I've edited the title to capture that my issues are with Revel's End as portrayed in Rime of the Icemaiden and again in Keys from the Golden Vault. And hopefully to be 'less gaterkeeper-ish.' I was just trying to use the commonly referenced Happy Days meme for when an entertainment property loses sight of its core.
It get it. But a straight-up computer console that doesn't exist anywhere else in the FR* just breaks the verisimilitude for me. If Revel's End has this, why it it the only place to have it? I thought that FR still tried to keep magic 'magical;' this, to me, is the opposite.
Magitech vibes in the FR are far from unusual, or anachronism in general. See also, Acquisitions Incorporated or Force Grey.
I see 5e has allowed the caster to make MM permanent, but even then it's a very Pavlovian spell: it gives a fixed response to a specific pre-determined trigger.
Pretty much. and I do think that addition originates in 'Golden Vault.'
Aesthetics change over time. My point was that D&D has always sat in that weird place between fantasy and sci-fi because it pulls its influence from such broad sources. If you scoured the art that appeared in Dragon Magazine just through the 80s you would see tons of anachronisms and outright magitech.
Oh, I was thinking of Reaper Miniatures. But, you know, ultimately they are referencing the Grim Reaper, so it all goes back to the same thing: it's a cool handle.
Yeah, I kind of like that about it. To me, it makes sense that a world with magic would find more practical ways to use it. But I get that this is starting to step on sci-fi's toes, and am not sure how far I would be comfortable with it going, either. For some reason, even though I love reading sci-fi, I have never really loved sci-fi RPGs, so this is about as far as I personally want to take it - things that add a fun gameplay element but that I can still reconcile with a generally more traditional fantasy vibe.
Based on responses in this thread, we may be in the minority, but I had a similar reaction. However, you didn't bring up what I found to be the most in-your-face non-fantasy/sci-fi element: take a look at the font and other graphics choices made in the Players' Map handout.
I think it's too late about the lasers <cough>eldritch blast</cough>.
Funny thing is, that map would fit in really nicely in my setting as an abandoned place: very (!) ancient Hobgoblin society was highly technical and (as they had six fingers per hand) both operated in base-six and designed many of their structures etc. as hexagonal in shape.
The map magic is explicitly temporary.
Revel’s End was created for the movie. And featured in Rime for the fun of it.
"More seriously" means the stuff preceding it is in jest.
Never heard that term before.
