’s seen a few commercials for luxury brands should know it has perceived aphrodisiac qualities for sure.

I don’t know how well it serves as a tool of totalitarianism (I know it was popular in Soviet Russia; bread a circuses are a tool, I guess), but it’s certainly a bit viscous, especially when it starts to melt.

I was wondering if anyone caught the pun.

Puns of course are killing words.

[Astromancer]

Picture a parallel were everyone puns all the time and all comunication requires puns to be understood. It would verge on being a hell world.

[Jasonft]

Nuke it from a nearby convenient parallel dimension. It's the only way to be sure.

[PTTG]

The Yoked Wizards from the Buff Dimension

Officially known as Physiomagery, this worldline is more frequently known by the name given to it by its local ruling class, the Yoked Wizards. Perhaps more must be explained.

An echo until 1969, the Buff Dimension took shape when an athlete -- exactly whom remains unknown -- apparently transcended mortal bounds during preparation for an Olympic weightlifting competition. Witnesses reported that his entire body converted into a glowing, energetic form before evaporating, leaving nothing but a charred bench and a levitating barbell.

From that day forth, the world was elevated to Normal mana with an unusual aspect. All spells here are HT-based, not IQ. Having ST-12 or greater confers Magery 0, and at ST-16, it increases to Magery 1.

Finally, manastones here have a max capacity based linearly on mass, and must be lifted by the wizard in order to unlock their power; and though they can be made, the cataclysmic unleashing of mana converted a large assortment of weightlifting equipment to potent manastones.

Though the world of 2009 appears similar to OTL on the surface, any survey will reveal that all of society is rewritten around the needs to the Yoked Wizards. They have come to understand that their world is one among many, but they likewise know that their magic only functions in their homeworld, and so crosstime exploration means little to them. Their magical forms of travel only bring them to other high-mana worlds, anyway. If their scouts are found on other worlds, they are likely to be shrimp, or in other words, people of ST 10 or 11.

As for the cold war, it quietly faded away as temporal power transferred to the magically empowered athletes of the world. Indeed, the current era is one of international peace in part due to the fact that the magical ruling class feels as though it is one international body with friendly internal rivalries. Rogue mages are dealt with harshly, but remain a common problem on a small scale.

[Astromancer]

KmThe TV show parallel. This Myth-like parallel is based on warped versions of popular TV shows. Which shows predominate depend on what is shown in that nation's TV screens. Steal freely from the old Pyramid article "Situation Comedy!

Lucy lives on this parallel, but she's a serial killer with brutal Probability Alteration powers, i.e. Death by Slapstick. Captain Kirk is still a good guy, but he's less competent than Zap Branagan.

Britain has the Doctor, but he's the victim of a multiple personality disorder. Note: some of the personalities are insane. Steed and Peal exist too. They are very competent and deeply evil.

Take the shows you love. Trash them brutally. Then toss the mess at the PCs.