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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5128314" data-attributes="member: 177">Seems to me you've pretty much got it.&nbsp; I turn from &quot;stasis&quot; again to the term that was used for a long time: &quot;status quo&quot;. As in the Latin status quo ante - the state of affairs that existed previously.The farmers keep farming, the miners keep mining, the rulers keep ruling.&nbsp; The socio-political-economic arrangements keep on running as they have been. If two nations historically have bad blood between them, there's skirmishes along the border, but nothing that actually shakes up the situation.&nbsp; If the party kills off a few orcs, well, orcs breed rapidly.&nbsp; Soon enough, there's more orcs to replace them.&nbsp; If someone kills the king, well, he's got a son to take the throne, and the son acts pretty much like the father did.Basically, the world operates in a fairly stable equilibrium.&nbsp; Life goes on.&nbsp; It isn't &quot;stasis&quot; so much as a machine that just sort of keeps on running.&nbsp; it is robust, and does not change its course much from having the party poke and prod it on occasion.&nbsp; The forces that move things in the world are robust, and not particularly worried about what the PCs are doing.This sort of thing is remarkably annoying to players who want to &quot;make a real impact&quot; on the game world.&nbsp; It is dreadfully useful shorthand if the players are more interested in their personal stories than what happens to the larger world due to their actions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5128314, member: 177"] Seems to me you've pretty much got it. I turn from "stasis" again to the term that was used for a long time: "status quo". As in the Latin [I]status quo ante[/I] - the state of affairs that existed previously. The farmers keep farming, the miners keep mining, the rulers keep ruling. The socio-political-economic arrangements keep on running as they have been. If two nations historically have bad blood between them, there's skirmishes along the border, but nothing that actually shakes up the situation. If the party kills off a few orcs, well, orcs breed rapidly. Soon enough, there's more orcs to replace them. If someone kills the king, well, he's got a son to take the throne, and the son acts pretty much like the father did. Basically, the world operates in a fairly stable equilibrium. Life goes on. It isn't "stasis" so much as a machine that just sort of keeps on running. it is robust, and does not change its course much from having the party poke and prod it on occasion. The forces that move things in the world are robust, and not particularly worried about what the PCs are doing. This sort of thing is remarkably annoying to players who want to "make a real impact" on the game world. It is dreadfully useful shorthand if the players are more interested in their personal stories than what happens to the larger world due to their actions. [/QUOTE]

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