Do you have a favorite genre for gaming?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by d10000

I liked sci fi fiction but I can't help thinking, "for Gawds' sake, just let the super-intelligent android do everything; and hey, you can't dodge or survive energy weapons. Let's just get on the internet and crowdsource our engine problems. .. in fact, let's just have computers do everything, why are we even on this ship?"
I'm very literal minded.

You should try Transhuman Space. It takes those sorts of questions seriously, and very often answers them with a 'yes'.

[d10000]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

You should try Transhuman Space. It takes those sorts of questions seriously, and very often answers them with a 'yes'.

Oh I love that supplement, honestly I've just never had a group to run it with (and many/most players are lazy, lazy people who never learn rules or GM), but that's pretty much what I liked about Aberrant; nobody gets a 70x IQ boost and acts like they still have the same psychological dispositions as a jungle ape; Transhuman Space and Aberrant both flout the traditional wisdom that characters should be 'humanized' and other such atavistic Luddite nonsense (my favorite Superman is Elliot S! Maggin's, with infinite intelligence, strength and defined in canon as genetically perfect and the most powerful man in the Universe. .. space Krishna > farmboy).

[Dead Monky]

My absolute favorite is probably science-fantasy. If I can have robots, wizards, airships, zombies, machinery, monsters and more all at the same time I'm happy as hell. Throw in some steampunk, even better.

When I play straight fantasy I tend to play it as a sword and sorcery or low fantasy game, regardless of what the setting is supposed to be. And I mix in a lot of horror elements. Most "pure" fantasy just irritates me, especially high fantasy.

For some reason, I never play sci-fi games. I read tons of sci-fi, but sci-fi gaming tends to bore me.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by d10000

I liked sci fi fiction but I can't help thinking, "for Gawds' sake, just let the super-intelligent android do everything; and hey, you can't dodge or survive energy weapons. Let's just get on the internet and crowdsource our engine problems. .. in fact, let's just have computers do everything, why are we even on this ship?"

To be honest I tend to get rather annoyed by this mind-set.

Far from being a no go area Middle of the road space SF or lower key space opera tend to be my preferred gaming environments because of their flexibility. I find it hard to think of a genre where two writers or GMs can start with the same basic premise and come up with such different products.

I am not an uncritical fan, they can start to feel a bit stale is when either they draw upon too narrow a set of references or try to make them too much of a kitchen sink. But this is relatively easy to fix, if you read around a bit and use some degree of restraint this need not happen.

I would argue many of the other problems usually raised at these kind of settings are similarly curable being either overrated or easily designed out of a setting.

To throw out a few quick stock answers to prevent some of the situations you describe:

'Why don't we just let the super-intelligent android do everything?'

It is not inconceivable that strong AI is unavailable, either it is deemed to be impractical or somehow unethical or nobody has actually managed to code one. I don't think that the lack of Strong AI does that much violence to these kind of settings so if AI seems likely to displace your PC's it makes sense then don't include it.

'Lets just get on the internet and crowdsource our engine problems?'

Why not do this assuming that you are able to? Of course this isn't the panacea that it might seem to be.

Firstly you need access to the internet, not a given if you are in an unexplored solar system with no or very low bandwidth FTL comms or if you communications system is damaged etc.

Secondly this isn't going to be either a quick or entirely passive process you need to understand enough to be able to define the problem, you might need to possess additional skills in order to effectively manage the process and on top of all of this it may well take longer than it would for your mechanic to cook up a solution in house, this may be sensible in some situations but life has an odd way of coming with a strict time limit.

Thirdly what happens if you attract cranks? Arguably this is an extension of the previous point but it bears a separate examination.

The internet is not (and in will never be, in any plausible world) peopled exclusively by highly competent and motivated people with unlimited access to complete up to date and accurate information. Ultimately you are going to have to be able to spot the dud math and green ink when it starts to creep in.

Lastly, you have your plan but somebody still has to implement it.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Frost

To throw out a few quick stock answers to prevent some of the situations you describe:

'Why don't we just let the super-intelligent android do everything?'

It is not inconceivable that strong AI is unavailable, either it is deemed to be impractical or somehow unethical or nobody has actually managed to code one. I don't think that the lack of Strong AI does that much violence to these kind of settings so if AI seems likely to displace your PC's it makes sense then don't include it.

I suspect that comment was for the situations where the cast of characters already includes the super-intelligent android. No point arguing about one if one doesn't exist. (In fact, being described as an android tells something about the setting.)

Originally Posted by Frost

'Lets just get on the internet and crowdsource our engine problems?'

Why not do this assuming that you are able to? Of course this isn't the panacea that it might seem to be.

Firstly you need access to the internet, not a given if you are in an unexplored solar system with no or very low bandwidth FTL comms or if you communications system is damaged etc.

Secondly this isn't going to be either a quick or entirely passive process you need to understand enough to be able to define the problem, you might need to possess additional skills in order to effectively manage the process and on top of all of this it may well take longer than it would for your mechanic to cook up a solution in house, this may be sensible in some situations but life has an odd way of coming with a strict time limit.

Thirdly what happens if you attract cranks? Arguably this is an extension of the previous point but it bears a separate examination.

The internet is not (and in will never be, in any plausible world) peopled exclusively by highly competent and motivated people with unlimited access to complete up to date and accurate information. Ultimately you are going to have to be able to spot the dud math and green ink when it starts to creep in.

Lastly, you have your plan but somebody still has to implement it.

'Crowdsource' is probably an inaccurate descriptor, I agree. But 'hire a high-skilled specialist and let it fix our problem through teleoperation under the supervision of our mechanic and security guys, because it is still more cost-efficient than trying to do it yourself'. Of course, this isn't a solution if you have magical propulsion systems that take you out of reasonable light-lag range.

[Christopher R. Rice]

I've run...so much. I wouldn't be afraid to say there are only a handful of genres/game engines that I haven't played. There was a phase I went through about fifteen years ago where I played every system I could get my hands on and since my significant other is both a gamer and a collector...well, there was a lot to choose from. My personal "wheelhouse" genre is horror and/or contemporary (anything). I'm good at those. I've been told my games are addictive and/or spellbinding and since I've kept 7 people gaming once a week for about 15 years (sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average, once a week) I'm willing to believe them. But I also enjoy supers, fantasy, and steampunk + derivatives (especially clockpunk). My "white whale" campaign is actually something between space opera and epic fantasy. I've designed the campaign...*sigh* but I just can't seem to run it the way I'd like. So it sits on a shelf awaiting the return of its creator. Another thing I'd love to run is the old Chaosium Elfquest, Marvel FASERIP, my conversion of White Wolf's WoD for GURPS, or FATE (I've been thinking of running a "Elfquest" FATE game for a long time). But all of those are "one day" campaigns as in "One day, I'll run this." For now, I'm happy to continue the rotation of my GURPS campaigns in their current cycle.

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by d10000

I liked sci fi fiction but I can't help thinking, "for Gawds' sake, just let the super-intelligent android do everything; and hey, you can't dodge or survive energy weapons. Let's just get on the internet and crowdsource our engine problems. .. in fact, let's just have computers do everything, why are we even on this ship?"

I think Larry Niven's short story "Safe at any speed" answers those and similar questions very well: Such a setting would be boring.


Hans