Question re Travel Codes

[Tay]

This popped up on Facebook yesterday for discussion. In the main rulebook when generating Amber Codes it states.

A world with an Atmosphere of 10+, a Government of 0, 7 or 10, and a Law Level of 0 or 9+ should be considered for Amber status. Red codes are given out at the discretion of the referee.

Should it be 'OR' a Law level as it was in the 1st Edition Mongoose Book as below.

A world with an Atmosphere of 10+, a government of 0, 7 or 10, or a Law Level of 0 or 9+ should be considered for Amber status. Red codes are given out at the discretion of the Referee.

Cheers

 

[cunningrat]

Definitely "or".

 

[Arkathan]

I'd have to agree with OR. The comma before the AND would indicate to me that the two conditions are not meant to be linked.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Interesting question. I'm checking both versions of my chargen app to see if I noticed that change.

ADDED:
I had it as AND for both versions. Otherwise, too many worlds in a subsector are Amber Zones. I think I will edit the code though so that the AI-ish code I now use will decide if a planet is Amber Zone or not, like how Red Zones are decided on.

 

[Reisender]

An Amber status issues a warning about some kind of danger. The law level in itself does not indicate any dangers. It just indicates the restriction of certain "items" and likely the enforcement of these restriction. The restriction to not being allowed to wear a certain protection(armour) might lead to dangers in certain situation, e.g. not being allowed to wear a hazard suit in a toxic atmosphere. So only in conjuction with other dangers is the law level relevant and therefore it should be an "and" that links the law level to these dangers.
But why use a formular for this anyway? Why not leave it to the referee to assign an Amber status the same we he can assign a Red code.

 

[swampslug]

I would say it should be an OR.

The law level is not just an indicator of which items are restricted/illegal but also of law enforcement presence, response and tolerance. The higher the Law level, the more likely an individual is to be approached by law enforcement and the harsher the sentence in the event of prosecution. A 0 code indicates no law enforcement at all, while a 9+ should indicate a police state with potentially harsh penalties to minor infractions and resticted liberties. Both of these instances should be worth warning Travellers about irrespective of other considerations.

Likewise the government code is an indicator of stability on the world and the likelihood of local conflict. Gov 0 indicates no government and the planet is either in anarchy or formed into family/clan structures (which may be at war). Gov 7 is Balkanisation, which means multiple national governments without a single world government and could imply areas of local unrest, war and/or hostility to off-worlders/non-nationals (modern Earth would be Gov 7 from the perspective of the Third Imperium). Gov 10 is Charismatic Dictator, which implies a recent revolution and civil unrest, some of which may still be present, especially from supporters of the losing faction. These again are worth issuing a travel warning about regardless of the current Law level.

Also, since Government code is a positive modifier to Law level it is highly likely that Gov 10+ worlds are also Law 9+ worlds (72% chance for Gov 10, 83% for Gov 11, 92% for Gov 12).