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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2007

    Default The Neutral Zone

    Hello,
    I am running a new campaign called the Neutral Zone using the Uncharted Worlds system. UW is a Powered by the Apocalypse game based on space operas like Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, etc. In my game, the characters are going to be in an area called the Neutral Zone, which acts as a DMZ between various powers. The background is that there was a war, one side lost in a huge way, which resulted in the partial disintegration of the state. The party seems to be leaning toward space piracy, with one of the players being an infamous privateer during the war who has decided to continue his piracy in the Neutral Zone and the others being happy to be complicit in those endeavors.

    What I'm looking for are some threats that might be found in such a territory. There's a fragile peace in the area, lots of diplomats and spies use the area as a way to coordinate or outwit one another. Trade is important here since merchants have to use the space if they want to ship goods from one power to another. All the normal space threats apply (radiation, ship malfunction, failed warp jump, etc.). Any ideas?

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Yora's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Germany

    Default Re: The Neutral Zone

    If no military can legally opperate in the region but traders still cross it and pirates are waiting, there's a clear need for mercenary escorts. There might be treaties that regulate what military hardware civilians may possess, but who is going to control and enforce those laws? You could have some police forces on civilian bases, but they would be limited to light law enforcement equipment which hardened pirates would only laugh at. They probably won't patrol outside the range of the main defense guns.

    In such a region of practically no law, the line between pirates and mercenaries can completely disappear. You can either try to make a run and not get robbed by a gang, or just pay a lot of money to one gang so they keep other gangs from robbing you.

    Sometimes things might get really messy and you run into black ops. Which have top notch military ships without markings and a tendency to not leave any witnesses of their illegal activities in the region.
    We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.

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  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2007

    Default Re: The Neutral Zone

    Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
    If no military can legally opperate in the region but traders still cross it and pirates are waiting, there's a clear need for mercenary escorts. There might be treaties that regulate what military hardware civilians may possess, but who is going to control and enforce those laws? You could have some police forces on civilian bases, but they would be limited to light law enforcement equipment which hardened pirates would only laugh at. They probably won't patrol outside the range of the main defense guns.

    In such a region of practically no law, the line between pirates and mercenaries can completely disappear. You can either try to make a run and not get robbed by a gang, or just pay a lot of money to one gang so they keep other gangs from robbing you.

    Sometimes things might get really messy and you run into black ops. Which have top notch military ships without markings and a tendency to not leave any witnesses of their illegal activities in the region.
    Thanks. These are some pretty good ideas. I'm thinking that since there are populated planets in the neutral zone, each will have their own military and police forces and each will try to project their power to varying degrees of success. There will be some stable planets and some that will descend to chaos, breeding more pirates and mercenaries. There's also a very wealthy corporation looking for a new home that might settle one of those planets that might become a plot point.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    ElfPirate

    Join Date
    Feb 2008

    Default Re: The Neutral Zone

    People try to get aid to places like these. Sometimes it works, often they get turned back, occasionally they get captured and held for ransom. With a fragile peace the most common way of dealing with that last might be to pay up, often secretly. Which requires discreet or at least deniable couriers who can handle themselves among pirates. That could be your PCs if they have a reliable reputation.

    Of course some of the spies and diplomats won't like the current peace. They might be pushing to eliminate some of the forces they don't like via deniable assets again. This might be aimed at your PCs or they might be the deniable assets being aimed. Or both.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Everyl's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    USA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: The Neutral Zone

    The facts that there are "independent" settlements and colonies within the Neutral Zone and that the Neutral Zone contains valuable trade routes largely ensure that there is a lot of wrangling for influence by the major outside powers who are prohibited by treaty from military involvement. I'd imagine that the politics would look a lot like Cold War politics. Aid will be sent to friendly local leaders to buy their support. Some "neutral" planets will become satellite regimes of one of the major powers, some will suffer brutal civil wars with opposing sides funded by different major powers, and some particularly clever Neutral Zone leaders will play the powers off against one another in order to get even more aid money. Unlike most space operas/westerns, many planets would likely have multiple major governments with competing claims to the rights to the resources of their planets and nearby space.

    Why would pirates care about politics? If nothing else, because they need to know who they have angered with their raids and who will still be willing to provide cash for their ill-gotten gains. Also, because these conflicts create opportunities for ambitious people with weak morals.

    Say, for example, there is a star system that includes a planet (or moon, or asteroid belt) rich with a rare and valuable resource, but with an environment far too hostile to terraform. Tremendous profits await anyone who exploits that planet, but any mining colonies would be heavily reliant on support from an inhabitable planet within the same system. The inhabitable planet, predictably, has several rival governments, mainly backed by outside powers, all with competing claims to the system's resources. Pirates can profit from simply raiding cargo ships in the system, or they can get involved in the politics by becoming de facto privateers, tacitly supporting one claim by raiding ships associated with the others.
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