Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Worlds of Design: Magic vs. Technology
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="PsyzhranV2" data-source="post: 8151923" data-attributes="member: 7015332"><p>I'd argue that this line is perhaps somewhat reductive of real-world attempts at alchemy. Certainly, if we look at its (lack of) results through our modern lens of our increased understanding of chemistry and physics, it's easy to dismiss the historical alchemists as doing things willy-nilly. But I think it's important to remember that they were not just doing stuff at random, but were doing things that they thought make sense by their own understandings of the world. They were grounding their methods in the natural philosophy and proto-science of their time, faulty as it may have been. What they were doing might fit the label of what we might call "religion" today, but it did have some degree of internal consistency and coherence.</p><p></p><p>Keeping the above in mind, I think it's perfectly possible to use a system of magic for your setting that is based on (what is in your world) empirical knowledge and testing, and that successively builds on previous discoveries, rather than being at the whims of fortune and random inspiration -- and still have it fit the label of "fantasy". Mass production might be another question, but I'd still argue that you could step into those waters and still have your magic be "fantastical".</p><p></p><p>I have in mind the Xianxia genre, which takes inspiration from Daoist cosmology and traditional Chinese medicine:</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=twitter]1263629808786796546[/MEDIA]</p><p></p><p>Also,</p><p></p><p>The Force, yes, but lightsabers are a known: they're essentially extended plasma torches contained by magnetic fields. Yes, the Kyber crystals make it more complicated than that, as they require Force attunement and all, but the fundamental design principles are "scientific" ones.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PsyzhranV2, post: 8151923, member: 7015332"] I'd argue that this line is perhaps somewhat reductive of real-world attempts at alchemy. Certainly, if we look at its (lack of) results through our modern lens of our increased understanding of chemistry and physics, it's easy to dismiss the historical alchemists as doing things willy-nilly. But I think it's important to remember that they were not just doing stuff at random, but were doing things that they thought make sense by their own understandings of the world. They were grounding their methods in the natural philosophy and proto-science of their time, faulty as it may have been. What they were doing might fit the label of what we might call "religion" today, but it did have some degree of internal consistency and coherence. Keeping the above in mind, I think it's perfectly possible to use a system of magic for your setting that is based on (what is in your world) empirical knowledge and testing, and that successively builds on previous discoveries, rather than being at the whims of fortune and random inspiration -- and still have it fit the label of "fantasy". Mass production might be another question, but I'd still argue that you could step into those waters and still have your magic be "fantastical". I have in mind the Xianxia genre, which takes inspiration from Daoist cosmology and traditional Chinese medicine: [MEDIA=twitter]1263629808786796546[/MEDIA] Also, The Force, yes, but lightsabers are a known: they're essentially extended plasma torches contained by magnetic fields. Yes, the Kyber crystals make it more complicated than that, as they require Force attunement and all, but the fundamental design principles are "scientific" ones. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Worlds of Design: Magic vs. Technology
Top