creativehum
SOC-14 1K
This is an excellent example of using the random UWP system to create a compelling environment.
I would SF-it-up by having native, dangerous creatures that that the world's inhabitants could afford to hold at bay with technology and troops because they could afford them years ago, and now they are in desperate straits in the collapsing infrastructure as the creatures are growing in numbers again and encroaching on civilization. Expeditions are being mounted by desperate citizens (or clans, families, or whatever) to seek out new sources of the Valuable Stuff. They're no guarantee anything is out there to be found, the environment is harsher than where they set up their civilization, and the creatures are more numerous, but there's nothing to do but try....
And then some Travellers arrive and might be able to help...
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But that's neither here nor there.
The key is, "harping on this economic activity level aspect of TL rule use" makes perfect sense because in this example a cool environment is being developed for RPG play. I would never dismiss any justification for "Why is this UWP the way it is?"
The issues is there are a million different kinds of justifications for these things: economics, culture, ecological, and so on. One's brains coughs up something, and one runs with it.
As long as the justification is "sound enough" then I think it will fly with players at the table. The truth is, in all these cases of SF (Dumarest, Starship Troopers, the Van Rijj stories, Star Trek, all of them) if you dig down too deep, of course they fall apart. In any kind of speculative fiction (whether hard or soft or pulp) there will be "justification enough" to keep the reader or viewer or player humming along. But if someone wants to keep drilling down into the logic, by definition things will fall apart. The point is, in an RPG session, I believe its possible (and often easy enough) to keep the Players focused on their goals at hand and not have them digging to the point where the facade of logic falls apart. And, again, this important, because in a game set in interstellar civilizations, the whole thing can fall apart because someone might ask, "Wait... why does this interstellar civilization even exist again?"
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This is why flykiller's questions about nobles and generals and mercenary companies don't make me sweat. Because as Referee my job will be to put myself in their headspace of those NPCs, with the "justified enough" rationals of the setting. The NPCs will take actions and make choices that make sense in the context of an RPG game and the setting at hand.
I'm not in any way advocating for hand-waving nonsense. It's a matter of knowing that each notion builds on the next, that there are repercussions and fallout from what happens in play and session to session, and that as long as the forces and factions in the game are focused in coherent ways that make sense to the Players, it's all going to be weeks and weeks of fun at the table.
By definition any creation of speculative fiction is vulnerable to logical knocks. Some might be knocked down sooner than others, but all can fall. The key is to stay focused on the key elements of justification that are self-consistent, self-reinforcing, and keep the Player Characters front and center, in the cross-hairs of action, danger, and decision.
For me, it works. I completely understand that many people might want something else. But to say it doesn't is... well, weird. It's how people have been playing RPGs for 40 years.
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