You Got Your Science Fiction In My Fantasy

[GameBanshee News]

Rampant Coyote turns to the history of the fantasy and science fiction setting in gaming, noting how they used to be less distinct.

And back in the 70's and early 80's, we seemed cool with that. Well, okay, I was only a kid, and wouldn't have understood the difference much otherwise. But it seemed that Dungeons & Dragons games often had a mix of powered armor, vibro-blades, and laser rifles muddying the waters of homebrewed Middle Earths. On the computer front, the early Ultima games mixed hover cars, space ships, evil computers, and time travel pretty freely.

Somewhere in the mid 80's (subjective time), the dividing line came down. Fantasy, as a genre, began standing on its own on the shelves of the bookstores, instead of being lumped into the anemic "science fiction" shelves. People started drawing a hard line between what constituted fantasy and what was required of science fiction. The term "speculative fiction" had been coined to include both genres, and began coming into vogue sometime after that to prevent the terms for the specific genres from getting misused with broader meanings.

And suddenly, even in RPGs, it was no longer cool to stick fusion-powered armor in your fantasy games. Well, most of them. We still had the genre-melding games like Shadowrun and stuff designed specifically around that concept. But there was mostly an assumption that anyone mixing the two genres was ignorant of the important distinction.

Because, you know, if that sword is electrified by a fusion battery or something in its hilt, it's SF! But if it is electrified by magic, it's F! Silly people!

And I also note that around that time, Ultima IV excised the last of the trappings of science fiction from the world.

Spotted on RPGWatch.

[Siberys]

Mostly RPG's tend not to differ in terms of science fiction and fantasy too much in it's personal features. For instance, a flamethrower using gas isn't that much different than a fire wizard with mana, both are equally deplete-able.

However, it's the matter of taste. Science fiction tends to try and explain a lot of things that nobody cares about. The simple act of going from one planet to another in science fiction is an extremely complex process. This is not to say that it is inaccurate as it's based on real science and real science would also make it extremely complex for the same task. However, with Fantasy, you get rid of that tedious explanation, and just induce it as "Magic did it for me" and while this is less realistic, it actually adds to the entertainment value of the game as you are not frustrated on which computer to go to and how to program it, what slicing means, so on and so forth.

Some people like the tedious explanation of various laws and theories of physics in a Science fiction game or even television show. Stargate SG1 did so well because of this, they had characters not only explain the laws but simplify them for the dullard of the group. But for me, a clear differentiation in fantasy and sci fi is extremely important, as I do not like to see advanced technology of any kind in fantasy games. Silverfall is an example, mostly fantasy based but it had musket rifles and this destroyed it for me. Buildings and Dark ages technology is at most what I want to see in a fantasy RPG.

In fact, I'd love to see a Dark Ages themed RPG, as gruesome as it sounds. If they want to incorporate realism into fantasy RPG's, have people executed on cross's and consider all technology and science Herecy against the gods or god. Have women treated like nothing more than tools and refuse gender selections in the game. Have nobility and common folk distinctly separated and thus treated MUCH differently. I'm not saying these reflect my views on society, but this would make an incredibly realistic game if this were just applied (but nope, ESRB and other video game monitoring groups probably won't have it).

[Brother None]

I don't know if that's entirely true, Siberys.

For one thing, while the explanations might be there they can be ignored as easily as not, making them kind of optional (except when they become plot-essential like the workings of FEV in Fallout 1).

More importantly, my impression is that sci fi often just aims for a kind of inner consistency (verisimilitude) and just leaves it at that.

Remember the explanation Calvin got for asking how lightbulbs work? "Magic."

That's the explanation, basically, in both fantasy and sci fi, of anything.

As for mixing Sci Fi and Fantasy, it too must submit to this logic of verisimilitude. There's no inherent problem in dealing with - say - a high fantasy realm turning to the industrial revolution (Arcanum) or high-technology Earthlings influencing a medieval planet (Hard to be a God). It's all about presentation and a consistent care of verisimilitude.

In fact, I'd love to see a Dark Ages themed RPG, as gruesome as it sounds. If they want to incorporate realism into fantasy RPG's, have people executed on cross's and consider all technology and science Herecy against the gods or god. Have women treated like nothing more than tools and refuse gender selections in the game. Have nobility and common folk distinctly separated and thus treated MUCH differently.

That's not really Dark Age, tho'. The Dark Ages were from the 6th to the 11th century. The Witch hunts were from the 15th to the 17th century. The Spanish Inquisition was established 1478.

The Dark Ages were mostly a time of nobility feuding, the Church just being a part of this and the average bishop all too happy to wage war with the average count, while normal people just slaved away and tilled the land. Inequality? There's no room for inequality when you're starving, is the reality of the matter. Repressing new ways? No need, people were too traditionally-minded to even consider them.

[Siberys]

As for your first point, I guess so. But there are still games that try to explain some of the stuff you really don't care about. Sins of a solar empire is one of them. They have extremely long and detailed descriptions of science-fiction esq researches that really you'd only want to know what they do, not their history or physics or anything. And because it's text, it's hard to just hunt for the information and ignore what you're being told.

As for the second point-

Well then an age in the context I described. Women were inferior and sometimes considered witches, technology and science were herecy, and people were executed for very little reason a lot of the times.