Cool Backstory Syndrome

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't think that's a necessary position.

Maybe not. I'm going to have to think about describing FLAT BLACK in terms that the core planets just are populous, advanced, and more-or-less cosmopolitan, and the colonies in the Sectors just are sparse, underdeveloped, and weird; that the Empire just is a bunch of creepy fanatics with the whip hand in space; and so forth. To me it seems simplest to describe how it developed, because then all the consequences make sense, and therefore are easy to remember. But I could easily be wrong.

And if people want to know or debate the historical origins, the answer is, "Does your character have History skill?

Quite, but I was thinking in terms of describing to players (especially other GMs than myself) what the setting is like rather than providing material for characterisation.

Perhaps it is better done with a quarter-page each on Fifty Famous Colonies than with 12–13 pages of history. I'll have to think about it.