Real-Life Weirdness

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

I learned a new word from the Economist -- Marderbisse -- a kind of German car insurance vor damage by stone martens (a weasel-like critter). Apparently they like to chew wiring in cars and may have brought down the Large Hadron Collider briefly.

Yep. And as a minor unnecessarily fact: "Automarder" (car marten) is an old slang world for car thief.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

A drunken man, dressed as a bear, tried to drive a car across a pedestrian bridge in the German town of Heilbronn. The car got stuck.
When the cops arrived, the car was already abandoned, but witnesses told them about the "bear on the run".
At the home of the owner of the car, the cops only met his father, who tried to prevent them from leaving when they got a call - the bear had returned to the scene of crime.
With some friends, he tried to pry the car loose, but they only managed to rip off a bumper. After his arrest, his BAC was measured with 0.22 percent.

source (German):
https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/...ke-fahren.html

The source does not state if his father or his friends also were dressed as bears.

If you think Halloween is wild, you have not been over here for carnival.

So - how to use this?

It could be an encounter in a mundane cop campaign - just another day on the beat.

In Shadowrun (or the World of Darkness?), it would show that alcoholism among shape shifters is on the rise.

Other ideas?

[Flyndaran]

The assumption that the bad driver was a drunk person in a bear suit is wrong.
"They" merely framed a local drunk to cover up the fact that bears are learning to drive.

[William]

Thieves defile a famous Irish crypt, behead a well-known local mummy called "the Crusader" and make off with the head.

Authorities say there is no possible market for such a grim relic, so what could they have wanted? They weren't teenagers playing around: they brought crowbars and other tools.

This isn't the first attack at St. Michan's. Previously, a crew of teenagers got in to a less-protected spot, dragged a few corpses out to the yard and played football with the head of a little girl.

My take? If there's no commercial market, there's black magic running around. I'm not one for seeing witches around every corner but unholy sh*t, this just feels like someone's nabbing a centerpiece for some ridiculous candle-bestrewn pseudo-gothic rite. Pointless or real as your game prefers.

-----

In non-fantasy readings, personally I'm more peeved about another vandalization during the attack: the mathematician William Rowan Hamilton is buried there too, and his family crypt was also broken in to. If you've ever heard of the Hamiltonian in physics (energy states of systems) or a Hamiltonian cycle in graph theory, that's him. I don't know this Crusader fellow, but W. R. Hamilton did some good stuff for science and it's a shame that his crypt had to suffer this indignity.

[Flyndaran]

For those who want to hear a tune about the mathematician, they can check out Science Acapella's rendition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZXHoWwBcDc

The crusader could have been a distraction to cover up their real target. Perhaps for math-musical magic.

I don't see why it couldn't be some scummy teens. Crowbars aren't hard to acquire, though I don't know what other "tools" were required.
Yeah, I despise vandals as well.

[LokRobster]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

...I don't see why it couldn't be some scummy teens. Crowbars aren't hard to acquire, though I don't know what other "tools" were required.
Yeah, I despise vandals as well.

Agreed completely. Anyone who thinks teenagers can't think to use crowbars or advanced entering and breaking tools either was a very dull child or forgot what you dream up (and act on, with the wrong influences) when you're 15.

It does seem like a weird theft that points toward sinister forces. I just read 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward', and we know what HE would be using the skull for...

[Flyndaran]

Just last week I read a large collection of Lovecraft. I felt that one had some odd Deus ex machinas for his work.
If I remember correctly as they all now blur together a bit, resurrections worked best if as much of the body was used as possible to produce the "essential saltes".
There was quite a lot of grave robbing in Lovecraft's stories. That's for sure.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Hey, let's change the sound of our burglar alarm from an annoying beep to children singing a nursery rhyme and turn to volume up so that burglars are really scared off.

What could go wrong?

When spiders are involved, anything.

https://boingboing.net/2018/09/17/sp...broken-si.html


This is probably the lamest cover-up of a supernatural threat ever.

So, X-Files or Scooby-Doo? The GM decides.

[Flyndaran]

This is a very long thread, so it's understandable you missed it. Post 1928. It was talked about a bit afterward.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

This is a very long thread, so it's understandable you missed it. Post 1928. It was talked about a bit afterward.

Indeed.

But it is still a good story. ;-)

Edit: And this is # 2,000!