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Tokidoki
2015-09-01, 02:03 AM
Combining sci-fi with fantasy is older than (http://paizo.com/image/product/catalog/TSR/TSR1143_500.jpeg) some people (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/images/44/17128.jpg) think (http://speljatten.shop.textalk.se/shop/17886/art86/h9559/6029559-origpic-a416f3.png), and I was curious if you've played games that were fantasy settings but had sci-fi or perhaps modern-day aspects? To be specific I'm not asking about stuff like Shadowrun or the Desden Files or Numenera, since those are other settings with fantasy trappings. Nor am I asking about stuff like Eberron where you have "magic is science" or Spelljammer. No, something like THIS. (http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/pathfinder/images/5/55/Numerian_mecha_scorpion.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101101215320)

I know, I know, it sounds nitpicky :smallbiggrin: but I'm genuinely curious how many people have participated in those kinds of settings, whether they were integral parts of the setting (Pathfinder's Iron Gods) or were hidden/scarce/in the background (ie Shannara series, Adventure Time, etc.).

Xuc Xac
2015-09-01, 02:19 AM
Every fantasy kingdom ruled by a king but divided into duchies ruled by dukes, but those duchies are divided into counties ruled by counts, etc. That's modern federalism with medieval titles, not actual medieval feudalism. Nation states in general are very modern (much younger than plate armour and two handed swords).

Mr. Mask
2015-09-01, 03:20 AM
If you're referring to absolute loyalty and power of the king, that was rare (but not unseen) in feudal systems. A true feudal system relies on your vassals' loyalty to maintain power. But nation states and republics are by no means a modern concept, they've been around since before the Romans. Since the enlightenment period, modern nation states are different in that they offer citizenship to all their inhabitants, whereas past ones made people outside their central ethnic/cultural group second class citizens.



OP: What you describe reminds me of Will Wheaton's tabletop RPG game he started a while back. You might be interested, I recommend looking into it (it's a sort of Conan with lasers).

Tokidoki
2015-09-01, 05:26 AM
If you're referring to absolute loyalty and power of the king, that was rare (but not unseen) in feudal systems. A true feudal system relies on your vassals' loyalty to maintain power. But nation states and republics are by no means a modern concept, they've been around since before the Romans. Since the enlightenment period, modern nation states are different in that they offer citizenship to all their inhabitants, whereas past ones made people outside their central ethnic/cultural group second class citizens.



OP: What you describe reminds me of Will Wheaton's tabletop RPG game he started a while back. You might be interested, I recommend looking into it (it's a sort of Conan with lasers).

Yeah Titansgrave, I'm familiar with it. Definitely the kind of stuff I was asking about, though the game really needs a world book before I consider running it at all.

Hawkstar
2015-09-01, 07:34 AM
Hmm... how about we go on an expedition to the Barrier Peaks to find out!

Milo v3
2015-09-01, 08:31 AM
My current PF setting is Modern in technology, though some of it is merged like phone apps with enchantments in them, some drugs are partially made from potions, undead and bound outsiders are sometimes used in automating manufacturing, people store spells in digital format, different races come from different planets, genetic engineering is used to increase the chances of children developing sorcery, etc.

Cikomyr
2015-09-01, 10:01 AM
I had an idea of a Sci/Fi Fantasy setting, where the planet is basically a colony for an interstellar empire aimed at producing certain "magical" rocks. They created a religion out of forcing the natives (humans) to mine that ressource, and mutated the locals to create servants as representative (elves) or more efficient labor (dwarves).

All magic is derived from the alien's technology. The clergy use religious symbols, which as small artifacts powered by tge rocks to achieve miracles. Heavy exploitation of magic rocks have caused some accidental mutation in the local population, allowing some people to wield magic outside of the clergy (sorcerers).

The setting is periodically attacked by a biological weapon known as "orcs", which use portals to be summoned from another world. These are the creation of a rival empire, which are preceived as " Demons".

josienoms
2015-09-02, 09:16 AM
I think Exalted might just be the game you're looking for. Especially 2.5 edition, and the addition of the alternate settings in Shards of the Exalted Dream. The world's about as fantasy as you can get, a flat plane surrounded on all sides by primordial chaos threatening to swallow and unmake it. Everything in existence has its own god, from the Sun and the Moon, to individual grains of rice. The player characters are the titular Exalted, chosen champions empowered by the mightiest of the gods. There's all kinds of ghosts, demons, gods, and monsters that threaten Creation, not to mention other Exalted who aren't quite as nice as you. :smalltongue:

The Sci-Fi stuff comes in from magitech. In the near mythical First Age, the Exalted had created all kinds of technological wonders. Flying fortresses, giant mecha, laser cannons and that kind of stuff. Not all of it still exists in the Second Age, and much of what's left has fallen into decay. However, the return of the Solar Exalted in large numbers is shaking up the status-quo, and it's possible for you as a player to create some of that stuff again.

And then there are the alternate settings, two of which are Sci-Fi and Modern. The Sci-Fi one, called Heaven's Reach, reinterprets Exalted as a setting into a Space Opera. So expect aliens, spaceships, blaster pistols, lightsabers, and all that stuff. Many of the cities and nations of the default setting are converted into planets. However, this setting is entirely Sci-Fi, as the gods are converted into super advanced AI, and the Exalted themselves the results of technology that enhances them.

The Modern Age setting, however, is still very much a fantasy setting. The gods are still there, Creation is still a flat plane, demons and ghosts and monsters are real. The only difference is that in this world, the Exalted lost the Primordial War due to betrayal in their own ranks. A cabal of 50 Infernal Exalted secretly control the world, and directed its development into a world that has technology equal to our own, while still retaining the magic elements.

Mastikator
2015-09-02, 09:59 AM
You have to make a distinction between science fiction and future fantasy.

Science fiction is fiction about science, it's grounded in science and plays by the rules of science. It extrapolates from modern science and often invents, but it plays but the same rules as actual science.
It's typically used as a way to explore what it would be like if some amazing scientific discovery or technological advancement was made. For example, in Star Trek they have the technology to recreate anything on a molecular level as long as they have the material, so there's no point in having money. At least for regular people in day to day life, how that would affect the rest of society. Acquiring money and stuff no longer is a goal in people's life so people instead focus on self improvement and self actualization.

Future fantasy is like regular fantasy, but instead of all of the magic themed stuff you have lasers and space. It's a way to provide a unique scenery or a unique set of parameters to tell a story in. Like Star Wars, The Force is basically magic and Jedis are basically wizards, but the story and the world treats it like something pseudo-mystical and pseudo-scientific.

Science fiction is in a way about exploring society or humanity, it's not really about telling a story. The story is just the medium through which exploration is done.
Future fantasy is the other way around, in future fantasy the story is the not the medium, the story, and characters is the thing.


So when I read the title I kind of expected this topic to be about tippy-verse stuff, which is basically the science fiction of magic. But if you're talking about adding future fantasy to medieval fantasy, then just look at Star Wars and rename the force into "The magic" and rename jedis into wizards.