Is Science Fantasy the Next Big Thing™?

[TarionzCousin]

Is Science Fantasy the Next Big Thing™?

When Numenera came out, I thought it was an outlier. But is it a harbinger instead? The Strange came next, and although it is directly related to Numenera, it is also a new game.

Now Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave is coming, and it is a self-proclaimed "science fantasy" game.

Are there more games in this genre out there right now? Are there more coming soon?

And, are you personally interested and/or excited to play in a science fantasy game?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Been a fan of science fantasy- and the RPGs derived from them- since forever.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Been a fan of science fantasy- and the RPGs derived from them- since forever.

So... that's a "yes"? You've probably already gamed in this genre in something like GURPS or the Hero Game System, right?

Do you intend to play Titansgrave? Have you played Numenera or The Strange?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Think of it more of a universal system, systems to cover a wide range of types of games. Just think gamers have been looking for it for a while.

 

[Morrus]

www.woinrpg.com

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Are there more games in this genre out there right now? Are there more coming soon?

And, are you personally interested and/or excited to play in a science fantasy game?

Shadowrun has been around since the eighties, and I'm still excited about that. Rifts was big in the nineties.

I think it's less that the genre is becoming more popular, and more that there just a lot more games being created these days. The barrier to entry is lower than it's ever been, and a lot of people are looking to branch out from traditional fantasy (which has always been the largest part of the market). Science fantasy is a good middle ground between traditional fantasy and sci-fi, where sci-fi is still seen as somewhat inaccessible to the masses.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So... that's a "yes"? You've probably already gamed in this genre in something like GURPS or the Hero Game System, right?

Do you intend to play Titansgrave? Have you played Numenera or The Strange?

I have played Sci-fant games in HERO, GURPS, RIFTS, Shadowrun, Space:1889 and others I have forgotten. I have even used HERO to run campaigns using the settings and tropes of other RPGs, like D&D and- appropos of this discussion- Space:1889

I own- but have not played- Numenera and The Strange, which I bought in part because of my love for this niche.

I'm currently playing in a Monster of the Week game, which is a rules light horror/action RPG, but would lend itself nicely to the genre.

No opinion on Titsnsgrave, though. I know nothing about it.

 

[Umbran]

Are there more games in this genre out there right now? Are there more coming soon?

Well, there's nothing *new* about science fantasy. I think such games go back to Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World, in 1976/78.

Just turning my head to the right, I see books for Star Wars, Shadowrun, Deadlands and Atomic Robo, all of which are science fantasy, or have science fantasy elements. There has been a fairly constant stream, perhaps waxing and waning over time. But it is not a new Big Thing, in my opinion.

And, are you personally interested and/or excited to play in a science fantasy game?

Whether I am excited to play a game is much more about the people playing and running the game than it does the game's genre. I can find my fin in nearly any genre, with other decent players at the table.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

It will be interesting to see if the new Star Wars movie boosts interests in SW RPGs and, from there, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to other forms of science fantasy.

Personally, I've been wanting to run something like Dragonstar since FFG first published it but was not prepared to put in the work required under 3.xE. Now that I have Numenera, I might take a fresh look at Dragonstar as well, especially once the Cypher System comes out.

Is it the Next Big Thing? I'm not sure if it is, but Star Wars may - or may not - have an impact.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Forgot to list Gamma World & Deadlands.

 

[GMMichael]

It will be interesting to see if the new Star Wars movie boosts interests in SW RPGs and, from there, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to other forms of science fantasy.

This. New players are probably highly influenced by recent movies and video games. Us old vets, though, aren't so easily swayed.

Me, I'd love to play in a sci-fantasy game. I'd hate to run one though - too many place names to be responsible for at one time.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I didn't intend to stir the pot, but I am glad to see people defending/promoting/standing up for game systems they have enjoyed.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

This. New players are probably highly influenced by recent movies and video games. Us old vets, though, aren't so easily swayed.

Me, I'd love to play in a sci-fantasy game. I'd hate to run one though - too many place names to be responsible for at one time.

Yeah, and that's why I started with Star Wars and then started looking elsewhere. If you couple the lore density of the SW universe with the rules density of WotC's various SW RPGs you have a recipe for a full-time job just to create a half-decent weekly or fortnightly game session.

 

[teitan]

I tend to prefer science fantasy myself. Science fiction tends to have some players spewing how such and such isn't scientifically possible or "bad science". Science fantasy is fun. It is pulpy. It is fantastic.

 

[WayneLigon]

I'll get on the bandwagon of saying 'what do you mean 'new'?' Science Fantasy has been around since Gamma World, and it's had it's ups and downs, but never left the scene. Star Wars, the various incarnations and ripoffs and homages of Barsoom, the implied world-jumping setting of GURPS, and dozens of genre-mashing homebrews. Draping super-science with the fantasy cloth is one of the oldest tropes in science fiction - indeed, most early fantasy was 'disguised' as science fiction so it would sell in a very non-Tolkien-hostile market: Dragonriders of Pern, Darkover, Witch World, etc, etc. There's still a lot of 'it's really all just super-science' fantasy that can be found.

Even the specific basic idea behind Numenera was almost done before, by the Digest Group: AI, set on a post-change world where priests called on nanotech to produce food or effects.

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

Don't forget Star Wars... sure it might have the space opera trappings but it's clearly influenced a bit by fantasy as well.

I consider Star Wars a romantic space fantasy western.

 

[DM Howard]

Science fantasy isn't really something that I would ever be inspired enough to run myself. However, one or two of the people I normally play with could probably do a decent job. I can see them picking up Numenera or Titansgrave, and I'd certainly give it a go. We've never been inspired to play a Star Wars RPG though even though we are Star Wars fans. We enjoy our straight fantasy a lot I guess.

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, as the OP already points out, The Strange is pretty much just a 'spin-off' of Numenera. I wouldn't call that and Titansgrave as indicative of a trend.

And, are you personally interested and/or excited to play in a science fantasy game?

Not really. I don't like technology in my fantasy games.
I do like some fantasy elements in my science fiction, though, e.g. 'The Force' in Star Wars. Regarding RPGs I kind of enjoyed the weird mix that is 'Shadowrun' at least thematically, if not mechanically.
The latter is typically my main problem with 'science fantasy'. It's hard to come up with good rules that do both worlds justice. I'm most comfortable with the 'sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' approach that is used e.g. by the 'Fading Suns' RPG.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Having been reminded of many "science fantasy" games over the decades, I now regret implying (saying? I haven't re-read my original post) that it was a new genre.

Carry on. Nothing to see here.

 

[Morlock]

For me, the answer is yes. I'm designing a very science-fiction-y D&D setting, in fact. But I just see this as D&D, with a different emphasis, or more precisely, seen through a different lens. And I see this as something that's been there in D&D since the beginning.

Not really. I don't like technology in my fantasy games.

Neither do I. I don't even like Steampunk, for that reason.* I consider my setting "science fantasy" (among other things) because the setting feels far more like a science-fiction setting than a traditional fantasy D&D setting. Sort of like Dark Sun (which is the most similar setting I can think of, though not all that similar). It's the sort of setting that some players would look at and say, "ppfft, that's not science-fantasy or sci-fi, that's just D&D," because they've been playing up the more sword-and-sorcery and sci-fi aspects of D&D all along, so that's how they see "vanilla" D&D already. And other players would look at it and say, "wow, that's really out there and different," because they've been playing very fantasy-oriented D&D in the Realms (or whatever, fill in your standard fantasy setting here) all along.

I do like some fantasy elements in my science fiction, though, e.g. 'The Force' in Star Wars.

Exactly, that's one of the sci-fi elements I'm mixing in.

D&D really covers a wide range (when taken to include previous editions, and Pathfinder, I mean), and I'm really starting to enjoy that for the first time, since I've always been the second type of player I describe above.

*actually, I lie. I don't want the setting to have widespread technology, but exceptions like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks can be fun, and I'm fine with that.