From publisher blurb:
Viria stayed out of sight while her father spoke with the four travelers. Father had made it clear that when it was time to talk business, she was to stay well out of the way.
“Thank you for coming. Blessed travels,” she heard Father say, concluding the meeting. He spied her peeking around the door frame as he settled the back behind the ornate desk. “I knew you were there, ilijja. Did you like what Bel brought you this time?”
Viria nodded as she sidled up to Father’s desk. But she must have had The Look again, for he suddenly studied her expression as he would one of his ledger sheets.
“Father,” she ventured as his silence. “Why don’t you just call the Inspectors to do what you want?”
A sad smile crossed Father’s face as he contemplated the innocent question. How to explain his distrust of the Inspectors to an eight-year-old who had always heard from him about obeying the Law?
When creating RPG adventures, the author should ask one question before writing: “Why don’t the authorities just handle this?” It’s assumed that the majority of adventures will take place in civilized areas; areas often civilized because of the rule of law. And the law oftentimes has its own agents responsible for enforcing it and keeping the public order. In real life, we don’t hire mercenaries or adventurers to redress wrongs – we call the authorities: the ones we turn to as a (supposedly) civilized society to put right what has gone wrong.
This supplements is a list of reasons why such wouldn’t necessarily be the case. They’re not only for a science-fiction milieu; with a little tweaking, they can be used for any system or genre.