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Worlds of Design: Magic vs. Technology
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<blockquote data-quote="trs31" data-source="post: 8151895" data-attributes="member: 21273"><p>When Clarke said any sufficiently advanced<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"> technology is <strong>indistinguishable</strong> from magic</span>, it was not the same as saying that any sufficiently advanced<span style="color: #000000"> technology </span><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">is</span></strong><span style="color: #000000"> magic. One way to distinguish between the two in your game is to take the position that, however similar their effects are, the two are fundamentally different things. Technology sits squarely in the realm of the physical (i.e. it works on the principles or laws of physics). Magic however could be described as being squarely in the realm of the Spiritual. i.e. Magic works according to "spiritual laws" not physical ones. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000">In a world like this Magic relies on the belief of the user (and maybe those around them as well), not just that it will work but that it <strong>should</strong> work. Spiritual or magical laws such as the law of contagion ("this object once belonged to the target of my spell") and similarity ("this wax figure looks like the target of my spell") are thus related to a belief that they "sort of make sense" rather than being hard and fast rules. This makes magic "unknowable" in that it does not behave the way we would expect technology to. It is not something that can be reproduced in exactly the same way each time under experimental conditions. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000">I've seen this sort of explanation used more often in contemporary fantasy settings (I'm thinking particularly of DC's Hellblazer comics, but there are lots of examples) than in medieval fantasy where, because of the relative absence of technology, there is less of a need to define the difference. However, while this approach works well for story telling games (where magic's job is often to fulfil fate's plan) it can be a pain in more mechanically heavy role-playing games where most players want their spell to do the same thing each time and not be held hostage to "fate", "karma" or the whims of the GM. </span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trs31, post: 8151895, member: 21273"] When Clarke said any sufficiently advanced[COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)] technology is [B]indistinguishable[/B] from magic[/COLOR], it was not the same as saying that any sufficiently advanced[COLOR=#000000] technology [/COLOR][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]is[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#000000] magic. One way to distinguish between the two in your game is to take the position that, however similar their effects are, the two are fundamentally different things. Technology sits squarely in the realm of the physical (i.e. it works on the principles or laws of physics). Magic however could be described as being squarely in the realm of the Spiritual. i.e. Magic works according to "spiritual laws" not physical ones. In a world like this Magic relies on the belief of the user (and maybe those around them as well), not just that it will work but that it [B]should[/B] work. Spiritual or magical laws such as the law of contagion ("this object once belonged to the target of my spell") and similarity ("this wax figure looks like the target of my spell") are thus related to a belief that they "sort of make sense" rather than being hard and fast rules. This makes magic "unknowable" in that it does not behave the way we would expect technology to. It is not something that can be reproduced in exactly the same way each time under experimental conditions. I've seen this sort of explanation used more often in contemporary fantasy settings (I'm thinking particularly of DC's Hellblazer comics, but there are lots of examples) than in medieval fantasy where, because of the relative absence of technology, there is less of a need to define the difference. However, while this approach works well for story telling games (where magic's job is often to fulfil fate's plan) it can be a pain in more mechanically heavy role-playing games where most players want their spell to do the same thing each time and not be held hostage to "fate", "karma" or the whims of the GM. [/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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