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I just wanted to post this as food for thought.

I agree with many statements about looking up 'real world' mystery/magical sites, looking at tabloid papers for story hooks, ancient legends etc. for creatures. It just makes sense.

But I would also recommend looking at the other side of the coin. The Skeptical community.
Read some of the JREF forums. Look at their million dollar challenge blog of people claiming to have supernatural abilities and failing tests that they themselves (the psychics) write the protocols for.

Look at info on divining, fraud psychic detectives, etc. Get some ideals for scam/con artist NPCs. Figure out what the characters' bosses feel on the subject. use it to bring even more depth (and in some cases despair) to the game.

Read up on divining/ghost hunting/parapsychology from the skeptical/scientific side. Great stuff, not only for those nega-psychics out there, but also to form a good solid basis for any NPC who doesn't believe. He can have an arsenal of 'evidence', tests, etc. backing his belief against the PCs' belief in the supernatural for play in a logical way, not a GM "ok, he just doesn't believe after seeing 100 UFOs because he doesn't believe". Give him the tools to not believe.

There are a lot of tools out there to bring mood and atmosphere to a BTS-2 game. It doesn't all have to be psychic ghosts from Atlantis chasers.

I just love personally the idea of players believing the big bad is a supernatural thing when it is really just a serial killer or such. And then turning the next adventure into the opposite (they think it's a serial killer, but it's a magic cult, or beast that only kills in a certain method).

And to me (to each their own), just doing everything as all psychic-supernatural stuff is true, sooner or later becomes less 'horror' and more supernatural = mundane.

This in my game is known as "The Scooby Syndrome" and I LOVE doing this

And yes, it does add some great debunking potential, but my players arent really into the debunking attitude so it left me to bring an NPC to do so and that get old if I'm the one doing it so its kinda died down...

BUT... a great twist to this idea is to have an NPC that thinks EVERYTHING is a supernatural event. The creak in the floor when someone walked on it... GOTTA BE A GHOST! That cold spot... ITS A GHOST, even though everyone else was able to point out that it was the A/C kicking in.

Dont get me started on the the fun I had with the neighborhood kids trying to pull a prank of a monster in the hood. Fake prints, claw marks on the walls, etc. This NPC went BANANAS over it and the players couldnt talk her out if it. Try this some day.

ZorValachan wrote:I just love personally the idea of players believing the big bad is a supernatural thing when it is really just a serial killer or such.

That actually turned out to be the case more often than not.
Although it was usually an arcanist on a power trip.

Lou wrote:

Try this some day.

I think I will try that.

Lord Z wrote:Lou wrote:

Try this some day.

I think I will try that.

Your gonna love it.