Using magic to imitate real-world technology

[Aus_Snow]

How would you go about doing this, as a DM in world-building mode, or perhaps as a player of a mage / inventor type?

Like, for instance, using magic (and perhaps the occasional imp! ) to make [even rough] equivalents to a "camera", "video camera", "cctv system", "scanner", "printer", "fax", "cell phone", "refrigerator", "GPS", "lie detector" or whatever else. . .

 

[DarkKestral]

First, I'd figure out what tech I want to mimic. Not all tech is probably reasonable to mimic, though certainly some bits are.

Then, I'd go and figure out if any spells existed that pretty much exactly mimicked the tech I was trying to mimic. If so, I'd just build a magic item with that spell for a power, usable at-will or with a set number of charges.

If there wasn't anything to base it off of, only then would I resort to the process of doing a build-my-own magical spell/magic item for the necessary purpose.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes, you might find it easier to use devices rather than spells, and there are several writers out there who can give you ideas.

There are some excellent, if deliberately spoofingly funny, magitech devices in Terry Pratchett's Diskworld novels.

For instance, his novel "Thud!" has Watch Commander Sam Vimes struggling with the use of his equivalent of a Blackberry- a pocket-sized magical "goblin" in a magical cage. Similar critters are used for his world's equivalent of photography, except the goblin has an easel and paints. In a sense, they are magical beings bound to an object and given a task- not an unfamiliar concept, but definitely unusual in his application of it.

Harry Turtledove's quite serious Darkness novels- stories set in the equivalent of WW2 in a fantasy world- have all kinds of magical analogs to RW tech...guns, tanks, planes, the Atomic Bombs & Manhattan project and even the Nazi Final Solution have their magical equivalents. The tanks & planes are magical beasts under human control, while the guns are similar to wands of Magic Missile...or items that mimic a Warlock's eldrich blast. The fantasy equivalent of the Nazi Final Solution is a program of necromancy that uses the souls of the slain to power a ritual used as a weapon against soldiers.

 

[Warren Okuma]

Oh, let's see...
For DnD

1) Nuclear Reactor: Zombies working a water wheel or a decanter of endless water.
2) Mine Detector: Mount spell.
3) MASH Unit: Teleport away. Use mount wand to summon horse. Reads scroll of vampiric touch to gain hit points, something like 5d6 worth, draining horse. Teleport back to the fight.
4) Decanter of Endless Water afterburners!
5) Mining. Blast lots of dirt to get at gold...