Science Fiction

[Zak Arntson]

I think my main point is to say, "Let's find out whether science fiction is a usable label under any circumstances, and then address (a) if it's shallow and (b) how it has or hasn't applied to role-playing."

This sums up my confusion about this thread. How does this thread have relevance towards RPG Theory? It's like "let's talk about Fantasy." or "let's talk about Mysteries." That won't help me design, theorize nor play an RPG. Too many aspects within the broad label.

So what I want to know, Joachim, is how are you trying to further theory/play/design with your initial post?

What do you think the genre of Science Fiction imposes on the design considerations? What're the concerns inherent in it?

The genre of Sci-Fi imposes nothing on design considerations. You're not going to have a functional gaming group if you just grab a bunch of people "to play a sci-fi rpg."

[contracycle]

This sums up my confusion about this thread. How does this thread have relevance towards RPG Theory? It's like "let's talk about Fantasy." or "let's talk about Mysteries." That won't help me design, theorize nor play an RPG. Too many aspects within the broad label.

In exactly the same way that Sorceror starts from a discussion of fantasy.  It is worth establishing what we mean, so when we do design toward a particular end, we know what that end actually is.

Edit: for example, IMO a star trek licensed RPG which tried to do anything like the current series would not, IMO, be science fiction - it might actually better off using narrativist mechanics than sim mechanics, bwecuase none of the story is about the woerld, its just about the crew's personal foibles.

[Zak Arntson]

I don't see how Sorcerer starts from a discussion on fantasy, except in the vaguest sense. I still don't see the benefit of discussing such a broad topic, except perhaps to serve as initial inspiration that will spin off into another thread or game design.  I'll sit back and watch this thread, then, to see where you all take it.

[simon]

This is my first posting, so hello to everyone. By the way, I'm an SF addict.

It seems to me that the RPG value of science fiction has been stated already throughout all the replies. Somebody wrote, rightly, that all fiction deals with the human condition, SF ditto. But the extremeties of that conditionare most starkly pronounced in modernity, where even the actual idea that the human condition is a universal/trans-historical/transcultural thing is itself challenged. Technology and science are cultural products of modernity, maybe even its fountain-head. In the 21st century we are witnessing developments in science and technology which will radically and irrevocably alter what it means to be a human being. I'm thinking of bio-technology (gene manipulation, cloning, cybernetics, medical research on things like ageing, etc) and nanotechnology in particular. Now, for me at least, the best SF is that which deals with such transitions from human to post-human or whatever. Authors like Greg Egan (Terranesia, Permeutation City, Axiomatic, etc)are excellent. Setting an SF role playing game in the not too distant future where such technologies are really changing the human condition seems to be to be the most perfect setting of all for a role playing game. Struggling to maintain/understand/shed/come to terms with ones humanity is role playing heaven. And its just such a setting that I've been working on - c.2100 AD, space colonies with genetically altered humans provided stark contrast to what it means to be human and decentering yet again the blessed Earth; strange alien artefacts found throughout the solar system which open up the vastness of interstellar space and the possiblity of alien encounter; agelessness through treatments which control the telomere (an ageing thingy which gets shorter and shorter until we die of old age); etc; etc. Such a setting is full of wonder, fear, hope and angst. What could possibly be better?

[Gordon C. Landis]

Hey simon -

Looks like I'm the lucky guy who get's to say . . . welcome to the Forge!  With GenCon coming up (I'm heading there myself tomorrow AM), it may be a while before the "usual suspects" show up to do the same.  I've been a bit of an SF addict myself at times, and I think you make some great points about why it can be such a compelling place to set RPG's.  

Just so you know - the Forge tends to dislike resurecting old threads by adding a new post.  Starting a new thread, with the bits you liked about the old one pasted in as needed,  is preferred.  Seems to work out pretty well.

Gordon, thinking he's going to check out some SF RPGs at GenCon . . .

[Paganini]

Daredevil:

I want to give you a couple of definitions you might find useful. These are by no means authoritative, but they are generally accepted, which means that they will have some application to games dealing with these concepts.

First, the most pure, arguably most valid for of science fiction is Hard SciFi. Hard SciFi usually deals with a central theme based on Imaginary Science (FTL travel, for example), exploring how that Imaginary Science would affect the real world, if it truely existed. Hard SciFi typicaly is as realistic as possible in light of current science, with a single, or small number of depatures that serves as the central theme.

Science Fantasy is almost the diametric opposite of Hard SciFi. In it Imaginary Science is used pretty much at will, to accomplish whatever the author needs to accomplish. It's often combined with spuernatural elements, such as psionics, with only cursory care given to realism. The recent Star Wars movies (especially Attack of the Clones) are excellent examples of Science Fantasy.

Space Opera is a sort of subcategory that can be Hard SciFi or Science Fantasy. Space Opera primarily deals with larger than life action, black and white morality. I once heard it defined as "horse opera in spacesuits," and that's a great description. Space Opera is pretty much John Wayne in outer space. The accuracy of the technology at hand isn't really that important one way or the other.

Cyberpunk is more or less the opposite of Space Opera. It's the Film Noire of science fiction, dealing with dark themes and ambiguous morality. I've actually been doing some pretty serious research into Cyberpunk myself recently. Here's a quote from the alt.cyberpunk FAQ:

Cyberpunk literature, in general, deals with marginalized people in
technologically-enhanced cultural "systems". In cyberpunk stories'
settings, there is usually a "system" which dominates the lives of
most "ordinary" people, be it an oppresive government, a group of
large, paternalistic corporations, or a fundamentalist religion. These
systems are enhanced by certain technologies (today advancing at a
rate that is bewildering to most people), particularly "information
technology" (computers, the mass media), making the system better at
keeping those within it inside it. Often this technological system
extends into its human "components" as well, via brain implants,
prosthetic limbs, cloned or genetically engineered organs, etc. Humans
themselves become part of "the Machine". This is the "cyber" aspect of
cyberpunk.

However, in any cultural system, there are always those who live on
its margins, on "the Edge": criminals, outcasts, visionaries, or those
who simply want freedom for its own sake. Cyberpunk literature focuses
on these people, and often on how they turn the system's technological
tools to their own ends. This is the "punk" aspect of cyberpunk.

The best cyberpunk works are distinguished from previous work with
similar themes by a certain style. The setting is urban, the mood is
dark and pessimistic. Concepts are thrown at the reader without
explanation, much like new developments are thrown at us in our
everyday lives. There is often a sense of moral ambiguity; simply
fighting "the system" (to topple it, or just to stay alive) does not
make the main characters "heroes" or "good" in the traditional sense.

Hope you find this useful. :)

[Edit: Whoops... didn't note the date on that original post. Oh well... maybe this stuff will be worthwhile. anyway.]