119
votes
A believable place for your secret lair
Port Talbot Steelworks
If you take the place over and keep the steelworks running the government will practically pay you to have your HQ there. Nobody will notice any heavy industrial equipment ...
- 118k
112
votes
Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
It IS a front because if you openly state as the firm's mission and vision to summon a destroyer of worlds your business isn't going very far.
Aside from that, there are some things that dark cults ...
- 142k
103
votes
Accepted
A believable place for your secret lair
Private ranches. Here are the ten biggest ranches in Texas. Ranging from King Ranch (911,215 acres) to Jones Ranch (255,000 acres). There are also large ranches in Oregon, Wyoming, etc. Every once in ...
- 34.7k
93
votes
Accepted
Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
Have YOU ever tried setting up classic rituals? Everything's going well with everyone in their matching robes and masks, and just as the Grand Priest is finishing the ritual to summon a Great Old One ...
- 17.3k
85
votes
How can a colony of teleporters make the most money while keeping their teleportation a secret?
First of all they should only teleport things, not people. People talk. Otherwise, they're in the shipping business.
They should use their teleportation ability to mimic real world transportation so ...
- 4,933
81
votes
Accepted
How would an independent, illegal and secret group of assassins accept assignments?
"Don't call us, we'll call you."
Your assassins are actually primarily spies. They spend most of their time digging into the secrets of the rich and powerful: those mostly likely to have both the ...
- 1,331
81
votes
Accepted
How can a colony of teleporters make the most money while keeping their teleportation a secret?
Think Small
Instead of moving items very large distances; why not move them small distances; it's not like you get paid per mile. You could almost entirely remove the equipment cost and drastically ...
- 1,186
78
votes
Can a store that doesn't need to buy merchandise stay unnoticed?
I've run a small retail store for over a decade.
This is a complete non-issue.
Tax authorities don't care one whit for deliveries, nor vendors, nor for whatever accounting system you use. All they ...
- 28.9k
75
votes
Most practical method for a secret demographic to get its news?
Create a online platform to answer computer related questions. Once it becomes popular, start using the platform to answer other questions that are not related to computers. As the topics become more ...
- 2,649
63
votes
Accepted
Why can't immortals use the "make humans ignore this" symbol as an invisibility cloak?
Humans cannot ignore the elephant in the room
Instead of an actual "elephant" it is somebody wrapped in a sheet. It is just too conspicuous. The symbol works on smaller items because they ...
- 7,889
57
votes
How can I make the rules of my Faerie Portal free from contradiction?
How to make internally consistent magic
Magic lets you do pretty much whatever you want, especially when talking about the kind of spells that completely side-step the known laws of nature... so ...
- 92.8k
55
votes
Accepted
What architectural tricks can I use to add a hidden floor to a building?
The easiest places to hide an extra level are the bottom and the top. You can have all the subbasements you like, though they come with neither a view nor natural light. Either of these can get ...
- 118k
52
votes
Accepted
What kind of supernatural powers don't break the masquerade?
Making them proficient with weapons and tactics like the best of Delta/SAS/Spetznaz/SEAL while having supernatural senses IR/UV/Smell/Hearing/[Aura reading] that will allow them to have heightened ...
- 546
52
votes
Accepted
What reasons would motivate even low level personnel of vast secret organizations to keep the secret going, other than fear?
The lower level folks think they are doing something else.
Secret purposes. Grand schemes. Yes the Elon Musks of the organization can concern themselves with these sky high ambitions. Lower level ...
- 305k
50
votes
How can a colony of teleporters make the most money while keeping their teleportation a secret?
Secure Data/Info Transfer
A backpack full of hard drives moved instantly from point to point. 100 TB from NY to LA in 30 minutes.
Like a courier service combined with a logistics company on steroids. ...
- 1,139
49
votes
Accepted
Start a coup online without the government intervening
I actually work in Cyber Security, so here's my tips for your uprising and/or cult (hey, I won't judge!). This is incredibly yawn-worthy, but as accurate as possible. You could absolutely go deeper, ...
- 17.5k
48
votes
How can I preserve the long term cooperation of a witch coven?
Love and Friendship.
Why do families stay together for life? Out of familial love, and this is true even if they are not genetically related (adopted children, plus spouses are not genetically related)...
- 34.7k
47
votes
If vampires existed in modern society, how could they not be well known by science and the public
The problem is with the conception of vampires as these hunky sexy kung-fu doing young folks. Even Dracula had a little bit of this stuff, with the vampire hunters chasing around his carriage and ...
- 305k
47
votes
How can the SCP foundation retain its secrecy in a technologically changing world?
Leaving aside the concerns regarding organisations that "retain their secrecy by containing or eliminating threats, and making those who know things they shouldn't disappear," there are ...
- 12k
46
votes
Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
What a legitimate company with innocent employees is good for is what all legitimate companies do anyways : running a business, gathering property, gaining licenses, managing property...
While most ...
- 43.2k
45
votes
How can a secret, murderous cult remain secret?
You need a cell-based organization, with the additional twist that recruitment must happen cross-cell-wise.
That is, the members of the Blackwater Lodge meet and discuss whether to admit mr. John ...
- 55.2k
44
votes
Great Old Ones Limited, or Why does Cthulhu need a Company?
Magic is granted by the great old ones in exchange for making sacrifices to them, the catch is you can't just abduct and kill people they need to be sacrificed willingly, as it turns out depressed ...
- 4,880
44
votes
Accepted
Why would vampires sire vampires of lesser blood than they have to?
As Sir Terry Pratchett put it, 'humans raise their successors, vampires raise their competition'.
Raising a lot of vampires of high rank increases the chance that they will be able to overthrow you. ...
- 45.4k
43
votes
Accepted
Where to hide my evil Overlord?
In order to outwit a hero, one must think like a hero. So in order to hide from said hero, where would be the last place a hero would think of looking?
I would say the most holy place imaginable, ...
- 7,869
43
votes
How can a colony of teleporters make the most money while keeping their teleportation a secret?
Moving things into low earth orbit might be an option. You could make your ten million dollars with only a single delivery to the ISS.
The space shuttle cost \$1.5 Billion per launch. Billion.
NASA is ...
- 34.7k
43
votes
How can a group of immortals hide in a modern society with extensive record-keeping?
The easiest way would be for them to do this The Odessa File style:
Get one or more of their own on the inside of the record-keeping bureaucracy of a state with weak governance. That insider can ...
- 3,715
42
votes
What kind of supernatural powers don't break the masquerade?
Supernatural senses:
Bear's sense of smell
Pit viper's infrared detection
Near infrared sight like some birds
Eagle eye acuity
Supernatural communication:
Telepathy
Touch based DNA reading (this ...
- 4,958
42
votes
How can I prevent interns from being expendable?
There's a culture of master/apprentice relationships, where each high-ranking witch has a few protégés. The high-ranking witch encourages competition between her apprentices, who are eager to gain her ...
- 3,858
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible