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Message: <blockquote data-quote="thormagni" data-source="post: 1559918" data-attributes="member: 13637">Well, I don't know if the supernatural or the "other" plays such a major role in any of those three genres. Because in all three genres, (I'm including Star Wars as space opera, as opposed to sci-fi) the "other" is just part of the setting, usually. Superheros wield amazing powers, skills and devices, making playing them them more like a high-level D&D game, where demigods and epic mortals duke it out for causes incomprehensible to mortal man. Unless you explore a superhero world from a mortal viewpoint, it is all about the amazing battles laced with melodrama. (And exploring a superhero world from a mortal viewpoint would be a great game, I think. A team of non-super cops or military officers tasked with bringing down rogue superhumans would be really interesting.) It is hard to conceive of a power or character that would be so weird that it couldn't find a niche in the superhero world. ("What are we going to do with this evil, tentacled beast from beyond that we destroyed in last month's epic crossover?" "Throw it in the corner with Starro the Conqueror over there.")In space opera, the "other" is completely normal. People go to a cantina or spaceport and see hordes of alien species. Humans accept that the universe is filled with unusual species and races and while humans are dominant, they easily rub elbows with their non-human counterparts, partner with them, drink Centaurian ale with them, etc. I can still remember watching the first Star Wars and thinking how strange the creatures in the cantina were and being amazed that most humans in the movie were unaffected by the weirdness. But If Mos Eisley is normal, what can be weird? Now while general sci-fi doesn't really usually have a problem with "the other," (since you have alien species wandering around, doing their alien things) it can be interesting to introduce a horrific, evil, other element into a sci-fi game. Think Alien or Predator, here. But that only really works if the humans have never encountered other aliens before.</blockquote>

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