Cool Backstory Syndrome

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Brett

For example, action in my interstellar SF setting mostly takes place between 532 and 606 (but sometimes 630) years after the destruction of Earth in 2385. That is, it is set on other planets in the 30th Century. But I've had one playtester insist to me that the whole setting is completely implausible unless I list at least three terrorist attacks that occurred in the 21st Century and killed at least 10,000 people each. Another has told me that the setting is completely implausible unless I explain how the characteristics of the just-as-fast-as-light drive used in the Age of Emigration 2095–2385 led people to travel to stars up to 150 light-years distant when there was still space to settle on planets orbiting stars only 20 light-years distant. And both of them demand an explanation of what pirates were doing in the Age of Piracy that was so dreadful, and why the governments of the advanced colonies didn't stop it.

What I try to do is write one-page fact sheets where the information is boiled down to about 700 words. I then write more detailed fact sheets of the interesting bits. Of course, my time being a limited resource, I sometimes have to tell the player that the big overview is all he gets.


Hans