Is hard sci-fi really appropriate as a rpg genre?

[Sebastian Francis]

It seems to me that although the transhuman space/ "hard science fiction" makes for fun reading. I don’t know how fun it would be for a long time game.

I could see running a spy type game set in the future where you replace the guns for super high tech stuff.

What other types of adventures would one have?

But wouldn't it just devolve into a lecture from the GM about why this or that is plausible. But I teach physics so maybe its just me that would do that

You're raising an excellent point. The other problem you get with hard sf is that no adventure is "good enough" for some of the players. You try to introduce an "Alien" type game, and the players whine, "Hey, man, this is Transhuman Space! Why are we playin' a bug hunt?"

Hard sf games basically degenerate into what this thread has become: arguments about what "real science" is. Personally, I'd rather be adventuring.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Sure it is. But you have to play robots. They're the ones going on adventures.

 

[Turanil]

Hard sf games basically degenerate into what this thread has become: arguments about what "real science" is. Personally, I'd rather be adventuring.

Good point to remember.

Anyway, thanks to all for your replies. I will now copypaste them onto a document I will use to fuel my own creatvity (I do own Traveller 20 and Transhuman Space and like both, but also what I like with rpg is to be able to exercise my creativity in homebrewing...).

 

[DMH]

I could see running a spy type game set in the future where you replace the guns for super high tech stuff.

What other types of adventures would one have?

Politics, exploration, colonization, survival, law enforcement, terrorism (both sides)*, xenoanthropology, and trading are what come to mind. Like I said before, past and modern games without the supernatural are also sci-fi and any adventures that can be used with those also apply to future settings.

*Before anyone thinks that is a horrible idea, remember the rebellion in Star Wars is a terrorist organization. Freedom fighter and terrorist depend on which side of the gun or bomb you are. And no, I do not support the current attacks against the US.

 

[buzz]

Personally, I'd rather be adventuring.

As usual, it comes down to taste. Some people enjoy deep IC discussions of nanosocialism and gengineered food, while others want to kill BEMs wth their zap guns. The latter seems to be the majority, however, so the former need to gauge carefully the interests of their group; you don't want to be forcing people to play games that aren't fun for them.

E.g., one time I was explaining Traveller to a fellow player. The minute he heard that most PCs will only have practical access to slugthrowers at most TLs, he said, flat out, "Okay, I'm not interested."

 

[Umbran]

And we DON'T KNOW that Physics is physics the whole universe round. We've never BEEN the whole universe round.

Well, at the moment, the evidence is that physics is physics for the whole visible universe. If the rules varied within that sphere, it would become obvious as light or other things crossed the borders between regions with different rules.

Also, the best current theories that sdescribe our visible universe, and how it got the way it is, do call for the whole thing to have the same rules throughout. So, while it is possible that physics varies through the universe, that's really not the way to bet.

As we go through this discussion we should be careful. The issue we started with is not, "Would aliens be different?" It was, "Would aliens be so different that it would be impossible to communicate with them?"

The latter question is not necessarily a function of the aliens, but of the universe. The physical rules of the universe do impose some restrictions, which would mean that alien species are reasonably likely to have some commonality of experience. And that would be a basis for communication.

 

[Turanil]

Currently I have decided to go that way (as far as my homebrew is concerned): PC races are all of human descent. There are normal, unmodified, humans, plus several genetically engineered human races (an elf-like or dwarf-like race could just be a genetically modified human). There is also androids and the like. As such, players who want different racial traits will have some choice available to them.

Then, there are intelligent alien species. These are not available as PC races. They are Lovecraft inspired (Great race of Yith, Mi-Go, Elder things, etc.). Communication with these races is extremely difficult when not outright impossible.

Just an idea by the way: when describing alien species, be they much different from humans or similar, something is almost always overlooked: their "time frame" (for lack of a better term). Imagine some alien specie, maybe based on silicon rather than carbon, which is incredibly slow by Earth mammals standards. This specie would have the potential for living the same amount of experiences as humans would, but instead of occuring in one century, this would take 2000 or 3000 (Earth) years. They would appear horribly slow, almost immobile by human standards. All their planet would have lifeforms in this timeframe, so this would be okay for them on their own planet.

 

[DMH]

As usual, it comes down to taste. Some people enjoy deep IC discussions of nanosocialism and gengineered food, while others want to kill BEMs wth their zap guns.

I am very much in the former (well maybe not the food part). Talking to humans, aliens or fey is much more interesting than cutting orcs into little bits. That is why I like Torn Asunder so much- combat should be deadly enough to make the players pause before their PCs start wading into a sea of orcs or zombies.

Turanil- it sounds interesting. Please tell us how it goes.

 

[Malin Genie]

I think the best SF stories are told 'on the fringes,' where highly-regulated highly technological society exists but there are also regions in which a more frontier feel is retained, due to technological or resource limitations. Nonexistence of convenient FTL would almost certainly lead to anachronistic and culturally distinct outer regions.

 

[Asmor]

give them a level of AI that makes them seem sentient, and have people and governments still arguing the issue. Maybe they've been granted limited rights. And make 'em player characters, so they aren't as disposable.

Mmmm...

Robot PCs framed for a murder and on the run from the law. It would be a simple enough matter to prove their innocence, but first they have to prove they're worthy of a trial!