Psychic Cell Phone
Last night, your buddy was thinking about calling one of those crazy psychic hotlines, he was really depressed, his girlfriend dumped him, and he wanted some good news. You know they’re all a scam, they give you some advice that could apply to everyone and a large bill to boot. You told him to go for it.
But now he’s missing. All you have is his cell phone, and something is wrong with it. You found it in your toilet today. Yeah, your toilet. It’s got all his old numbers and a few you don’t recognize. You tried to call some, but all you got was a what sounded like a bunch of voices muttering at once. What the hell is going on here?
Now, this could be a typical missing person case. But how the hell did his phone get in your toilet? What’s with the garbled voices? Could be from being in the toilet… But you never know.
The Phone
An ordinary-looking cellular phone, the black plastic is slightly scuffed and the brand name is now unreadable.
A small lighted display greets you with a flash of text, 'Welcome' is all it says.
You open it to find a normal keypad and back-lit screen, again it simply says, 'Welcome' over a picture of a purple eye. Now that’s something different.
You check out the programmed numbers. Much to your surprise there is only one, and it’s yours…
Thoughts of a Friend
So, there I was, sitting in the bathroom talking to some lady, I couldn’t pronounce her name if I tried, but, it seemed to have power to it. Her words held my ear to the phone. Now, I don’t remember what she said. Hell, I don’t even know where I am. All I know is something went wrong. A spirit, or something… got loose, I think. I’m stuck somewhere, in my own head maybe? I can hear a phone ringing sometimes, my phone, but I can’t find it.
That’s what I think I thought. That doesn’t make sense… I tried screaming, and when the phone stops ringing I feel like someone can hear me, but I’m just one of a lot of voices. And something doesn’t want me to be heard…
The Curse
There you are! I think. Where are we? I know you’re there, but I cant see, or hear, can I even talk? I was listening to the phone, I heard you. Then, next thing I know, I’m here… What the hell is going on now?
More Victims
A few of my friends have disappeared over the past week; and I’m afraid I’m going to be next. It all started with my ex-boyfriend. His buddy said he called some hotline, and he had his phone, he was obsessed with it. Said he could hear weird stuff. Now… I have the phone. It was in my purse. I don’t know how it got there, but I need help. Where are they?!
Magic Properties
The Psychic Cell Phone is a strange device that has a few different varieties. They all give off a strong aura of divination magic, but here are some other properties a Psychic Cell Phone might have:
Mind Reader (Specific) - You call someone and all you can hear is what they are thinking, they can hear you just fine. This isn’t the best form of mind reading since it has many inherent flaws. Such as the, 'Who is this?' and 'Why are you calling me?' thoughts running through their head. If you’re lucky you’ll get what you need.
Mind Reader (Mass) - When you open the phone and put your ear to it, you can hear the surface thoughts of everyone around you. You’re not sure of the radius, but it seems pretty inconsistent. Good luck sorting out that crap.
Last Contact (Person) - The phone can magically transport itself via teleportation or flight to the last person who the owner called after the owner is no longer capable of using it. Dead, unconscious, bound and gagged. Any of those.
Last Contact (Area) - The phone can magically transport itself to the last place the owner made a call. In the situation given in the teaser, your friend probably called a psychic hotline from your bathroom.
Altered Battery - May have an unnaturally long battery life, or obnoxiously short.
Texting from beyond - You might be lucky enough to receive cryptic warnings and advice from demons and spirits through your phone’s text messaging.
Other boons might be: Useful programmed numbers, ability to bypass annoying recordings and being put on hold, damning the souls of telemarketers to the infinite abyss, and making your calls appear to be coming from somewhere in Australia.
The Curse
Something has invaded your buddy’s phone, and it needs to be stopped. Some of these psychics tap into otherworldly prisons to get their information, the real ones anyway, and some just don’t know what they’re dealing with. But it sounds like some things got free, by placing your friends in their prisons. Now, unless you want to be next, and me after you, I suggest you do as I say, and quickly. OK? Now listen, I’ll need a few things…
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? Responses (10)
The idea of a cellular phone with magical powers is an interesting idea for a modern type game/story, but I just wish some parts of this were fleshed out a little better.
A useful little thing.
This is a fun little item outside of the usual rounds. Is it a self-contained idea, or do you intend to create more?
One thing, that could help it (or well, make more of it), would be to consider how this item came to be. I thought of a strange rift in spacetime continuum, created by the constant wishes of people for things, which are really impossible in our reality (like those psychics). However, the rift, once created, will start to make people's wishes come true in a way - calling for something supernatural via your phone? You'll get plenty of supernatural into it. Pity you are whisked of into some untold dimension in exchange.
Could be fun. :)
Good idea; but I agree that it needs fleshing out a bit. I wish I had thought of this when I was GMing Paranoia; perfect device for that setting, especially the one where you hear the other party's thoughts instead of their words.
I like the starting tone, it touches on the absurdity of a technology fantasy mix. In the flavor text you bring up psychic hotlines and hint that the guy was talking on the phone in the bathroom. You fold in both the invasiveness ubiquitousness of mass media and information in our age, and how it allows us to seek ridiculous high tech solutions to real life problem. Then you touch on the false warmth and friendliness of technology with the user friendly welcome. Great setup. But then you just don't go anywhere with it.
This is on the cusp of being something. It is kind of a plot, and like much good speculative fiction it hints at greater something beyond the norm. But the hints are all over the place and the result is a lack of tone. One could build something off this idea, but as an idea or an item as written it is a dead end. You end it with a shotgun of little ideas for using mystical phones in game settings. Perhaps you should end with more about the nature of the characters potential interactions with the phone or plot ideas.
Updated: big update, changed a bit, added more story. I guess this is now a work in progress. I think it has more promise than I originally saw.
Cellphone of the Gods, the whimsical gods of the outer void, chattering away madly to one another. There is something deeper her, something that makes me want to take the blue pill and see how deep the rabbit hole actually goes.
A great item for the Beyond the Supernatural universe (and others). (Wish I hadn't sold that one - it was the best Palladium RPG in my opinion.)
Love the idea.
Hilarious and disturbingly weird twist on a mundane thing. Definitely gonna use this to make sure my players remember they're in one of the WEIRD Earth parallels.
a long over due revisit
I think the text is a little inaccessable and it is difficult to get a clear picture of what is going in the first few sections. I like that a lot, well done.
The powers also hold a lot of in-game promise as well.