Shardstone
Hero
I agree! That's why my Scavenger setting is a Bronze Age Science Fantasy world. A strange combination, I know, but I've found that the mythic areas of fantasy mix very well with contemporary science fantasy ideas. You also get a bonus theme in the form of "past and future clashing, assimilating" which is really fun to play with. Fantasy-minded characters being exposed to quantum physics and magic for the first time really makes you wonder "What is their human experience like?" and "How will do these people cope/adapt to this weird world?"
On a wider level, creatives are starting to realize something: Fantasy is always built off the "understanding" of the day. So, thousands of years ago when people are talking about elements making up the world or what have you, religion and myth and mysticism/magic are created based off these concepts. But now we have a different understanding of the world, and its totally normal and cool for Fantasy, even classic Fantasy, to build off this new understanding. We have different ideas of efficiency, aesthetic, weaponization, etc as well. This means that for many creatives, how magic is used is a lot different than in the classic canon, but still mystical and sublime.
This manifests in all kinds of ways. Descent Into Avernus, as mentioned earlier, is but one of many. I mean, why wouldn't the legions of Hell invent chainsaws and chainsaw swords and war vehicles? If you've been in battle with infinite resources for eons and eons, I'm pretty sure your technology level would rise quite a bit! I mean, have you seen the concept art of Zariel's war ship? It looks like its from Star Wars!
So, yes, I think Magitch and Science Fantasy, in many many many different forms, have a place in and are fundamental to D&D. It doesn't matter if its something as simple as chainsaw swords or as wild as power armor; Fantasy is based off our understanding of reality, and our contemporary understanding means we can create new but "true" ideas of magic and the sublime.
On a wider level, creatives are starting to realize something: Fantasy is always built off the "understanding" of the day. So, thousands of years ago when people are talking about elements making up the world or what have you, religion and myth and mysticism/magic are created based off these concepts. But now we have a different understanding of the world, and its totally normal and cool for Fantasy, even classic Fantasy, to build off this new understanding. We have different ideas of efficiency, aesthetic, weaponization, etc as well. This means that for many creatives, how magic is used is a lot different than in the classic canon, but still mystical and sublime.
This manifests in all kinds of ways. Descent Into Avernus, as mentioned earlier, is but one of many. I mean, why wouldn't the legions of Hell invent chainsaws and chainsaw swords and war vehicles? If you've been in battle with infinite resources for eons and eons, I'm pretty sure your technology level would rise quite a bit! I mean, have you seen the concept art of Zariel's war ship? It looks like its from Star Wars!
So, yes, I think Magitch and Science Fantasy, in many many many different forms, have a place in and are fundamental to D&D. It doesn't matter if its something as simple as chainsaw swords or as wild as power armor; Fantasy is based off our understanding of reality, and our contemporary understanding means we can create new but "true" ideas of magic and the sublime.