Today let's talk about how pathetic we are as a people when all we talk about twenty years later is how cool Star Wars was.
I mean, come on, really, when all we can do is drudge up a twenty year old flick and praise it like some dark forgotten god in the back
forests of some Celtic land, we have to ask ourselves: "Do we have anything going for us at all?" Nothing against Star Wars, I like it,
I even saw the latest theatrical re-release. Yeah, I got suckered into "see it again for the first time." Who didn't?
The same can be said for role playing games dealing with science fiction themes. Who has ever brought a good sci-fi game to life?
And I don't EVEN want to hear anyone try and defend games like "Trinity" or "Alternity." What kind of mismatched linearly
developed games are those? I can just hear it now: "Ooh, ooh, can I play the tusked wookie that uses flintlock pistols?" It's
like no one understands how to bring a sci-fi game to life. Most games are either too sterile or too dark. Everyone tramps around in
clean cut space navy uniforms postulating techno-babble and wielding dinky little "p" noise making phasers. Or better yet,
let's all play psionic masters who are the only hope against our re-invading ancestors.
People think that Science-Fiction and Fantasy are completely separate endeavors. They're not. Both are speculative fiction.
One looks to the past, the other looks to the future. But the key attraction to these games is the fact that they are limitless in their
possibilities. In the past, Magic is the root of all fantastic things. In the future, it's amazing technologies of the like and kind
we've never seen before. Sci-fi games get too bogged down with things like Psionic (magic without the kick) and technology
that is more concerned with how it works than what it does (a.k.a. any Star Trek/Traveller remake.)
A good science fiction gaming verse provides that same unlimited spectrum clearly evident in any popular fantasy game.
There's no set future. There's no set past. That's the beauty of speculative fiction. Isn't it funny
how in a fantasy game you can play a human living in this complete fantasy land . . . but in sci-fi you're a human . . . from
that boring place called Earth? I just don't get it. You don't have to put sci-fi in a small box to make it believable. In
fact, why does believable have to be a factor?
The purpose of gaming is to explore those things through imagination that you couldn't do otherwise. Heck, I can't
do a triple back flip on land on a prehistoric animals neck and try and ride it to the ground . . . but my character can.
Timothy Till
President Rune's Law Inc.
P.O. Box 73146
Houston, TX 77273
(281) 397-7595 Phone
(281) 397-6640 Fax
-- Makers of Wayfarer Infinity: Science-Fantasy Role Playing
-- Hosts of "I Think Therefore I Con" in Houston, Texas
