Coping in the absence of central authority

[Ancestor]

Regions, cities, towns, and villages coping in the absence of central state power seems to me to be a central aspect of world building in T2K. I've always enjoyed this aspect but never really took a deep dive into it until recently. I'm trying to do some fun prep work here on my deployment as when I get home and resume our game my players will soon complete navigating the basic Escape from Kalisz area. Other than a vague coded radio transmission along the lines of "Reset...Krakow...Strike Zulu" I plan on the sandbox being open for their decision making.

That said, I've put a lot of time into world-building the areas to the south and east of the EFK map, supplementing the information in the modules Free City of Krakow and Black Madonna with my own research on the area. I've also spent some time (not much else to do here in my limited free time - one can only PT so much) on the shattered United States that the players may/will eventually return to. I'm trying to stick to canon as much as possible (albeit fast forwarded to 2030 so some modifications must occur) so like many of you I often find myself asking "why are things are the way they are" in canon.

I found that the mental exercise of thinking through "how" they got that way as well as the motivations of those involved is helpful to me. Plus, it makes for a better game if the players point out something about the background of the game world that doesn't make sense to them. Plus, it's just a fun way for me to pass time in an intellectual manner.

So, with all that said, I found this article to be fascinating and I expect it will be helpful to me and possibly the community here with future world building. Enjoy:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/w...tion.html?_r=0