On 31 May 2020 at 22:01, xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:

> And if you are the first widely spanning civilization, you don't have
> the 'Hunters of the Dawn' to worry about (an apex predatory species of
> incredibly tech that keeps other uber-races from arising as a threat
> to their dominance by ruthlessly exterminating any civilization that
> shows signs of space travel). You could actually be pretty mellow,
> poke around, then decide 'ah, we know enough, saw enough, and we just
> want to garden and chill'. Maybe that's where they finally got to
> before anyone else worth talking to was around and they just let go of
> their advanced tech base as not really of much interest.

Check out John W Campbell's story "Forgetfulness". Or check out Star
Trek's Organians.

But Forgetfulness is a story that really challenges your assumptions.
If you can figure out a way to pull *that* one off on your PCs, my
hat's off to you.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com