Keeping The World In The Dark

[LostOne]

Nightbane, HU, BtS. In certain games (probably most for BtS and Nightbane): The general populace doesn't have a clue the supernatural is real, they go on with their lives thinking it's much like our real world. In the case of Nightbane, Dark Day was just a strange phenomena but it's been years and nothing ever came of it.

So, the question is, what rules or natural phenomena do you use in your games to help keep the supernatural from spilling over into the public view?

Is there some kind of agency or group that helps police these things? A mystic power that degrades memories and film of the uninitiated?

[dragonfett]

The MIB!

[Blindscout]

The MIBs and the strength of people's disbelief/ability to rationalize most things.

[Armorlord]

In BtS, the power of denial and self-delusion/rationalization.
In Nightbane, the same thing, plus the Nightlords' active disinformation, debunking, and outright repression.

[Cinos]

I'll comment on the one of those I play, being Nightbane;

And it is a multi-reason reply; first there is an agency, most of them run by Nightlords or their affiliates, or influenced by them in nations they have not yet been fully established. These agencies, including 'paranormal' research work to debunk these 'myths' using a psudo-science and pop culture influence. In addition, they make a subtle effort to demonize those who buy into the hype as crazies and loons. This breeds a culture of disbelief, which in turn runs its own propaganda against these events. The innate nature of magical beings and their inconsistency and habit of going against logical norms aids in reinforcing this (such as the difficulty to replicate what happened).

To further entrench this is psychology, and many therapists and by and large, the mental health occupation by and large helps reinforce the idea of a 'normal' world, where magic and demons and bugs crawling out of CSI Agents severed heads is nothing but mental hallucinations brought on by stress. To help this, medical manufactures, influenced and supported by Nightlord agencies (and government subsides) include ingredients that help suppress memories for subjects who have seen a bit too much. While in truth these medical aids could go a long way to help these people live normal lives who might not be able to deal with the truth of that world, it goes even further to create a culture of denial.

In cases where they feel they cannot rely on their other methods, targets are eliminated or replaced. Eliminations are as often as mundane as humanely possible to reinforce the idea that in the real world, this is what happens (breaking neck, staged suicide, suffocation on vomit, etc).

[CyCo]

You could go down the route in the John Carpenter movie, They Live. I don't want to spoil the fun for you if you haven't seen it, just track it down and give it a watch.

Fun Fact:
The fight sequence was 'ab lib', in the script it went for 7 pages, just saying 'they fight'.

8p

[LostOne]

I'm trying to remember what book or movie it was from, but I remember a series that had a "mist" or "veil" that was a magical blanket on the world that erased the uninitiated's memories of supernatural events and their mind fills in a more mundane story to explain events.

A bit heavy handed and convenient, but it would work in a pinch.

I also had an idea that would motivate the supernatural world to police itself some: The metaphysics of the supernatural actually prevents pictures and film from holding the image of supernatural events. They are only on the film/footage as long as the person that was running the device remembers it. So if that person goes senile or dies, the image/footage is altered and any supernatural presence is erased. It gives a good reason why nosy reporters and photographers tend to end up dead and no evidence is left behind to explain why.

[Severus Snape]

Although I don't use anything specific (most normal people in my campaigns just seem to forget what's going on around them), I'd like to think that maybe something a little more subtle is in place.

"Put the damned glasses on!" sums up how I view it.

[The Dark Elf]

I have the entire population that isnt drunk at the time, have a history of taking too many drugs as kids as resulting in putting any paranormal observations down to flashbacks.

Oh or the perfectly good explanation reasoning thing.

[Shawn Merrow]

The main thing stopping people from talking will be the stigma of being seen as mentally ill. A person saying they saw a monster without a body will be seen by most as insane or trying to make a quick buck. Any person raising to much of a fuss could find themselves institutionalized for their own good or at least pumped full of anti-psychotics.

As for pictures or video with modern computers and software that is getting way to easy to fake so many people would still not believe it.

[cornholioprime]

The main thing stopping people from talking will be the stigma of being seen as mentally ill. A person saying they saw a monster without a body will be seen by most as insane or trying to make a quick buck. Any person raising to much of a fuss could find themselves institutionalized for their own good or at least pumped full of anti-psychotics.

As for pictures or video with modern computers and software that is getting way to easy to fake so many people would still not believe it.

"Whooooooa. GREAT 3-D effects!!"
-Last words of a slightly drunk citizen of the Island of Manhattan (later Madhaven) on December 22, 2098.....as a 300-foot-tall wave of deadly crackling magical energy races right towards him from a nearby newly-erupted Ley Line

[Shawn Merrow]

The main thing stopping people from talking will be the stigma of being seen as mentally ill. A person saying they saw a monster without a body will be seen by most as insane or trying to make a quick buck. Any person raising to much of a fuss could find themselves institutionalized for their own good or at least pumped full of anti-psychotics.

As for pictures or video with modern computers and software that is getting way to easy to fake so many people would still not believe it.

"Whooooooa. GREAT 3-D effects!!"
-Last words of a slightly drunk citizen of the Island of Manhattan (later Madhaven) on December 22, 2098.....as a 300-foot-tall wave of deadly crackling magical energy races right towards him from a nearby newly-erupted Ley Line

[mrloucifer]

I will try to sit down when I got time next to offer more details (I read this when I should have been studying for upcoming finals), but I can add a quick note of three.

-Pages 20-22 of the BTS 2nd edition book goes into all of this in great detail, both the cons AND the pros of the situation. I strongly encourage reading and reciting this portion when playing games that rely on the masses staying oblivious to the situation.

-The Nightbane side of things was already covered above, but the theme of BTS is that while its under constant threat of supernatural threats, they are solitary creatures or those who hunt in packs. The unique beings of the BTS world are not interested in amassing large numbers.
Furthermore, all BTS supernatural beings are creatures of darkness by nature and excel at hiding in shadows and out of the public eye. They would not be interested in causing some sort of scene that would even create an “MIB” situation in the 1st place.
Certainly cults and terrorists and others who’d use them in their evil plots may not care who see’s their minions/slaves, but once the populace hears that humans are behind the incident, they stop listening to anyone who even considers mentioning that the supernatural were involved. They will claim "cultists in monster suits, mass hallucinations, terrorists using chemical warfare tactics", and any other convenient excuse they can slap together on short notice.

-I recently finished watching “True Blood” season 2 (possible spoilers ahead, you’ve been warned). I’m short handing here, but basically the entire populace of the small Louisiana town was under the influence of this supernatural priestess like being. When her mind controlling ended, they entire town came up with lame ass excuses and stories of what they really think had happened to them. Some blamed Aliens, some blamed government experiments, and some even said the local vodka plant dumped pure ethanol in the water supply in error and so on. The interesting thing is that NONE of them even considered that it was supernatural involvement (which was the truth). It made for an interesting character study and served as a great example of what BTS characters deal with. They know the harsh truths of what happened, but no one else (not even those involved or directly affected by it) can truly grasp what happened, and wouldn’t believe it if they were told the truth.

Actually, the town drunk knew the truth of the whole affair and told several individuals… of course no one took the town drunk with a history of embellishing stories and over-cooking everything he says seriously.

-That’s all from the “character” point of view, but from the “player” point of view… if the world suddenly wised up to the truth, if would no longer be the same modern day supernatural horror game they enjoy playing. GM’s have a responsibility to keep the threat of supernatural monsters going strong, but the masses CANNOT know about them.
Well, back to my studies.

[CyCo]

Although I don't use anything specific (most normal people in my campaigns just seem to forget what's going on around them), I'd like to think that maybe something a little more subtle is in place.

"Put the damned glasses on!" sums up how I view it.

I see someone knows what I was talking about.


8]

[LostOne]

Thanks for the input all. I don't actually have Beyond the Supernatural which is probably why I'm trying to reinvent the wheel. I'll see if I can pick up a cheap used copy at a local store.

[Spinachcat]

In my Nightbane game, everybody knows.

They may not want to believe, they may never speak of it, they shun or even do hideous things to those who do speak the truth, but they know.

The general populace suffers terribly under denial (depression, insanity, crime, outbreaks of hysteria, etc), but denying reality is far easier than facing the truth. The world is gonna crack and the Nightlords are loving it!

[mrloucifer]

I don't actually have Beyond the Supernatural which is probably why I'm trying to reinvent the wheel. I'll see if I can pick up a cheap used copy at a local store.

I cant reccomend it enough, its absolutely worth buying new to be honest. So consider it if you dont find a used copy.