Re: [HoE] Tech in HoE (was: Road Warriors...)

[IronPen@aol.com]

There is one primary reason why the tech level in HoE is so similar to our
own, and it justifies in and of iteslf any other indiscrepancies:  (drum roll
please)...it's cool. (Ba doom *chi*).  Post-apocalypse as the genre we know it
to be does not have very advanced technology.  Most post-apoc settings in the
past (books & movies, etc) are based on the premise that society in the very
near future has destroyed itself (multiple Costner movies come to mind
[waterworld & postman], in addition to some other films and books that were
actually pretty good).  Because of this, we have come to assosciate the post-
apocalyptic setting with technology similar to 1990's tech.  Now, the reason
that Deadlands has been such as success (or at least part of the reason) is
that it uses a setting which we all know and most of us love (The West).
While post-apocalypse was never as popular as western as a stand alone genre,
we've all seen at least one or two B-movie flicks about the end of the world,
or at least a Sci-Fi Channel Original.  As such, Pinnacle sticks to what works
and gives us the apocalypse as we've come to know it with the usual twist of
Reckoning for some flavor.  For similar reasons, you can expect Lost Colony to
be a very classic space opera setting, very reminiscent of Dune and other
space colonization movies.  Those of us versed in sci-fi literature (three
cheers for Larry Niven!) will probably find Lost Colony strikingly similar to
the space colonies of traditional science fiction literature.  The only
question in regards to HoE is why PEG decded to set the game in 2094.  It
probably would have better suited them to set it around 2050, when a lower
tech level was more believable.  The reason they haven't, though, is also
pretty obvious.  They don't want to set any historical events in the 1990's,
in order to keep us in suspension of disbelief.  Therefore, the HoE timeline
begins in the early 21st century, and the events leading up to the Last War
take about 75 years...add 13 for lag time before the players step in, and your
timeline is just about right.  So, in summary, I think PEG knows what it's
doing with its tech levels.  

-jesse