Roleplaying games and movies share methods for creating tension, introducing plot elements, or padding out a session that otherwise would end quickly due to an excess of cleverness. One such trick is the use of technology as a potent yet ill-defined dilemma that the audience neither could nor really wants to understand. The importance of technology in drama is not how the item works-- that's science--but rather the process by which the characters solve the technological problem. A good systems engineer can distill any process down to its fundamental components. Therefore, we apply systems engineering to draft how a dramatic work tackles a fake engineering problem, in "Engineering, Movie-Style".

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