Sci-fi + Fantasy - Page 2 - OG Myth-Weavers

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Sci-fi + Fantasy

   
I don't really see Spelljammer as SF. There's none of the trappings you would expect to see in even the softest sci-fi; there's no rogue AIs, there's no meditations on the nature of man or transhumanism, there's no cybernetics, there's not even things that flinging yourself around a gravity well. Heck, the cosmology of the setting is crystal spheres! Spelljammer is simply naval fantasy transposed into space; it is full magic-and-dragons-and-big ships but it all happens to be happening in space rather than in the water.

It's definitely naval fantasy - but how much difference even is there between naval fantasy and space-faring sci-fi? There are a lot of similarities with Spelljammer especially (crystal spheres may as well be planets, etc). Ultimately, it doesn't really matter what you classify it as - the point is that it's easy to see something which blends both genres or is superficially one but actually more like the other, or whatever.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheFred View Post
It's definitely naval fantasy - but how much difference even is there between naval fantasy and space-faring sci-fi? There are a lot of similarities with Spelljammer especially (crystal spheres may as well be planets, etc). Ultimately, it doesn't really matter what you classify it as - the point is that it's easy to see something which blends both genres or is superficially one but actually more like the other, or whatever.
If you're interested in space adventure with naval trappings, I suggest David Weber's On Basilisk Station. It is available for free download from the publisher. It is the first in a series on Honor Harrington, an officer in the Manticore navy. They have been compared to Horatio Hornblower's adventures.

A poor farmer boy grows up on a relatively barren island in an Earthsea-esque world of islands. A local hermit, who happens to be a retired Eldritch Knight, starts him on an adventure that will take him across the briny deep to rescue a princess, master the ways of sword and sorcery, and face the evil empire that holds many of the world's islands in its grasp. Behold, the campaign setting of Star Isle Wars!


That's no islet... that's a dreadnought.




 

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