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Message: <blockquote data-quote="El_Gran_Jefe" data-source="post: 5941781" data-attributes="member: 6695313">I've had to give a good long think to the magic issue, and it is one of the most intractable.Emergent behaviour is the key to the problem. Put another way, change the rules and people will adapt all the way.We act as we act because of the rules of our game. Medieval knights wore swords and armour because for them that was the best way to maximize damage and minimize hurt. Cowboys wore leather and pistols because it worked for them. Whom would you bet on, the knight or the cowboy?If the rules include people who can fly, then suddenly you have changed the rules in a basic way. It becomes an issue of rarity - and with enough money, what is rare ceases to be. Considering the costs of a siege, all castles would be taken with magic - think of a wizard flying a hardened group to the top of the walls at night, while a few more give covering fire, to open the gates.So now, castles and city walls are built different, or simply cease to matter.Likewise, you have the equivalent of bombers or strafing fighters. Communication becomes nearly instantaneous.When magic can do anything - why will a wizard plot to bring some monsters and destroy a village? A group will team up to take over the world, all of it, and split continents and countries and cities. Whats more, they will win.How do you justify, in your world, that this has not happened? In forgotten realms, you have equally powerful wizards *mandated by a god, and sometimes bedded too* to keep them in check. Only what these do truly matters, the other events, even if cataclysmic are merely consequences or sideshows.You still have a world, and it can be epic, but when magic is strong enough it becomes a game of wizards & company. Everybody else is surplus to requirements.</blockquote>

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