11-01-2014, 11:52 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
I unsure if this thread has been made already but I searched and did not find anything.
Something I always wondered was what would a typical fantasy setting with like magic and many kinds of other sapient species be like when they reached our tech level. In general you just never see them really move forward with tech when they do take place over the course of thousands of years (Like to give video game examples...Zelda where the furthest they ever got is inventing steam trains.). I guess my general questions 1. Are are their books, movies, games ect that have this sort of concept of fantasy with modern tech? 2. Is it even possible to reach modern tech with magic around, since the general excuse thrown around is with magic being able to do stuff, no one ever bothers to look into technologies? 3. Is it possible for multiple sapaints beings on the same planet to reach similar tech levels without killing each other first? 4. Assuming things go well and you do have a world where fantasy and modern technology co exist how would it be different from our world? |
11-01-2014, 12:44 PM | #2 | ||||
Join Date: Oct 2007
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
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The Legend of Korra could also count, though that's not magic in the standard sense. Everything more modern seems to be either "Magic is secret and used in parallel with technological advances" (similar to Harry Potter and World of Darkness) or "We now suddenly have magic available in our technologically advanced society" (like Shadowrun). Quote:
Then there's using magic as an alternative power source, instead of coal, gas or electricity. This could likely happen if there was any way to reliably harness magic, regardless of how many people can do it. The amount of people that can harness magic to power devices should realistically only change how much they charge for their services and consequently how much it costs to acquire and repair a powered device. Some fields of science will have radically different ways to advance or reasons not to compared to what we have today. It boils down to how magic works in that world along with any deities taking (in)direct interest in the matter. For the end user, the difference between a phone powered by a magic battery and a phone powered by an electrical battery would be minimal. Quote:
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11-01-2014, 12:53 PM | #3 | |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Athens, GA
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
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I've done a lot of similar noodling, figuring out how Bantu Africa might use magic to develop to the Age of Sail. The most important bit is nailing down how magic and the supernatural work, and what its limits. Consider magical medicine and what it means: Cure Disease is better than anything we can do now - it doesn't matter what the disease is. Should it work this way in your world, or should there be different spells for each disease? You might see a very early population boom, and the need for enchanted agriculture to feed the people as soon as magic becomes systematically applied. It's a lot to think through. In my world, for instance, there was never widespread deforestation because people use Cook Stones and magical forges (actually, hammer that make iron malleable at cool temps). They have magical chamber pots, so there are no sewers. In general, it's a MUCH cleaner, nicer development. Last edited by tantric; 11-01-2014 at 12:59 PM. |
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11-01-2014, 12:59 PM | #4 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
IIRC the world of Spellcast 101 seems to be something like that, with magic studied about the same way as science is in our world.
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11-01-2014, 02:03 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
Start working with the Ars Magica setting. The Order of Hermes is pretty scientific in it's study of Magic. Look at the Transforming Mythic Europe book first. Also try Art and Academe.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 11-01-2014 at 02:25 PM. |
11-01-2014, 06:13 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
GURPS Technomancer lacks the evolution from low magitech to high magitech aspect, but it does have a fully fleshed out high magitech setting.
Hans |
11-01-2014, 06:36 PM | #7 | |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Athens, GA
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
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11-02-2014, 01:56 AM | #8 |
Join Date: May 2009
Location: In Rio de Janeiro, where it was cyberpunk before it was cool.
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
I can see a lot of magic being applied to biotechnology and medicine for all sorts of uses, like for instance, magical symbiotes that heal the host if magical healing is not readily avaible or for combat aplications.
Power, all societies need large power generation to cross the TL5 boundary in that field, I think either devices that generate "FP" to power massive spells (with limitations obivously) or spells being applied to build electrical generators could work. Also, its possible that magical tools dominate the landscape and even magical workers, creating all sorts of social unrest. You will also always have the problem that necromancy can cause to a society that buries the dead as it makes the whole issue of graveyard security orders of magnitude more complex. Construction of buildings small or large would be extremelly easy, and with sufficient manpower and no serious material restrictions they could be extremelly industrious builders. Taming all sorts of animals and breeding them to their needs would be trivial, if other planes are acessible, then you have a whole market based on exotic extraplanar stuff and goverment bodies trying to stop smugglers from illegally pillaging the other planes. Maybe extraplanar refuges hehe The possibilities are endless One thing I know for sure, magic would only make things faster, it wouldnt eliminate countermeasures and situations where a good old nuclear bomb is the best option, specially if there are large no mana zones lying around. Actually if you think about it, a fanatical and competent group of wizards could systematically create no-mana pockets and master fighting using the terrain, and subsequently develop non magic TL equivalent stuff to be able to fight back against some sort of magical opression. |
11-02-2014, 02:41 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
For fiction Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson and The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove deal with modern world magic.
In Operation Chaos the main characters are a werewolf and a witch, the first story they are special forces types during WW II tasked with seeing if the enemy does have a djinn in the sector. In The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump the main character is a EPA official dealing with nasty magic pollution. |
11-02-2014, 06:53 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Atlanta GA
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Re: High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?
Piers Anthony Incarnations series has a world with both modern tech and magic. I can't remember if magic had always been there though or if it was like Shadowrun where it came back.
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alterntive world, fantasy, modern |
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