Forensic Parazoology
When I visited tahmthelame and engelhardtlm1 over the weekend, we watched three episodes of Supernatural in a row. Good times. The next morning, getting ready for church, woolgathering as usual, it occurred to me how much I'd like to try to identify paranormal phenomena myself. I started imagining something like a board game, where you pull a card and read about a situation and try to diagnose it. Something like CSI: Supernatural.
Well, I pretty much live by the words of Toni Morrison: If there's a book you want to read and it hasn't been written yet, you must write it yourself. Same goes for games, I guess. So tomorrow, Saturday, March 1, I'm going to host the first-ever round of CSI: Supernatural here on Livejournal, open to all.
Tomorrow I'll post a scenario. It might be in the form of a news article, I haven't decided. You'll turn up to investigate and try to figure out what happened, role-play/twenty-questions style, by talking to me, interviewing people who were involved, and doing research. When you think you know what's going on, you tell me what you plan to do to stop it, and I tell you if it worked.
If that sounds fun to you, read on for some guidelines.
I don't know how this is going to turn out, but here are some guidelines to describe how things should proceed and keep things orderly.
Time frame - I'll post the scenario Saturday at 1 p.m. EST, and answer questions periodically through the day as they roll in. The game lasts until incidents stop or everyone quits and goes home. Could be minutes or days. If I'm going to be unavailable for a few hours, I'll make a note of it.
Joining - When you first reply to the scenario post, I'll assume you've arrived in town. You're then free to investigate however you see fit.
Group work - I don't care if you work together or separately. If you decide to partner up, make sure you declare it so I know to treat you as a team. For this round, I won't be filtering posts, so everyone's information is common knowledge.
What to ask me directly - Things that are on the public record or easily observable. An example of the former would be, "Who is the county coroner?" An example of the latter would be, "What's the weather like?" I will tell the truth, but may not be complete.
What to find specific people to ask - Things that are classified or eyewitness accounts. An example of the former would be, "What was the estimated time of death?" An example of the latter would be, "Did you see anything weird last night?" Witnesses might or might not be telling the truth.
Research - You can Google on your own, but ask me for local records.
Allowable equipment - Anything you can carry and know how to use. Depending on what you're hunting, it might not work. I'll assume you have loads of stuff in your suitcase, but might ask you to declare what you have with you before embarking down a mine shaft, for example.
Super powers - I will assume you're not psychic, a medium, "sensitive", or anything beyond the range of basic human function.
Wikicheating - There are probably more fun ways to solve this than reading every paranormal article on Wikipedia, but I can't stop you, and I'd never want to go into something like this without Google.
Authority - By playing you agree to let me be the judge of what works and what doesn't. If you don't like the rulings, I can be swayed by credible sources. There will be a single correct solution, but may be several ways to resolve it.
Solution - If nobody solves it, the mystery stays a mystery, and anyone stumbling across the scenario in the future can take a swing at it.
Any questions before tomorrow?
Well, I pretty much live by the words of Toni Morrison: If there's a book you want to read and it hasn't been written yet, you must write it yourself. Same goes for games, I guess. So tomorrow, Saturday, March 1, I'm going to host the first-ever round of CSI: Supernatural here on Livejournal, open to all.
Tomorrow I'll post a scenario. It might be in the form of a news article, I haven't decided. You'll turn up to investigate and try to figure out what happened, role-play/twenty-questions style, by talking to me, interviewing people who were involved, and doing research. When you think you know what's going on, you tell me what you plan to do to stop it, and I tell you if it worked.
If that sounds fun to you, read on for some guidelines.
I don't know how this is going to turn out, but here are some guidelines to describe how things should proceed and keep things orderly.
Time frame - I'll post the scenario Saturday at 1 p.m. EST, and answer questions periodically through the day as they roll in. The game lasts until incidents stop or everyone quits and goes home. Could be minutes or days. If I'm going to be unavailable for a few hours, I'll make a note of it.
Joining - When you first reply to the scenario post, I'll assume you've arrived in town. You're then free to investigate however you see fit.
Group work - I don't care if you work together or separately. If you decide to partner up, make sure you declare it so I know to treat you as a team. For this round, I won't be filtering posts, so everyone's information is common knowledge.
What to ask me directly - Things that are on the public record or easily observable. An example of the former would be, "Who is the county coroner?" An example of the latter would be, "What's the weather like?" I will tell the truth, but may not be complete.
What to find specific people to ask - Things that are classified or eyewitness accounts. An example of the former would be, "What was the estimated time of death?" An example of the latter would be, "Did you see anything weird last night?" Witnesses might or might not be telling the truth.
Research - You can Google on your own, but ask me for local records.
Allowable equipment - Anything you can carry and know how to use. Depending on what you're hunting, it might not work. I'll assume you have loads of stuff in your suitcase, but might ask you to declare what you have with you before embarking down a mine shaft, for example.
Super powers - I will assume you're not psychic, a medium, "sensitive", or anything beyond the range of basic human function.
Wikicheating - There are probably more fun ways to solve this than reading every paranormal article on Wikipedia, but I can't stop you, and I'd never want to go into something like this without Google.
Authority - By playing you agree to let me be the judge of what works and what doesn't. If you don't like the rulings, I can be swayed by credible sources. There will be a single correct solution, but may be several ways to resolve it.
Solution - If nobody solves it, the mystery stays a mystery, and anyone stumbling across the scenario in the future can take a swing at it.
Any questions before tomorrow?