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Why does fantasy dominate RPGs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7092874" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p>I guess the budget logic might be right on why Sci-Fi is more prevalent in TV shows and movies, but I suspect a different culprit for why fantasy is such a dominant factor in TTRPG: The ability to participate equally. </p><p></p><p>I can only speak of my own experience, but when it comes to sci-fi, the science part of the genre can play a pretty big role in the game. And not every player has the same scientific knowledge and background. When I was playing sci-fi for the first time (after playing about a decade or more of fantasy games), I quickly realized how difficult it was to let go of the logic of science, even in such a "magical" setting like Rifts. We were a group of 5 with 3 players who had a STEM background (physics/chemistry, 2x IT) and 2 who didn't (including the GM). And it was so utterly frustrating for both sides to see that three people were happily discussing "quasi-realistic" and "logical" ways to build a ship's computer system or analyzing the properties of a star (including taking "realistic" conclusions from what the GM described in rough outlines), while the other two were totally overwhelmed by all the techno-babble. </p><p></p><p>Nothing like this ever happened in any fantasy game I played. We were all accepting that magic > physics without a question. We didn't need realism. In fact, we really enjoyed and still enjoy the escapist experience of travelling to a whole different world and being able to live up to our childhood fantasies. If we want to. No, really. Fantasy *was* a big part of my imaginary childhood experience and maybe that's another factor.</p><p></p><p>By the way, does anyone have statistics on the distribution of SF to F when it comes to literature? Is it even?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7092874, member: 6816692"] I guess the budget logic might be right on why Sci-Fi is more prevalent in TV shows and movies, but I suspect a different culprit for why fantasy is such a dominant factor in TTRPG: The ability to participate equally. I can only speak of my own experience, but when it comes to sci-fi, the science part of the genre can play a pretty big role in the game. And not every player has the same scientific knowledge and background. When I was playing sci-fi for the first time (after playing about a decade or more of fantasy games), I quickly realized how difficult it was to let go of the logic of science, even in such a "magical" setting like Rifts. We were a group of 5 with 3 players who had a STEM background (physics/chemistry, 2x IT) and 2 who didn't (including the GM). And it was so utterly frustrating for both sides to see that three people were happily discussing "quasi-realistic" and "logical" ways to build a ship's computer system or analyzing the properties of a star (including taking "realistic" conclusions from what the GM described in rough outlines), while the other two were totally overwhelmed by all the techno-babble. Nothing like this ever happened in any fantasy game I played. We were all accepting that magic > physics without a question. We didn't need realism. In fact, we really enjoyed and still enjoy the escapist experience of travelling to a whole different world and being able to live up to our childhood fantasies. If we want to. No, really. Fantasy *was* a big part of my imaginary childhood experience and maybe that's another factor. By the way, does anyone have statistics on the distribution of SF to F when it comes to literature? Is it even? [/QUOTE]
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