Re: [GZG] First Sci-Fi Game

Well, it's a matter of taste of course, but I don't buy the "If  
you're going to include anything you can't patent tomorrow, you might  
as well ignore science" argument. To me at least there's a difference  
between, for example, including fusion rockets (we know fusion is  
possible, we understand the nuclear mechanisms involved, and we can  
even make it happen when we want, but we're nowhere near the  
technology to use it for spacecraft propulsion) and throwing in  
"reactionless drives" (which would shatter the structure of physics  
all the way back to Galileo).

I find story worlds that *don't* limit their options boring. If the  
characters regularly escape life-threatening situations by pulling  
super-powers out of their backsides (Yes, Dune prequel novels, I'm  
looking at you), or "reversing the polarity of the tachyon  
emitters" (Hi there, Star Trek), I believe that suspense and dramatic  
tension are completely vitiated. For me, all story worlds *need*  
serious constraints. They need hard, sharp corners for the characters  
to bang their shins on, whether they're detective stories, Napoleonic  
naval sagas, or science-fiction.

Best regards, Robert Bryett

On 26/04/2009, at 07:46 , Tom B wrote:

> Robert, if people are gonna nit pick about FTL - which may end up  
> being possible - due to what we think we know now (notice some  
> things we think we know come and go pretty quickly), then you  
> should apply the same standard all over. That destroys almost all  
> SF technology not already at least partly in production or in  
> research today. Everything else ends up being essentially a form of  
> magic because we don't have the theory to explain it and can't  
> prove it is do-able. Yes, you can come up with a setting here that  
> might work, but it will have a very limited sci-fi potential and  
> the adventures will be constrained in many regards (whereas  
> 'somewhat hard' sci-fi is easier to do and space opera requires  
> little or no justification other than occasional sops to internal  
> consistency). That's why I say boring - you seriously limit your  
> options.

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