I'm soon to be running a Scion game based on the cosmology of Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys. The basic idea is that Gods need belief, and America is a rough place for them because Americans put all their belief into Things and Ideas. Odin, Czernobog, Anansi, and the like were transplanted here by settlers who have long since died, and the world is slowly forgetting them. Where they once were mighty beings of Fear and Love, they have been replaced by the new divinities of Media, Internet, and Government.

Along come the players.

The PCs will be drawn into the ongoing Culture war between the Old and the New. Their first assignment will be to protect Paris Hilton, who has found herself yet again to be a media (little m) darling. The backlash from major news networks covering someone who is only famous because she's famous is having a negative effect on Media (big M). The Old Gods want this to continue as long as possible, while Media wants Hilton removed from the picture, both literally and figuratively.

The predicament I'm in is trying to find different ways to neutralize someone without killing them. Killing her is an option, but the media frenzy that would result, as well as anniversary specials in later years makes it a last option. Kidnapping would be even worse, as the media frenzy would continue as long as she was held and for a while after. She might even manage to parlay it into a movie deal and play herself (unthinkable!).

So, how does one take someone out of the media's eye without drastic measures that would increase the focus instead? The PCs' jobs would be to stop these things from happening, so preferably they'll all involve being near Paris, or discovering clues near her and following them.

A couple of scenes I want to slip in, that don't necessarily have to tie into any schemes by Media are:

• A Hollywood party. This will give the PCs a chance to rub elbows with Dionyssus
• Paris takes her bodygaurd to the Library. She's heard that there are starving children in Africa who can't read, so she's donating a few crates full of old Style and People magazines
• If there is a female PC, Paris may find herself in legal troubles and need someone to protect her inside

Without knowing a single damn thing about Scion, I answer this with some trepedation.

The easiest, not-so-messy way to get Paris out of the limelight is to have it mandated to reporters from higher up to not report/investigate/question/show/mention her.  Faced with possible job termination (or, getting moved to the Obituary section of the paper for example), most self-serving mundanes will scramble to save their own skins first.

Reporters who fail to follow this mandate are ripe for "accidents" by the powers that be as their loss will not be noticed by the masses per se.  A couple of dead papparazzi (sp?), a couple of traumatized E! Network hosts and fluff piece reporter reassigned to Iraq suddenly would get the message across to the people in the biz real quick.

Hard-core prison time. You'll have vast media coverage during the trial and whatnot, but once she's convicted and behind bars, it'll fade quickly, especially if she can't talk to reporters. Not a Capital crime, though, 'cause that would set off all kinds of media hyperventilation. Embezzlement or something.

Or have her move to a foreign country. She'll get coverage for awhile then fade out HERE, but overseas she might make a spalsh. Or not - after all, she's a guache American.

Have her parents intevervene and giver he a Real Job with the company - one that keeps her in an office and out of the spotlight. This could be combined with either of the above. Or you could have all three - set up with a job, in a foreign country, then jailed for embezzlement.

Make her physically unattractive.  Not in an obvious, hideously disfiguring accident sort of way, but something more subtle.  The puffy eyelids and paunch that is currently leading to the media obscurity of Britney Spears.  She is only known as a pretty face, so once that is gone...

I suggest an aging curse.


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An interesting take on deities and such. Sounds like you have a good game brewing.

Things that keep Paris Hilton in the media:

• The Video. It took her from being J. Random Heiress and made her a name. Weren't they like "the Hilton sisters" or something before that? Hell, there's probably a god of Sex Sells keeping faithful watch on her and Bill Clinton.
  
• Audacity. Her initial rudeassedness was tolerated before because she was so rich. Then the video fallout taught her that she could do or say pretty much anything without consequence. So does and says more rudeass things. And the media eats it up.
  
• Inertia. These days, once somebody gets famous, it's really hard to unfamous them. Even if someone goes B-list, there's a whole subset of the American audience that keeps tabs on B-listers
  
• Sleazehawt. Even if she is a spoiled, stupid, anorexic, wretchedly scummy little Barbie doll, there are an awful lot of people who really like a Bad Girl.
  

It's an awfully big set of circumstances to counter. My pick would be disfigurement. A one-car accident, with alcohol in her bloodstream, with severe injuries that cost her a leg, an arm, and one-- no, both breasts, and mess her face up enough that even her most expensive plastic surgeon can't put her back together again. That should kill the wave of adolescent boners she's surfing on pretty well. And it should make her less confident about assing around in public, to boot.

Make her painful to look at, and that may do it.

Or maybe some chronic disease that gives her big weeping sores.

Convert her.  Not to something flashy like the Scientologists or a fundamentalist sect or anything.  Just to some stodgy protestant denomination.

Disinherit her.

Have all the money disappear in a scandalous flash. Let it be revealed that her whole family were embezzling employee pension funds for decades, that the entire corporate edifice was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy since day one. Have her be found guilty and sentenced to the maximum time in a penitentiary that allows zero media penetration.

Once incarcerated it'd be as though she vanished off the face of the earth. She'd likely become a media pariah because a) she helped ruin the lives of thousands of hard working people, and b) she's no longer a rich socialite.

Quote from: jrientsConvert her.  Not to something flashy like the Scientologists or a fundamentalist sect or anything.  Just to some stodgy protestant denomination.

That's just... perfect.

Yeah. Make her boring. The huge upside is that it doesn't hurt anyone.

Quote from: DrewThat's just... perfect.

Yeah. Make her boring. The huge upside is that it doesn't hurt anyone.

True, that would do it. Is there mind control in the Scion setting?

Quote from: jrientsConvert her.  Not to something flashy like the Scientologists or a fundamentalist sect or anything.  Just to some stodgy protestant denomination.

I was going to suggest marriage.  Not to someone hot and flashy, but to someone nice, stable, not particularly wealthy, and boring.  I think, together, we may be onto a double-threat here.

Nothing could cause the media eye to turn away in pained disinterest than a happy, content, conservatively religious marriage.  Add 2.5 homely children to the mix and "Paris who?" will be the catchphrase of the day.

!i!

Thanks for all the input everyone! Here's a follow-up question:

What if you had to do it fast, and needed to avoid the spike that a death or disfigurement would cause? A little burst is ok, but would need to be kept to a minimum.

Quote from: James McMurrayThanks for all the input everyone! Here's a follow-up question:

What if you had to do it fast, and needed to avoid the spike that a death or disfigurement would cause? A little burst is ok, but would need to be kept to a minimum.

Rehab. Indefinitely.

Quote from: James McMurrayThanks for all the input everyone! Here's a follow-up question:

What if you had to do it fast, and needed to avoid the spike that a death or disfigurement would cause? A little burst is ok, but would need to be kept to a minimum.

Have her be upstaged by another one of the PopTarts, like Britney Spears has the spotlight at the moment for her crappy performance at the MTV Awards show over the weekend. Have Nicole Ritchie give birth to a critter from the Cthulhu Mythos, or Lindsey Lohan become the scion of Loki or Coyote and make a comeback.

Of course, any major news event would eclipse Paris Hilton's media spotlight, robbing her of power.

Quote from: James McMurrayThanks for all the input everyone! Here's a follow-up question:

What if you had to do it fast, and needed to avoid the spike that a death or disfigurement would cause? A little burst is ok, but would need to be kept to a minimum.

I still vote for an aging curse...

Depending on what level of mojo you have swirling about the players, this could either be handled one of two ways:

1.  In a low (or hidden) mojo setting Paris becomes convinced of a curse as the only explanation for the sudden appearance of crow's feet and belly fat.  She has gone into seclusion and the PCs have to convince her that it isn't really true...but they find out that it is.
2.  In a high mojo (for the PCs at least) setting then they are the one's who know the true cause of the problem and have to convince her.


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