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<blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3155251" data-attributes="member: 19675">Look at it this way:&nbsp; You and your players already live in a sci-fi world.&nbsp; Unless you're all a bunch of engineers or scientists (which you probably aren't, based on your post), you're surrounded by tech you use but do not understand.&nbsp; Generally speaking, you don't have the technical skills to fix or even diagnose much of the tech that surrounds you- you use your phone to find people who do.If your car breaks, you call an auto mechanic.If your computer breaks, you call a tech or replace the part that died if you can ID it- you don't fix the individual chip.You probably use pros to fix your plumbing or install sophisticated electronic suites...Your sci-fi PCs will probably be much the same as you and your pals, but moreso.&nbsp; They'll navigate the social/action side of things, but they'll probably be in the service of someone much smarter, or have contacts who fit that description.Look at your hard sci-fi protagonists.&nbsp; Some are policemen or detectives, some are soldiers, some are couriers, historians, priests, longshoremen, dilletantes, cab drivers and other kinds of regular joes.&nbsp; Very few are actual scientists.In FRPGs, the only ones that need to understand magic are PC mages and certain NPCs, not the whole party.&nbsp; In hard sci-fi, the only ones who need to understand the tech are PCs who deal with it directly, PC or NPC.A lack of scientific/engineering knowledge will make certain archetypes unplayable for most players- imagine playing Angus MacGyver without knowing something of science- but shouldn't affect the overall playability of the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dannyalcatraz, post: 3155251, member: 19675"] Look at it this way: [i]You and your players already live in a sci-fi world.[/i] Unless you're all a bunch of engineers or scientists (which you probably aren't, based on your post), you're surrounded by tech you use but do not understand. Generally speaking, you don't have the technical skills to fix or even diagnose much of the tech that surrounds you- you use your phone to find people who do. If your car breaks, you call an auto mechanic. If your computer breaks, you call a tech or replace the part that died if you can ID it- you don't fix the individual chip. You probably use pros to fix your plumbing or install sophisticated electronic suites... Your sci-fi PCs will probably be much the same as you and your pals, but moreso. They'll navigate the social/action side of things, but they'll probably be in the service of someone much smarter, or have contacts who fit that description. Look at your hard sci-fi protagonists. Some are policemen or detectives, some are soldiers, some are couriers, historians, priests, longshoremen, dilletantes, cab drivers and other kinds of regular joes. Very few are actual scientists. In FRPGs, the only ones that need to understand magic are PC mages and certain NPCs, not the whole party. In hard sci-fi, the only ones who need to understand the tech are PCs who deal with it directly, PC or NPC. A lack of scientific/engineering knowledge will make certain archetypes unplayable for most players- imagine playing Angus MacGyver without knowing [i]something[/i] of science- but shouldn't affect the overall playability of the game. [/QUOTE]

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