name that genre

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Corporate intrigue.

Well, there are certainly elements of that.

[Pursuivant]

Genre: SF
Sub-Genres: Alternate History, Hard SF, Near Future, Family Drama.
Elevator Pitch: "Dune" meets "Dynasty", but set on a realistic near future Mars like in "The Martian." (Not entirely accurate, but good enough.)

It's actually creative enough that it falls between genres, or bends them, which is even cooler.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Genre: SF
Sub-Genres: Alternate History, Hard SF, Near Future, Family Drama.
Elevator Pitch: "Dune" meets "Dynasty", but set on a realistic near future Mars like in "The Martian." (Not entirely accurate, but good enough.)

It's actually creative enough that it falls between genres, or bends them, which is even cooler.

That's pretty good. I might add in "Social SF" as one of the subgenres; it more or less fits Asimov's definition. On one hand its political assumptions are very different from those of Dune, but on the other hand Dune is likely to be familiar to nearly everyone in the prospective audience. And I would say that Dune can be called "family drama," though that's not how it's usually described.

I'm complimented by your final comment . . .

[JulianLW]

Maybe call it "Sci-Fi of Manners" after the Novel of Manners.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by JulianLW

Maybe call it "Sci-Fi of Manners" after the Novel of Manners.

There are elements of that. But most of the science fiction of manners I've seen has been specifically comedy of manners, as in the Anthony Villiers novels, the Drake Maijstral novels, or The Duchess of Kneedeep (whose author was a great fan of the Villiers novels). Or, I suppose, a couple of the Vorkosigan novels, A Civil Campaign and Captain Vorpatril's Aliance. Anyway, this campaign is not meant to be a comedy, though I expect it may have some comedic aspects.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by whswhs

But if I were writing a supplement about how to run this sort of campaign—one driven by Social Engineering the way a fantasy campaign is driven by Magic or Thaumatology, or a supers one by Powers—what title would best tell potential readers what to expect?

Is this more the crux of the question, than the specific example of Fronteira? That is, you're looking for the genre for the sort of story that focuses on people's jobs, relationships, etc, not necessarily all that but IN SPAAAAAACE!

That sounds a lot like a soap opera, although that has a connotation of a degree of melodrama that may not be appropriate (also, in what little I've seen of soaps, the melodrama seems so thick as to cross over into just being silly, which I suspect isn't something you want associated with this). Perhaps just call it a "social drama?"

*searches thread*

Yeah, looks like that's something benz72 suggested, so I'll second that - Social Drama seems like the way to go, here.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by thrash

To me, "family saga" implies a greater depth in time, where the units of action aren't individuals so much as multi-generational lineages.

I'd have to agree with thrash on the connotations here. I associate "saga" and doubly "family saga" with Roots, The Thorn Birds, and those series John Jakes used to crank out in the 70s and 80s (the Kent family one, starting with The Bastard; North and South).

But then, I don't have a good term for Bonanza and Big Valley. They're families, but single generation, comparatively limited in scope. I'd call them "Westerns" for set dressing and style, but I don't know how to split the hair with all those Westerns that focus on the lone hero. They're an ensemble cast that happens to be a family, in the same genre as The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. Those seem to just get called "dramas" (with the fact that it's a single family being ignored). So I'm most fond of Pursuivant's "family drama".

[thrash]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Social Drama seems like the way to go, here.

Point of order: are there any other kinds of drama, or is "social drama" redundant?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by thrash

Point of order: are there any other kinds of drama, or is "social drama" redundant?

Technically I think that's a point of information.

In the broad sense of social, you might have drama that was purely about internal psychological conflict.

In a narrower sense, "social" seems to me to refer to conflict between social classes or institutions or the like, or conflict of individuals with the institutions of their society. You could then have drama based on conflict of individuals with God, or fate, or other supernatural powers (provided the human participants are emotionally involved with the powers, rather than just having them be monsters that they have to kill); or on conflict of individuals with other individuals, with neither side being a representative of a social class or institution or whatever. That's as distinguished from conflict with nature, or with technology, where the other side lacks personhood and the conflict is purely physical/intellectual: I would call that "action" rather than "drama."

[thrash]

Originally Posted by whswhs

In a narrower sense, "social" seems to me to refer to conflict between social classes or institutions or the like, or conflict of individuals with the institutions of their society.

Ah, I see. I was taking "social" to mean "inter-personal" rather than "pertaining to society as a whole." It seems to me that drama typically occurs between and among persons (or personifications), though I'll give you psychological drama as a counterexample; I agree that physical drama is better termed "action" or "action-adventure."