You Got Peanut Butter in My Chocolate...D&D and Science-Fiction

[Ed_Laprade]

I've never quite understood this one. The difference between magic and psionics is almost solely one of terminology. Heck in the Darkover novels the psionisists call themselves wizards and sorcerers. In the LotR magic is everywhere and except for Gandalf and the Ring it's just about all what I would describe as stereotypical psioncs. Telepathy, Clairvoyance, Precognition...

I don't know why it bugs me so much either. I ban gunpowder in any FRPG I run, but back before AD&D came out the original group I was in all made rules using smokepoles -even me- and I didn't even think about it. Of course, they were slow to reload and could be dangerous to the user as well, so the extra damage they did was 'balanced'. But somewhere along the line it all became quite irksome somehow. Like I said, I'm just weird that way. (And I like Burroughs, etal.)

 

[I'm A Banana]

The more stuff I can mix with my fantasy while maintaining a devoted deapth (e.g.: no "grab bag" feel), the better. Sci fi elements are awesome in fantasy.

 

[Erik Mona]

Bury my heart in the Barrier Peaks.

--Erik

 

[frankthedm]

I like it when Sci fi weapons are deadly.

Single shots that the average damage of can blow through 1' steel walls {hardness 10 & 30 HP] and turn high level PCs into swiss cheese.

 

[airwalkrr]

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was a great adventure.

 

[Deadguy]

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was a great adventure.

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was a terrible adventure!

Actually that adventure is to me exactly how not to add sci-fi elements. It's an arbitrary mish-mash that really breaks the feel of the game to me. I prefer settings to add tech elements from the get-go, so the interaction and existence is accommodated by the players. In my experience the sudden addition of SF tech elements - usually accompanied by SF explanations - messes with mine and the players expectations. The game becomes harder to relate to.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'll buck the trend, sorta. I hate sci-fi in D&D, and have fits if psionics is introduced. But I have no problem with it in other FRPGs! The original Palladium FRPG has psionics and its never bothered me at all. I even like the Rifts idea, although I think the execution sucks. So, color me weird...

Not at all weird. Though I don't mind psionics, ultimately I prefer my D&D games to be relatively "standard" fantasy campaigns. That doesn't mean that I don't throw really weird stuff at my players, of course - just that the weird stuff I throw at them is still within the realms of fantasy.

For mixing fantasy with SF I prefer other games, such as Shadowrun or GURPS which were designed for such things from the outset.

 

[Hussar]

I think you can mix in the trappings of SF without the actual nitty bits. As was mentioned, Star Wars does a good job of this. Eberron is also good at it as well.

So long as its not taken too far - trying to actually recreate hard SF in fantasy - then its fine. McCaffery's Pern would work reasonably well in D&D. It's certainly not hard SF by any stretch.

In other words, adding in fabulous technologies that cannot be easily reproduced, is not all that different from magic. However, trying to add in actual technologies can be very jarring. A Scarred Lands supplement features a nice drawing of an English Ship of the Line complete with gun ports. I found this very jarring since the technology of Scarn is nowhere near high enough to produce this.

However, a flying ship built during the time before the Titanswar doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Tetsubo]

I have never run either a D&D or a Gamma World game that the party didn't end up visiting the other setting. I love to mix mutants and magic...

 

[TerraDave]

Done the right way, I don't mind fantasy in my sci fi (ie psionics, or the Force) or fantasy+sci fi (Dragon Star). But sci fi just thrown into fantasy, mostly not.

I am however always up for an expidition to the barrier peaks.