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Why does fantasy dominate RPGs?
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<blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 7092149" data-attributes="member: 13107"><p>I think we need to make the question clear. Otherwise we could wander a while in a large gray area and not find any satisfying answers. There is a lot of overlap between fantasy and sci-fi. I do agree that D&D is almost entirely in the fantasy realm. Almost entirely, but not entirely: The original Blackmoor campaign had sci-fi elements, and aspects of 1E psionics have a sci-fi feel, and there is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. StarJammer tends towards sci-fi. If you widen the range to PathFinder, there optional areas which are definitely sci-fi: the Iron Gods adventure path; gun slingers in the core rules; androids as a PC race. And in recent years there have been lots of very nice systems which are entirely sci-fi, or which have large sci-fi elements: Traveler; Gamma World; Metamorphosis Alpha; Paranoia; Blue Planet; Iron Kingdoms; Earthdawn; WH40K (including Rogue Trader and other variants); Eclipse Phase; Apocalypse World; WOIN; the adapted system used for Santiago; Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green (conditionally); Rifts (conditionally); Champions (conditionally); Alternity and Dark Matter; the forthcoming StarFinder. Santiago and StarFinder show that the mostly fantasy D&D can be played as sci-fi. The question becomse more about what sort of content folks put in their games, and less about the systems themselves.</p><p></p><p>Of course, noting this listing of systems helps to demonstrate the premise of the question: Even though there is a good variety of systems and options, fantasy still dominates RPG <em>play</em>.</p><p></p><p>I know my own experience is almost entirely with fantasy systems. I currently play D&D 3.5/PathFinder. I have tried Traveler and Call of Cthulhu, but wasn't able to keep up play with either system. I used to have a dis-inclination to sci-fi systems, but that was mostly a dis-interest in the systems then available (Traveler and Gamma World). Lately, there are systems which I'd be willing to try (WH40K: Dark Heresy, Space Marine, There Will Be War, Rogue Trader, Death Watch, or Black Crusade; Eclipse Phase, or Alternity), so I can't say I am still dis-inclinded. I am limited, however, by already being in a long standing fantasy RPG, and by the difficulty in finding a group for any of these sci-fi systems.</p><p></p><p>I think those two practical issues are most determinative for me: I just don't have enough time for a second game, and finding players for a sci-fi system is harder. (Or seems harder; I haven't actually tried to form a new group, so maybe it's not actually hard to find players.)</p><p></p><p>Re: Sci-Fi dungeons: WH40K has examples of sci-fi locales which range from dungeons to dungeon-like. Three examples from adventures that I can recall are a manor house, a huge gothic cathedral, and a conglomeration of ships and asteroids, otherwise known as a space hulk.</p><p></p><p>Only for the manor house was there a focus on detailed exploration; the cathedral was mostly mapped out from the beginning. The hulk did have exploration, but it was highly abstracted.</p><p></p><p>At least in the case of exploring the space hulk, the scope of the "dungeon", that being a many kilometer assemblage of ships, was just too large for any kind of detailed exploration. But, there was scope for all manner of hazards, ranging from environmental (vacuum; shifting and collapsing passageways; leaking reactors; tears leading to the warp) to creature (gene-stealers; chaos space marines; eldar of two types; tau; void zombies; enslavers; rogue psykers), which made for a very explorable and dangerous environment. There seemed to be enough there that a good GM should be able to run a decent adventure.</p><p></p><p>Thx!</p><p>TomB</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tomBitonti, post: 7092149, member: 13107"] I think we need to make the question clear. Otherwise we could wander a while in a large gray area and not find any satisfying answers. There is a lot of overlap between fantasy and sci-fi. I do agree that D&D is almost entirely in the fantasy realm. Almost entirely, but not entirely: The original Blackmoor campaign had sci-fi elements, and aspects of 1E psionics have a sci-fi feel, and there is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. StarJammer tends towards sci-fi. If you widen the range to PathFinder, there optional areas which are definitely sci-fi: the Iron Gods adventure path; gun slingers in the core rules; androids as a PC race. And in recent years there have been lots of very nice systems which are entirely sci-fi, or which have large sci-fi elements: Traveler; Gamma World; Metamorphosis Alpha; Paranoia; Blue Planet; Iron Kingdoms; Earthdawn; WH40K (including Rogue Trader and other variants); Eclipse Phase; Apocalypse World; WOIN; the adapted system used for Santiago; Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green (conditionally); Rifts (conditionally); Champions (conditionally); Alternity and Dark Matter; the forthcoming StarFinder. Santiago and StarFinder show that the mostly fantasy D&D can be played as sci-fi. The question becomse more about what sort of content folks put in their games, and less about the systems themselves. Of course, noting this listing of systems helps to demonstrate the premise of the question: Even though there is a good variety of systems and options, fantasy still dominates RPG [i]play[/i]. I know my own experience is almost entirely with fantasy systems. I currently play D&D 3.5/PathFinder. I have tried Traveler and Call of Cthulhu, but wasn't able to keep up play with either system. I used to have a dis-inclination to sci-fi systems, but that was mostly a dis-interest in the systems then available (Traveler and Gamma World). Lately, there are systems which I'd be willing to try (WH40K: Dark Heresy, Space Marine, There Will Be War, Rogue Trader, Death Watch, or Black Crusade; Eclipse Phase, or Alternity), so I can't say I am still dis-inclinded. I am limited, however, by already being in a long standing fantasy RPG, and by the difficulty in finding a group for any of these sci-fi systems. I think those two practical issues are most determinative for me: I just don't have enough time for a second game, and finding players for a sci-fi system is harder. (Or seems harder; I haven't actually tried to form a new group, so maybe it's not actually hard to find players.) Re: Sci-Fi dungeons: WH40K has examples of sci-fi locales which range from dungeons to dungeon-like. Three examples from adventures that I can recall are a manor house, a huge gothic cathedral, and a conglomeration of ships and asteroids, otherwise known as a space hulk. Only for the manor house was there a focus on detailed exploration; the cathedral was mostly mapped out from the beginning. The hulk did have exploration, but it was highly abstracted. At least in the case of exploring the space hulk, the scope of the "dungeon", that being a many kilometer assemblage of ships, was just too large for any kind of detailed exploration. But, there was scope for all manner of hazards, ranging from environmental (vacuum; shifting and collapsing passageways; leaking reactors; tears leading to the warp) to creature (gene-stealers; chaos space marines; eldar of two types; tau; void zombies; enslavers; rogue psykers), which made for a very explorable and dangerous environment. There seemed to be enough there that a good GM should be able to run a decent adventure. Thx! TomB [/QUOTE]
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