Could be Useful is an introductory piece of fiction for Silkgift: The City of Sails, one of the supplements for Cities of Sundara, which is available in versions for 5th Edition and Pathfinder.
“Rules,” Darelak said, staring off into space.
“What?” asked Tarnis confused, as this had just come out of nowhere.
“Rules,” Darelak repeated, still staring into the distance.
“I heard you the first time,” Tarnis said. “What I want to know is what you mean. Or are you just saying random words for the fun of it?”
The two were currently in one of the rooms of Silkgift’s Ingeneurium. Not one of the experimental or manufacturing areas, but one of those that were used to run the place.
Darelak’s gaze returned to the here and now. “We need rules,” the dwarf said.
“We have rules,” Tarnis said in response. The human didn’t think Darelak was being any clearer.
“I know,” replied the dwarf, “but we could do with more. Or better planned ones anyway.”
The two had been discussing one of the recent experiments that had been carried out which had resulted in the violent disassembly of the device being tested.
“The current rules,” Darelak continued, “don’t really help matters. They tend to inhabit innovation – ”
“And this is bad why?” Tarnis interrupted, given what they had been discussing.
“Because we live by innovation. And we need more of it, just better constrained so that experiments don’t break as often as they do.”
“I don’t think this is going to work,” the human interjected.
“It needs more planning…” the dwarf mused, gazing off into the distance again. “But rules…”
Tarnis shrugged, returning to the matter at hand. Either Darelak would come up with something useful or not. Meanwhile, there was still work to do.