Comments on: Sci-Fi RPGs: Handwaving and Color

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:33:53 +0000

For humorour sci-fi, how about Galaxy Quest? There are also some episodes of Star Trek: TNG that are quite funny (I'm useless for names, though), and ditto with Stargate SG-1 ("Window of Opportunity" comes to mind). Scott: Thanks for the link! It's pretty easy to slant the "most problems are solved" worldview by just adding "if you're rich enough." That plus leaving some areas with zero or little progress should do the trick.

By: ScottM

ScottM — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:31:54 +0000

The generally optimistic view you suggest for the future reminds me of Neel Krishnaswami's Future Not Quite Perfect, which proposes a few principles for building a future setting.

By: Rick_TWA

Rick_TWA — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:31:39 +0000

As I recall, Harry Harrison (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Harrison) wrote several series of sci-fi humor in the 60s-00s (and the serious story that inspired soylent green, as well as a decade or so of Flash Gordon comics) that were pretty good including

Bill, the galactic Hero (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill%2C_the_Galactic_Hero)

and Stainless steel rat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)

By: Kestral

Kestral — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 00:41:11 +0000

Stingray, if you like humorous fantasy or sci-fi, Robert Asprin’s Phule’s Company series comes to mind. It’s a humor story about the dregs of the dregs of a military which is comprised entirely of the dregs of society, yet they somehow succeed in succeeding, despite the wishes of others. Other series Asprin’s done include the Myth-Adventures fantasy series, and editing the Thieves’ World anthologies, so he does have some definite skills. (Did I mention that the chief cook of Phule’s Company is an insane 5-star quality chef with some attitude problems and the martial arts skills to make him capable of threatening ANYONE legitimately? He’s probably a good character reference, certainly)

Another anime series in the vein of drow’s post is Irresponsible Captain Tylor. It’s old, but it follows a Phule’s Company style premise as well. (Honestly, military ships in sci-fi are great grounds for humor.)

By: drow

drow — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:23:33 +0000

stingray; the japanese anime series Martian Successor Nadesico leaps to mind.

By: StingRay

StingRay — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 19:49:15 +0000

I’m getting ready to run my wife through a sci-fi adventure, and I figured this was the best way to handle most of the future innovation. You have to have players that are REALLY interested in the scientific progress for the little details to be worth describing, and at the same time, all of them have to be interested, or there’re going to be people bored out of their skulls.

Out of curiosity, do you know of any good references for humorous sci-fi? Aside from Hitchhiker’s and Red Dwarf, I’ve been at a loss. My wife wants to play an intergalactic pastry chef, so the idea is just ripe for a lighter, humorous game, but I’m at a loss for how to give the story some depth. Thanks in advance for thoughts.