Strange Research - GMing can lead to weird places sometimes

[Weldun]

As a part of my current Champions campaign, I've populated the city (and world) with genetically altered animals. Most are anthropomorphic and are in an economically depressed situation due to the tenuous legal standing that they have. What can I say except that I grew up reading Eastman and Laird, okay?

 

But one of my PCs is a bouncer at a strip club. This strikes me as a fun story point (although as it's not a DNPC, they're not likely to ever be in any real danger) and I decided to populate it a bit. That's where the strange research comes in. I have found myself, in the interests of painting coherent image for my game, searching for images of furry strippers and waitresses. Let me just say that again. I have found myself searching for images of furry strippers and waitresses, for my Champions game.

 

I'm not complaining, you understand, but I had that moment of "I'm really doing this." So, what strange research have some of you found yourselves doing as a result of GMing or playing in a Champions game?

[Lucius]

 

While working out specifics for the vampires in my Fantasy Hero game I researched a variety of bloodsucking creatures. Would you believe there is a moth that feeds on human blood?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says a mosquito starred in an animated cartoon in 1912

[massey]

As a part of my current Champions campaign, I've populated the city (and world) with genetically altered animals. Most are anthropomorphic and are in an economically depressed situation due to the tenuous legal standing that they have. What can I say except that I grew up reading Eastman and Laird, okay?

 

But one of my PCs is a bouncer at a strip club. This strikes me as a fun story point (although as it's not a DNPC, they're not likely to ever be in any real danger) and I decided to populate it a bit. That's where the strange research comes in. I have found myself, in the interests of painting coherent image for my game, searching for images of furry strippers and waitresses. Let me just say that again. I have found myself searching for images of furry strippers and waitresses, for my Champions game.

 

I'm not complaining, you understand, but I had that moment of "I'm really doing this." So, what strange research have some of you found yourselves doing as a result of GMing or playing in a Champions game?

 

 

Riiiiiight.  That's why you're looking that up.  For your game.

 

[Weldun]

Riiiiiight.  That's why you're looking that up.  For your game.

 

 

Honestly, I was. I'm not going to claim that I didn't already have an idea of WHERE to search, though.

[BoloOfEarth]

I've often wondered if I'm on some federal watch list based on internet searches I've done for Champions adventures.  Quick examples:  nuclear weapons, missiles, plus the various Google Maps views I've done of prisons, military installations, etc.

[Weldun]

I've often wondered if I'm on some federal watch list based on internet searches I've done for Champions adventures.  Quick examples:  nuclear weapons, missiles, plus the various Google Maps views I've done of prisons, military installations, etc.

Oh, my. I've looked at google maps of the Umatilla Chemical Disposal Facility, searched online for maps of various military bases, their ready statuses and even for photos of various buildings and interiors. All for my Fallout: Washington game.

[Narf the Mouse]

Strangest? ...Probably the effects of real-world poisons. The most? Medieval arms and armour information.

 

...Yeah, anyone who runs and/or designs RPGs is probably on a watchlist.

 

Also, if you smell anything that smells like almonds, and it's not an almond, don't eat it. Almonds are the only organic thing that smells like almonds that's not poisonous to humans.

[DShomshak]

Well, in the course of my magic-intensive Champions campaigns I've incidentally learned more about RL occult traditions than any sane person should.

 

Working out my "Fantasy Europa" alternate-history FH campaign led to research on early artillery (including the disputed "Gunpowder Empires" hypothesis) and late Medieval/early Renaissance trade in spices.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Nothere]

FBI agent "So let me get this strait. You've been looking up Syria, Nazis, and maps of American military bases because you want to run a roleplaying game where a Nazi sorceer tries to raise a muslim vampire that's being stored in a military base by a sinister masked man who is really a general?"

 

You "yes"

 

FBI agent "Stop lying."

[Nolgroth]

FBI agent "So let me get this strait. You've been looking up Syria, Nazis, and maps of American military bases because you want to run a roleplaying game where a Nazi sorceer tries to raise a muslim vampire that's being stored in a military base by a sinister masked man who is really a general?"

 

You "yes"

 

FBI agent "Stop lying."

 

You forgot the *smack* before the 'stop lying.'

[Nolgroth]

I've been doing research into Mezolithic and Neolithic industries for a game I am quite sure will never happen. Turns out Cavemen aren't so easy a modern man can do it.

[Christopher R Taylor]

As an author I've researched some truly dark and strange stuff that would make someone nervous to check out on my system.  what kind of poisons you can make from household equipment, rank titles for SS officers, how long you can survive cold, all kinds of things. 

[Badger]

As a part of my current Champions campaign, I've populated the city (and world) with genetically altered animals. Most are anthropomorphic and are in an economically depressed situation due to the tenuous legal standing that they have. What can I say except that I grew up reading Eastman and Laird, okay?

 

But one of my PCs is a bouncer at a strip club. This strikes me as a fun story point (although as it's not a DNPC, they're not likely to ever be in any real danger) and I decided to populate it a bit. That's where the strange research comes in. I have found myself, in the interests of painting coherent image for my game, searching for images of furry strippers and waitresses. Let me just say that again. I have found myself searching for images of furry strippers and waitresses, for my Champions game.

 

I'm not complaining, you understand, but I had that moment of "I'm really doing this." So, what strange research have some of you found yourselves doing as a result of GMing or playing in a Champions game?

 

Ehh, maybe get a pic of Minerva Mink, and call it a day.

[Badger]

Strangest? ...Probably the effects of real-world poisons. The most? Medieval arms and armour information.

 

...Yeah, anyone who runs and/or designs RPGs is probably on a watchlist.

 

Also, if you smell anything that smells like almonds, and it's not an almond, don't eat it. Almonds are the only organic thing that smells like almonds that's not poisonous to humans.

 

I already knew that about almond smell, though I forgot from where.

 

Note: Incidentally my sense of smell is so poor, I have no idea what almonds really smell like  (and I am unlikely to, unless I have an impulse to see how many I can stick up a nostril.)

[Badger]

FBI agent "So let me get this strait. You've been looking up Syria, Nazis, and maps of American military bases because you want to run a roleplaying game where a Nazi sorceer tries to raise a muslim vampire that's being stored in a military base by a sinister masked man who is really a general?"

 

You "yes"

 

FBI agent "Stop lying."

 

Nah, go with the "Death Note" theory as in, "that story is so crazy, it has to be true".  AKA "who could make something like that up"  (hint: wacky GMs, that's who)

[Badger]

For myself: I cant think of anything specific offhand, but I have thought to myself while searching "I hope the FBI isn't paying close attention, right now".

[IndianaJoe3]

I'm not complaining, you understand, but I had that moment of "I'm really doing this." So, what strange research have some of you found yourselves doing as a result of GMing or playing in a Champions game?

 

I've used if for cool (and/or scientifically accurate) names for powers, like Enhanced Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase.

[Tasha]

Strangest? ...Probably the effects of real-world poisons. The most? Medieval arms and armour information.

 

...Yeah, anyone who runs and/or designs RPGs is probably on a watchlist.

 

Also, if you smell anything that smells like almonds, and it's not an almond, don't eat it. Almonds are the only organic thing that smells like almonds that's not poisonous to humans.

Actually Almonds are poisionous to humans esp uncooked and in large quantities. The upset stomach is from the poison.

[Narf the Mouse]

Actually Almonds are poisionous to humans esp uncooked and in large quantities. The upset stomach is from the poison.

...Huh. I guess it's just that we're a lot more tolerant of the almonds version.

[Tasha]

...Huh. I guess it's just that we're a lot more tolerant of the almonds version.

 

IT's not as concentrated as in other forms, but it's still there.

[Weldun]

...Huh. I guess it's just that we're a lot more tolerant of the almonds version.

Not all of us.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Everything is toxic in sufficient quantity, its just that the quantity required is often beyond the capacity of the human digestive system.  You can die from too much water.  You can die from too much pure oxygen.

[womble]

Everything is toxic in sufficient quantity, its just that the quantity required is often beyond the capacity of the human digestive system.  You can die from too much water.  You can die from too much pure oxygen.

It's not an invalid viewpoint to say that we're in an evolutionary/developmental war with plants where they "try" and stop us eating them by being toxic, and we evolve tolerance to their toxicity. Or gimp their evolution by selective breeding...

[Ninja-Bear]

It's not an invalid viewpoint to say that we're in an evolutionary/developmental war with plants where they "try" and stop us eating them by being toxic, and we evolve tolerance to their toxicity. Or gimp their evolution by selective breeding...

Yes it is. Life is too finely tuned to be a cause by random events.

[Alasdair]

Here are a few of the things I've researched for the 1950's alt-history setting I'm working on

• What can make guns misfire?
• History of women's suffrage
• History of the American Civil Rights Movement
• Do nuclear weapons work in space?
• Largest practical nuclear weapon
• Timelines of both world wars, broken down by month & year
• Who lost the American presidential elections 1920-1932
• The Laws of Thermodynamics
• Who was the Roman equivalent of Hecate?
• Aramaic, Sami, Yoruba, and Shawnee names
• Martial arts traditions of India