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Worlds of Design: Fantasy vs. Sci-Fi Part 1
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7762834" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>Ready Player One would be probably be considered an example of science fiction that is primarily used to give homage to fantasy. But more to the point, science fiction and fantasy have a long peanut butter/chocolate relationship, of which I would consider "Space Fantasy" to be a subgenre of.</p><p></p><p>Also important to keep in mind: Tomb of Horrors is part of the same setting (same <em>adventure series</em> even) as Expedition to Barrier Peak. How would one go about defining the genre of <em>that</em> adventure?</p><p></p><p>It begs the question, which makes more of a difference in defining the genre: the framing device, or the individual details of the setting? Star Wars has lots of aliens and spaceships and laser battles, which are all fairly consistent trappings of the sci-fi genre (at least until pedants kept pointing out lasers aren't actually weapons and laser swords are by and large unrealistic, the <em>cretins</em>) but then there's the force, which is routinely pointed to as the reason that it's fantasy. But is the force substantially different from, say, psionics, which are often denigrated in D&D as being too "science-fiction" for their fantasy settings? Sure, psionics tend to be given scientific explanations while the jedi/sith are shown to mostly take more metaphysical approach to the force. On the other hand, though, midichlorians.</p><p></p><p>And where does Shadowrun fall on this? Cyberpunk is the obvious answer, and I guess that could be considered a sub-genre of science fiction (what with the hacking and the cyborgs and other advanced tech), but where does that account for all the orcs, elves, dragons, and magic?</p><p></p><p>And there's 90's fantasy, particular in the form of JRPGs, which loved throwing around "ancient" robots and super-advanced technology around all willy-nilly.</p><p></p><p>I've not found it useful to engage in splitting hairs of the exact definitions between the two genres. Both ultimately seek to imagine something fantastical. There will always be instances of strange overlaps and genre blurring between them (Clarke's Third Law and its varied corollaries exist for a reason). But then I personally tend to enjoy both genres more when they successfully work in elements of the other.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 7762834, member: 57112"] Ready Player One would be probably be considered an example of science fiction that is primarily used to give homage to fantasy. But more to the point, science fiction and fantasy have a long peanut butter/chocolate relationship, of which I would consider "Space Fantasy" to be a subgenre of. Also important to keep in mind: Tomb of Horrors is part of the same setting (same [I]adventure series[/I] even) as Expedition to Barrier Peak. How would one go about defining the genre of [I]that[/I] adventure? It begs the question, which makes more of a difference in defining the genre: the framing device, or the individual details of the setting? Star Wars has lots of aliens and spaceships and laser battles, which are all fairly consistent trappings of the sci-fi genre (at least until pedants kept pointing out lasers aren't actually weapons and laser swords are by and large unrealistic, the [I]cretins[/I]) but then there's the force, which is routinely pointed to as the reason that it's fantasy. But is the force substantially different from, say, psionics, which are often denigrated in D&D as being too "science-fiction" for their fantasy settings? Sure, psionics tend to be given scientific explanations while the jedi/sith are shown to mostly take more metaphysical approach to the force. On the other hand, though, midichlorians. And where does Shadowrun fall on this? Cyberpunk is the obvious answer, and I guess that could be considered a sub-genre of science fiction (what with the hacking and the cyborgs and other advanced tech), but where does that account for all the orcs, elves, dragons, and magic? And there's 90's fantasy, particular in the form of JRPGs, which loved throwing around "ancient" robots and super-advanced technology around all willy-nilly. I've not found it useful to engage in splitting hairs of the exact definitions between the two genres. Both ultimately seek to imagine something fantastical. There will always be instances of strange overlaps and genre blurring between them (Clarke's Third Law and its varied corollaries exist for a reason). But then I personally tend to enjoy both genres more when they successfully work in elements of the other. [/QUOTE]
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