Author Topic: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)  (Read 70249 times)

Online Mira

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #210 on: January 04, 2019, 05:09:49 PM »
Lol, exactly.

   Maybe the White Council etc have a magic wand/light thingie like in Men in Black, vanilla humans
go mentally blank until repairs are made and the blood is cleaned up...

Offline 123Chikadee

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #211 on: January 04, 2019, 05:21:26 PM »
LOL, Now I need a scene where Morgan has to use it.

Online Mira

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #212 on: January 04, 2019, 08:21:45 PM »
LOL, Now I need a scene where Morgan has to use it.

   Yeah, he wears some cool reflecting aviator shades when he does it... 8)

Offline Bad Alias

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #213 on: January 04, 2019, 09:17:52 PM »
@Bad Alias
I got that data from reddit.

Actually none of them would have problems if they were smart.  Harry could walk the ways to some offshore banking facility and call it good.  Wealthy people do it all the time.  But it would take time and require a lot of legal expertise.  And penniless detectives who start moving large dollar amounts paying medical bills are going to draw attention.  While the IRS may not care where it came from  the FBI might ask here it came from and use forfeiture laws to take it away.

Yeah, IRS audits and civil asset forfeitures are his biggest concerns. (He may have to worry about Illinois and Chicago taxing authorities; I have no experience there and haven't googled it). He could launder the money fairly easily. I won't go into details unless anyone is interested. If I was a wizard, and the government seized my assets, I'd probably curse them (judges, agents, etc.) with something horrible and obviously done by magic. Then I'd offer to counter the curse for the amount seized. As we've seen in Jury Duty, some judges know the supernatural is real. Perhaps summon a supernatural being as a witness in court.

none of the take from the bank was going on the books, Anna was going to give them a routing to have them fenced "a little at a time"  which would have reduced the overall valuation, back after SG's first release there was a fairly exhaustive discussion on Harry's take.  If I remember correctly it was generally concluded to be between 5-10 million.  As far as Harry being able to use it, I'm sure some, like the Svartelves, would take it as currency with no problem, great for Harry's tools for his gadgets.

I remember a couple of those threads. One of my disagreements with many estimates is that they start off with retail instead of wholesale prices. On the point about the Svartelves, they probably aren't the best place to launder diamonds.
Quote
They ... had a reputation for rigid adherence ... to the law or at least to the letters it consisted of.
Chapter 36, Ghost Story
If you recall from Bombshells, they had done everything exactly to code and filed all there plans for their headquarters in Chicago. It's likely they keep meticulous records that could get Harry into trouble. Other supernatural markets might be better.

Hm, I know that ignoring uncomfortable things is something humans are good at and magic/monsters isn't the go-to answer for people, but if you saw say, the Incredible Hulk getting shot in a parking lot, that would cause more attention than the local gang bangers shooting each other.
What I'm trying to say is that sometimes something so big happens that people cannot ignore it or explain it away. And while all the supernatural community tries to keep things on the DL, no one can account for everything, stuff happens, and I think the Peace Talks is when stuff happens.
If I told you I saw the Incredible Hulk getting shot in a parking lot, what would you and the authorities say? I agree that at a certain point, most people would believe. I'm just not sure what that point is, and I don't think we've seen it on page yet. I don't know enough specifics for it to be a good analogy, but on October 13, 1917, a bunch of people saw the sun dance in the sky at Fatima, Portugal. There were 30 to 40K people there. I'm not sure how many reported not seeing anything vs how many reported something miraculous. The first point in the wikipedia article section "Criticism" on the event basically says "we know a miracle didn't happen because we know miracles don't happen, it was probably something else."

We don't even have to look at miraculous events for this. A great many people refuse to believe men have landed on the moon. Some believe the earth is flat. Many don't believe in the efficacy of vaccines. I'm not trying to argue for or against any of those positions. My point is that, whichever side you take on any of those issues, you probably believe the people on the other side are either blithering idiots or are willing to deny obvious facts when faced with them.

Offline peregrine

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #214 on: January 04, 2019, 10:06:59 PM »
   Maybe the White Council etc have a magic wand/light thingie like in Men in Black, vanilla humans
go mentally blank until repairs are made and the blood is cleaned up...
Something like that mind fog Harry ran into in, I want to say Summer Knight?  The thing that he very explicitly said was black magic?

Offline morriswalters

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #215 on: January 04, 2019, 10:36:28 PM »
This hide in plain site thing is probably at it's end.  When JB came up with it, cameras were fairly rare.  Now everybody has one.  And the internet was designed to be redundant.  Kill 3000 in Chicago in a magical firefight in broad daylight and YouTube will go down on overload.  It would also be a form of Black Magic if wizards killed civilians.  So maybe a bomb under the Navy Pier, maybe a gas attack at Burnham Harbor.  I wouldn't like it if JB dropped a high rise, however it would be possible to burn one or two.  All things which can be attributed to something other than magic, except for those in the know.

Offline Dina

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #216 on: January 05, 2019, 08:00:07 AM »
If I told you I saw the Incredible Hulk getting shot in a parking lot, what would you and the authorities say? I agree that at a certain point, most people would believe. I'm just not sure what that point is, and I don't think we've seen it on page yet. I don't know enough specifics for it to be a good analogy, but on October 13, 1917, a bunch of people saw the sun dance in the sky at Fatima, Portugal. There were 30 to 40K people there. I'm not sure how many reported not seeing anything vs how many reported something miraculous. The first point in the wikipedia article section "Criticism" on the event basically says "we know a miracle didn't happen because we know miracles don't happen, it was probably something else."

We don't even have to look at miraculous events for this. A great many people refuse to believe men have landed on the moon. Some believe the earth is flat. Many don't believe in the efficacy of vaccines. I'm not trying to argue for or against any of those positions. My point is that, whichever side you take on any of those issues, you probably believe the people on the other side are either blithering idiots or are willing to deny obvious facts when faced with them.

I agree, but the same argument says some people will believe it's magic. The masquerade made not completely fall but it will be weakened a lot (perhaps enough for paradox kicking, if you ever played the Mage: The ascension  :)).
Missing you, Md 

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. Someone has stolen a book (Terry Pratchett)

Offline 123Chikadee

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #217 on: January 05, 2019, 11:02:27 AM »
@Bad Alias. LOL, to be fair, it's probably the authorities who are shooting at Hulk, all things considered. I'm yeah those are good points, but I'm pretty sure the flat Earth and moon-landing hoax theorists are just not regarded well in general. The vaccine thing, well that can't be chalked up to too many people not knowing how modern medicine works. That Sun dancing thing sounds interesting, Imma have to check that out. :)
@Dina. Nope, never played, what's the paradox?

Online Mira

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #218 on: January 05, 2019, 05:42:53 PM »
Something like that mind fog Harry ran into in, I want to say Summer Knight?  The thing that he very explicitly said was black magic?

   Yeah, but some of that is in the eye of the beholder and gets fuzzy...  One one hand, yeah technically that is manipulating someone's mind against their will, black magic, breaking Laws, worthy of the chop,etc... On the other hand the White Council cannot go around exposing themselves and the dangers and temptations of the supernatural world to the vanilla human world.. So it is the exception to the rule kind of thing..

Offline Dina

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #219 on: January 05, 2019, 09:18:26 PM »
@Dina. Nope, never played, what's the paradox?
Un, it's comp!icated. The main idea is that reality has an inertía, it tries to keep being normal, so mages shouldn't alter it. That way, instead of throwing a lightning bolt to someone, you make the lighting come from a bulb and then you say "how terrible shortcircuit". If a mage fails to do the pretension and it's seen doing unexplained magic, he or she receives paradox points. If parados is toó big, the mage suffers a backlash from reality (with in-game consequences)
Missing you, Md 

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. Someone has stolen a book (Terry Pratchett)

Offline 123Chikadee

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #220 on: January 06, 2019, 12:16:29 AM »
Oh, that sounds interesting. :)

Offline Dina

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #221 on: January 06, 2019, 12:42:31 AM »
It was fun. I believe the system has changed though, I played the old system in the old World of Darkness universe, with Vampire: The masquerade, Mage: TA, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Changeling: The dreaming and several more. including Hunter: The Reckoning, which my friends and I called "Human: The boring"  :)
Missing you, Md 

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. Someone has stolen a book (Terry Pratchett)

Offline Bacail

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #222 on: January 06, 2019, 11:41:34 AM »
It was fun. I believe the system has changed though, I played the old system in the old World of Darkness universe, with Vampire: The masquerade, Mage: TA, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Changeling: The dreaming and several more. including Hunter: The Reckoning, which my friends and I called "Human: The boring"  :)

V:TM and Warewolf was my jam back in the day.  Many hours played in both worlds.  The d10 system they used was fantastic except when you botched, which sucked moose wang, diseased moose wang.

Offline 123Chikadee

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #223 on: January 06, 2019, 02:35:36 PM »
Oh, so it's a tabletop game? I've only ever played Unknown Armies once. That was a fun game. :) Is the World of Darkness series made by White Wolf, or have I mixed my games up?

Offline Dina

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Re: Christmas Eve from JB's Twitter (no news, just fun)
« Reply #224 on: January 06, 2019, 06:36:27 PM »
Oh sorry, yes, it's a tabletop game. And yes, WoD is by White Wolf. The books (at least the old ones) were so pretty...we still have them
Missing you, Md 

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. Someone has stolen a book (Terry Pratchett)