Alien environments are considered alien because they are unknown and unpredictable when first encountering them. This means that the amount of time they will remain feeling alien is directly proportional to the unpredictability of their reaction towards the presence and actions of the characters. They will have to follow their own logic. 🪴 Environments may be benevolent, indifferent or hostile, but 🌱 Not everything in alien environments should be dangerous or beneficial, since that would be too predictable.

Reducing that unpredictability should require careful observation and experimentation from the players, but they are in turn only made possible by its existence: 🌱 Observation and experimentation require uncertainty.

🌱 Fiction about survival ties plot to facts about the environment, so 🌱 In a survival narrative, the workings of the environment are the drivers of conflict and development. In this way, 🌱 Ecological interactions can convey the meaning of their environment.