Sci-fi or cyberpunk?

I’ve always wondered about the difference between sci-fi and cyberpunk, but never gotten around to actually check up on the matter.

Sci-fi to me, is a genre of spaceships, aliens and plausible technology of the future. It’s about Man travelling into Space, finding new planets, exploring new alien cultures. Earth is often involved, but not always. We need to believe that this could come to happen, and yet, more often than not, the future displayed is a bleak one. Man is dying, earth is dying. This is basically how I’ve always viewed the Sci-fi genre. Star Trek, the Gap and the Mote in God’s Eye (one of my favorite stories) are all part of this genre.

Cyberpunk, on the other hand, is not based on spacetravel. The stories are set in the future, and there’s often lots of technology involved, maybe even a few alien races, but rarely does the main characters spend weeks on end exploring the vast space surrounding the planet. Instead, the characters in a cyberpunk story explore things such as the Net and are quite often lowly and in conflict with the government. Neuromancer, Johnny Mnemonic, Blade Runner and the Matrix are all excellent examples of the Cyberpunk genre.

To me, both genres have equal strengths, but which of the two would fit my current project best?

Since I’m looking to create a single urban setting, I would have to say… cyberpunk. However, I won’t say that the PCs can’t enter space and travel towards the distant stars. They could, if they so desired, but it will not be the focus of this setting.

I like the idea of a Net or Web, that allows people to travel across vast distances in a matter of seconds, visiting far away places, leaving their bodies safely behind. This Net is not necessarily a safe structure, there can be as many dangers here as outside the Net. Think…Tron! The net, or at least entities within it are sentient, alien. If you are extremely unlucky, you might even be trapped within the Net. However, I dont want this Net to be dominant to the setting. It’s there and it can be used, but it’s not absolutely necessary to the plot and themes of the setting.

I also like the idea of lowly characters in conflict with the government. They are survivors, people with guns, who are willing to risk everything in a matter of seconds. Of course, to limit gameplay to these characters only would be foolish, the players would be able to play a government or army character, but the overall themes should evolve around the lowly caste system, the outcasts.

For more information concerning these two genres, follow the links below;

Science Fiction and Cyberpunk (both links leads towards Wikipedia)

Next up; Location of the setting… under the sea, in the cold north or maybe a apocalyptic metropolis?

Unknown Stars

Welcome to Unknown Stars, a new Design Blog under Headless Hydra Games. This is basically my first venture into the Sci-fi/cyberpunk genre. With this blog, I hope to create the foundation for a new futuristic urban setting.

I’ve not always been a great fan of science fiction. Most of the time, the genre seems too fixated on technology and strange terms that the reader hardly understand. I constantly find myself rereading certain phrases to understand what is happening and that slows down the story considerably. Of course, not all sci-fi/cyberpunk books are like this. The first time I realized this, I was reading Stephen Donaldson’s first two books in the Gap Series. These stories are very character-driven, something that I really appreciate. There is lots of technology, of course, but its not constantly the center of attention. I was captivated.

The next book I read that inspired me was Deborah Christian’s Mainline. The strange story of a female assassin named Reva who could travel through various realities. I had to read the beginning a few times, to fully understand it, but after that, I was truly hooked. This book serves sci-fi in a very different package, and that package really intrigued me.

Since then, I’ve read many great stories by such master as Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, Lester Del Rey, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Holdstock, George R R Martin and many others. I still find myself bogged down by the technology aspect, but not as much as in the beginning.

To return to the beginning.

With this blog, I hope to create the foundation for a new futuristic urban setting. I have a few ideas already, but they are just scattered thoughts so far, not really anything to build on. In the coming days and weeks, I’ll return to the Unknown Stars blog, and explain some of my ideas a bit further.

Next up; Sci-fi or cyberpunk? Whats the difference, if any?