Kobold King Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 This is both a game and an intellectual exercise. This is for those of us who like speculative situations, well thought-through contingency plans, endeavoring to prevent the planet from being destroyed, and the occasional moral dilemma. Interested? Here's how I'm thinking this will work. One member will post a scenario. This scenario will hinge around a speculative element, either rooted in the realm of science fiction or from the realm of fantasy. The key is that the incident must be paranormal and potentially threatening towards society. Once the scenario has been established, other members will play the roles of the administrators of a global foundation dedicated to protecting the planet from the paranormal. They will accomplish this by... Investigating the scenario by asking the original poster questions; Determining what level of threat the scenario entails; And ultimately, by either taking action or allowing the situation to play out on its own. It will then be up to the person who devised the scenario to let the forum know whether their actions or lack thereof have saved or destroyed the world. Often nicknamed "The Worst That Could Happen Foundation" for their paranoia and detailed contingency plans, these administrators have access to military, scientific, and legal resources, with a global level of influence. With that said, their resources are not limitless, prohibiting them from nuking every paranormal event in sight or launching haunted objects into the sun. You can think of this either as a game or as an open forum for discussing hypothetical situations. I think this could be a lot of fun, simply as a way of flexing our creative and paranoid muscles. If there's any interest at all in this sort of game/mental exercise, I'll post an opening scenario for everyone to debate about. Once there's a group consensus about my straightforward situation (it'll probably be something simple that has to do with aliens), I'll pass the reins on to another member who wants to come up with a fiendishly world-threatening situation. Remember the key aspect of this game: you don't know everything about the scenario, and the worst thing that could happen probably will. So I'll reiterate... anyone interested? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 Sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipper Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I like this! And what's up with the pic change? It's like every single member of the Reckoners RPG but me changed their profile overnight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Joe in the Bush Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 I'm interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) Huzzah! People are interested! I like this! And what's up with the pic change? It's like every single member of the Reckoners RPG but me changed their profile overnight... I just thought having an evil green necromancer pony might not be conducive for a non-threatening, lovable public image. Steampunk Doctor Whooves is way better. Here's the first scenario: For a few hours, nobody knew--or particularly cared--what happened to the town of Snowey, Florida. The swamp town with less than three hundred people is hardly bustling, and when its dozen or so Facebook users failed to update one morning, few outsiders noticed. Even fewer noticed that power and telephones lines to the sleepy little town had been severed. Neighboring towns heard a series of booms and explosions from the direction of Snowey, but shrugged them off as fireworks. Contact was lost for seven hours before the Pictures surfaced on the world wide web. A short series of photographs, taken from a teenage resident's phone, depict the state of Snowey as it is now: in ruins. Most of the town has been torn apart, laid waste too as if blasted by missile strikes. That alone would be enough to send the images viral, but the last image in the series is the most shocking of all. The photograph is crisp and clear, unlike the images of desolation snapped before. It appears to be taken from the inside of a large barn, where around forty people of varying ages are huddled together on their knees--clearly hostages. The hostage takers themselves are the centerpiece of the growing Internet frenzy. They are elephants. They are unmistakable in the stark clarity of the photo. Four enormous elephants are seen in the image, dressed in what seems to be painted blue battle armor, stand guard over the hostages, wielding strange cylindrical weapons in their trunks. They appear to be threatening the holder of the camera with their weapons, forcing him to take the image. Most call these pictures a hoax. Most are not The Worst That Could Happen Foundation, with clear satellite imagery of at least thirty armored elephants systematically destroying what remains of the town and herding the citizens to the barn on the town's outskirts. It's up to you, as the administrators of this foundation, to determine why elephant stormtroopers have occupied a tiny Floridan town. Where have they come from? Why are they here? Why are they elephants? And above all else... what's the worst that could happen? Edited March 2, 2015 by Kobold King 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Gather every translator for the UN and send them in to try and learn their language so as to learn what their intentions are. If they can already speak a Earthly language well one of the translators should be able to speak it. ( I'm not going to assume that they speak English. ) Also have every elephant in zoos and circus' ready to be released back to the wild in case that is what they want. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipper Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 That would be a good idea, except that we don't know what the elephants' intentions are. They could just slaughter the translators. The WTCHF would lose major face and their problem-solving capability would be adversely affected. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Well what are we supposed to do then? Just attack them? We can't. If the translators die then so be it. But the alien elephants are taking hostages remember? That implies that they want something, if they want something then the only way to get it to them is to talk. Can't talk if neither party speaks the same language. Hence the translators. But if we are worried about saving face then I suggest sending in a robot that has the capabilities to act as a web-cam. Allowing us to communicate without the threat of people dying. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipper Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 That seems reasonable. Saving face should definitely be considered, unless WTCHF is insulated from politics. (Almighty Kobold?) Another possibility is sending in an elephant with a message attached. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 That seems reasonable. Saving face should definitely be considered, unless WTCHF is insulated from politics. (Almighty Kobold?) Another possibility is sending in an elephant with a message attached. Assume for now that the WTCHF is secret and unknown to the majority of the world's population. You answer only to a UN council, who are content to forgive a few casualties so long as you give them results. (Results, in this case, meaning that the world doesn't end.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Joe in the Bush Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Questions: What are their Demands? What is the specific species of Elephant? Can we identify the Hostages? Do any of them have any military training? How fast can we get Feet on the ground? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Questions: What are their Demands? What is the specific species of Elephant? Can we identify the Hostages? Do any of them have any military training? How fast can we get Feet on the ground? Good questions! You'll go far, kid. Their demands are unknown at this point; they will be revealed once a group consensus is reached on how to initiate contact with them. The leading suggestions seem to be either UN translators or a robot at the moment. I'm glad you asked. The stormtroopers do not directly correspond to a known species of elephant. They are larger than either African or Asian elephants, but their trunks are slimmer and more flexible. Their tusks are small and curved like "C"s, and their ears are small and kept flat to the sides of the head. Although hairless, their body proportions as a whole are more similar to some species of prehistoric mammoths than to modern elephants. You can recognize a few of the hostages, but none have military training. Only a few are identifiable. A few military veterans were present in the town, but as only forty of three hundred people are accounted for in the barn, their fates cannot be determined. National Guard units are already stationed in the surrounding area. They are already in position, should you choose a militarized assault of some kind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 How long would an airstrike take? Are we able to tap into any cellphones to listen in on any conversations? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Joe in the Bush Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Lets try to solve this without Hostage Casualties Smurf. Do you know the kind of heat that would be brought down on us if we simply killed the hostages? The real question here, is do we let the public know that these Elephants are real and not a hoax? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 How long would an airstrike take? Are we able to tap into any cellphones to listen in on any conversations? (I confess, I don't have much technical knowledge about either of these questions. We'll say that you can have an airstrike organized within an hour, and that you can tap the cell phones of the hostages. The elephants did not confiscate phones.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Joe in the Bush Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Why are we figuring out a way to communicate with them? Presumably, they can talk to the hostages, as they managed to direct the teenager to take the video. Call that teen's phone, tap all the others, and establish Communications. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Lets try to solve this without Hostage Casualties Smurf. Do you know the kind of heat that would be brought down on us if we simply killed the hostages? The real question here, is do we let the public know that these Elephants are real and not a hoax? Eh. If they didn't get taken hostage we wouldn't be in this mess. So realistically it's all their fault so if they die, it's all on them. Besides Kobold said that the UN was willing to forgive a couple of deaths. What's the point in an alien invasion if they can't relieve this planet of some humans. Why are we figuring out a way to communicate with them? Presumably, they can talk to the hostages, as they managed to direct the teenager to take the video. Call that teen's phone, tap all the others, and establish Communications. Well mister smarty pants why didn't you say this before, huh? Well can we do that then? Just listen to the phones for about a hour. Then ring them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindel Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Can I join? I vote we attempt to establish communication through a simple robot, remotely controlled, which records both audio and video. In the event that these elephants don't speak an Earthly language, we can run the audio through our systems and see if it's possible to begin translating. If they destroy the robot, I'd take that as an act of war, and we can initiate military action. When you say hairless, I assume you mean lacking the thick fur of prehistoric mammoths, but they still share the bristly hairs of African or Asian elephants? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Can I join? I vote we attempt to establish communication through a simple robot, remotely controlled, which records both audio and video. In the event that these elephants don't speak an Earthly language, we can run the audio through our systems and see if it's possible to begin translating. If they destroy the robot, I'd take that as an act of war, and we can initiate military action. When you say hairless, I assume you mean lacking the thick fur of prehistoric mammoths, but they still share the bristly hairs of African or Asian elephants? Of course you can join. The more the merrier. Good question; I did not make myself quite clear in that regard. I mean lacking the fur of the woolly mammoths of North America and Eurasia. They share the bristles that are common to all members of the elephant family. Should I call a vote? Those in favor of sending a remote probe vs those in favor of initiating contact via tapped cellphone? I'll cheat a little bit by telling you that achieving contact with the elephants is possible either way you choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipper Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Probe/robot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Joe in the Bush Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Cell phone. We shouldn't reveal we have advanced communications equipment until absolutely necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 I second mister smarty pants' suggestion. Though they are aware of cellphones we should try to limit what knowledge they have of our capabilities. Because as we all know, knowledge is power and I am unwilling to give another power for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 That's two votes for cellphones and one vote for probes, out of the four people apart from myself who have posted here. Unless a few more people vote on the side of probes, I think we'll go with the cellphone tapping. (Sound reasoning for it, by the way. Were I voting I'd vote for the cellphones too.) Either way: do you intend to initiate contact with a message? An introduction, perhaps? Or shall you merely let them know that you're listening and wait for them to send the first message? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mailliw73 Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Huzzah! People are interested! I just thought having an evil green necromancer pony might not be conducive for a non-threatening, lovable public image. Steampunk Doctor Whooves is way better. Here's the first scenario: For a few hours, nobody knew--or particularly cared--what happened to the town of Snowey, Florida. The swamp town with less than three hundred people is hardly bustling, and when its dozen or so Facebook users failed to update one morning, few outsiders noticed. Even fewer noticed that power and telephones lines to the sleepy little town had been severed. Neighboring towns heard a series of booms and explosions from the direction of Snowey, but shrugged them off as fireworks. Contact was lost for seven hours before the Pictures surfaced on the world wide web. A short series of photographs, taken from a teenage resident's phone, depict the state of Snowey as it is now: in ruins. Most of the town has been torn apart, laid waste too as if blasted by missile strikes. That alone would be enough to send the images viral, but the last image in the series is the most shocking of all. The photograph is crisp and clear, unlike the images of desolation snapped before. It appears to be taken from the inside of a large barn, where around forty people of varying ages are huddled together on their knees--clearly hostages. The hostage takers themselves are the centerpiece of the growing Internet frenzy. They are elephants. They are unmistakable in the stark clarity of the photo. Four enormous elephants are seen in the image, dressed in what seems to be painted blue battle armor, stand guard over the hostages, wielding strange cylindrical weapons in their trunks. They appear to be threatening the holder of the camera with their weapons, forcing him to take the image. Most call these pictures a hoax. Most are not The Worst That Could Happen Foundation, with clear satellite imagery of at least thirty armored elephants systematically destroying what remains of the town and herding the citizens to the barn on the town's outskirts. It's up to you, as the administrators of this foundation, to determine why elephant stormtroopers have occupied a tiny Floridan town. Where have they come from? Why are they here? Why are they elephants? And above all else... what's the worst that could happen? Can I assume you weren't kidding when you said this was Chimera on a rampage? My ideas will depend on the answer to that. For those of you not in the Reckoners RPG, Chimera is an Epic character of mine who can combine multiple animals into one creation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Can I assume you weren't kidding when you said this was Chimera on a rampage? My ideas will depend on the answer to that. For those of you not in the Reckoners RPG, Chimera is an Epic character of mine who can combine multiple animals into one creation. RAFO. (An Epic is not responsible, I'm afraid. However awesome of a plot twist that would be. ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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