Fantasy with no magic

[briansommers]

OK. I'm trying this as an experiment.


I'm wanting to write a fantasy adventure without magic; not low magic, no magic . (period)


I'm beginning to think this isn't possible. This is what I want to do.


When you use magic - well anything can happen and you don't have to explain it because it's well, magic - poof! It just happens - end of story.


What else could I use besides magic that would give me 'poof it just happens?'


No explanation needed.


If it's science based (maybe I'm looking more for sci-fi than I realize) then it's not fantasy.


and just for the record, fantasy definition for me is something that is not of our world and not science/gizmo based.


Looking forward to some replies.

 

[gamerprinter]

Non-humans in a mundane Earth-like world might be considered fantasy, as well as magic that is so powerful that it has a noticeable effect, but untouchable by PCs or humanoids, they cannot affect the magic at all. There's the old adage that "technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic", so your definition of fantasy as not being science may very well be incorrect. If science will let you teleport, make a wish, fly, go invisible, such that science is magic - how can you tell the difference. If you don't understand the science, it is little more than fantasy.

 

[GMMichael]

What else could I use besides magic that would give me 'poof it just happens?'

and just for the record, fantasy definition for me is something that is not of our world and not science/gizmo based.

You could try divine intervention. Acts of god. Poof.

When I think fantasy, though, what I hear is "this couldn't possibly happen." Magic - couldn't happen. Putting 2 of every species on a boat - couldn't happen. A 900-year-old doing flips with a lightsaber - couldn't happen. "Fiction," unmodified, just means "didn't happen." And "historical": may or may not have happened.

So fantasy-no-magic sounds like "medieval fiction" to me.

 

[Razjah]

I'm a little confused, what do you need to "poof" and just happen? In the no magic games I've run, the lack of "well, a wizard did it" was one of my favorite parts.

Many literature adventures with magic are still relatively low/no magic. Conan the Barbarian- other than some spirits and the mad wizard- fights men and animals/monsters through strength, skill, and guile. No magic needed. LotR has very little magic. Aragorn heals using a rare plant and trained skill, much like some survival experts know that certain mosses can be used to help treat cuts and burns; Sting glows in the presence of orcs but other than that it's just a really good blade; the elves even state that their creations (like their rope and ships) are not magic but that the hobbits think of it that way.

So, what do you need to just happen that can't occur with some explanation that doesn't use magic?

 

[Rune]

Absolutely no magic is tricky, because you're cutting out a huge chunk of the player's options. Perhaps a better approach would be to assume magic is so subtle that it's effects can always leave room for a reasonable degree of skepticism. For example, instead of summoning a torrent of water, perhaps it starts to rain.

 

[Tonguez]

Ignorance is your friend. If most people are ignorant than any advanced skill looks fanastic.

An apothecary who uses rare herbal tonics to heal a wound, induce hallucinations or put someone to sleep, an alchemist who can create flares and fireworks, or vials of liquid that glow when shaken. Even getting someone like Achimedes or DaVinci - If you keep these things at the 15th Century level then they are not sci fi (btw the movie Malay Chronicle features an Archimedes Heat Ray but no magic per se)

There are other people (Dnd Monks) who have honed their bodies to walk on burning coals, block a sword blade with their bare hand, leap up 10 foot walls (Fianna salmon leap) and slow their falls or even punch a hole through a brick wall, even the Norse Beserker rage

then there are those with a natural affinity for animals - the horse whisperer who can calm a wild horse with a gentle word, the child who can seemingly communicate with crows and the wild man who raised a tiger cub.

even extreme stealth and the skill of camouflage or hiding in plain sight can appear magical

(indeed in one homebrew magic system I incorporated wizard spells were rejigged to give a +10 skill boost, eg Knock became +10 bonus to pick locks and even Invisibility was merely a +10 bonus to hide)

 

[Dioltach]

Psionics? Or is that too simple?

 

[steenan]

Take a look at Mouse Guard. It's definitely fantasy (after all, you play thinking, talking and tool-using mice), but it has no trace of magic of any kind.

In general, non-human protagonists in low-tech setting put you in the fantasy genre with no need for supernatural.

 

[Tonguez]

Psionics? Or is that too simple?

In one adventure amongst the Afghuli Hillmen Conan faces the Black Seers of Yimsha whose abilities seem to be telepathic and telekinetic in nature, but for all intents I'd consider Psionics to be magic in a fantasy setting. Afterall a fairy enchanting your senses is no different to a vampire dominating your will or telepath manipulating your mind

 

[TarionzCousin]

I'm wanting to write a fantasy adventure without magic; not low magic, no magic . (period)

The only thing I can think of that fits these criteria is medieval fiction. There are several authors who have written novels set in medieval times without involving "important" people--those are often classified as historical fiction instead.

Ken Follett
Sharon Kay Penman (also writes historical fiction)
Bernard Cornwell

Without magic, or anything like it, I can only think of divine intervention as something that would poof! and make something happen instantly.

Also, I feel that this thread needs the obligatory Arthur C. Clarke quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."