Are there many games that feature this? Giant mechs shooting dragons out of the sky, orcs rushing space marines, dwarves collapsing the ground out from under ship landing sites?

I read a book called Heroes Die, where sci-fi and fantasy mesh together in a really inventive way (note: if you love epic fantasy, gritty atmospheres, detective-style writing, and prostitute elves you need to read this book. Right now. Go on. I'll wait.) and it got me to thinking of the crazy fun fights you could put together by bashing these two genres together.

But I haven't really been able to really find many games that actually do this. Are there any out there, besides Warhammer 40k?

I thought it was going to be an argument about which is better. In which case, Fantasy all the way. The Lord of the Rings beats any sci-fi thing ever.

In case of the two sides fighting, I think one of the Battle Chess games here does that.

Arcanum combines magic and tech, but not exactly what you describe. Worth a look though.

Nah, no arguments here, only the truth: sci-fi is better because fantasy knights have to shit in their armor.

Rise of Legends does, sort of. It has three races - one is steampunk, one is high fantasy (magic and all), and one is pretty much "sci-fi", for all it matters. The intro even shows a space ship crashing into the planet.

Arcanum may also be considered as such, as technology and magic oppose each other. It's steampunk rather than pure sci-fi, though.

Finally, Heroes of Annihilated Empires was supposed to have futuristic jets and tanks versus elfs, ents and orcs, but a jet only makes a cameo in one of the missions (crashed in a mountain). I guess they were keeping the sci-fi stuff for a possible sequel, which hasn't come yet.

Rise of legends is the closest i can think of. I've never played it though, but it combines magic and technology in an RTS setting.

Ultima 1. Lightsabers and broadswords. Spaceships and medieval castles.

If you dig pen and paper you can put nearly any system from GURPS together. I would argue that the setting for sci fi is often fantasy based (a lot of throwback melee weapons and stuff like that). True sci fi stories tend to be based on different stuff than your typical fantasy fare though, you'd have to come up with something that would please both crowds.

Which provides a nice insulation for winter. And that is a big plus.

Edited because ChaunceyK said with fewer spoilers on M&M

Aye need to be warm when your suffering from Typhoid or Cholera :P

I like both settings though and couldn't really pick one over the other.

*POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT*

In each of the the Might & Magic games (fantasy setting), the closer you get to the end, the more sci-fi starts popping up in the story. You'll battle against robots, fiddle with computers & even find items such as a "Laser Blaster." If you've played even one M&M game, then you know its a recurring theme in each game and WHY its a recurring theme. (That's as far as I'll go with the "possible spoiler"...I'll still leave some room for the mystery & discovery of "why" for anyone who wants to play the series, but hasn't.)

A word of caution about the series, though. The first 2 are brutally primitive as far as graphics & they're very difficult to get through. Luckily, if you don't fancy either of them, you don't need to play/win them in order to enjoy the games. M&M 3, 4 & 5 are the absolute best in the series, imho, and are much easier to play (both in terms of difficulty & for the fact that they have a GUI).

Truth. I just wish there was a better interface - god but they're horrendous. GREAT game though.

World of Xeen FTW.

Heroes Die is a GREAT book...I second the recommendation wholeheartedly. :)

You're right, the Fantasy/Sci-fi mashup hasn't really happened all that much. And it can make for an interesting universe.

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