Power of the Press: Mass produced magic?

AFGNCAAP

First Post

• Feb 13, 2004

• #1

Hello,

With the upcoming Eberron campaign setting, as well as earlier settings which meshed magic & technology, I was curious about how magic may mesh with 1 invention in particular, and to see if any of these settings have addressed this topic beforehand...

What impact, if any, would the good ol' printing press have on forms of written magic? Would it be possible to mass-produce spellbooks with a printing press? (i.e., "My First Little Spell Book," "Wizard Spells for Dummies," etc.) It could be advanced as our modern printing presses, or be as simple as the first one made by Guttenberg.

What about magical items that are written objects? Scrolls are an obvious example of such magical items, but what about things such as a manual of bodily health, or a tome of understanding?

I'm just thought I'd bring this issue up. I won't bring up other issues yet, like faxing/photocopying scrolls, keeping spellbooks as .doc files, etc., that come into question with more modern technology.

 

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EricNoah

Adventurer

• Feb 13, 2004

• #2

It would be interesting if there was a "scroll photocopier" -- instead of costing a nickel, it could cost the normal amount of GP and drain XP from the user just as if they'd made it themselves. So it would be like a magic item that duplicated the Scribe Scroll feat. I would make sure it was big/unweildy/anchored down if I were the owner though!

 

Crothian

First Post

• Feb 13, 2004

• #3

I don't think it would have much of an effect. The cost of scribing spells is insane and it would bankrupt anyone who tried to mass produce them. Magical items are even worse.

 

MerakSpielman

First Post

• Feb 13, 2004

• #4

The cost of regular books in RL was prohibitive before the printing press. Perhaps mass production would find a way to lower the price of the entire operation...

EBBERON IS UNBALANCED!





Kidding, just kidding...

 

francisca

I got dice older than you.

• Feb 13, 2004

• #5

AFGNCAAP said:

What impact, if any, would the good ol' printing press have on forms of written magic? Would it be possible to mass-produce spellbooks with a printing press? (i.e., "My First Little Spell Book," "Wizard Spells for Dummies," etc.) It could be advanced as our modern printing presses, or be as simple as the first one made by Guttenberg.

Click to expand...

Man, that is so KoDT. You aren't Brian VanHoose, are you?

 

Contrabassoon

First Post

• Feb 13, 2004

• #6

Eventually the printing press would absorb excess magic and spontaneously become a construct.

 

babomb

First Post

• Feb 13, 2004

• #7

AFGNCAAP said:

What impact, if any, would the good ol' printing press have on forms of written magic? Would it be possible to mass-produce spellbooks with a printing press? (i.e., "My First Little Spell Book," "Wizard Spells for Dummies," etc.) It could be advanced as our modern printing presses, or be as simple as the first one made by Guttenberg.

Click to expand...

Hmm. Offhand, I'd say that writing magic requires a special notation, like music does. This would make it difficult to produce using a standard printing press, but possibly a specialized press could be used for spells. The press would be very expensive, however.

AFGNCAAP said:

What about magical items that are written objects? Scrolls are an obvious example of such magical items, but what about things such as a manual of bodily health, or a tome of understanding?

Click to expand...

After <i>manuals of bodily health</i>, etc., are used once, they lose their magical ability. Items from a printing press would be similar to books that had already been used. In the case of scrolls, a wizard could use such a scroll to prepare the spell or copy it into his spellbook, but could not use the scroll to cast on the fly. The only way to make items from a printing press magical is to spend the full normal XP cost (though the GP cost may be reduced.)

Now, I suppose a magical printing press could produce magic items, but the cost to make a magical press would be very high. It would have to be enchanted for each spell that it can print scrolls of, with a cost at least equal to that of making a magical item that can cast those spells at will (but probably considerably higher). That said, any powerful wizards' guilds/schools would almost certainly want one. It could easily pay for itself in 2-3 years, depending on their activities. Plus the enchanting it with spells could be done a little at a time and be spread out among a large number of wizards.

 

shilsen

Adventurer

• Feb 13, 2004

• #8

Check out Terry Pratchett's "The Truth" for a brilliant treatment of this subject and the question of the Fourth Estate in general.

 

Nifft

Penguin Herder

• Feb 13, 2004

• #9

IMC, causality requires direct observation. Thus, unattended automation is impossible. Magic is inherently intelligent, and thus unintelligent automation is also impossible.

Nature works without human observation because of Spirits & Fey.

So, if someone wants to create something that works, unattended, without constant human intervention, he has to expend part of his soul -- measured in XP.

Thusly do I justify Standard D&D Tech Level.

-- N

 

s/LaSH

First Post

• Feb 13, 2004

• #10

Urbis' creator might have something to say on the matter; if you're familiar with the setting, it might be possible.

In any case, there's something to be said for the march of technology (in terms of 'techniques commonly employed'). It's not a physical law that scrolls take XP to make, just as it isn't a physical law that you need a hammer and an anvil to make a sword. I don't know what the law regarding energy input into scrolls is, but I'm sure someone will find a way around it. After all, we can't make artifacts these days - why not?