You Got Peanut Butter in My Chocolate...D&D and Science-Fiction

Shroomy · Jan 22, 2007

I just got my copy of Dragon 352 this weekend, and I am almost done reading the China Mieville material. I really dig it and I now look forward to reading Perdido Street Station in the near future. However, it got me thinking about how much the setting deviates from the "standard" expectations of a traditional D&D campaign world. Personally, that's not a problem for me, as I'm comfortable mixing elements from sword & sorcery, high fantasy, horror, and science-fiction in my D&D gaming (which is probably one of the reasons why Eberron appeals to me). But what are the general attitudes towards science-fiction elements and technology in today's D&D players?

Crothian · Jan 22, 2007

For me it is all in the way it is presented. I can have a laser gun that is presented good or in a bad way. If it presented as sci fi I don't really like it but if that laser is presented in a cool fantasy style high magic way I'm all for.

Nifft · Jan 22, 2007

Some things that we think of a sci-fi (e.g. robots) have been part of fantasy and mythology for thousands of years (e.g. the Greek automatons who worked for Hephestus).

So... I have no point. Presentation and flavor rules, I guess.

Cheers, -- N

Psion · Jan 22, 2007

So long as it makes sense in the setting, I have no problem with mixing them.

Gonzo gratuitous tech appearances handwaved away grate on me, though.

lukelightning · Jan 22, 2007

I don't mind as long as it's not "surprise! All the PCs are really people in the Matrix and your spells are just hacker programs and gods are just powerful AI!"

dougmander · Jan 22, 2007

I have two things to say:

1. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
2. Tekumel.

I have no problem with it. My current campaign takes place on another planet in the far future, with the humans a struggling remnant of a lost colony. They're marooned there with lots of other aliens, and the technology has gradually degraded over the centuries. Powerful weapons, armor, and gadgetry is rare, and is understood to be technological rather than magical by all but the most backward people. Dwarves evolved from human miners on hellish, high-gravity worlds, while elves are a benevolent transhuman race, akin to Vulcans. There's no magic, just psionics, so psions, psychic warriors, and soulknives are common, and you see lots of psionic races like xeph, illithids, and so on. It's an excuse for me to use the more science-fictional creatures from D&D that always seemed out of place in a strictly sword-and-sorcery world, like umber hulks, remorhaz, and gith.

The current campaign involves an effort by an evil sect to resurrect an army of evil AIs and reunite them with their mecha bodies from which they had been sundered centuries ago. It's great fun.

Pbartender · Jan 22, 2007

dougmander said:
1. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Or... "Any advanced technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."

It all really depends on how you work it, and the mood of your players.

Ed_Laprade · Jan 22, 2007

I'll buck the trend, sorta. I hate sci-fi in D&D, and have fits if psionics is introduced. But I have no problem with it in other FRPGs! The original Palladium FRPG has psionics and its never bothered me at all. I even like the Rifts idea, although I think the execution sucks. So, color me weird...

GoodKingJayIII · Jan 22, 2007

A few years ago I would've said Sci-Fi/Fantasy do not belong together and the very thought makes me cringe in disgust. But I'm such a big Eberron fan that I probably can't make that claim anymore.

Aaron L · Jan 22, 2007

I enjoy good mixtures of fantasy and sci-fi. Dragonstar is makes me giggle like a schoolgirl. I do what I can to incorporate elements of science fiction in my games, either space travel or aliens, and my homebrew world has ancient tech items left over from ancient invasions.