Real-Life Weirdness

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by johndallman

They're trying hard to send the signal!

You can't stop the signal.

[cptbutton]

Never mind arguing about the Pilgrims versus the Native Americans, the true victims are retaliating:

‘He kind of amps them up’: ‘Kevin’ the ringleader as turkeys terrorize Massachusetts town

It’s the time of year when millions of turkeys across the US might justifiably fear for their safety, but in one Massachusetts town the birds have turned the tables, ganging up to “terrorize” residents with pecks, kicks and loud clucking

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[Dr. Beckenstein]

What should be done when during an earthquake the cages in the zoo brake open, and the animals run away?

The Osaka Zoo run an emergency drill for such an event. With a guy in a lion suit.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles...0m/0na/034000c

[ericthered]

Dog Shoots Man

Turns out this is not just a freak accident, its a freak accident that happens fairly often. The hunter puts his gun down to investigate where the dog is pointing (its nose because it smells game), and then the dog steps on the gun and pulls the trigger.

My dad mentioned this when giving a gun safety lecture to my younger cousins while shooting over the holiday. I thought of this thread, looked it up, and found it had happened again just two days ago.

So if you get the opportunity to use this...

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Dog Shoots Man

*Varyon successfully avoids making an ATF joke*
I think this would be preventable with the second rule of gun safety (generally shortened to "Never point your weapon at anything you do no wish to destroy," but it's about always keeping track of what your weapon is pointing at, and avoiding it ever being pointed at something you don't want to shoot). Granted, I've always assumed that was talking more about a weapon you are holding in your hands - a weapon that's laying the bed of a truck (as in this case) or on the ground (in the general case of the hunting accidents you mentioned) would seem like it wouldn't be at risk of just randomly going off, but we see here that such an assumption can have tragic consequences.

In GURPS, this is arguably a great place for Standard Operating Procedure: Always Follows Gun Safety Rules (a Perk)... although most GM's aren't as cruel as Real Life, so your dog accidentally killing you in such a method generally isn't going to be a risk in a game (maybe if you have a Critical Failure on Animal Handling, and then roll an 18?). You could use this to throw investigator PC's a curveball, when they're investigating a mysterious death... or maybe the murderer claims this is what happened, and the PC's need to figure out the truth.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Varyon

I think this would be preventable with the second rule of gun safety (generally shortened to "Never point your weapon at anything you do no wish to destroy," but it's about always keeping track of what your weapon is pointing at, and avoiding it ever being pointed at something you don't want to shoot).

I always thought of that as our first rule of gun safety... and yeah, the story came up in a lecture about said rule.

You could use this to throw investigator PC's a curveball, when they're investigating a mysterious death... or maybe the murderer claims this is what happened, and the PC's need to figure out the truth.

Truth is stranger than fiction. those are some good ideas.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I always thought of that as our first rule of gun safety... and yeah, the story came up in a lecture about said rule.

It was the second in the list I happened to pull up (the first was to always treat any firearm as loaded), but it looks like there are multiple different lists that generally work out to the same general principles.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Truth is stranger than fiction. those are some good ideas.

Fiction needs to be believable; Truth has no such restrictions. There are also more fantastic options, like the dog actually being a shapeshifted assassin, a body snatcher that was controlling the victim then transferred to the dog and disposed of its previous host, someone working a Path of Chance ritual to cause the event, etc.

[dcarson]

Have it be someone important the dog killed. Then have An Indian official killed by monkey attack. Then a politician killed by a bull on his farm. PCs should start wondering about any animal they see and start investigating.

[cptbutton]

The Cattle Mutilators are back! A 40 year gap, does that mean the alien planet is 20 light years away?

About 40 cows and calves have been found dead near the town of Meeker, in north-west Colorado, in the past two months. Wolves were initially blamed for the deaths, but Colorado parks and wildlife (CPW) officials have since said that only five of the deceased cattle showed wolf-related injuries.

The investigation has since focused on whether the cows could have been infected with a deadly bacteria, but postmortems have revealed no evidence of that, either.

The saga is “perplexing”, Travis Black, CPW north-west region manager, told a parks commission in mid-November.

“We’re scratching our heads a little bit. We don’t know exactly what has occurred up there.”

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

The Cattle Mutilators are back! A 40 year gap, does that mean the alien planet is 20 light years away?

Honestly, if nothing else, the whole idea of "howling surveys" mentioned in the thread is potentially rather useful for a campaign. The PC's wind up going deeper into the woods, away from civilization, in an attempt to put distance between themselves and the local packs of wolves... not realizing one of those "packs" is actually a group of researchers trying to locate and assess the local wolf population. Or a group of amateur monster hunters hear a "wolf howl" that has some unmistakably human qualities to it and assume it's a werewolf, when it's really just a guy trying to do some research. Or someone with knowledge of wolves and the study thereof figures those not-quite-wolf howls are researchers and heads in that direction... only to indeed find a pack of werewolves, or some other wolf-like cryptid.