D&D General Who put all this Sci-Fi in my soup!?

[SkidAce]

It wouldn't interesting to have a setting in which a traditional fantasy realm has been impacted by explicit sci fi influences.

So, for example, you'd have your traditional mountain / forest / city people with their proto-European medieval settlements and conflicts. But then your have a fourth species that are aliens who crash landed hundreds of years ago and have had to adapt using the remains of their scavenged technology.

Love it. Sounds like half the SF/Fantasy books on my shelf.

 

[MGibster]

I wouldn't call Spelljammer or pocket realms with mechanical societies sci-fi, I call that space fantasy and steampunk...

Steampunk is considered a sub-genre of science fiction by most people. Space fantasy is of course a blend of science fiction and fantasy. But then people have been arguing about what science fiction is for more than a century now. I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I accept any label other than scientifiction!

 

[CreamCloud0]

the line between fantasy and sci-fi has always been alot thinner than alot of people want to admit, most of the time it's just what coat of paint has been slapped on it,

what's really the difference between a force magic blast and a pulse laser shot?
between travelling the realms in a spelljammer ship and exploring space in your cosmic shuttle?
between a warforged golem and an advanced droid?

 

[Cergorach]

what's really the difference between a force magic blast and a pulse laser shot?
between travelling the realms in a spelljammer ship and exploring space in your cosmic shuttle?
between a warforged golem and an advanced droid?

It's theme: one is based on magic, the other on science. That's why we call one fantasy and the other science fiction.

 

[Yaarel]

I've been noticing (obviously purely anecdotal here), that those in circle of DM's have been including more and more science fiction elements in their otherwise Tolkien/medieval/high fantasy games. I have no issue with it and know the rich tradition of slipping sci-fi in at times, but specifically with my peers who run D&D 5e, they are heavily pursuing science fiction elements in their plotlines - Spelljammer space battles, creating pocket realms of mechanical societies with vanishing mysticism, and the like. I could totally be off-base here, but has anyone else noticed this drift or shift occurring and how do you feel about its increasing prevalence?

As you mention, scifi is dnd from the beginning. Maybe its fair to say dnd fans like scifi but Tolkein fans dont?

Personallly I love magic, so I am less enthusiastic about the trope of magic-versus-science where they cancel each other out.

But adding tech to a setting or even an entire society? Welcome aboard!

 

[Yaarel]

It's theme: one is based on magic, the other on science. That's why we call one fantasy and the other science fiction.

When science looks like magic then there is no difference.

What sounds like muttering a spell, might be activating a computer app.

Conversely many scifi shows are full on magic, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etcetera, with the assumption of a mystical mind-alterable universe.

At this point I simple refer to "fantasy" as scifi.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Maybe its fair to say dnd fans like scifi but Tolkein fans dont?

Nope, I like both. I don’t think Tolkien is a good fit for the silly shenanigans that RPG players generally get up to though.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What sounds like muttering a spell, might be activating a computer app.

 

[Yaarel]

I think the definition of magic is,

a method by which a mental visualization directly becomes a physical event.

If this method is achieved "scientifically" it is still "magic".

 

[Yaarel]

Nope, I like both. I don’t think Tolkien is a good fit for the silly shenanigans that RPG players generally get up to though.

But this is simply a choice of setting. Both tech and magic are D&D.