Why are sci-fi scenarios so thin on the ground?

[dragoner]

I like phones and the internet in my games, as it is a perfect route for information, clues, and lies; works seamlessly. Watching them grapple with it, as to whether it is true is great. If knowing is half the battle, there is still the other half left, which is doing something about it. Trying to hang on to info as some intricate plot is not as fun, it feels like everyone guessing, and the GM designating their favorite who "gets it".

AI is great too, totally untrustworthy, as AI's motives are far beyond human motivations. If life is chess, it's planning the end game before the first pawn is taken.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

AI is great too, totally untrustworthy, as AI's motives are far beyond human motivations. If life is chess, it's planning the end game before the first pawn is taken.

 

[Bohandas]

SF settings are so much more varied in their assumptions about societies and technology. One could readily design scenarios for Star Trek that were either trivial or impossible in Star Wars, and vice-versa. Adventures have to be written for a particular system and setting, which limits their sales as compared to fantasy

To be fair, D&D is fantasy and manages to have some very non-standard assumptions (in particular, the way that it handles magic)

 

[Jd Smith1]

To be fair, D&D is fantasy and manages to have some very non-standard assumptions (in particular, the way that it handles magic)

Its magic system is pure Vance. Complete standard.

 

[Bohandas]

It only seems standard because D&D is the most popular system

 

[Jd Smith1]

It only seems standard because D&D is the most popular system

Not really. Vance was around long before D&D.

 

[Bohandas]

And Vance was the only one who used this magic system

 

[Dioltach]

I can imagine a new skill called "Google Fu". Failing your check by more than 10 means you can't try again, because you've [smashed your computer/thrown your phone out of the window/jumped up and down on your tablet] in frustration.

 

[Jd Smith1]

And Vance was the only one who used this magic system

Do you know who Jack Vance is?

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Do you know who Jack Vance is?

I think what Bohandas is saying (correct me if I'm wrong @Bohandas ) is that Vance's magic system is by far not the standard model for magic in fantasy, until D&D came along and made it so. Compare for example to Middle Earth, or Narnia, or Earthsea, or Amber or TH White's Arthurian tales or or or... Most didn't use the Vancian model of magic.