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Blurring the Lines Between Magic and Tech
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ส.ค. 2024
- Traditional magic and advanced technology are both forms of magic systems, so let's look at how we can make traditional magic look like tech and tech look like traditional magic.
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:16 Change the Variables
02:58 Change the Words
04:15 Alter In-World Knowledge
07:19 Change Interactions/Activations
09:39 Change the History
11:24 Outro
Found an book by the name of MagicNet, in where an internet server is used to accelerate the pace of ritual spellcasting for connected wizards allowing spells to take seconds to cast instead of weeks.
Downside is that one guy owns all the servers and code needed to run the setup.
That sounds fantastic! If you enjoy that, you should also check out The Laundry Files by Charles Stross
Hey man your awesome. Just wanted to say that. Eventually imma join 🎉
Text alone doesn't convey how much messages like this mean to me. Thank you!
And no rush to join anything. Even when/if I switch to writing/youtube full time, I'm going to do my best to keep as much as helpful content as possible without a paywall and available to as many as possible.
I recently discovered your channel and was pleasantly surprised at how insightful your videos have been. Most other videos I've watched on the topic of magic systems seemed to be regurgitating few already well known ideas without offering anything new, so your channel was a real breath of fresh air.
I also wanted to say it might be good your mic broke because the sound quality in your videos was the only problem I've had with your channel. Most of your past videos had a subtle echo from the mic picking up sounds bouncing off of walls, or sometimes they had this constant electric buzzing or humming sound. This video was far more pleasing to the ears.
Thank you so much for saying so!
And as for the sound... Hmmm. You're not the first to mention that, but I really can't hear it when I do my audio editing. I must not have a sound for audio. If you're willing, could you shoot me an email at clark@crrowenson.com? I'd appreciate some help improving my process
Hey, you could put up The Magic System Blueprint as a series or class on Nebula or Curiosity Stream!
That would be awesome.
Currently reading your book & it is exactly what I was hoping for. A flexible structure to build on!
The Legos of magic system development.
In one of my stories I use for magic related technologie only religious words.
Machines are shrines, workbenches are altars or pulpits, spells are prayers or psalms, tools are called aspergillums.
So even beeing in a "Sci Fi"-ish setting, the terminologie for tech gets a non-tech touch.
That's giving me strong Warhammer 40K vibes. It's definitely a fun way direction to take those concepts
Have you read/watched Toaru franchise?
I have not. I am not as well versed in Anime and Manga as many of my friends.
This is something i always struggle with. Trying to differentiate Technopathy from actual tech bugs me a lot. In my world, gadgets like mechanical gloves, tesla whips, gauntlets with speakers that shoot soundwaves, etc. Act sorta as the wands. I feel like Sound is the only one where it can be done with Technopathy rather than tech like voice changing, vibrating swords, earth-shattering soundwaves, etc.
A big part of that is the energy required. Sound is caused by vibration and waves of compression. So creating a sound wave strong enough to knock someone back basically requires a directed explosion. If you're using that much energy, there are usually better ways to direct it.
Now with magic/techno-magic, you can side-step some of that so the characters have a more effective way of creating the compression waves, making it a desirable isolated effect.
I hope this video helped you some with your Technopathy system. This is mostly about presentation, but still fun to play with.
The blurring of magic and technology is a fun topic. Aethetically, I lean a bit more towards “magic that feels like technology”, but I do enjoy the reverse quite a lot as well (and think tech that feels like magic is more interesting as a concept).
One example that comes to mind is ‘Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average’, which is pure magic from a structural sense, even if all fantasy aspects are secretly the result of Nanomachines, robotics, and genetic engineering in the distant past. Since the main character is the only one who knows about this (and one of a handful who can speak to the nanomachines) and society has stagnated, there is little reason to think of it as anything other than magic outside of specific circumstances.
This contrasts with Axiom Verge and its sequel, which also had technology being seen as the works of gods and magic. But we are still aware of the blurred line, because those societies are long gone and the characters all understand it as tech. Plus visual aesthetic helps.
Great examples! I love playing with perception and blurring the lines like this. It's such a fun area to explore and exploit for storytelling
Great video as always and I especially liked the part with changing the language cause I personally believe that framing can significantly impact how something is defined.
On that note, do you think it would be viable to have a power system that is treated differently by various factions and disciplines within the world? Like scientists would describe the system in terms of matter forms, energy conservation, wasted energy, etc. They would also stubbornly refuse to call it magic even when it shows the capability to alter and break several established laws of nature. And then the priests would use terms like Divine Will, blessings, curses. Similarly, there would also be those talking about it in more spiritual terms with less theology involved. But then you'd also have others who treat its use as more of a martial arts with techniques and a focus on training and honing it. And so on.
Would something like that work or would it be too complicated to have all these different interpretations for a single power system? Would it be better or worse for all of them to be correct about certain aspects of the system and true mastery requiring an understanding of all these different aspects?
In my opinion, that would be incredibly valuable from a worldbuilding perspective. If you're writing a longer series or creating a campaign setting, this gives you a lot of flexibility for tone and personality without having to build completely different systems.
I also revelations along the lines of "Oh, these X different systems are actually ONE system!"
Okay maybe this video will be more my style when I wake up. My magic system integrates with technology as a sort of half way stand in for Harry Potter Magic ‘Technology’ and Bleach Spiritual Tools, usually the Zanpakuto are the most well known but technically it includes many thinfs.. It is called Spice, and you sort of use it for crafting, cooking and mixing like chemistry. (I used to be a Biochem student, was heavily fascinated with the idea of mixing things, using centrifuges, and writing quantities down.). It is Hard, but only barely.
There is a vast potential for combining Magic and Technology that I rarely see for Eastern and Western Stories. Closest we get with the most depth, depending on how you ask is maybe Harry Potter and its magical inventions and Wheel of Time with its channeling inventions. And technically for that second one, it was a post apocalyptic world so I can only imagine the possibilities during the Aes Sedai Wars and the Prime of Lews Therin. But none of them do it my ideal way, but Harry Potter is ‘closer’. In Bleach actually, Soul Society technology is kind of just a mirror of ours, but also includes uniquely Spiritual inventions like Spirit Blocking Stones, Spirit Gateways and some others, but you get the idea. But it is also portrayed as ‘science’ not magic. Which I always thought was interesting, considering how Soft that series magic system can be sometimes with implementations.