I'm heading to work so it'll be a few hours before I can think more indepth on this . . . but this is an overview of my stance.
As for Adventure Fiction the world has come a long way since then. A great deal of the source material for Fen Space even relies upon the fact that good does not always triumph over evil. To insist that it does makes your setting, inherently, a utopia. Utopias are boring.
John Carter of Mars was fascinating. The fact that he wished himself to Mars told us a great deal about his character. But, in Fenspace, anyone can “wish” themselves to Mars. And if anyone can do it. There is no reason that everyone who wants to doesn’t.
Yes, I am a GM (specifically, not a DM. DM’s are, semantically, for D&D, and, I don’t play D&D—it’s too limited and restrictive for my tastes [“NEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD!”]). And you know what: I don’t make blanket rules that say “you can never do this!” I have enough decency to listen to my players and find out what they want to do and why. The important point to take away is that “I listen to my players.” I have an intelligent discussion with them about what they want to do and, if necessary, why it will not fit within the world. I never make blanket statements unless it is important to the game and then I have the decency to explain why.
And, as a player, I’m willing to accept the answer that “it’ll be clear, later” from my GM. If it does not become clear, in the future, I’ll ask for clarification. I hold my GMs to the same level of integrity I hold myself to.
And if you’re so worried about people telling stories that you may find offensive . . . why even bother making the information commonly available? Why have Gernsbeck-2? You know that people will write and tell stories that you’re not terribly fond of, yet, by making it commonly available, you have to accept that people will accept those stories as fact. All the protesting in the world will do nothing to prevent it.
The simplest way I can explain the problem with handwavium, so you don’t have any trouble with it Mal:
There is no reason to do anything since Handwavium will simply give it to you. That is an oversimplification, but, it’s the fundamental problem.
It’s Deus ex Machina of the highest order. It will give you what you need, even though it may not be what you want. There is no challenge there. The characters haven’t earned anything. At the end of the day you’ve got something amazing and the character has done nothing to get it, and, functionally, has not grown at all. If all a character has to do is rub some goop on themselves and that will solve any problem they’ve come across (live-support Handwavium, anyone?) what is interesting about it?
It can never do anything dangerous. Well, that completely cut off an entire avenue of story-writing.
It is unpredictable . . . so long as it adheres to the “not being dangerous” rules and, at the end of the day, you still get what you’re looking for. Well, that’s nearly insulting.
It cannot be used to make weapons. That’s absurd.
My second biggest problem is that all of the Fen know, not believe, but know, handwavium will never stop working. They know at a level that is incomprehensible that their modified devices will work, fundamentally flawlessly, baring outside interference (and, even then, in some cases). There is no concern that it might stop working. There is no worry about the nature of Handwavium. There is no inherent fear in using something that they know next to nothing about. That’s Mary-Sue level character knowledge, and, it makes the situation . . . disinteresting.
Any, rational, person would want to know, significantly more about this stuff. If someone walked up to you on the street and handed you a pill and said “if you take this, you’ll be able to fly and have super powers!” would you take them serious? Of course not. But, that’s what the Fen have done. They’ve taken the Red Pill, and have nothing but awesomeness to show for it.
@HRogge
When I read the War, it always seemed to be written that the outcome was a foregone conclusion. There wasn’t a mystery. I found the Jihad (in BattleTech) interesting, but, since WizKids had already screwed up (the universe) and told us not only when it ended, but how, there was never any mystery or tension. It was just details. That, and I feel about Devlin Stone the same I feel for Handwavium. It’s an interesting idea, but way to squeaky-clean and has epic-level plot protection and immunity.
As for Sci-Fi fans being of a scientific or engineering background, sure, there are some, but they’re outnumbered by people with no clue by, probably, ten-thousand (or more) to one. And, many of those with the backgrounds aren’t going to be willing to, potentially, commit mass-suicide.
I’m always appalled at the amount of ignorance of basic scientific principle when I go to cons. Sure, you can find people with education, but the vast majority doesn’t have a clue.
As for Adventure Fiction the world has come a long way since then. A great deal of the source material for Fen Space even relies upon the fact that good does not always triumph over evil. To insist that it does makes your setting, inherently, a utopia. Utopias are boring.
John Carter of Mars was fascinating. The fact that he wished himself to Mars told us a great deal about his character. But, in Fenspace, anyone can “wish” themselves to Mars. And if anyone can do it. There is no reason that everyone who wants to doesn’t.
Yes, I am a GM (specifically, not a DM. DM’s are, semantically, for D&D, and, I don’t play D&D—it’s too limited and restrictive for my tastes [“NEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD!”]). And you know what: I don’t make blanket rules that say “you can never do this!” I have enough decency to listen to my players and find out what they want to do and why. The important point to take away is that “I listen to my players.” I have an intelligent discussion with them about what they want to do and, if necessary, why it will not fit within the world. I never make blanket statements unless it is important to the game and then I have the decency to explain why.
And, as a player, I’m willing to accept the answer that “it’ll be clear, later” from my GM. If it does not become clear, in the future, I’ll ask for clarification. I hold my GMs to the same level of integrity I hold myself to.
And if you’re so worried about people telling stories that you may find offensive . . . why even bother making the information commonly available? Why have Gernsbeck-2? You know that people will write and tell stories that you’re not terribly fond of, yet, by making it commonly available, you have to accept that people will accept those stories as fact. All the protesting in the world will do nothing to prevent it.
The simplest way I can explain the problem with handwavium, so you don’t have any trouble with it Mal:
There is no reason to do anything since Handwavium will simply give it to you. That is an oversimplification, but, it’s the fundamental problem.
It’s Deus ex Machina of the highest order. It will give you what you need, even though it may not be what you want. There is no challenge there. The characters haven’t earned anything. At the end of the day you’ve got something amazing and the character has done nothing to get it, and, functionally, has not grown at all. If all a character has to do is rub some goop on themselves and that will solve any problem they’ve come across (live-support Handwavium, anyone?) what is interesting about it?
It can never do anything dangerous. Well, that completely cut off an entire avenue of story-writing.
It is unpredictable . . . so long as it adheres to the “not being dangerous” rules and, at the end of the day, you still get what you’re looking for. Well, that’s nearly insulting.
It cannot be used to make weapons. That’s absurd.
My second biggest problem is that all of the Fen know, not believe, but know, handwavium will never stop working. They know at a level that is incomprehensible that their modified devices will work, fundamentally flawlessly, baring outside interference (and, even then, in some cases). There is no concern that it might stop working. There is no worry about the nature of Handwavium. There is no inherent fear in using something that they know next to nothing about. That’s Mary-Sue level character knowledge, and, it makes the situation . . . disinteresting.
Any, rational, person would want to know, significantly more about this stuff. If someone walked up to you on the street and handed you a pill and said “if you take this, you’ll be able to fly and have super powers!” would you take them serious? Of course not. But, that’s what the Fen have done. They’ve taken the Red Pill, and have nothing but awesomeness to show for it.
@HRogge
When I read the War, it always seemed to be written that the outcome was a foregone conclusion. There wasn’t a mystery. I found the Jihad (in BattleTech) interesting, but, since WizKids had already screwed up (the universe) and told us not only when it ended, but how, there was never any mystery or tension. It was just details. That, and I feel about Devlin Stone the same I feel for Handwavium. It’s an interesting idea, but way to squeaky-clean and has epic-level plot protection and immunity.
As for Sci-Fi fans being of a scientific or engineering background, sure, there are some, but they’re outnumbered by people with no clue by, probably, ten-thousand (or more) to one. And, many of those with the backgrounds aren’t going to be willing to, potentially, commit mass-suicide.
I’m always appalled at the amount of ignorance of basic scientific principle when I go to cons. Sure, you can find people with education, but the vast majority doesn’t have a clue.