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10 months ago ::
Aug 16, 2012 - 1:33PM
#61
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- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
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@Amerikajin: First edition had alternate rules for adding tech. There were crossover rules for Gamma World, Boot Hill and possibly Star Frontirs. Barrier Peaks was one such crossover. But in each case it was acknowledged that you were mixing another genre with the gebre from which D&D was based. Ive written about this extensivle. Just search the blogs for "Dungeontech"
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10 months ago ::
Aug 16, 2012 - 1:58PM
#62
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Date Joined:
Apr 23, 2009
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You can't base them in real science, though. You can give reasons that sound like science, but that doesn't make them science.
And yes, very few methods of FTL have any basis in science. I don't disagree with you at all that FTL travel is the hallmark of the space opera genre.
Space opera is a different genre from either hard sci-fi or soft sci-fi, though 
I know your half goofing off on this but let me respond seriously one more time. To me hard sci-fi (in fact even using the term sci-fi is probably wrong for true hard science fiction enthusiasts), is near future very plausible tech. Space opera is far future highly speculative tech. I wouldn't say it's totally unbelievable though. It's just so advanced that in all likelihood the reality some day will be totally different even if as far fetched.
Psionics to me, ESP, telepathy, mind control, etc... are all things the while far fetched aren't 100% unbelievable. I can imagine sufficiently advanced technology opening such things up in the human mind. Even if it was based on mechanical or biotech augments.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 16, 2012 - 2:52PM
#63
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Date Joined:
Dec 25, 2009
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I know your half goofing off on this but let me respond seriously one more time. To me hard sci-fi (in fact even using the term sci-fi is probably wrong for true hard science fiction enthusiasts), is near future very plausible tech. Space opera is far future highly speculative tech. I wouldn't say it's totally unbelievable though. It's just so advanced that in all likelihood the reality some day will be totally different even if as far fetched.
I agree with you on both of these definitions (although I'm a little more specific about space opera, in that it has to primarily involve starships and space travel. Far future highly speculative tech set entirely on a single planet is, in my mind, not quite the same thing as space opera).
Psionics to me, ESP, telepathy, mind control, etc... are all things the while far fetched aren't 100% unbelievable. I can imagine sufficiently advanced technology opening such things up in the human mind. Even if it was based on mechanical or biotech augments.
Mechanical or biotech augments generating the same sort of effects that we would normally associate with psionics is something I'd agree is soft sci-fi. It's not based on any actual science, but neither is there any actual science that shows it's impossible. Unproven, theoretically possible, speculation fits perfectly into the soft realm. (One such example would be the Higher biononics in Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth series.)
However, in my mind, that's not the same thing as psionics, because it's really just technology doing it. It's not power unlocked by a human will, it's just a new way to interface with a machine (that happens to be installed inside your head).
(And you're also right that I'm not totally serious in the sense that it doesn't bother me when people call anything one thing or another. I'm just obsessive about my classifications and willing to share my own definitions.)
The difference between madness and genius is determined only by degrees of success.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 16, 2012 - 5:27PM
#64
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However, in my mind, that's not the same thing as psionics, because it's really just technology doing it.
Yeah, but the “wetter” technology gets, the blurrier that line between mind and machine becomes.
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