Keyforge is Science Fantasy Awesome

Anyone who has spent time with me in real life has inevitably heard me wax poetic about Keyforge, the unique deck game from Fantasy Flight Games designed by Richard Garfield of Magic: The Gathering and Netrunner fame. I could go on about the many reasons why I love this game, and I will at the slightest prompting (seriously, if you have any interest in collectible card games at all, and don’t like deckbuilding, check out Keyforge) but today I want to focus on a specific aspect of the game that is pertinent to my Science Fantasy Awesome series: the genre. 

One look at the original box art for the first Keyforge set and a few things become clear: this world is bright, fun, and there’s a lot going on. The design is great because it perfectly captures the world of the game, but also the gameplay itself, which is diverse, accessible, and wild. But something else is clear: this is 100% science fantasy. There’s a knight, there’s a martian, there’s a giant with a mechanical arm, and a host of other strange creatures. For anyone who enjoys that mash-up, peanut-butter-in-your-chocolate feel, this box art is an absolute invitation.

What does it mean to talk about the genre of a card game? For the most part, it’s the cart art that communicates the story of this fictional world, plus the lore in the rulebook. Yes, there’s more to be learned in the RPG sourcebook, short story anthology, and novel — and I may discuss those in the future — but just to keep our discussion focused, I want to stick to the card game for now. 

Since science fantasy is the blending of tropes from fantasy and science fiction, let’s look at Keyforge through this lens and see how this “mash-up” feeling is achieved on a variety of levels, from general lore down to individual cards. 

First I’ll talk about æmber as a general lore concept. Then we’ll break down each of the ten houses in the game, looking for how and where science fiction and fantasy tropes meet. 

Æmber

The first thing we need to talk about is æmber, the glowing golden substance that is found on the Crucible, the artificial patchwork world that is the setting for Keyforge. Not only is æmber central to life on the Crucible — powering fantastic technology, charging magic spells, causing useful or debilitating mutations, and serving as currency — it is also central to the card game, since it is the resource you need to collect to forge the eponymous keys and win. From a design standpoint, this convergence of lore and mechanics is brilliant. 

But with our genre lens, we see that æmber is also the central meeting point for our science fiction and fantasy genre mashup. The first mention of æmber in the rulebook describes it as a “mysterious psychic substance.” I want to break down those two adjectives because they tell us so much from a genre perspective.

The idea that æmber is mysterious does so much work. It keeps the substance deliberately vague, and from this ambiguity, an infinity of possibilities to emerge. In a narrative work, this kind of vagueness might seem like a cop-out, but in a game, it gives coherence to a world that might otherwise seem disjointed. The flexibility of its vagueness is its strength. How do the witches of Untamed perform magic? Æmber. What are the cybernetic scientists of Logos studying? Æmber. How do the demons of Dis capture and eat emotions? Æmber. What powers the spacecraft of Mars? Æmber. 

Because Keyforge draws on a variety of genre tropes, any specific explanation of æmber would push the game world too far in one direction. A scientific explanation would deprive the fantasy factions of their wonder and a magical explanation would make the sci-fi factions feel ridiculous.

Which brings us to the second descriptive word. “Psychic” is a perfect word in science fantasy because different genres of fiction use different explanations for psychic powers. In a fantasy work, psychic powers are explained in terms of magic, an inherent ability that bends the rules of reality. But in science fiction, there is a long-standing trope of highly-evolved beings and creatures from other worlds having psychic powers: just look at the Betazeds in Star Trek or the Bene Gesserit in Dune for two examples. Technology can also be used as an explanation for psychic powers. So, æmber being described as psychic lets us stay in that ambiguous place between fantasy and sci-fi, which is useful, for the reasons already discussed.

This ambiguity also makes room for the designers to add more diversity to the world, as we have already seen with the three new houses introduced since the launch of the game.

(As a side note: even the way æmber is spelled, with the uncommon letter ash at the beginning, is ambiguous. Should the word be pronounced Amber? Ember? Eember? It’s unclear, and this has given rise to multiple pronunciations across the fanbase, just as one might expect to encounter different dialects while journeying across the Crucible.)

So, to reiterate: the central substance that drives not only the fictional world of Keyforge, but also the gameplay, is described in a deliberately ambiguous yet evocative way to bring cohesion to a mash-up world, to allow both fantasy and science fiction tropes to exist side-by-side, and make space for further exploration and discovery into the future.

The Houses

There are currently ten factions, called houses, in the card game of Keyforge (there are more in the RPG sourcebook, we’ll be skipping those for today). Each house has its own look and feel, so each can be analyzed individually. 

Since we’re looking at Keyforge through a science fantasy genre lens, it might be informative to imagine a spectrum with science fiction on one side to fantasy on the other, and try to place each house somewhere on that spectrum. So let’s go through each house, one by one, and see what we learn.

Brobnar

Brobnar is the house of giants and goblins, both staple races of fantasy. But these giants have cyborg limbs, powered by æmber, with lots of vents and gears and pistons that give a unique steampunk-y vibe. 

With both of these elements appearing on almost every Brobnar card, this house is clearly Science Fantasy Awesome, and right in the middle of our spectrum. 

Dis

Dis is one of the most visually interesting factions of any game anywhere, and I’m not sure how to begin describing them. They’re purple, pink, and black, and there’s lots of tendrils, spikes, masks, and insect features. On the cards and in the lore, these creatures are called “demons” and “imps,” and with those words in hand, the viewer says, “Oh, yes, of course. Demons it is.” But these are certainly not the red-skinned, horned demons of other fantasy works. 

The takeaway is, I think, that they are weird and unknowable, which the design goes at great lengths to show. And since they’re called demons, one’s initial instinct might be to place them fully on the fantasy but of the spectrum. But, as in so many works of science fantasy, explanation is everything. 

In the rulebook lore, we read about how these creatures steal and eat emotions from the other beings of the Crucible. Okay, yes, that seems like something that demons might do. But then they are described as having enhancements that are “part sorcery and part high technology.” Science Fantasy Awesome indeed. 

Here is a list of science fiction words that are used to describe Dis in the rulebook lore: technological, cybernetic, robotic, machines. This is not something that is immediately clear, at least not to me, looking at the cards. 

So there’s an interesting effect achieved. There are these strange creatures, described as demons, so the player goes along with this, and has a fantasy mindset. But then as the player explores deeper in the lore, they learn that these creatures are actually robots, which casts the previous understanding in a science-fiction-y light. Had the creatures been described as robots from the get-go, the same effect would not be achieved. 

So I’m going to place Dis on the fantasy side, but towards the middle, of our spectrum.  

Logos

Logos is the house of robots, scientists, A.I., and cyborgs so advanced that they have forgotten their original forms.

I looked really hard for a whiff of fantasy in Logos, but came up short. I think the closest we get is that many of the inventions border on the “fantastical,” and we sometimes get “mad scientist” vibes.

With all this science going on, I have to place Logos firmly on the science fiction end of the spectrum.

Mars

Here we have another solidly sci-fi faction, Mars. Straight-up little green men, saucer ships, and hypnotic beams. 

To be fair, this leans more on the softer-side of science fiction, which some would call science fantasy all on its own. But if we’re looking for magic or wizards or anything like that, it is not to be found on Mars. So I’ll place them a little towards the middle, but still on the science fiction end. 

Sanctum

In a game that features demons, one should also expect angels. And Sanctum delivers in spades.

Almost every Sanctum card is a variation on this theme: spirits and angels in armor with glowing weapons and auras. Everything about this is solid fantasy. They even live in flying cities in the clouds. Barely a scrap of science fiction anywhere. In the lore, their armor is described as “technological,” but also that is powered by “spiritual energy.”

I would have to say, 100% fantasy. But since we’re on the lookout, I do have to point out two Sanctum cards that, bizarrely, feature motorcycles:

Despite these sweet rides, I have to place Sanctum all the way on the fantasy end of our spectrum. 

Saurian Republic

I don’t think I’ve seen anything like the design of the Saurian Republic anywhere else. The closest that comes to mind is Dinotopia. These are anthropomorphic dinosaurs in a Greco-Roman aesthetic with togas and columns. 

Dinosaurs are an interesting case for our science fantasy spectrum because, like “psychic”, it all comes down to the explanation why there are dinosaurs in a work. More often than not, however, there is a science fiction explanation. In Jurrassic Park, the dinosaurs are cloned. Sometimes time travel is invoked. In the case of the Saurians, the lore says they were transported to the Crucible from earth millions of years ago, and have evolved into the society that we see depicted. Additionally, the lore also makes clear that what look like “magic” shields and spears to us are actually highly advanced technology.

So where does that leave us? The Greco-Roman vibes evoke historical fantasy or alternative timelines, but then there’s advanced technology that looks like magic. An evolved race of dinosaurs would be sci-fi, but the way in which they are depicted leans us toward the softer side. So, we start to realize that our spectrum between fantasy and science fiction is a little arbitrary, and depends on how you categorize things like historical fiction. So I’ll put them in the middle, but leaning toward the science fiction side. 

Star Alliance

Some players just call this the Star Trek house, because the homage is so transparent. A group of deliberately diverse humans and aliens that work together with a military hierarchy has an obvious antecedent. But the aesthetic of bubble helmets and ray guns harkens back to an earlier, more Flash Gordon, era of science fiction. 

But we are looking for science fantasy! In the lore, Star Alliance is an accepting faction, letting all kinds join, which creates some interesting mash-ups.

Spirits, elves, and merfolk in spacesuits! That’s pretty Science Fantasy Awesome. However, in the context of a group from space that is already made up of diverse extraterrestrials, it’s easy to see these fantasy creatures as just additional alien species in a wild galaxy. But, as we said before, science fantasy is all about explanations and aesthetics. So we’ll put them part-way on the science fiction side.

Shadows

Shadows, like Brobnar, features a staple fantasy race reinterpreted in a specific sci-fi subgenre. Here we see elves (small trickster-type elves, as opposed to Tolkienesque high elves) with a cyberpunk vibe. The urban settings, neon colors, and the sense that these elves are “sticking it to the man,” like hackers stealing from oppressive corporations, all feed into the cyberpunk aesthetic.

Also of interest are the faeries, tiny robotic beings that assist in thievery and mischief:

But, the designers show us that there is still more to see. In the latest set (as of the writing of the article), Dark Tidings, we see a more pirate-y side to shadows, while still retaining some of that cyberpunk aesthetic. 

With elves and pirates on one side, and cyberpunk and robot faeires on the other, Shadows is firmly in the middle of our science fantasy spectrum. 

Unfathomable

Unfathomable are the most recent faction to be introduced to the card game of Keyforge, a cult of aquatic beings that serve the unknowable ancient deities of the deep ocean. They have distinct Lovecraftian vibes, and that’s not surprising, given Fantasy Flight’s long line of Arkham Files games.  

So how would we categorize this faction? The idea of merpeople is certainly fantastical, and they appear to have magic powers. If we stopped there, that would place them firmly in the fantasy camp. But it’s the ancient Lovecraftian deities that give me pause. In Lovecraft’s work, the ancient ones are beings from beyond the stars, but so strange and unknowable they might as well be fantasy gods. So where would we put that on our science fantasy spectrum? 

Again, this is where we come up against the limitations and arbitrariness of our categories. Since Lovecraft is cosmic horror, it doesn’t fit neatly into our spectrum. But Unfathomable might be headed in their own direction that we’re just not aware of at this point. So, I’ll put them on the fantasy side, but heading towards the middle. 

Untamed

Untamed is the house of the wilds, full of fantastical creatures. But it is also home to the witches, humans who use æmber for magical purposes. 

(Side note: I love that in Keyforge the keyword ‘witch’ applies to both female- and male-presenting characters)

If that was it, Untamed would be a solidly fantasy house. But on the Crucible, there is always more to discover. As in Shadows, we find that these magical wilds are also populated with robotic faeires. 

As a writer and in my own work, I love when fantasy words get applied to sci-fi concepts, and vice versa, which we see a lot of in Keyforge. So I love this idea of these little sprite-like beings living in the woods called faeries actually being tiny robots. 

And since we’re on the lookout for the places where sci-fi and fantasy meet, I have to call out a few cards that depict Untamed as technology scavengers. 

So, the main character of the house is witches and fantasy animals. But, because of the fairies and the technology scavenging, I would have to put Untamed on the fantasy side but closer to the center of our spectrum. 

Our Completed Spectrum

Let’s look at our complete, albeit somewhat arbitrary spectrum:

We see that there is a fairly even spread. Some houses are on the science fiction side, some on the fantasy side, and some in the middle. So what does this mean?

Since every Keyforge deck consists of three houses, there is always going to be a mash-up of genres within an individual deck. Because of the way the houses are distributed through the sets, the closest you can get to an all-science fiction deck, in our analysis, would be a Logos-Saurian-Star Alliance deck, which is still going to feel a little fantasy. On the other side, the closest you can get to an all-fantasy desk is Sanctum-Unfathomable-Untamed.

Where am I going with all this? The point is, since each game of Keyforge has two decks going against each other, every game of Keyforge is going to have a unique science fantasy mashup. The chances of single game of Keyforge featuring only fantasy or only science fiction cards is so small as to be negligible. And, since every deck itself is unique, the way that the science fiction and fantasy elements are going to converge in each game is also unique, leading to a continuous and infinite journey through new science fantasy mash-ups.

But enough about what I think. Do you agree with where I’ve placed these houses on the spectrum? Does the science fantasy mash-up genre also part of the appeal of Keyforge for you? And if you haven’t tried Keyforge, why not? Leave comments below!