Weirdness Isolation Tropes

Basic Information

The following tropes represent ways that an author or GM might explain away the ramifications of supernatural or unusual elements of his or her setting.

• Apathetic Citizens
• Apathy Killed The Cat
• Blatant Lies
• By The Eyes Of The Blind
• Changed My Jumper
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat
• Dying Like Animals
• Fantastic Aesop
• Hard Work Hardly Works
• Immortal Immaturity
• Improbable Behavior Tropes
• Invisible Aliens
• Invisible To Normals
• Is It Always Like This
• Law Of Conservation Of Normality
• Like Reality Unless Noted
• Masquerade (see also Bland Rationalisation)
• MIB
• No Big Deal
• Paper Thin Disguise
• Plausible Deniability
• Plot Technology
• Reed Richards Is Useless
• Somebody Else's Problem
• There Are No Global Consequences
• Undead Tax Exemption
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight
• Weirdness Censor
• Wig Dress Accent
• The World Is Not Ready

See Also:

Especially useful in games dealing with Alternate History, Secret History, and Conspiracy Theory.

For contrast, see Deconstruction and Ignores Aesoptinum.

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki

Game and Story Use

• If your setting looks like our normal mundane world on the surface, but has deep dark secrets or subtle variations, you'll probably use one or more of these tropes to justify it.
• Declaring the setting is Like Reality Unless Noted is a very common (and effort-saving) shortcut for gaming. It's generally better than the confusion and frantic hand-waving that comes from poorly defined settings, and arguably better than a huge exposition dump in session one.
• Depending on which set of tropes you use, the players may be aided or hindered by the Masquerade. They may have to cover their tracks with care and effort, or may be able to just trust that it'll all work out. They may be actively trying to cover up, or actively trying to expose, the truth. There's a lot of options there, and it may be a good idea to make sure your whole game group is on the same page.