Don't we all know better than to go down the road of whether Star Wars is fantasy or sci-fi? It's like tic-tac-toe - the only way to win is to not play. I'm glad that the Call of Cthulhu setting thread has been resurrected, though, as I just posted my Top Ten Horror RPG list, on which CoC has a prominent place. The problem with CoC, though, is that it isn't that much less remote than Tolkien's fantasy. Real Cthulhu stories take place almost a century ago, and that might as well be Middle Earth for all we know about life in the early 1900s. I always get a little squirmy playing in specific historic time periods, though, because I never feel like I'm being true enough to the period. I become the guy that looks for watches on the wrists of cast-members in The Ten Commandments.
I'm glad Slant brought up Talislanta, though. What a great game. I have two different versions of it, and I've always been of the opinion that its quality eroded with each edition, especially when Wizards first released their version. You can't beat an RPG with over 50 playable races, though, with each race having its own unique classes. Wow. Anyone else ever play this game/world-builder's-disease tumor?