Looking at how often this happens in Star Wars proves that it's space fantasy.
It's a space opera!
Everything about Star Wars proves its a space fantasy. I mean, its got wizards in it!
Link you gotta build a spaceship to get to that floating island.
But this is Hyrule, a medieval fantasy world! We don't have rockets and airplanes!
Hear me out... Zonai devices.
Dwemer ruins gang represent
Arkngthand gang gang
As a forever GM, this is one of my favorite tropes, it's usually one of the driving forces in my worlds, I tend to prefer narrative power struggle type top level conflict in my worlds and this trope just makes for such fun gameplay.
Either there's multiple influential organizations vying for control of the ancient tech, or a group of userpers that found it, or the current ruling org is using it, or it was undiscovered until the PCs activated it (a good way to also be able to fluidly integrate a chosen one trope into a group without one single chosen one)
In a magic world, pure magic gets stale and starts to feel all the same, but replacing some of that magic with ancient tech can add a lot of fun flavor that doesn't need to upset game balance and can provide power advancement in ways beyond experience and level ups.
There was a post somewhere here on lemmy recently that inspired an idea for something like this:
An ultimate AI dominated the world and kept humans only on zoos along with all other animals. Over several generations those humans lost all knowledge and culture they had. Eventually the AI got wiped out by some natural disaster and it allowed humans to start over.
Yeah and that "got wiped out" can come from a solar flare. Then humans get to worship the sun.
Halo's Forerunners
TES' Dwarven ruins
Assassins Creed's First Civilization
All spring to mind
Also Star Wars' Zeffo / Zeffonians
Final Fantasy XVI is the most recent example I can think of, and iirc Jak and Daxter is one of the earliest ones I recall playing as a kid
Mass Effect
The Wheel of Time.
Naughty Dog did this trope and literally just named them Precursors lol
Is there a sci Fi world where that ancient civilization is just the current modern day?
Hercules the Animated Series? 🤔
Wait what? I've never seen it, how does that make sense?
It's set in ancient Greece, but they also show modern stuff like shopping malls and even magic artifacts that are basically modern technology to make the show relevant and more engaging.
By the waters of Babylon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_the_Waters_of_Babylon
Horizon Zero dawn also is similar to it. https://www.polygon.com/22939304/horizon-forbidden-west-ps5-ps4-story
Why does the clock say 911 :/ and the movie came out in 2001 hmmmm!!!
r/SaturnStormCube is leaking into lemmy
The blooper of this scene would be a good fit here...
Could you say, Tenet did the reverse. Futuristic technology found its way back to current time.
Watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 the other day, and when Peter has trouble driving a normal ass car, I was like "he can figure out his space ship but not how pedals and a steering wheel work? How did he know how to put the car into gear if he doesn't know the other basic stuff that would apply to the spaceship as well?"
Hey, it can be fire. Not exactly the same scenario, but 3015-era Battletech and lostech is dope as hell.
