Science Fiction

Science fiction (SF) is a genre of stories, movies, TV shows etc. and of games suggested by their settings and conventions. Science fiction games include SF RPGs (such as Traveller), SF settings for general-purpose RPGs (such as Transhuman Space for GURPS), computer adventure games in SF settings (such as the various CAGs set in the Star Wars setting), SF miniatures wargames (such as Warhammer 40K), SF board wargames (such as Ogre), and SF-themed boardgames (such as Cosmic Encounter).

The exact definition of science fiction is not quite agreed, and neither are the definitions of its subgenres (such as 'space opera', 'hard SF', 'soft SF', 'cyberpunk', 'radical hard SF', 'planetary romance', 'sci-fi', 'science fantasy'). One definition of SF might be "stories that are predicated on an event outside normal experience or on a change occurring or having occurred, or that are setting in a setting that is different from or has changed from the familiar world, where the event, change, or difference in question is supposed to seem rational and 'science-like'". Science fiction stories are very often set in a fictitious future transformed from the real world by the advance of scientific discovery, the development of technology, the continuation of various trends such as population growth and resource depletion, and the impact of events such as asteroid collisions and alien invasions.

The SF genre being extensionally defined is blurry around the edges, and fades into 'science fantasy' and then into fantasy without everyone agreeing exactly which works are on which side of the line.

For more information, including a listing of recognised sub-genres, see the article on SF in Wikipedia.