INTRO
Years ago, I watched a Miyazaki film called The Wind Rises. While any film by Miyazaki is worth a lecture of its own, The Wind Rises might catch the attention of any Nationstates designer, or fan of military technology, for it tells the tale of the man who created the Mitsubishi Zero, one of the most advanced combat aircraft of the early days in World War 2. The film does not go into numerical details regarding the economic situation of Japan in the days before World War Two, instead, every village and factory, landscape and train, paint a picture. Japan is behind, not only in aviation technology, but industry as a whole, especially compared to major world powers. It is in this environment, we see the creation of the Zero, a fighter able to go toe to toe with even the most advanced western aircraft of the time. I bring up this film, because there is one particular scene that, as a roleplayer, stuck with me. The first test flight of the Zero, this marvel of modern engineering is loaded up on a wooden cart, covered with a tarp, and is pulled to the airfield by an oxen. This image conveys more information than any stat blocks or factbook could. Japan was modernizing, but modernizing is a slow, expensive process. This is what we must remember when we try to role play with Post Modern Technology. Just because we have one piece of advanced technology, the majority of society (and military) will still be using equipment invented 20+ years ago, because it’s familiar, factories have worked out the production issues, and the infrastructure is already in place.
In this lecture, I plan on covering some of the most common ways PMT is used in RPs, how my home region of Greater Dienstad is impacted by PMT, and offer ways to look at PMT from a practical point of view.
COMMON USE OF PMT
As we all know, the most common use of Post Modern Tech is for the technological edge in combat. Players will have soldiers in powered armor, tanks with railguns,and other such ridiculous things. Although this is the most common use of PMT, it is probably the hardest to RP properly. PMT, by its very nature, requires a level of hand waving to make it work. An ironman suit in real life is impossible given current limits in technology. However, if you hand wave a power source, budget, and miniaturization required, then it might work, assuming you accept that flight would still be impossible without completely breaking physics. Even with the hand waving, an Ironman suit won’t be able to survive a tank round to the chest. Although PMT may bend the current understanding of physics, outright breaking it is Future Tech.
I would advise any inexperienced RPers avoid PMT in any competitive RPs, unless the players can agree to the limits of all PMT used, and more importantly, accept the limits of their PMT. It is important to remember, every strength needs a weakness. Power Armor that can resist battle rifles needs power sources, require significant maintenance and training, and should be expensive. This should limit how many you can field compared to an enemy who wears none, but issues extra RPGs to soldiers to combat the new mechanized threat.
However, another great use of PMT tech is to create a Macguffin, or plot device. The actual tech level of the players doesn’t matter, could be MT or PMT, the important thing is that the plot device is unique enough that it cannot easily be replicated or mass produced. Maybe it runs on a rare element derived from unobtainium, or it was developed as part of a completely ridiculous radiation accident that is impossible to recreate. You know, like a superhero origin story. Feel free to use real world research, or technobabble, or more likely, a mix of the two. While a PMT plot device may be allowed to be a little more ridiculous than the common stuff, it is important to remember that a plot device is used to move a story along. The role play thread/story should end when the macguffin is destroyed, or used.
PMT IN GD
Finally, I will get to my personal favorite use of PMT, which is the flavor approach. In my home region of Great Dienstad, the general approach to PMT is that it should be used to add flavor to the world, not necessarily give you a competitive edge. Examples of the Flavor don’t have to make perfect sense, but instead give nations a unique feel to them. Examples would include: Ground crews using powered exoskeletons to mount missiles to modern tech jets, surgically implanted radios for infantry forces, modern tech fighter jets commanded by advanced AI. None of these examples give a real cutting edge in competitive RPs, or even their cooperative counterparts, but they allow you to paint a picture of what technologies/focuses your nation prioritizes.
My favorite example of PMT in Greater Dienstad, is our trade organization called GATA, the Global Aerospace Trade Organization. This was created to solve a problem, in Greater Dienstad some nations are tens of thousands kilometers from each other, realistic trade requires a bit of hand waving to justify the ships going that far. As such, Macabees looked up the technology surrounding the Skylon Space Plane, and made an argument that such technologies could be used to transport trade goods across our region, which is several times larger than the Real Life Earth. In this case, PMT was used to solve a realistic issue, that was currently being handwaved anyways. GATA is now a key part of our lore, with many nations participating in it. You can still handwave ships and planes making the trips across the region, but it is generally RPed that GATA shipping would actually be cheaper over the longer distances.
A PRACTICAL POINT OF VIEW
Which gets us back to the practical issues of Post Modern Tech. Like all technological innovations, PMT should be an answer to a problem, GATA was an answer to vast trade distances. That doesn’t mean you can’t go for the rule of cool if you want, but then you’ll be trying to find a problem in need of a solution. For example, laser rifles, and we’ve had the technology to build working lasers since the 1960’s, so why has no one built a laser rifle yet? The obvious answer is a power source, or more accurately, modern tech does not have the ability to create a power source that has an equivalent size, weight, shot capacity, and cost of a 30 round magazine. Let’s say we decide to handwave a PMT power source into existence, we now have the batteries needed for the laser guns. Why are laser guns still a bad idea? Simply put, because the laser rifle is complicated and new, is always going to be more expensive than MT combat rifles. Most people will overlook that fact, and just RP spending the money because budgets are made up in Nationstates, but what advantage, realistically speaking, does a laser have over a bullet? It is more accurate, sure, but it also has no penetration power. Lasers may give the targets third degree burns, but will not kill as quickly as bullets. As of now, these rifles don’t offer anything special, except tell the world “We give everyone really expensive and impractical guns”. Remember, in a PMT setting, most things are still going to be Modern Tech, the PMT aspects are where you show the priorities of your nation. No sane military is going to throw away all the old ballistic weapons and replace every rifle in every armory, with laser guns, at twice the cost, without a realistic problem solved by this new weapon. Laser guns are a solution looking for a problem to solve.
You can still RP with laser guns if you want, but you should want to RP with them in a way that makes sense. A laser rifle as a standard issue weapon solves no problem, but that doesn’t mean a laser rifle would be completely useless. Even today, the United States Navy fields a laser weapon as a point defense system, because Lasers are great at destroying guidance systems, sensors, unarmored low flying aircraft and small boats. Of course, that level of laser is way too big to be carried by a single soldier. Your Man portable lasers will be much less effective against those threats. Even against a Modern Tech soldier with plate armor, you might burn his skin, or heat up his chest plate, but not do much else.
However, since we are discussing the PMT era, it is important to consider problems created by PMT advances. A soldier in power armor, for example, is basically immune to most rifle calibers. However, a soldier in power armor still needs to see what he is shooting at, and may be using sensors, guidance systems, or even metal armor. Bullets would need to be very accurate to take out sensors on the armor, while a laser actually spreads out over distances. A laser weapon on a power armored soldier could blind him if he’s seeing through ballistic glass, knock out his cameras if not, destroy his radio, overheat his armor, and cause all sorts of unpleasantness for him. In this case, the laser rifle can be used as a specialized tool for a specialized threat. It won’t be a standard issue, but can be available for use. The majority of your military will still carry ballistic weapons, but now you can build an anti powered armored companies, with laser rifles to blind and disable, supported by recoilless rifles or RPGs to deliver the killing blow, or mix it up however you want.
SUMMARY
Because, at the end of the day, your PMT weapons may be the most advanced items in your arsenal, but it will still be supported by yesterday’s technology, Modern Technology. So when you think of PMT, especially in the military setting, I want you to think about that scene from The Wind Rises, when the most advanced fighter aircraft of the Japanese Empire was being pulled by an oxen for its first test flight. What is your Mitsubishi Zero? What problem is your new Zero solving? and, more importantly, what is your oxen(What relics of the past are people still relying on)?
Thank you,
Years ago, I watched a Miyazaki film called The Wind Rises. While any film by Miyazaki is worth a lecture of its own, The Wind Rises might catch the attention of any Nationstates designer, or fan of military technology, for it tells the tale of the man who created the Mitsubishi Zero, one of the most advanced combat aircraft of the early days in World War 2. The film does not go into numerical details regarding the economic situation of Japan in the days before World War Two, instead, every village and factory, landscape and train, paint a picture. Japan is behind, not only in aviation technology, but industry as a whole, especially compared to major world powers. It is in this environment, we see the creation of the Zero, a fighter able to go toe to toe with even the most advanced western aircraft of the time. I bring up this film, because there is one particular scene that, as a roleplayer, stuck with me. The first test flight of the Zero, this marvel of modern engineering is loaded up on a wooden cart, covered with a tarp, and is pulled to the airfield by an oxen. This image conveys more information than any stat blocks or factbook could. Japan was modernizing, but modernizing is a slow, expensive process. This is what we must remember when we try to role play with Post Modern Technology. Just because we have one piece of advanced technology, the majority of society (and military) will still be using equipment invented 20+ years ago, because it’s familiar, factories have worked out the production issues, and the infrastructure is already in place.
In this lecture, I plan on covering some of the most common ways PMT is used in RPs, how my home region of Greater Dienstad is impacted by PMT, and offer ways to look at PMT from a practical point of view.
COMMON USE OF PMT
As we all know, the most common use of Post Modern Tech is for the technological edge in combat. Players will have soldiers in powered armor, tanks with railguns,and other such ridiculous things. Although this is the most common use of PMT, it is probably the hardest to RP properly. PMT, by its very nature, requires a level of hand waving to make it work. An ironman suit in real life is impossible given current limits in technology. However, if you hand wave a power source, budget, and miniaturization required, then it might work, assuming you accept that flight would still be impossible without completely breaking physics. Even with the hand waving, an Ironman suit won’t be able to survive a tank round to the chest. Although PMT may bend the current understanding of physics, outright breaking it is Future Tech.
I would advise any inexperienced RPers avoid PMT in any competitive RPs, unless the players can agree to the limits of all PMT used, and more importantly, accept the limits of their PMT. It is important to remember, every strength needs a weakness. Power Armor that can resist battle rifles needs power sources, require significant maintenance and training, and should be expensive. This should limit how many you can field compared to an enemy who wears none, but issues extra RPGs to soldiers to combat the new mechanized threat.
However, another great use of PMT tech is to create a Macguffin, or plot device. The actual tech level of the players doesn’t matter, could be MT or PMT, the important thing is that the plot device is unique enough that it cannot easily be replicated or mass produced. Maybe it runs on a rare element derived from unobtainium, or it was developed as part of a completely ridiculous radiation accident that is impossible to recreate. You know, like a superhero origin story. Feel free to use real world research, or technobabble, or more likely, a mix of the two. While a PMT plot device may be allowed to be a little more ridiculous than the common stuff, it is important to remember that a plot device is used to move a story along. The role play thread/story should end when the macguffin is destroyed, or used.
PMT IN GD
Finally, I will get to my personal favorite use of PMT, which is the flavor approach. In my home region of Great Dienstad, the general approach to PMT is that it should be used to add flavor to the world, not necessarily give you a competitive edge. Examples of the Flavor don’t have to make perfect sense, but instead give nations a unique feel to them. Examples would include: Ground crews using powered exoskeletons to mount missiles to modern tech jets, surgically implanted radios for infantry forces, modern tech fighter jets commanded by advanced AI. None of these examples give a real cutting edge in competitive RPs, or even their cooperative counterparts, but they allow you to paint a picture of what technologies/focuses your nation prioritizes.
My favorite example of PMT in Greater Dienstad, is our trade organization called GATA, the Global Aerospace Trade Organization. This was created to solve a problem, in Greater Dienstad some nations are tens of thousands kilometers from each other, realistic trade requires a bit of hand waving to justify the ships going that far. As such, Macabees looked up the technology surrounding the Skylon Space Plane, and made an argument that such technologies could be used to transport trade goods across our region, which is several times larger than the Real Life Earth. In this case, PMT was used to solve a realistic issue, that was currently being handwaved anyways. GATA is now a key part of our lore, with many nations participating in it. You can still handwave ships and planes making the trips across the region, but it is generally RPed that GATA shipping would actually be cheaper over the longer distances.
A PRACTICAL POINT OF VIEW
Which gets us back to the practical issues of Post Modern Tech. Like all technological innovations, PMT should be an answer to a problem, GATA was an answer to vast trade distances. That doesn’t mean you can’t go for the rule of cool if you want, but then you’ll be trying to find a problem in need of a solution. For example, laser rifles, and we’ve had the technology to build working lasers since the 1960’s, so why has no one built a laser rifle yet? The obvious answer is a power source, or more accurately, modern tech does not have the ability to create a power source that has an equivalent size, weight, shot capacity, and cost of a 30 round magazine. Let’s say we decide to handwave a PMT power source into existence, we now have the batteries needed for the laser guns. Why are laser guns still a bad idea? Simply put, because the laser rifle is complicated and new, is always going to be more expensive than MT combat rifles. Most people will overlook that fact, and just RP spending the money because budgets are made up in Nationstates, but what advantage, realistically speaking, does a laser have over a bullet? It is more accurate, sure, but it also has no penetration power. Lasers may give the targets third degree burns, but will not kill as quickly as bullets. As of now, these rifles don’t offer anything special, except tell the world “We give everyone really expensive and impractical guns”. Remember, in a PMT setting, most things are still going to be Modern Tech, the PMT aspects are where you show the priorities of your nation. No sane military is going to throw away all the old ballistic weapons and replace every rifle in every armory, with laser guns, at twice the cost, without a realistic problem solved by this new weapon. Laser guns are a solution looking for a problem to solve.
You can still RP with laser guns if you want, but you should want to RP with them in a way that makes sense. A laser rifle as a standard issue weapon solves no problem, but that doesn’t mean a laser rifle would be completely useless. Even today, the United States Navy fields a laser weapon as a point defense system, because Lasers are great at destroying guidance systems, sensors, unarmored low flying aircraft and small boats. Of course, that level of laser is way too big to be carried by a single soldier. Your Man portable lasers will be much less effective against those threats. Even against a Modern Tech soldier with plate armor, you might burn his skin, or heat up his chest plate, but not do much else.
However, since we are discussing the PMT era, it is important to consider problems created by PMT advances. A soldier in power armor, for example, is basically immune to most rifle calibers. However, a soldier in power armor still needs to see what he is shooting at, and may be using sensors, guidance systems, or even metal armor. Bullets would need to be very accurate to take out sensors on the armor, while a laser actually spreads out over distances. A laser weapon on a power armored soldier could blind him if he’s seeing through ballistic glass, knock out his cameras if not, destroy his radio, overheat his armor, and cause all sorts of unpleasantness for him. In this case, the laser rifle can be used as a specialized tool for a specialized threat. It won’t be a standard issue, but can be available for use. The majority of your military will still carry ballistic weapons, but now you can build an anti powered armored companies, with laser rifles to blind and disable, supported by recoilless rifles or RPGs to deliver the killing blow, or mix it up however you want.
SUMMARY
Because, at the end of the day, your PMT weapons may be the most advanced items in your arsenal, but it will still be supported by yesterday’s technology, Modern Technology. So when you think of PMT, especially in the military setting, I want you to think about that scene from The Wind Rises, when the most advanced fighter aircraft of the Japanese Empire was being pulled by an oxen for its first test flight. What is your Mitsubishi Zero? What problem is your new Zero solving? and, more importantly, what is your oxen(What relics of the past are people still relying on)?
Thank you,