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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8251506" data-attributes="member: 16814">Sci-fi is about changing something fundamental about how we live and then examining how the human animal deals with this change.&nbsp; They are &quot;what if&quot; stories that feature some technology that alters the status quo in a distinct way.&nbsp; Star Trek is a great example of sci-fi, using numerous tech changes to ask what if stories, largely focusing on what it means to be human in these situations.&nbsp; Star Wars, on the other hand, is not a good sci-fi story, because it doesn't ask &quot;what if&quot; with the technology changes, but instead is a pretty straightforward story about good vs evil.&nbsp; And I say this as a die-hard Star Wars fan.&nbsp; I've seen &quot;space opera&quot; tossed about in this thread, but not in the way it's meant to be used.&nbsp; &quot;Space opera&quot; is a story about good vs evil, or other 'outside the ken of men' forces vying for control with the trappings of sci-fi.&nbsp; They don't ask &quot;what if,&quot; they just use some technology fantasy to tell a story about these contesting forces.&nbsp; Space travel does not equal space opera.As for the trope/genre discussion, sci-fi has so many conflicting tropes that it's very, very challenging to pick central or shared tropes like space travel as definitional.&nbsp; If any tropes are definitional, they are the &quot;what if&quot; focus of the tale, and also that some technology is altering the human condition that does not exist at the time the story is told.&nbsp; Traveler is a great example of a sci-fi game, because it's focus is really on life in a changed universe, using technology to affect that change.&nbsp; However, that said, the sci-fi-ness of a given Traveler game is going to be up to the table, not really the rules or the setting.&nbsp; Traveler enables sci-fi, it doesn't define it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 8251506, member: 16814"] Sci-fi is about changing something fundamental about how we live and then examining how the human animal deals with this change. They are "what if" stories that feature some technology that alters the status quo in a distinct way. Star Trek is a great example of sci-fi, using numerous tech changes to ask what if stories, largely focusing on what it means to be human in these situations. Star Wars, on the other hand, is not a good sci-fi story, because it doesn't ask "what if" with the technology changes, but instead is a pretty straightforward story about good vs evil. And I say this as a die-hard Star Wars fan. I've seen "space opera" tossed about in this thread, but not in the way it's meant to be used. "Space opera" is a story about good vs evil, or other 'outside the ken of men' forces vying for control with the trappings of sci-fi. They don't ask "what if," they just use some technology fantasy to tell a story about these contesting forces. Space travel does not equal space opera. As for the trope/genre discussion, sci-fi has so many conflicting tropes that it's very, very challenging to pick central or shared tropes like space travel as definitional. If any tropes are definitional, they are the "what if" focus of the tale, and also that some technology is altering the human condition that does not exist at the time the story is told. Traveler is a great example of a sci-fi game, because it's focus is really on life in a changed universe, using technology to affect that change. However, that said, the sci-fi-ness of a given Traveler game is going to be up to the table, not really the rules or the setting. Traveler enables sci-fi, it doesn't define it. [/QUOTE]

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