[UA] Thomas Jefferson as Clinton proxy?

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

--- Greg Stolze <holycrow at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >     I'd say that the really excessive and
> unnecessary
> >shit that BJC was put through would have had some
> >cliomantic causes in a UA world, which argues very
> >well against this sort of protection... also, the
> >practice would have huge segments of the population
> >rendered magically untouchable because they were
> named
> >after their dead uncle or aunt or grandparent or
> >whatever, with the blood relation and potential
> family
> >resemblence finishing the hermetic seal around the
> >mason jar of shit I don't think would work out....
> >that or every adept with half a brain would have
> their
> >named changed to match whatever relative they most
> >closely resemble.
> 
> See, to me, this incredible over-reaction just
> argues (to me) that all
> kinds of crazy shit happens in the real world
> WITHOUT magic, and that UA
> can play on this by confounding the expectations of
> people who think "there
> must be a SUPERNATURAL explanation!"  I mean, c'mon,
> I just heard on the
> news that the lawyer who was representing Robert
> Blake in the matter of his
> wife's mysterious gunshot death has died of an
> (apparently self-inflicted)
> gunshot wound, while congressman Condit has admitted
> to a "romantic"
> relationship with a mysteriously missing intern --
> though he's not at all a
> suspect...
> 

While that's true, it's kind of fun to spin out
conspiracy angles.  Sometimes it gives meaning where
otherwise it couldn't be grasped.

Here in the springs, for instance, our first female
SWAT officer just shot herself in the chest while
surrounded by a concerned crowd of her fellow
officers.  Moments before, she had been riding in a
car with the Chief of police, discussing "behavior
issues," when she bolted from the car, ran down the
street and hopped into a car where she committed
suicide.  Witnesses describe policemen emerging from
"everywhere,"  and it certainly does seem like they
expected some trouble.

That kind of thing has all the earmarks of a good
conspiracy.  It has some simple issues: women in law
enforcement or the military (around ultra-conservative
Colorado Springs, that's still a sore spot), police
overraction and the pressures of violent occupations. 
Add to it the fact that her boss was talking to her
about something which no one will discuss and the
enormous amount of police who were unable to stop the
suicide and you've got a nice, local reference to spin
a game off of.

Personally, I would be dissapointed if there wasn't
some kind of conspiracy behind an event like that in a
Game.  In real life, of course, it just sounds like
the kind of miscalculation that happens all the time
in counselling and crises situations.  Counsellors
often do very well, interventions work every now and
then, but sometimes they don't.

As a GM, I might have the chief of police reveal a
Terrible Secret to the unfortunate officer and bring
in the PCs as friends or others who are chasing down
the secret.  I might make it a tawdry affair or any
other simple hook.  Death is always terrible and I
don't mean to cheapen it, but it gets your attention. 
Historically, conspiracies (like the attempt to
assassinate Hitler) tend to fold in on themselves or
totally miss their target, but deep, broad, eerily
competent conspiracies add a spooky element to games
which makes their world seem more important, at the time.

=====
-- Rp Bowman, Royal Minister of Stuff
The Electronic Nation of Yokeltania:
http://www.geocities.com/yokeltania/

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