To Space Opera or to Not Space Opera, That is the Question.

[Condottiere]

I suspect that the faceplate is better protected.

 

[Murph]

Or E.E. Doc Smith's Lensman series where the heros use "Space Axes" to penetrate the armor of their foes when boarding. I keep blade weapons like swords purely as a ceremonial thing except for knives/daggers which are tools.

 

[Nightwind1]

Wandering a bit off topic, but SW merch is DEAD. Nobody is making merch for Ahsoka, Obi-Woke, or even Mando 3. The merch that exists for Disney SW isn't selling, except Baby Yoda. Yeah, fans know him as Grogu, but merch buyers just see "Baby Yoda." Kinda like Muppet Babies.

SW is 100% space opera. ST tried to be "Hard SF lite." Not so hard, especially when it came to the Radiation/Particle-of-the-Week trope. But no space wizards or laser swords. Oh, sorry. They have laser swords in New Star Trak. (Not a typo, I call all JJ Abrams-derived material "Star Trak," because Abrams' Bad Reboot and Kurtzman's Secret Fakeout know ST about as well as people back in the day who called it Star Trak.)

 

[Murph]

Space Opera can be fun since it makes no pretense of hard science as a general rule, there are exceptions though.

 

[Black Vulmea]

So I re-watched Roger Corman's camp space opera Starcrash the other day, for the first time in some thirty-odd years, and I just about fell out of my chair when the evil Count Zarth Arn summons two robot assassins to track down and kill the heroes.

The count calls the robots . . . GOLEMS!

And why is that funny, you ask?

Androids and robots are 'golems,' remorseless guardians and assassins.

D&D tropes for the win!

 

[aramis]

To have a Space Operatic theme to the campaign, or not to have one, that is the question. Hard Science vs Weird Science. Hard Science vs Space Opera level science. I do not mean Space Opera the game, but the whole genre of Space Opera, larger than life heros and villains, vast armadas of starships, or just the hero in their one of a kind Skylark and Lensman ships?

I find I tend towards the more Space Operatic style of gaming, with grand plots, grand villains, and heroic characters taking on the evil overlords...

So do you tend towards Space Opera, or more hard science?

Errol Flynn levels of swash in my otherwise space opera. Tho' I tend towards slightly harder than Trek or Firefly.

 

[kilemall]

Or E.E. Doc Smith's Lensman series where the heros use "Space Axes" to penetrate the armor of their foes when boarding. I keep blade weapons like swords purely as a ceremonial thing except for knives/daggers which are tools.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes has axes because there is a super flammable gas both sides use to punish laser/blaster fire. Blade weapon skill is key.

 

[Condottiere]

Space opera requires drama and anachronisms.