A Little Problem...

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I've been noticing a little problem with the Lazlo Society Forums.

Certain posters (and I'll mention no names) stretch the suspension of belief to far.

The appeal of those forums is the semblance that they are real, which is what makes them such an ingenius GM's tool.

Yes, it is for a fictional game and a fictional setting, but the tool only really works when you keep it somewhat believable, somewhat real.

Anyone agree? Disagree?

~ Josh

[glitterboy2098]

yep. early on it was worse. some people kept bringing up BTS2 like it existed in the game world, as a thinly veiled copy of the lazlo society, other kept sticking stupid things into interesting discussions (look up the Men in Black or chupacabra posts), some people didn't think out the adventure idea's enough (like cuba invading florida with Vampires via refugee boats. )

referances to nightbane could have gotten out of hand, but the guy managed to make it work well.


the moderating over there needs a tad bit better rules than "it must be in character"

some of those threads should just be deleted, and their existance denied......

--------------------

i just went back and read through the forum. your not kidding. it seems most of the troublemakers from the start wised up and either got better or moved on, but a lot of the "noobs" have been getting a tad less beleivable.

for example, what kind of "secret goverment agency" would allow its members to post official warnings on a site like that? now, a member of the agency secretly posting info would work great, especially if they have to hide their actions form both sides.....

sigh, this is why i rarely post over there now. that and any idea i have tends to lead to a rifter article.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I've been there since the beginning and I kind of hope it would even itself out.

It has somewhat.

A good example is on one thread where a supposed Lazlo Agency member says that a house had a Fuel Air Explosive dropped on it by the miliary.

BIG PROBLEMS WITH THAT

1) First off, the term "Fuel Air Explosive" is a technical one that most don' use. The poster most likely heard it in the video game Mercenaries. In reality most refer to such ordinance as "The Oxygen Bomb."

2) Um....we would have heard about the gigantic explosion that one of these bombs makes on the news. Until the MOAB, the Oxygen Bomb is the closest conventional ordinances have come to simulating a damage capability anywhere near that of a Nuclear Bomb. It is altogether impossible to cover up an explosion of that size within the USA.
Yes, hypothetically they could say it was a gas depot blowing up or something similar...but that wasn't on the news either.

3) In BTS2 the military DOES NOT recognize the Supernatural to the extent (if at all) that they would authorize an oxygen bomb to be used...especially in a CIVILIAN AREA.

I'll continue posting and will even start discrediting these bafoons that stretch the suspension of belief.

But, come now people, quit it with these kind of posts on the LS forums.

~ Josh

[Tinker Dragoon]

It's also ordnance, not ordinance.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

1) First off, the term "Fuel Air Explosive" is a technical one that most don' use. The poster most likely heard it in the video game Mercenaries. In reality most refer to such ordinance as "The Oxygen Bomb."

I've never heard anyone use Oxygen Bomb instead of Fuel Air Explosive/Bomb. Where does that term come from?

I remember watching shows on military ordinance on Discovery or TLC and they called them Fuel Air Bombs, just like the movies and video games. Hmmmm, curious.

Every documentary I've seen on the subject used both the official term and the common term.

Many movies also used the common term.

Eitherway, that discrepency is not the big point here.

~ Josh

[Gallahan]

I agree with what is being pointed out. Yeah, people should make it more realistic. However, one statement about the impossibility of covering up a huge explosion in America... Hmmmm.... Well... This 'is' fiction and thriller material. I would personally believe that such a thing COULD be kept 'secret' or covered-up by the government...

The ABC show "Invasion" is based on the premise that 'strange things' are going on and subsequently covered up by government agencies AFTER a major hurricane sweeps through Florida.

Look at New Orleans and surrounding areas. ANYthing could have happened in that area. And we would not have known because the media coverage is stretched, at best. Further... Who owns the corporations that own the corporations that own the companies that own the major news networks? It sounds far fetched, but it is true. PEOPLE who know PEOPLE own ALL of our mass media news organizations. Would a story about a werewolf encounter really make it onto national broadcast? Not a chance. Yeah, that is crossing into the zone of "he's living in a fantasy world!', but the point is the same...

IF a huge explosion happened somewhere, it would almost be TOO easy for mass media to cover a contrived natural disaster in the area (like the wild fires in California right now) to 'cover' the real story. The main theme is to isolate the area, evacuate it. Earthquakes, fires, torandoes, hurricanes... etc.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people would scream about an explosion, but would not make it onto the mass media that is spoon-fed to the public at large. It's tough to delve into this area of discussion without being labeled a "conspiracy theorist," but that's exactly what's possibly going on. Think about the way people were shunned in the 60s and 70s from reporting UFO sightings: experienced airline pilots were ridiculed by their bosses if they reported UFOs. They were excommunicated from their piers. They were laughed at and eventually did not get promoted. Thus, to report a UFO was to effectively stunt your career. Same here. To say these things puts you into the proverbial furnace of ridicule.

Who knows?

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

The explosion from a fuel air bomb/oxygen bomb especially in a higly populated area would not have been covered up.

They could, hypothetically, say that a gas station or something similar blew up...but that wasn't on the news either.

The Lazlo Society Forums are all about suspension of belief, in order for this magnificent GM tool to work it needs to seem somewhat real.

Otherwise, it just seems corny.

~ Josh