I am NOT a scifi guy

[Finarvyn]

A year ago I bought a copy of Colonial Gothic. I mention this because at GenCon a month ago I bought the revised rulebook and supplements, and at the same booth I picked up a copy of Thousand Suns. I mention this simply because I don't consider myself to be a scifi guy but I was in a mood to buy stuff and there I was at the Rogue Games booth.

Thousand Suns was a total impulse buy. You see, I don't really play scifi RPGs. Then I looked at the inspirational reading list at the end of the book.

Asimov, Isaac --- Foundation series
Chandler, Bertram A. --- The Commodore Grimes series
Dickson, Gordon R. --- The Dorsai series
Drake, David --- Hammer’s Slammers
Harrison, Harry --- The Stainless Steel Rat series
Heinlein, Robert --- Starship Troopers
Herbert, Frank --- The Dune series
Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle --- The Mote in God’s Eye; The Gripping Hand
Piper, H. Beam --- Space Viking
Pournelle, Jerry --- The Co-Dominium series
Smith, E. E. --- Triplanetary; Galactic Patrol; others in the Lensmen series
Tubb, E.C. – The Dumarest of Terra series
Weber, David --- The Honor Harrington series

The list you see is (1) about half of the list in Thousand Suns and (2) all books currently on my shelf.



Then I started looking for scifi games on my shelf. Warhammer 40K, the Dune boardgame (both Parker Brothers and AH versions), the Dune RPG, Star Wars RPG (WEG d6 version, d6 Space, WotC d20 version, WotC SAGA version), Star Trek (FASA and Decipher RPGs), Battlestar Galactica RPG, Firefly RPG, Metamorphosis Alpha (several editions), Gamma World (several editions) and more. Darned if I didn't realize that a lot of my shelf space is full of science fiction.

I looked at my video shelf. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Firefly, Bladerunner, Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, and more.

Go figure.

It just surprised me a lot, I guess.

[coffee]

I think a big part of it is that sci fi and fantasy are generally lumped together -- whether in the bookstore, the library, or the game store. It's all in the same geek ghetto.

I find it important to keep the distinction, if just do have done so.

I myself am much more of a sci fi guy than a fantasy guy, and yet I could do the exact same thing as you did on the fantasy side...

[Finarvyn]

It's just funny, because back in high school I was really intersted in Star Trek, and then Star Wars when it came out. I read Dune early on but I just always thought of myself as a "fantasy guy." When I make a list of my favorite authors (Howard, Tolkien, Zelazny) they are mostly fantasy (although Zelazny leans toward modern in his Amber series).

This has probably grown worse in the past 20 years since I've been married, since my wife really likes magic users and not much else. I'd classify her as a "fantasy gal" except that she also likes Star Wars and Firefly and that kind of thing. She just likes fantasy a lot more, I guess.

[coffee]

Well, Star Wars is more Science Fantasy than straight Science Fiction (even with the retcon of "midichlorians" in the prequels, which I don't count as canon...)

But again, that's a quibble I make purely for classification's sake. In the end, whatever you like is whatever you like. Beyond that, classifications don't matter much.

[greyharp]

In my junior years I loved sci-fi, but then I read The Hobbit and LotR and became a diehard fantasy purist. Now I can only look back with regret at all those wasted years of avoiding any fantasy with even a hint of science. Still, I'm doing a good job of making up for lost time.

[Deleted]

Sept 11, 2009 11:09:11 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

The list you see is (1) about half of the list in Thousand Suns and (2) all books currently on my shelf.

Hey, Fin. For those of us who don't have Thousand Suns, care to share with us the rest of the list? Just curious what books are listed.

[Finarvyn]

Sept 12, 2009 7:37:34 GMT -6 dilvish said:

For those of us who don't have Thousand Suns, care to share with us the rest of the list?

I can do that. Here's the complete list!

Anderson, Poul --- Flandry series, Van Rijn/Falkayn series

Asimov, Isaac --- Foundation series; Robot series; The Gods Themselves

Bester, Alfred --- The Stars, My Destination

Banks, Iain M. --- The Culture series

Brin, David --- The Uplift series

Bujold, Lois McMaster --- The Barrayar series

Chandler, Bertram A. --- The Commodore Grimes series

Cherryh, C.J. – Alliance-Union series, particularly the Chanur novels

Daley, Brian – The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh series

de Camp, L. Sprague --- The Planet Krishna series

Dickson, Gordon R. --- The Dorsai series

Drake, David --- Hammer’s Slammers

Hamilton, Peter F. --- The Night’s Dawn trilogy

Harrison, Harry --- Bill, The Galactic Hero; The Stainless Steel Rat series

Heinlein, Robert --- Starship Troopers; The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Herbert, Frank --- The Dune series

Laumer, Keith --- A Plague of Demons; the Retief series; the Bolo series

LeGuin, Ursula --- The Left Hand of Darkness

Niven, Larry --- Ringworld; Ringworld Engineers; the Known Space series

Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle --- The Mote in God’s Eye; The Gripping Hand

Norton, Andre --- The Central Control series, Uncharted Stars, The Zero Stone

Panshin, Alexei – The Anthony Villiers series

Piper, H. Beam --- The Terro-Human Future History series, particularly Space Viking

Pohl, Frederick --- Gateway

Pournelle, Jerry --- The Co-Dominium series

Saberhagen, Fred --- The Berserker series

Smith, E. E. --- Triplanetary; Galactic Patrol; others in the Lensmen series

Stapledon, Olaf --- Last and First Men

Tubb, E.C. – The Dumarest of Terra series

Vance, Jack --- Big Planet; The Grey Prince; Tschai, Planet of Adventure series; Demon Princes series

Van Vogt, A. E. --- The Weapons Shops of Isher; The Silkie; Voyage of the Space Beagle

Weber, David --- The Honor Harrington series

Williams, Walter Jon – The Drake Majistral and Dread Empire’s Fall series.

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2009 9:37:39 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

Sept 12, 2009 7:37:34 GMT -6 dilvish said:

For those of us who don't have Thousand Suns, care to share with us the rest of the list?

I can do that. Here's the complete list!

By the way -- I bought a copy of THOUSAND SUNS and it's really a neat-o system. Kind of generic, but that's the way I like it.