CCTV surveillance - effects on non-mortal PCs

[Arcteryx]

Any ideas or commentary on how CCTV's would work on

a) creatures of the nevernever
b) vamps (any court)
c) wizards (besides those hexing them on purposely)
d) fae
e) fairies like Toots
f) non-fay / not-mortal beasties - werewolves, ghouls

Running a game in London where things are under surveillance and I wondered what kind of effect that would have!

[MijRai]

The images would show up. They may be staticy from interference, and anything with the proper mojo can hex, but they'd still be there. The wizards would accidentally hex most, which is a good thing in this case.

[finnmckool]

The video footage of the loup garou is watchable, but hard to see...very fuzzy, glitchy and grainy. But it works.

[Lanir]

Easiest way to handle it is to make it carry about as much weight as a reasonably respectable member of the community suddenly claiming to see vampires and werewolves. Like the mayor or police chief for example. Basically that translates to making it just fuzzy enough that if people want to believe, they can. But it's absolutely not a smoking gun. Can't be.

One interesting side effect of this will be "gremlins" living in certain supernaturally active areas, at least as far as the people who maintain the camera system are concerned.

[Arcteryx]

Lanir, I do like that approach to it - seeing it is one thing, reporting it is another...

[blankshield]

Also, it's just a camera, so it won't see through human guise.  So for the most part, it won't catch anything out of the ordinary, unless there happens to be a fight in front of one... at which point it will likely get hexed into oblivion.


James

[arsieiuni]

Hmm... Well I just worked out a storyline for my game's first major plot that involves supernatural areas of darkness all over the city and people disappearing into them.
The way the PCs are to find out about this happening involves one girl disappearing into a "dark-spot" as she is walking down a sidewalk next to a bank which catches her disappearance on CCTV... So I was assuming that it would work even though normally, something like that would indeed hex electronics.

Then again, if I had "dark-spots" all over the city hexing electronics, that would change the tone of the happenings as the mundanes would be more interested and it would seem less spooky.

So while what's been said so far is a good rule of thumb, I try to remember my friend Danny's approach to RPing when it comes to high story games like Fate-based DFRPG...
"If it looks good for the movie..." go with it.
This works best on things like these where it's a gray area, as opposed to breaking the maxims of the verse which I try not to ever do...
And I know 'Science fails' is a maxim, which is why I say...
But CCTV has captured supernatural juju in the books... So fair game imo to do the same.
Just like everyone said, make it sketchy.

In mine, no one will be able to tell what happens. The girl just walks into a dark area (maybe some glitchy/static noise) and is...gone. She doesn't come out the other side. Period.
So it still fits the maxim and it fits what I need... and it looks good for the movie.

Good luck!

[Belial666]

a) Most creatures of the NeverNever don't have an actual body. They use ectoplasm to make something that looks and feels solid - but isn't - or are fully incorporeal spirits. Anything fully incorporeal would not show in a camera at all. Anything that makes a body out of excoplasm might show in a camera - but whether its guise works or it looks like a walking mass of goo is up to you.


b) Most vamps have human guises and flesh masks. They'd look fully human. The Black Court is both fully supernatural and even one of them is 2/3 as metaphysically strong as the Loup Garou. Having 3-4 of them walking together? The cameras would hardly work at all.

c) Hexing delicate electronics (which cameras are) is a 2 on the hexing scale. Even if a wizard does not deliberately hex, throwing a 6-shift spell in the same zone would totally fry the cameras. If you have a great sorceress or senior council wizard around throwing 15-shift spells...
Also, remember that surveillance systems store their info electronically or magnetically as well. Maybe a wizard's presence would only degrade the camera's function instead of burning in as the wizard walks in but in an already stored image, the degradation from magic would be additive; half an hour with a wizard in the building might well erase the cassette/disk/hard drive.

d) Most fae can look human. Even some Ogres can do it.

[finnmckool]

Depends on what the "dark spots" are. They may not be close enough, or "strong" enough to effect the cameras. The cameras may be outside of their "event horizon"

[Lanir]

Anything that makes a body out of excoplasm might show in a camera - but whether its guise works or it looks like a walking mass of goo is up to you.

Don't think that's ever hinted at. Every example I can recall about something growing using ectoplasm has the stuff being fully real and a part of it's body until it dies or gets banished. Ectoplasm is pretty much treated the same way as cells and blood are, it just comes from the Nevernever. It's just a building material that wraps around spirit the way flesh wraps around bone. It isn't any more or less real than flesh, it just requires a spirit to anchor it to our world, otherwise it turns to slime and evaporates away.

[babel2uk]

Running a game in London where things are under surveillance and I wondered what kind of effect that would have!

Maybe they all show up normally, and there are people paid to get rid of such footage. The questions then arise as to what exactly they are paid, and who by....

[Arcteryx]

I've noted it as a point to bring up to the players to see how they want it handled; our group has picked London and it has one of the most extensive CCTV networks on the planet, so to not address it would be careless. I'll bring up some of the points raised here and see what they dream up themselves...

[Becq]

I'd say that although some of the pictures might be, for example, hexed to the point of uselessness, many others will be clear enough to see what is going on.  However, there will always be just enough static and/or interference to lend credence to the skeptics who claim it's just a hoax.  I.e., the argument would be that:

1) Obviously supernatural stuff doesn't exist, so it clearly must be a hoax. 
2) See that static over here?  Wait a moment.  Right ... THERE!  See?  That's caused by the editing software...

[babel2uk]

Actually, thinking about it, given the quality of the CCTV footage that is trotted out whenever they are trying to track down criminals, I suspect that supernatural creatures could do a song and dance routine in front of a camera and still be interpreted as just a student prank...

And now I have a mental image of a Loup Garou in a straw boater and a walking cane singing "Hello my baby, hello my darling, hello my rag-time gal!"

[knnn]

I've noted it as a point to bring up to the players to see how they want it handled; our group has picked London and it has one of the most extensive CCTV networks on the planet, so to not address it would be careless. I'll bring up some of the points raised here and see what they dream up themselves...

A techno investigator might even be able to track bad guys by finding out which cameras got hexed the night before...