Editing Basing Concepts on Genre (section)

=== <u>Fantasy</u> ===
In contrast to the Sci-Fi genre, Fantasy may be the least conventional genre for a Biosphere Guardians setting. However, don't let this dissuade you as Fantasy can provide an optimistic form of escapism, allowing you to explore a real-world problem with the buffer of imaginary and whimsical elements. 

A fantasy game of Biosphere Guardians can be approached in roughly 3 ways: 

# Entire modifications - these will upheave a lot of the default ideas in favour of completely game-shifting magical/fantasy mechanics e.g. your world is a classic medieval fantasy and the players are Elves responsible for managing a huge magic forest, their aim is counter the encroaching orcs and their industry that poisons the land makes the thick with smog. In that world you have the existence of magic and fantasy creatures, both of which will fundamentally alter, not only the game's genre (changing it to purely fantasy), but how you play the game - in this case it may be helpful to see some examples of [[Additional or Alternative Rules]].  Choosing this approach may be harder to do as you may have to create some of your own rules in order to achieve the effect you're looking for, so this may be better suited to slightly more experienced players, alternatively it may be easier to look to existing magic systems to implement in your game.  If this is the method you want to use then exchanging technology for magic may be a good place to start, before consider some [http://bg.8743x.de/index.php?title=Worldbuilding_Questions worldbuilding questions] on how it impacts your world.
# Blending fantasy with the original sci-fi format - this will add a fantasy tone but not completely alter the game mechanics e.g. perhaps magical creatures exist but technology drives the climate change solutions, maybe technology is powered by magic but still requires scientific engineering etc. - the possibilities are only as limited as you want them to be. This may be better suited to more beginner players as it allows you to incorporate fantasy without having to rewrite or introduce some of your own mechanics.
# One-shots - one-off games where you can take a different-genre-based world and add a singular session of fantasy, maybe your Biosphere is set in a Crime genre for example, but you want a one-shot adventure to explore what would happen if that session's crime was caused by a strange creature that had infiltrated the Biosphere. Or maybe you want to add fantasy by having your standard Sci-fi Biosphere game suddenly start communicating with the Earth God Gaia, either as a one off episode or one that ends us affecting a whole campaign.

==== <u>Fantasy elements to consider:</u> ====
Due to the nature of the Fantasy genre most of the main genre-specific questions and world-shaping elements revolve around magic and myth. The questions below are just to get you started, and you can always check out the [http://bg.8743x.de/index.php?title=Worldbuilding_Questions worldbuilding page] for more general worldbuilding questions (and possible answers).

===== Magic =====
Where does magic come from? How does it work? Does everyone have magic? Do magic users have a limit to their magic? 

How does magic interact with the Biosphere? Is it used for any Biosphere tasks?

How much is magic ingrained into wider society and the world in general?

===== Fantasy Creatures/Races =====
Are there any fantasy races? Are they pre-existing or ones of your own devising? What are their distinctive features or traits? How do they interact with each other? What are their cultural differences? Are there any that don't get on with each other?

What about fantasy creatures?  Are they pre-existing or ones of your own devising? How intelligent or sentient are they? How normal/accepted are they to most people in your world?

===== Mythical figures and Deities =====
Are there any mythical figures or deities? How have they impacted the world? How do the people of your world think of them? Are there any religions or cults dedicated to them? 

===== Blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy =====
You may want to consider how the magic and technology interact. Are they opposites? Can they work with each other? Where does science end and magic begin? What does the world think of them respectively? How are they both used in society?