Adding "the Veil"

[furashgf]

I don't want to fiddle to much with the Dresdenverse, however, there's one bit that bugs me (personally, can't say why). So, here it is, here's my proposed solution. Please comment (constructively, i.e., "no do this instead"). Thanks:

- when normal people encounter non-subtle supernatural things, 99% of them just "ignore" it. That's why the world at large is ignorant about the supernatual

I'd like to replace this with:

- the supernatural is shielded from most normal mortals by "the veil". Various explanations (who knows which is right) exist for why this is the case, but unless the normal-mortal is particularly "open minded" and the effect isn't wildly crazy (e.g., mage points his finger, says "zap", and guy turns to dust on TV (assuming TV camera was far enough enough away), mortals will either mis-percieve or not perceive at all supernatural effects. This is not a mental defense mechanism but an actual magical "thing"

[MWKilduff]

That is certainly a viable way to work the system.  There are other answers and I wanted to throw a couple out there so you can either incorporate them or thin about added concepts.  1st there are cleaners that spend their time picking up the supernatural mistakes.  2nd people only allow stories with viable and provable sources to be released to the mainstream media.  3rd global groups that are composed of pure mortals collect and examine supernatural occurrences for scientific purposes.  Please play with the simplistic ideas and use or discard them.  BTW I think all of them are compatible.

[The Dread Polack]

I find Jim Butcher's handling of this pretty interesting. In a lot of other urban fantasy, such as the World of Darkness, there's an elaborate explanation for how people can witness the supernatural and then either not remember it, or remember it falsely. Even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they say that people can't psychologically handle the supernatural, so they block out the unexplainable parts and substitute more reasonable explanations.

In the Dresdenverse, it seems that mortal witnesses just ignore and forget most of the supernatural. Harry even has "Wizard" spelled out plainly in his ad and on his office door, and the White Council hasn't stopped him. In the RPG, this makes things a lot easier, since the PCs don't have to go to silly lengths to keep the the supernatural hidden from the mortal public. As GM, I welcome this.

[lankyogre]

If you have read the young adult Percy Jackson novels by Rick Riordan, he uses a supernatural quality called the Fog if I remember correctly. Basically it lets ogres, and minotaurs walk around without being spotted as long as they don't draw attention to themselves. Its been a little while since I read them, but if I remember correctly some of the "good guys" could control the Fog enough to make mortals interpret things a certain way.

[furashgf]

Lots of good answers! Thanks all.