[Space] Insufficiently Advanced

[weby]

Originally Posted by Frost

I have never had a big problem with this. As far as I am concerned 'my character looks it up' is a perfectly valid way of solving a problem. However my players have been taught that unless you are dealing with current news, pop culture trivia or local folklore (and half the time even then) accurate detailed information is going to take time the PC's may not have and proper research skills.

That only works if you cap AI to early 2022 levels.

At early 2023 levels(today) you do not need really much research skills just few hours of familiarization with the tools and basic understanding of the world so weed out obviously wrong answers and you have correct information for almost anything most of the time. But yes, you still would get some obscure wrong answers and certain specific categories of information are often still wrong, but compared to just few months ago the number of such categories is radically less.

Somewhere in 2024-2028 levels you likely do not need that understanding or even familiarity with the tools and vet very high probability right answers as the increase is not linear.

[ericthered]

Playing "Lower-tech fish out of water" is fun. But I think you can do that with either TL9^ or day-after tomorrow humans.



If you want to play down modern politics, do it. The only reason to keep the modern world in your game is if you actively want it for some reason. So I'd say go ahead and move the date forward a bit.

[RyanW]

I started a campaign that was set to introduce TL6 Earth to an interstellar empire which had TL9^ out at the fringes and even higher at the core. Unfortunately, that was during a period when my game group was in almost constant flux and it didn't survive several sequential changes in the player lineup.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Playing "Lower-tech fish out of water" is fun. But I think you can do that with either TL9^ or day-after tomorrow humans.

If you want to play down modern politics, do it. The only reason to keep the modern world in your game is if you actively want it for some reason. So I'd say go ahead and move the date forward a bit.

I would suggest the culture shock of first contact can be used to justify a thorough making up of politics... depending on your players, as long as it doesn't get too space-batty, even if you do have actual space bats to invoke.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

I would suggest the culture shock of first contact can be used to justify a thorough making up of politics... depending on your players, as long as it doesn't get too space-batty, even if you do have actual space bats to invoke.

You don't even have to change Earth politics too much. You can just say "Back on Earth the politics of Group X is in turmoil and they aren't able to project their potential power very far.". This would work for a large value of "Group X" right now.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You don't even have to change Earth politics too much. You can just say "Back on Earth the politics of Group X is in turmoil and they aren't able to project their potential power very far.". This would work for a large value of "Group X" right now.

While I am not shy about playing with real world politics (at least in as far as my group would tolerate it) I don't particularly wan't to deal with deciding 'what would group X do?' for 200ish group x's.

So this is pretty much why I was thinking of the higher tech level. Putting first contact away from earth means fewer groups particularly if we work with an isolated group of colonies.

With that in mind I think that having a TL 9^ humanity butting up against the TL 10^/ 11^ Commonality may be my best option.

[Frost]

The Great Truths

The Great Truths, also referred to as the Saa meditations, are the fundamental justification for the Commonality and the basis for their laws and customs.

Although there are technically a few dozen rules with extensive commentaries grouped under this heading in popular usage the term as applies to the first six 'truths':

The purpose of the universe is to breed life.

The purpose of life is to produce sapience.

To diminish sapience is to commit evil.

Diversity strengthens sapience.

However diversity breeds chaos and fosters evil.

It is the duty of the eldest to protect diversity, prevent chaos and suppress evil.

These commandments are almost omnipresent in Commonality society, etched into the monumental stones that celebrate the founding of new colonies (in both local languages and the distinctive Rhee Tul calligraphy, which renders each phrase as a sigil) or painted upon the plaques and banners that adorn most ceremonial gatherings and processions.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Frost

The source material I am pilfering from...

What is your source material?

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You don't even have to change Earth politics too much. You can just say "Back on Earth the politics of Group X is in turmoil and they aren't able to project their potential power very far.". This would work for a large value of "Group X" right now.

This only works if "ships and travel" are somehow cheap enough that small groups can afford it, otherwise it's all run by governments and/or corporations, which drags local politics along with it (or at least tends to).

Originally Posted by Frost

The Great Truths

Is this supposed to be the bases for law in the Rhee Tull empire?

If so I can see it polarizing across human political groups quite readily.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Frost

The Great Truths

This is great. There is some intrinsic tension between #the fourth and fifth greath truth, but that's great, and #6 is just pure status-quo endorsement. Yes, I'm already thinking about them in terms of numbers. And the truths can be argued in so many ways. It also feels like a parody of some modern politics, which is great. Foreign enough to be non-controversial, familiar enough to be intuitive and informative. And its going to splinter like crazy, because diversity strengthens sapience, so as long as the splinter philosophies aren't "diminishing sapience", they'll be allowed to continue on... but who is eldest?



Its a great foundation to build a setting on.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by mburr0003

This only works if "ships and travel" are somehow cheap enough that small groups can afford it, otherwise it's all run by governments and/or corporations, which drags local politics along with it (or at least tends to).

Groups whose politics are in turmoil tend not to have their act together enough to fund ships and colonies. Groups who can fund such things have been able to reach a decision and follow through on it over a significant period of time.

There's a minimum level of consensus required to do that. Want to simplify politics off Earth? The GM decides who has and hasn't reached that level of consensus.