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General Tabletop Discussion
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What is distinctive about fantasy RPGing? Or sci fi?
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<blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 7274676" data-attributes="member: 2656"><p>Both science fiction and fantasy are huge bodies of work embracing multitudes, with a vast plethora of subgenres within each. Neither has a hard border and there are works of fiction nestled within their squishy intersection.</p><p></p><p>Subjectively I tend to have higher standards for science fiction, which in it's convention form explains it's own setting rules implicitly or explicitly. I consider works that keep their own rules while successfully telling a story as "better" than those who bend or ignore their own rules in favour of their plot.</p><p></p><p>It depends on the medium as well. I prefer written works of SF to be self-consistent. Fantasy often doesn't explain it's setting rules, or implies but doesn't come out and state them. This makes it easier to parachute in arbitrary stories into fantasy, at the potential cost of damaging the setting for those who care about such details.</p><p></p><p>Detective fiction is another strong genre, where there are rules/guidelines that fans expect to be followed.</p><p></p><p>I've come to accept that on-screen spaceships will move at the speed of plot, as on TV and in cinemas the primary goal is to entertain the audience, consistency is a much lower priority. </p><p></p><p>Bodysnatcher/Doppelganger/NuCylon/Replicants is another issue that tends to bug me, as while they tend to be framed as science fiction, horror tropes take over as they are one at the same time impossible to difficult to distinguish from humans *and* physically and/or mentally superior to them. PICK ONE. The more different they are to baseline humans the easier they are to pick out and the easier a definitive test would be. If they can tolerate liquid nitrogen without freezing their fingers solid, that's a big baseline difference.</p><p></p><p>Characters with signature items are common in pulp media, it's a quick and easy way to thumbnail a character, from Indiana Jones to Luke Skywalker. It's not universal, Conan isn't sentimental about his weapons and uses a great variety of them, fancy or improvised.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aenghus, post: 7274676, member: 2656"] Both science fiction and fantasy are huge bodies of work embracing multitudes, with a vast plethora of subgenres within each. Neither has a hard border and there are works of fiction nestled within their squishy intersection. Subjectively I tend to have higher standards for science fiction, which in it's convention form explains it's own setting rules implicitly or explicitly. I consider works that keep their own rules while successfully telling a story as "better" than those who bend or ignore their own rules in favour of their plot. It depends on the medium as well. I prefer written works of SF to be self-consistent. Fantasy often doesn't explain it's setting rules, or implies but doesn't come out and state them. This makes it easier to parachute in arbitrary stories into fantasy, at the potential cost of damaging the setting for those who care about such details. Detective fiction is another strong genre, where there are rules/guidelines that fans expect to be followed. I've come to accept that on-screen spaceships will move at the speed of plot, as on TV and in cinemas the primary goal is to entertain the audience, consistency is a much lower priority. Bodysnatcher/Doppelganger/NuCylon/Replicants is another issue that tends to bug me, as while they tend to be framed as science fiction, horror tropes take over as they are one at the same time impossible to difficult to distinguish from humans *and* physically and/or mentally superior to them. PICK ONE. The more different they are to baseline humans the easier they are to pick out and the easier a definitive test would be. If they can tolerate liquid nitrogen without freezing their fingers solid, that's a big baseline difference. Characters with signature items are common in pulp media, it's a quick and easy way to thumbnail a character, from Indiana Jones to Luke Skywalker. It's not universal, Conan isn't sentimental about his weapons and uses a great variety of them, fancy or improvised. [/QUOTE]
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