Quote from: Arkansan;727731In my head I am seeing kind of a mix of the Hyborian age with some Barsoom, Dune, and the like thrown in, at least as sources of inspiration.

Good news! Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea fits your vision to a T. Even if you're not using the system (which I love), you might want to pick it up for the map and gazetteer. And the treasure tables, that feature Basoomian radium pistols, Mi-Go brain cylinders and the "glaive" from Krull right next to old D&D standbys.

Skyrealms of Jorune!

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will have to pick up AS&SH for sure. This gives me plenty of food for thought, I may update this thread in the next day or so with some broad setting ideas and riffs so to speak. Always nice to have folks to bounce ideas around with.

I second Tristram's take on Farscape, which, oddly, is something that hadn't occurred to me before. Yeah, the characters do fit the basic D&D stereotypes, although we never see Chiana and Rigel pick locks or pockets or climb walls or any such thing.

At the risk of massive eye-rolling I'll suggest mixing in some World of Warcraft stuff. When I played that game I always got a kick out of the various steampunk tanks, planes and robots that Gnomes and Goblins often had.

When mixing in sci-fi elements don't forget plant based technology. Imagine druids who can swim underwater while wearing a helmet made of weeds which filter air from the water. Or druids who can whip up potions that act like steroids, extra strength, dex, rage, etc.

Quote from: Doughdee222;727933At the risk of massive eye-rolling I'll suggest mixing in some World of Warcraft stuff. When I played that game I always got a kick out of the various steampunk tanks, planes and robots that Gnomes and Goblins often had.

Don't forget the Titans, who have the whole ancient astronauts science fantasy thing straight out of Jack Kirby going on for them.

Quote from: Doughdee222;727933I second Tristram's take on Farscape, which, oddly, is something that hadn't occurred to me before. Yeah, the characters do fit the basic D&D stereotypes, although we never see Chiana and Rigel pick locks or pockets or climb walls or any such thing.

At the risk of massive eye-rolling I'll suggest mixing in some World of Warcraft stuff. When I played that game I always got a kick out of the various steampunk tanks, planes and robots that Gnomes and Goblins often had.

When mixing in sci-fi elements don't forget plant based technology. Imagine druids who can swim underwater while wearing a helmet made of weeds which filter air from the water. Or druids who can whip up potions that act like steroids, extra strength, dex, rage, etc.

Warcraft and Starcraft both have a lot of 'chocolate in my peanut butter' going on.

Besides the dwarven and gnomish engineers and all the steamtech flying around, you've got a race of literal space goats from another planet who worship sentient crystalline creatures and came to Azeroth in a frigging SPACE SHIP.

Meanwhile there's a whole religio-magi-psychic thing going on with the Xel'Naga and the Protoss in Starcraft.

I think the only thing they played more or less straight to genre is maybe Diablo, but maybe I'm missing something there too and the angels are actually space aliens too.

Thundarr the Barbarian (there's even an unofficial RPG adaptation or two).
Blackstarr.

I wouldn't really recommend The Dying Earth for this. It does have some aero-cars in one of the original stories, and hints in later books that all the magic and demons are really super-tech, but as wonderful as it may be, it really doesn't have much juxtaposition of science and fantasy.

If you can get your hands on it, you could have a look at the old Fantasy Trip module "Security Station". That one posits the adventurers as inhabitants of a metal-poor region, who are trying to scavenge a futuristic fallout shelter that was brought to their world by ancient transdimentional beings.

Masters of the Universe!

Seriously, I defy anyone to look at those old Earl Norem paintings amd not get psyched to game in that world!

Quote from: J Arcane;727937Besides the dwarven and gnomish engineers and all the steamtech flying around, you've got a race of literal space goats from another planet who worship sentient crystalline creatures and came to Azeroth in a frigging SPACE SHIP.

My favorite part is how the horned, goat-footed Draenei are an offshot of the same race (the Eredar) who gave birth to the classically-Western-demonic-looking lords of the Burning Legion.

Right now I'm replaying some old Burning Crusade content and I love it how the Burning Legion has all these wicked-looking, black, spiky war machines and "fel energy" cannons and portals.

Shit, Warcraft lore is too damn good. As we were discussing in another thread, it's all about putting old tropes to good use by fleshing them out in imaginative ways.

Read my "Book of Jalan" RPG very carefully, and avoid doing anything I did. In fact, do the direct opposite!

-clash

Quote from: The Butcher;727948My favorite part is how the horned, goat-footed Draenei are an offshot of the same race (the Eredar) who gave birth to the classically-Western-demonic-looking lords of the Burning Legion.

Right now I'm replaying some old Burning Crusade content and I love it how the Burning Legion has all these wicked-looking, black, spiky war machines and "fel energy" cannons and portals.

Shit, Warcraft lore is too damn good. As we were discussing in another thread, it's all about putting old tropes to good use by fleshing them out in imaginative ways.

Don't forget the titans. Ancient beings whose technology is apparently cut from the same cloth as the Ancients from the Assassin's Creed games ... they've got frigging holograms and laser beams and shit.

And the immense cthonic beings dwelling beneath the earth.

Huh, I forgot Arduin.
Blackmoor apparently had some SF elements though it seems hard to find info on.
I'd also suggest you could work in SF by having monsters that are alien, rather than mythological. Mind flayers, grell, reptilians (even kobolds), insectoids like thri-kreen (Dark Sun's stand ins for Green Martians, as someone pointed out in a previous thread )  Xill perhaps, which are originally from Voyage of the Space Beagle, along with the inspiration for the displacer beast). Wands and some similar magic items could be replaced with tech equivalents if you want too.

The other book I'd probably mention (kicks self for not thinking of it) would be Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East.

Damn, I too forgot about Saberhagen's Empire of the East, decent series. His Book of Swords is the same world a couple thousand years later.

Also, Eric Van Lustbader's Sunset Warrior series has some sci-fi elements to it. The first book is set in an underground city thousands of years after some sort of holocaust. The main character has to search for a magical scroll that will save the world. (While the books have their moments and a few good ideas overall I think they are a dud, which is probably why I forgot about them earlier.)

Quote from: The Butcher;727836Good news! Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea fits your vision to a T. Even if you're not using the system (which I love), you might want to pick it up for the map and gazetteer. And the treasure tables, that feature Basoomian radium pistols, Mi-Go brain cylinders and the "glaive" from Krull right next to old D&D standbys.

Seconded! Crabmen with laser pistols!

No love for Shadowrun, I take it...?

John Norman's Gor novels explicitly combine sword and sorcery with pulp BEM SF (but then you'd have to read the Gor novels).

Zelazny's Lord of Light and Changeling.

Various Moorcock, but obviously and especially the Hawkmoon stuff.