A simulated port explosion and the search for a cause of war

A roleplaying scenario imagines a port explosion comparable to the Halifax disaster. The players consider sabotage, espionage, and accident as explanations, while noting that one affected ship was carrying military goods to a state in civil war. Political convenience complicates that investigation because a sabotage story could supply a pretext for war. The fictional state's position is compared with the Netherlands between power blocs in the First World War, though the scenario gives it a much larger navy. These are game events and historical analogies, not an account of the real Halifax explosion's cause.