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Why no one plays sci-fi RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="robberbaron" data-source="post: 1401601" data-attributes="member: 14771"><p>My two-penneth:</p><p></p><p>Some of my favourite games have been "Sci-Fi".</p><p>Traveller, Space Opera, "StarQuest" (a love-child of Space Opera and Runequest penned by Plane Sailing) - all were entertaining and enjoyable.</p><p>I've even played Star Trek RPG.</p><p>Cyberpunk/CyberSpace were also fun and definitely Sci-Fi.</p><p></p><p>I now run Star Wars d20 and it is a blast. I intend to run Spaceship Zero and that will be a blast.</p><p></p><p>That said, I have played D&D since '75 and it still makes up the vast majority of my gaming. </p><p>Why? Because more people prefer Fantasy to Sci-Fi.</p><p></p><p>In my experience, some players like the way they can behave in a Fantasy setting and don't like the fact that you can't do that in Sci-Fi.</p><p>You can tool up with some mega-armour and swing an amazing sword, but in a Sci-Fi game you are very much more restricted. You can't normally wear armour giving significant protection and are restricted to weapons that can't vapourize buildings.</p><p><strong>Power-gamers</strong><span style="font-size: 9px">tm</span> just can't take these restrictions so they don't play Sci-Fi games.</p><p></p><p>One of the problems already highlighted seems to be that in a Sci-Fi game, the GM needs to be at least as on top of the science as the players.</p><p>This is the main reason GMs prefer to run Fantasy. It is easier.</p><p>If you are "lucky" enough to have a science-literate group of players you really have to work to keep their attention. Just saying something works "because it does" is fine in D&D (it's magic), but doesn't sit well in Sci-Fi. Then again, if you don't understand something, perhaps you should just leave it out.</p><p></p><p>Oh yeah, my view is that anything we can't do today counts as Science Fiction.</p><p>And some of Asimov's books are laughable (Space Rangers, anyone?), even 25 years ago when I read them. Give me E.E. Doc Smith anyday. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="robberbaron, post: 1401601, member: 14771"] My two-penneth: Some of my favourite games have been "Sci-Fi". Traveller, Space Opera, "StarQuest" (a love-child of Space Opera and Runequest penned by Plane Sailing) - all were entertaining and enjoyable. I've even played Star Trek RPG. Cyberpunk/CyberSpace were also fun and definitely Sci-Fi. I now run Star Wars d20 and it is a blast. I intend to run Spaceship Zero and that will be a blast. That said, I have played D&D since '75 and it still makes up the vast majority of my gaming. Why? Because more people prefer Fantasy to Sci-Fi. In my experience, some players like the way they can behave in a Fantasy setting and don't like the fact that you can't do that in Sci-Fi. You can tool up with some mega-armour and swing an amazing sword, but in a Sci-Fi game you are very much more restricted. You can't normally wear armour giving significant protection and are restricted to weapons that can't vapourize buildings. [B]Power-gamers[/B][SIZE=1]tm[/SIZE] just can't take these restrictions so they don't play Sci-Fi games. One of the problems already highlighted seems to be that in a Sci-Fi game, the GM needs to be at least as on top of the science as the players. This is the main reason GMs prefer to run Fantasy. It is easier. If you are "lucky" enough to have a science-literate group of players you really have to work to keep their attention. Just saying something works "because it does" is fine in D&D (it's magic), but doesn't sit well in Sci-Fi. Then again, if you don't understand something, perhaps you should just leave it out. Oh yeah, my view is that anything we can't do today counts as Science Fiction. And some of Asimov's books are laughable (Space Rangers, anyone?), even 25 years ago when I read them. Give me E.E. Doc Smith anyday. :D [/QUOTE]
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