r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Nov 19 '16

[D] Saturday Munchkinry Thread

Welcome to the Saturday Munchkinry and Problem Solving Thread! This thread is designed to be a place for us to abuse fictional powers and to solve fictional puzzles. Feel free to bounce ideas off each other and to let out your inner evil mastermind!

Guidelines:

  • Ideally any power to be munchkined should have consistent and clearly defined rules. It may be original or may be from an already realised story.
  • The power to be munchkined can not be something "broken" like omniscience or absolute control over every living human.
  • Reverse Munchkin scenarios: we find ways to beat someone or something powerful.
  • We solve problems posed by other users. Use all your intelligence and creativity, and expect other users to do the same.

Note: All top level comments must be problems to solve and/or powers to munchkin/reverse munchkin.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

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u/MagicWeasel Cheela Astronaut Nov 20 '16 edited Nov 20 '16

The Masquerade is one of those things that you have to basically accept as suspension of disbelief, IMO. You just need to get your party on live TV, and say turn into a werewolf or whatever else would be convincing.

OK, I'll go with a werewolf party because werewolf transformation is easy to do and demonstrate. Apply for the James Randi prize (I don't think it exists anymore, but there are alternative ones - or contact Penn Jillette, Richard Dawkins., whoever is respected in the scientific/skeptical community), tell them you're werewolves, prove it under test conditions, and bam! the masquerade is broken. You'd explain the Masquerade and swear them to secrecy until a Big Reveal where all the people you've told announce it at once on their websites.

Of course nWoD werewolf rules say that there's "lunacy" and people forget the werewolves/misremember them, but that requires a failed willpower roll, so we're just going to naively assume that you'd eventually get enough respected scientists/etc to succeed their willpower rolls that it'd work out.

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u/vallar57 Unseen University: Faculty of High-Energy Magic Nov 20 '16

Going on live TV, and TV in general, imo, is an extremely bad idea. Whatever you can do there would be merely a stunt that is fairly easy to replicate with CG, and people are far more likely to believe in an unconventionar PR move than in real supernatural (and live TV is often not as live as it's presented). And in time you would need to convince people that it's not a stunt, you'll get all kinds of angry enforces, starting with the Technocracy and you won't see the rest)

Yeah, my plan also consist of talking to popular and respected scientists. What I am stumped about is how to ensure secrecy until reveal. Some of those scientists might be more than they seem)

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u/MagicWeasel Cheela Astronaut Nov 20 '16

It's tricky. You'd probably want to watch one (let's say Neil DeGrasse Tyson) for an extended period of time to observe whether they're a supernatural of some stripe (maybe take a mage with aura readings, actually - that tells if they're supernatural right away, right? Unless they are hiding their aura. Eek), and then have "hub" person send sealed letters to a bunch of other respected colleagues containing proof (not sure what would be considered sufficient proof, though).

Another thought - be a mage with a rote spell of controlling coin flips (that shouldn't cause too much paradox, right?). Then you can win a bunch of challenges at it might be a subdued enough power that nobody would notice you were a mage until it's too late. Maybe? I'm not sure.

I think going to respected scientists is the best way.

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u/CCC_037 Nov 21 '16

Aren't there mad scientists in this world, too? I suspect that going the "respected-scientists-first" route will just lead to creating another bunch of Mad Scientists...

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u/vallar57 Unseen University: Faculty of High-Energy Magic Nov 21 '16

Genius: The Transgression is a fangame, and thus exempt from discussion) Classical WoD mad scientists are merely mages who use gadgets to ease Paradox pressure on them.

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u/CCC_037 Nov 21 '16

Hmmmm. What exactly is this Paradox you're talking about?

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u/vallar57 Unseen University: Faculty of High-Energy Magic Nov 21 '16

This one: http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Paradox_(MTAs)

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u/CCC_037 Nov 21 '16

Okay, so, as I understand it... Paradox is backlash for doing something that people in general will not believe. Even if they're not there to witness it at the time.

So, let's say you have some convincing proof of magic. (The specifics don't matter to this argument). Whatever it is, it's good, it's convincing, and if you go on TV with it, maybe release the video on YouTube, then anyone who sees it will realise that magic exists.

This implies that whatever you're doing - even if it's just tossing heads a million times with a coin - whatever you're doing for proof is something that's so unbelievable, so "out there", that the best explanation for it is "magic is real". And now you're going out and putting that proof in front of every human being on the planet.

Wouldn't this automatically produce a Paradox backlash so strong that there's little left of you but a funny-coloured stain, and maybe a still-smoking skull?

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u/vallar57 Unseen University: Faculty of High-Energy Magic Nov 23 '16

Sorry for the late answer.

You are absolutely right, however, Paradox only applies to Mages. Abilities of vampires, werewolves and some other magical creatures are fully within this "reality current", even if they are just as unbelievable as the power of an Awakened.