My Changing Thoughts on Science Fantasy Games

Voadam said:

Do you mean for power level in an RPG? I can see that if a spell does 5d6 and a laser blaster does 10d6 kind of setup.

Narratively though when you have a lot of sci fi and a little fantasy you get things like Star Trek Vulcan mind meld, Babylon Five psychics, and Doctor Who. Each of those has RPGs

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• Practical fusion tech.
• The Phaser.
• Transporters
• Warp Drive
• Impulse drive with rapid acceleration to as high as 0.75C (and in TOS, implications of up to 10 C - in WNMHGB and in Balance of Terror).
• Gravitics
• incorporeal entities with ability to physically affect and to be visible,
• provable existence of souls.

aramis erak said:

Star Trek has far more magic than just Psionics...

• Practical fusion tech.
• The Phaser.
• Transporters
• Warp Drive
• Impulse drive with rapid acceleration to as high as 0.75C (and in TOS, implications of up to 10 C - in WNMHGB and in Balance of Terror).
• Gravitics
• incorporeal entities with ability to physically affect and to be visible,
• provable existence of souls.

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Micah Sweet said:

Most of that is presented as science. It makes a difference.

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Tonguez said:

does it though? Take Replicators or Programmable Matter as examples - both are sci fi but with minimal justification as to how it works. The Doctors Sonic Screwdriver can do all kinds of 'stuff' that could also be done with Glinda's magic wand. Johnny-5 gets hit by lightning and is suddenly 'alive'

or my Heart of Tarkon example - in which the Shaman merges with the Heart compared to Star Treks Commander Decker merging with the V'ger entity. Both mergers are Human-Technology synthesis leaning in to a mystical transhumanism, but is one more magical than the other?

I dont think so

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Micah Sweet said:

Well, it makes a difference to me. The people of the setting use future scientific data and technology to create these things. They know or can know how they work, and they are generated from objects made by people in the setting who can, generally speaking, make more of them, and they can damaged or destroyed. Those things make it science fiction as far as I'm concerned, not fantasy.

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Tonguez said:

does it though? Take Replicators or Programmable Matter as examples - both are sci fi but with minimal justification as to how it works. The Doctors Sonic Screwdriver can do all kinds of 'stuff' that could also be done with Glinda's magic wand. Johnny-5 gets hit by lightning and is suddenly 'alive'

or my Heart of Tarkon example - in which the Shaman merges with the Heart compared to Star Treks Commander Decker merging with the V'ger entity. Both mergers are Human-Technology synthesis leaning in to a mystical transhumanism, but is one more magical than the other?

I dont think so

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aramis erak said:

As people keep reminding you, your preferences are not near the apparent median.

That it's presented as science doesn't make it any less magic when it violates the most fundamental tenets of physics as observed.

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Voadam said:

Absolutely it matters.

In the Star Trek RPG anyone can use the tech phasers and replicators and faster than light speed and such and we do not consider them magic users because they do so.

Only the psychic Vulcans can mind meld.

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Micah Sweet said:

And even psionics in Trek is considered to have a scientific explanation.

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Voadam said:

I think for a gaming purpose we would still classify it as on the fantasy end of the science fantasy spectrum while the replicators and Klingon cloaking ships would be on the speculative science tech end.

Any fictional universe with magic in it from an in-world perspective the supernatural definitionally becomes actually natural as it is a part of that natural universe even if it is considered magical.

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