STRATEGIC SCIENCE FICTION Master Deck
A robust deck of mix & match prompt cards
The perfect tool for anyone interested in connecting the dots between technology and humanity to help prompt futuristic ideas.
An early prototype (2017) play-tested with Leah Zaidi and Maggie Greyson.
There are four sets of cards in this deck.
Force cards (macro-economic externalities) are based on Leah Zaidi of Multiverse Design’s Seven Foundations worldbuilding paper.
State (the state of the future) cards are an expanded version of Jim Dator’s Four Generic Futures.
Need (basic human needs) cards are a combination of Maslow’s Hierarchy and Max-Neef’s fundamental human needs.
Emerging Technology (the seeds of tomorrow’s big tech) cards are based on the Wikipedia entry of List of Emerging Technologies and depending on the context of the workshop, curated on a case-by-case basis.
There are many ways to mix and match them to suit your desired purpose. Use some of the cards, use all of the cards. This is a fluid set of prompts designed to fast-forward the collection stage and jump right into connecting the dots.
Start with worldbuilding (Force + State) and introduce a Need.
Start with EmTech to develop Design Fiction that hints to the symptom of the world.
Start with a Need and try to make it work, or not work, with EmTech.
An expansion deck of Character Cards was added to this set of that introduces Sci-Fi character tropes elevating this workshop tool into a role-playing activity.
I want to acknowledge the following people who have helped me in the development of this deck by contributing, play-testing and workshopping.
Leah Zaidi, Maggie Greyson, Jason Theodor, Scott Suthren & Nik Badminton.