D&D General Introducing a Scientific Mindset to Dungeons and Dragons

[Marandahir]

Reply to OP.

As far as a scientific mindset goes, I mostly use it to help with the “backstage” construction and expansion of the various campaign settings I use in my home games, usually with regards to the monsters. It’s still a fantasy game at its heart though, so magic and supernatural forces can and do supersede natural selection.

If we're talking backstage developments, my game world is largely based on a theoretical future earth continent orientation and what that would mean for ocean and wind currents, climate, evolution, and biogeography.

But all that is stage dressing that I then built my civilizations upon. The idea to some extent is that the humanoid PC peoples are either evolutionary descendants of humans or of other animals, etc, but the passage of hundreds of millions of years have essentially allowed for biological and cultural evolution in such a way that we might as well be in a fantasy setting.

This would allow for paleogeologists to identify the anthropocene layer in sedimentary rocks, if someone was looking for it. And some creatures from our time might show up in fossils. But it's largely a fantasy setting, or people see it through a fantasy lens. There is at least one city that's been lost in time, though, carrying on their existence as if it was the 21st century CE for 170 million years (repeating the same cycle over and over again ever century as part of a mad scientist "God"'s "experiment").

 

[Mannahnin]

No. Magic is too silly to be scientific. Especially Vancian magic:

I'm going to cram for a test. I cram and I memorize the information and I ace the test! But the professor says "That was the wrong test, darn it" and hands out a second test. The second test has the same questions just in a different order. SO same information.

But now I've forgotten the information because I can only use it once per long rest.

I mean even inside the pseudo-reality of fantasy worlds, memory works as we understand it to. Except when it comes to arcane magic. Then we get the "Dev Error" thing. This is before we even get into Clerics and Sorcerers.

The greatest minds in the world would go bananas trying to explain magic. It's too silly. It's fantasy and that's OK

To be fair, in the classic D&D magic system the word "memorization" is being used in a novel way to describe the process of embedding what Vance described as quasi-agential magical patterns upon the mind in a manner akin to the potential kinetic energy contained in a spring. Both in the case of "memorization" and in the enchantment of a magical scroll to hold one or more spells. In each case the casting involves releasing the energy held in abeyance, "discharging" the spell so imbued on the mind or paper. As some folks have over the years used the metaphor of a bullet and a gun for the spell and the spellcaster.

I do think D&D added more strain to our comprehension and stretched the metaphor in allowing a character to duplicate "memorized" spells; a departure from Vance. This really strains our brains to map to the rough concept of "memorization", though is theoretically understandable in terms of the metaphor of multiple identical "springs" or "bullets". The OD&D variant Original Edition Delta forbids memorizing the same spell twice at any given time, and I think that's a cool variant.

 

[Oofta]

To be fair, in the classic D&D magic system the word "memorization" is being used in a novel way to describe the process of embedding what Vance described as quasi-agential magical patterns upon the mind in a manner akin to the potential kinetic energy contained in a spring. Both in the case of "memorization" and in the enchantment of a magical scroll to hold one or more spells. In each case the casting involves releasing the energy held in abeyance, "discharging" the spell so imbued on the mind or paper. As some folks have over the years used the metaphor of a bullet and a gun for the spell and the spellcaster.

I do think D&D added more strain to our comprehension and stretched the metaphor in allowing a character to duplicate "memorized" spells; a departure from Vance. This really strains our brains to map to the rough concept of "memorization", though is theoretically understandable in terms of the metaphor of multiple identical "springs" or "bullets". The OD&D variant Original Edition Delta forbids memorizing the same spell twice at any given time, and I think that's a cool variant.

In older editions I explained "memorizing" a spell as casters as doing a ritual for 99% of the spell and the actual casting was just that last few words to complete the ritual.

Now? Eh. It's a game.

 

[Corinnguard]

What if instead of memorizing a spell, the caster relied on a Mnemonic device to easily remember the right words, gestures and material items for a given spell?

I also have to wonder if casting the same spell over and over would lead to the caster being able to cast certain spells by rote behavior. The shinobi in the Naruto anime trained themselves to rely on rote behavior when casting their jutsus in combat. Or is this too OP for D&D?

 

[Umbran]

The fantasy world is scientific. Gravity works. DNA works.

Something like gravity works.
DNA?
<Looks at the Owlbear, and dragon breeding capabilities>
Since when does DNA work?

 

[Corinnguard]

Since when does DNA work?

When it wants to.

 

[Fanaelialae]

In older editions I explained "memorizing" a spell as casters as doing a ritual for 99% of the spell and the actual casting was just that last few words to complete the ritual.

Now? Eh. It's a game.

Yeah, that was my preference as well. Basically "hanging" spells as in the Amber novels.

 

[Mannahnin]

What if instead of memorizing a spell, the caster relied on a Mnemonic device to easily remember the right words, gestures and material items for a given spell?

I also have to wonder if casting the same spell over and over would lead to the caster being able to cast certain spells by rote behavior. The shinobi in the Naruto anime trained themselves to rely on rote behavior when casting their jutsus in combat. Or is this too OP for D&D?

Sounds like 4E At-Wills and 5E Cantrips.

 

[Oofta]

Something like gravity works.
DNA?
<Looks at the Owlbear, and dragon breeding capabilities>
Since when does DNA work?

Magical CRISPR?

 

[Bitbrain]

Something like gravity works.
DNA?
<Looks at the Owlbear… >
Since when does DNA work?

Keenan Taylor’s Permian Continent has them as a speculative evolution of dicynodonts.