Speculative Fiction Tropes

Basic Information

Speculative fiction tropes are genre tropes which center on speculative fiction.

List of Speculative Fiction Tropes

Categories

• Applied Phlebotinum
• Magic And Powers
  • Stock Superpowers
• Otherness Tropes
  • Aliens
  • Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes
  • Our Monsters Are Different
• Otherworld Tropes
  • Metaphysical Place
• Paranormal Tropes
• Robot Roll Call
• Shape Shifting
• Time Travel Tropes
• Vampire Tropes
• We Will Not Use An Index In The Future

List

• Absent Aliens
• Abusive Precursors
• Adam And Eve Plot
• Aesoptinum
• AI Is A Crapshoot
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier
• Alien Abduction
• Alien Arts Are Appreciated
• Alien Invasion
• Aliens Of London
• Alien Sky
• Aliens Speaking English
• Aliens Steal Cable
• The Alliance
• All Myths Are True
• All Planets Are Earth Like
• All The Myriad Ways
• Alternative Calendar
• Alternate Universe
• Amazon Brigade
• Ancient Astronauts
• Ancient Conspiracy
  • Milkman Conspiracy
• Ancient Tradition
• And Man Grew Proud
• Antagonists Assimilate
• Apocalypse How
• Apocalyptic Log
• Applied Phlebotinum
• Arbitrary Skepticism
• Area 51
• Arm Cannon
• Artificial Gravity
• Artificial Limbs
• Ascended Fanboy
• As You Wish
• The Asteroid Thicket
• Automaton Horses
• Babel Fish
• Bad Blue Lighting
• Bad Moon Rising
• Balance Between Good And Evil
• Because Destiny Says So
• Become A Real Boy
• Beethoven Was An Alien Spy
• Benevolent Alien Invasion
• Beware Of Hitchhiking Ghosts
• Big Fat Future
• Bizarre Alien Biology
• Blood Sport
• Body Snatcher
• Body Surf
• Boldly Coming
• Brain In A Jar
• The Bridge
• Call A Rabbit A Smeerp
• California Doubling
  • BBC Quarry
  • Here There Be Lions
  • Kirks Rock
• Can't Argue With Elves
• Captains Log
• Cargo Cult
• Casual Interstellar Travel
• City In A Bottle
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe
• Cloning Blues
• Coconut Superpowers
• Cold Sleep Cold Future
• Colony Drop
• The Computer is your Friend
• Connecticut Yankee
• Conspiracy Placement
• Continuous Decompression
• Contagious Powers
• Cool Boat
• Cool But Inefficient
• Cool Horse
• Cool Ship
• Cosmic Keystone
• Cosy Catastrophe
• Creepy Monotone
• Crossing The Streams
• Crossover Cosmology
• Crush Kill Destroy
• Crystal Clear Picture
• Crystal Spires And Togas
• Curse Escape Clause
• Cut The Juice
• Days Of Future Past
• Dead To Begin With
• Death From Above
• Death Ray
• Death World
• Decade Dissonance
• Deflector Shields
• Depopulation Bomb
• Deus Est Machina
• Deus Sex Machina
• Devil But No God
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu
• Die Or Fly
• Disintegrator Ray
• Distress Call
• Divided States Of America
• Divine Ranks
• Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep
• Do Anything Robot
• Doing In The Wizard
• Dolphins Dolphins Everywhere
• Do Not Adjust Your Set
• Dramatic Space Drifting
• Drop Ship
• Earth Is The Center Of The Universe
• Earth Shattering Kaboom
• Elaborate Underground Base
• Electric Torture
• Elemental Baggage
• The End Of The World As We Know It
• End Of The World Special
• Energy Weapon
  • Frickin Laser Beams
  • Laser Blade
  • Wave Motion Gun
• Eternal English
• Eternal Prohibition
• Evil Costume Switch
• Evil Detecting Dog
• Evil Hand
• Evilutionary Biologist
• Evolutionary Levels
• Explosive Decompression
  • Thrown Out The Airlock
• Expospeak
• Exty Years From Now
• Face Full Of Alien Wing Wong
• Failsafe Failure
• The Fair Folk
• Fan Of The Past
• Fantastic Racism
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink
• Fantasy World Map
• Faster Than Light Travel
• The Federation
• Five Races
• Flat Earth Atheist
• Floating Continent
• Flying Saucers
• Food Pills
• Forgotten Phlebotinum
• Freak Lab Accident
• Future Badass
• Future Imperfect
• Future Music
• Future Slang
• Gaias Vengeance
• Gattaca Babies
• Gendercide
• Genetic Engineering Is The New Nuke
• Genetic Memory
• Genie In A Bottle
• Ghost In The Machine
• Giant Flyer
• Glamour Failure
• Going Critical
• Golem
• Half Human Hybrid
• Hate Plague
• Heart Trauma
• Hellhound
• Hemisphere Bias
• Hollywood Cyborg
• Holographic Terminal
• Homemade Inventions
• Horde Of Alien Locusts
• Horse Of A Different Color
• Hour Of Power
• Hover Board
• How Unscientific
• Hugh Mann
• Human Aliens
• Human Popsicle
• Human Resources
• Humanity Is Superior
• Humans Are Special
• Humans Are Bastards
• Humans By Any Other Name
• Hyperspace Is A Scary Place
• I Know That Gun
• I Love Nuclear Power
• Imaginary Enemy
• Immortality Immorality
• Immune To Bullets
• Inside A Computer System
• Insignificant Little Blue Planet
• In Space!!!
• In Space Everyone Can See Your Face
• In Spite Of A Nail
• Instant AI Just Add Water
• Instant Cooldown
• Intangible Man
• Interspecies Romance
• Invisible Aliens
• Invocation
• It Only Works Once
• Its A Small World After All
• The Jor El
• Jigsaw Puzzle Plot
• Julius Beethoven Da Vinci
• Killer Robot
• Kill All Humans
• Kill Sat
• The Kingdom
• Kiss Me I Am Virtual
• The Kobayashi Maru
• Kryptonite Factor
  • Kryptonite Ring
• Landfill Beyond The Stars
• Law Of Alien Names
• Least Common Skin Tone
• Lensman Arms Race
• The Library Of Babel
• Life Energy
• Liquid Assets
• Literal Genie
  • Wishplosion
• Literary Work Of Magic
• Living Ship
• Living Toys
• Losing Your Head
• Lost Colony
• The Lowest Cosmic Denominator
• Low Low Fantasy
• MacGuffin Girl
• Mad Scientist Laboratory
• Magic Feather
• Magic Pants
• Magic Versus Science
• Magitek
• Magocracy
• Malus Ex Machina
• Manchurian Agent
• Mars Needs Women
• Matrix Raining Code
• May Contain Evil
• Masquerade
  • The Unmasqued World
• Meanwhile In The Future
• Mechanical Horse
• Mechanical Lifeforms
• Mega Corp
• Menstrual Menace
• Mental World
• The Metric System Is Here To Stay
• Mid Season Upgrade
• Mike Nelson Destroyer Of Worlds
• The Milky Way Is The Only Way
• Military Mashup Machine
• Minovsky Particle
• Mobile Suit Human
• Monster Of The Week aka MOTW
• More Than Infinite
• Mundane Utility
• Muggle Foster Parents
• Mulder Moment
• The Multiverse
• Mutants
• My Skull Runneth Over
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much
• Nanomachines
• Negative Space Wedgie
• Never The Selves Shall Meet
• Neuro Vault
• The Neutral Zone
• New Eden
• New Neo City
• No Big Deal
• No Biochemical Barriers
• No Control Group
• No Endor Holocaust
• No New Fashions In The Future
• No Paper Future
• No Seat Belts
• No Sex Allowed
• No Such Thing As Space Jesus
• No Waterproofing In The Future
• Non Mammal Mammaries
• Note To Self
• Not Using The Zed Word
• Not Wearing Tights
• Now Do It Again Backwards
• Nuke Em
• Numbered Homeworld
• Old School Dogfighting
• One World Order
• Only Fatal To Adults
• Opposite Sex Clone
• Organic Technology
• Our Dwarves Are All The Same
• Our Monsters Are Different
• Our Version
• Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions
• Out Of Time Out Of Mind
• Pardon My Klingon
• Patrick Stewart Speech
• Patronymic
• People Jars
• Peril Rollover
• Person Of Mass Destruction
• Personality Chip
• Phantasy Spelling
  • Magick
• Phantom Zone Picture
• Phlebotinum Induced Stupidity
• Pinocchio Syndrome
• Planar Shockwave
• Planet Eater
• Planet Looters
• Plausible Deniability
• Playing With Syringes
• Plot Relevant Age Up
• Popsicle Splat
• Portal Network
• Portal Splat
• Portal To The Past
• Post Modern Magik
• The Power Of Love
• Powers That Be
• Precursors
  • Neglectful Precursors
• Prime Directive
• Projected Man
• Prophecies Rhyme All The Time
• Psychic Link
  • Hive Mind
• Psycho Serum
• Punk Genre
• Puny Earthlings
• The Puppetmasters
• The Quest
• Radioactive Teenage Samurai Robot Wombats
• Ragnaroof Proofing
• Ramming Always Works
• Recycled In Space!
• Red Alert
• Refugee From TV Land
• Ret Gone
• Ridiculous Future Inflation
• Ridiculously Human Robots
• Robo Speak
• Robotic Reveal
• Robot Maid
• San Dimas Time
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens
• Science Fiction Versus Fantasy
• Science Marches On
• Scifi Ghetto
• Sci Fi Name Buzzwords
• Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale
• Script Reading Doors
• Second Chance
• Secret Handshake
• See Thru Specs
• Self Fulfilling Prophecies
• Send In The Clones
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip
• Shapeshifting Squick
• Shiny Looking Spaceships
• Shooting Superman
• Showing Off The New Body
• Single Line Of Descent
• Skepticism Failure
• Sky Surfing
• Some Kind Of Force Field
• Someone Has To Do It
• Something For Everyone
• Soul Jar
• Soylent Soy
• Space Amish
• Space Cadet
• Space Clothes
• Space Friction
• Space Is An Ocean
  • Space Sailing
• Space Is Cold
• Space Is Magic
• Space Is Noisy
• Space Is Slow Motion
• Space Pirates
• Space Police
• Space Romans
• Space Whale
• Special Effect Branding
• Split At Birth
• Spock Speak
• Square Cube Law
• Standard Sci Fi Setting
• Standardized Space Views
• Stanley Steamer Spaceship
• Starfish Aliens
• Starfish Language
• Starship Luxurious
• Storyboarding The Apocalypse
• Straw Vulcan
• Streaming Stars
• Subspace Ansible (FTL Radio)
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien
• Super Hero Speciation
• Super Multi Purpose Room
• Super Powered Robot Meter Maids
• Super Soldier
• Supervillain Lair
• Superweapon Surprise
• Suspended Animation
• Swiss Army Appendage
• The Symbiote
• Technological Singularity
• Technology Levels
• Technopath
• Techno Wizard
• Teleporters And Transporters
  • Tele Frag
• Telescoping Robot
• Terraform
• Thats No Moon
• Thorin Adjective Noun
• Thunderbolt Iron
• Time Abyss
• Time Stands Still
• Time Travel
• Toasted Buns
• To Serve Man
• Touch Of The Monster
• Touched By Vorlons
• Tower Of Babel
• Tractor Beam
• Translation Convention
• Transplanted Humans
• Tron Lines
• Truly Single Parent
• Two-D Space
• Two Of Your Earth Minutes
• Ultimate Evil
• Undead Tax Exemption
• Unguided Lab Tour
• Unit Confusion
• Unnecessarily Large Interior
• Unpredictable Results
• Unusual User Interface
• Upgrade Artifact
• Used Future
• Useless Superpowers
• Vampire Detective Series
• Veganopia
• Very Loosely Based On A True Story
• Vichy Earth
• Virtual Celebrity
• Voice Of The Resistance
• Waking Up At The Morgue
• Wayback Trip
• We Are As Mayflies
• We Can Rebuild Him
• We Will Not Use Photoshop In The Future
• We Will Not Use Stage Make Up In The Future
• We Will Use Manual Labor In The Future
• Weaksauce Weakness
• Weird Science
• What Is This Thing You Call Love
• What Measure Is A Non Super
• Whedon Thyndrome
• Who You Gonna Call
• Why Am I Ticking
• The Wild Hunt
• Wishplosion
• Witch Species
• A Wizard Did It
• Wonder Twin Powers
• World War III
• The World Is Not Ready
• World Shapes
• Worthless Yellow Rocks
• Year Inside Hour Outside
• You No Take Candle
• Your Mind Makes It Real
• Your Universe Or Mine
• Zeerust
• Zeppelins From Another World
• Zeroes And Ones
• Zero G Spot

See Also

• The Grand List Of Overused Science Fiction Cliches
• Turkey City Lexicon

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki entry

Game and Story Use

• Few campaign settings don't belong into the realm of speculative fiction!