WWYCD- April Fools are everywhere

[Hermit]

Your character returns to his/her home city on April first, only to find everything is very, very off. Despite knowing the date, it would appear that increasingly large segments of the city's population are becoming gullible on a staggering scale! They seem to consider the most outlandish claims as perfectly likely, and then act on this 'new knowledge'. One would hope that at least if enough people were gullible, that it would even out but one mustn't forget that websites, TV stations, and radio personalities are bombarding people non stop with their infotainment.

 

Con artists will soon be making more money than ever.

 

Hate mongers might just convince folks that '_______' are really the cause of all the problems today.

 

Reporters are taking everything at face value and about to spread whatever anyone tells them like a virus.

 

 

Those with mental awareness notice some sort of psychic energy flowing through the city, and spreading from one person to the next if they interact, whether there is a physical cause to this is unknown, but there doesn't seem to be. Mystics sense something magical about all this. This method of spreading is making it tricky to find the original source, but good deductive skills and a bit of math might help find the likely starting point.

 

Said starting point leads to a chapter of the Flat Earth society which is no protected by a group of tough guy villains who claim they were told not to let ANYBODY in...an they seem resistant to new suggestions.

 

Once those are defeated or bypassed, the heroes discover a device the like of which they've never seen before. It's all copper tubes and crystal orbs. Breaking it, or dismantling it when you don't know what you're doing could be very chancy.

 

 

 

In addition to all this, the PCs must resist the urge to muck with the NPCs that have formerly been such a pain to them.

 

"Heh. I'm gonna tell that news publisher that hates me that I'm getting the Nobel Peace prize..."

 

 

Of course, that would be wrong.

 

What would your character do?

[hfergus]

Re: WWYCD- April Fools are everywhere

 

Volt would do the best he could to find out what gives and fix it. He'd go to a detective, mentalist or mystic for help. He would not take advantage of the situation. He'd use the gullability to prod people back to the truth.

 

Olorin is a mystic and would proceed to trace things down that way. Eventually, he could fix it. He'd also be very tempted to cast a spell on the Flat Earthers that would make them see everything as two-dimensional. But he'd refrain. Barely.

 

Black Tiger is an investigator and would try to fix things that way. His first thought would be that it figures and that a government comspiracy is behind it. He'd be very tempted to use it to find out about his own past. ... But that would requiring knowing where to apply the effect. And that would require knowing more about his past. He'd try though, but only there.

 

Leadman "Aw &%^#!" Another investigator. He'd probably do a few trully harmless things that would not benefit himself.

 

Futurian - Whoaaa! The April 1 virus is loose." He's kidding. However, some would take him as serious since he's from the future. "Aw man, I'm just kidding. No, I'm serious now. No, listen. Ok then. It's aliens! It's a dimensional attack! It's magic! It's the end of the world! I'ts the beginning of heaven on earth! Now chew on that while I try to fix this." Even though he's kind of a joker, he'd take this seriously. Maybe because he's a joker. This is entirely too easy and not fun anymore.

[Vulcan]

Re: WWYCD- April Fools are everywhere

 

Wait... NPCs will believe what they are told, however improbable?

 

Vigil is finally getting some straight answers out of some people in the government - specifically, the people running the rabidly antisuper branch of PRIMUS known as Watchdog.

 

(Okay, I suppose that's horribly campaign specific...)

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD- April Fools are everywhere

 

Wait... NPCs will believe what they are told, however improbable?

 

Vigil is finally getting some straight answers out of some people in the government - specifically, the people running the rabidly antisuper branch of PRIMUS known as Watchdog.

 

(Okay, I suppose that's horribly campaign specific...)

 

Hey, roll with what you got, man

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD- April Fools are everywhere

 

Kaian: 'Good morning, Mr. Mayor. You're on TV in two minutes. Please come this way to the press room, the cameras are rolling, here's a copy of the speech you're going to give. I typed it all up for you.'

 

'Do I know you?'

 

'Your regular assistant had to go home today. I'm a temp.'

 

'Oh, all right. This way, you said?'

 

'Yes sir. And here's your speech. Remember, you're going live, so we have to get this done in one uninterrupted take and save the questions for after the end. That's vital. And on in 3... 2... 1... go!'

 

Mayor (into the camera): 'People of Campaign City, this is the mayor. Due to the ongoing civic emergency, the following measures are required. All places of business save the police, emergency services, hospitals, public utilities, and other essential activities are hereby closed for the duration. All permits for public gatherings and demonstrations are hereby cancelled. A curfew is in effect and all citizens are requested to return home immediately and stay there unless required for the aforementioned essential public activities.

 

Also, due to an outbreak of pranking and hacking against the public news networks, the public is reminded that any news seen on any news outlet other than the Emergency Broadcasting System is to be ignored. So it is vitally important that you leave your TV or radio tuned to this emergency public services channel and not watch or read any other channels, newspapers, or websites until the all-clear is given.

 

Also, the disturbing spread of dangerous public rumors is becoming a health hazard, and for the sake of your own safety, you are strongly advised to not do anything in response to any rumor that requires risk, spending money, giving away possessions, or otherwise leaving important or valuable things unattended.

 

I will now turn you over to my assistant Kaian, who will give more detailed instructions on how to manage this public safety and health crisis. Everything he says is true and should be believed even if it contradicts something else you've heard or might hear.

 

Thank you and stay tuned for further developments." *click*

 

Kaian: "... and so to keep this city from killing itself while the gullibility rays are on, I've had to turn it into goddamned Alpha Complex with myself guest-starring as Friend Computer. I find this villain I am so putting his gonads in a sausage grinder."

[Pizza Man]

Re: WWYCD- April Fools are everywhere

 

Black Falcon and Shade would try to get to the bottom of this.

Psidestep would take the day off and have the vacation of his life! Unless his team mates were there to brow beat him into doing his duty.