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It's all Jack Vance's fault
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<blockquote data-quote="niklinna" data-source="post: 8804425" data-attributes="member: 71235"><p>I was prompted to start a thread on this so here it is!</p><p></p><p>Jack Vance wrote entertaining fantasy stories that often highlighted odd societies with silly unworkable customs, and a stranger passing through who would just wreck their day by exploiting or undermining those customs. His stories also featured magic whose principles were long forgotten and perhaps nonexistent; whose effects were often crazily powerful, idiosyncratic, and specific; and which were so taxing to use that, once cast, they erased themselves from the caster's memory. In other words, his magic was as silly and unworkable as the customs of those societies.</p><p></p><p>Out of all the kinds of magic in fantasy literature, that's what got chosen as the way magic works in Dungeons & Dragons, and by extension a large amount of other roleplaying games. Some games did things differently, offering general spells that could be customized with details, or laying out principles by which spells could be constructed from scratch in the course of play (sometimes even on the spot), but those models never eclipsed the arbitrary formulary of very specific spells.</p><p></p><p>Now, people who actually practice magic(k) do follow some general principles or laws, which have been recognized by practitioners and anthropologists for quite a while. Isaac Bonewits wrote a little book called <em>Authentic Thaumaturgy</em> that tried to apply such things to magic in roleplaying games, and Sørensen's <em>A Cognitive Theory of Magic*</em> is quite an interesting read. But many traditional approaches to magic do not lay that stuff out explicitly and instead have a collection of spells or rituals handed down from "time immemorial". Those traditions generally don't involve slinging fireballs around, but still.</p><p></p><p>And then there's the viewpoint that magic is somehow contrary to science, so using laws and principles to describe or adjudicate magic goes against that. The mystery of it all must be maintained! (Except when balance is an issue.) Some witches in folklore could kill with a glance, no need for a fireball—but clearly they must have been very high-level witches. And rupturing a vital artery, while taking much less energy than even a basic magic missile could be expected to, is ever so much less magical. (Also hit points aren't meat.)</p><p></p><p>Coming back to Vance—whose fault it all isn't, of course; it's just a consequence, of the choice of a certain pair of guys who adopted his fictional magic system for their hugely-influential game—it's curious to look at that fictional magic system, devised in and for a context of the exotic and absurd, and consider the huge influence it's had. It's also curious to see how the system has been adjusted with each passing edition. Spells no longer erase themselves from memory, for example.</p><p></p><p>Well, that's only five paragraphs but there's a lot of launchpoints in there. What do you think about Jack Vance'd Dying World, and its magic? What do you think about how it's influenced roleplaying games? What do you think about how it was adopted, and how it was changed over the years? What do you think about conceptions of magic between real-world practitioners, anthropologists/folklorists/storytellers, and gamers?</p><p></p><p>* Note: If you find that title interesting, be aware that you first need to read <em>The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending And The Mind's Hidden Complexities</em>, by Fauconnier & Turner.</p><p></p><p>Edit: Minor clarification.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="niklinna, post: 8804425, member: 71235"] I was prompted to start a thread on this so here it is! Jack Vance wrote entertaining fantasy stories that often highlighted odd societies with silly unworkable customs, and a stranger passing through who would just wreck their day by exploiting or undermining those customs. His stories also featured magic whose principles were long forgotten and perhaps nonexistent; whose effects were often crazily powerful, idiosyncratic, and specific; and which were so taxing to use that, once cast, they erased themselves from the caster's memory. In other words, his magic was as silly and unworkable as the customs of those societies. Out of all the kinds of magic in fantasy literature, that's what got chosen as the way magic works in Dungeons & Dragons, and by extension a large amount of other roleplaying games. Some games did things differently, offering general spells that could be customized with details, or laying out principles by which spells could be constructed from scratch in the course of play (sometimes even on the spot), but those models never eclipsed the arbitrary formulary of very specific spells. Now, people who actually practice magic(k) do follow some general principles or laws, which have been recognized by practitioners and anthropologists for quite a while. Isaac Bonewits wrote a little book called [I]Authentic Thaumaturgy[/I] that tried to apply such things to magic in roleplaying games, and Sørensen's [I]A Cognitive Theory of Magic*[/I] is quite an interesting read. But many traditional approaches to magic do not lay that stuff out explicitly and instead have a collection of spells or rituals handed down from "time immemorial". Those traditions generally don't involve slinging fireballs around, but still. And then there's the viewpoint that magic is somehow contrary to science, so using laws and principles to describe or adjudicate magic goes against that. The mystery of it all must be maintained! (Except when balance is an issue.) Some witches in folklore could kill with a glance, no need for a fireball—but clearly they must have been very high-level witches. And rupturing a vital artery, while taking much less energy than even a basic magic missile could be expected to, is ever so much less magical. (Also hit points aren't meat.) Coming back to Vance—whose fault it all isn't, of course; it's just a consequence, of the choice of a certain pair of guys who adopted his fictional magic system for their hugely-influential game—it's curious to look at that fictional magic system, devised in and for a context of the exotic and absurd, and consider the huge influence it's had. It's also curious to see how the system has been adjusted with each passing edition. Spells no longer erase themselves from memory, for example. Well, that's only five paragraphs but there's a lot of launchpoints in there. What do you think about Jack Vance'd Dying World, and its magic? What do you think about how it's influenced roleplaying games? What do you think about how it was adopted, and how it was changed over the years? What do you think about conceptions of magic between real-world practitioners, anthropologists/folklorists/storytellers, and gamers? * Note: If you find that title interesting, be aware that you first need to read [I]The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending And The Mind's Hidden Complexities[/I], by Fauconnier & Turner. Edit: Minor clarification. [/QUOTE]
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