this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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The Leaky Cauldron
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glances at hardcore science fiction
"You dont want that kind of life for yourself, trust me. Engaging fiction and 100% logical consistency rarely goes hand in hand. Any author who cares enough about rules to make sure they aren't broken will end up making a rule book with minor character drama."
I mean, there are plenty of fantasy fiction series and books that have consistent ‘feeling’ magic rules. Can I name one off the top of my head right now? Not really. But, I have seen a few ‘HP has a terrible magic system, and this is why’ videos to have heard of plenty of examples. 🤦♂️🤷♂️
In Eragon, we learn the history of magic, how it came to work how it does, why the funny words make magic happen, and how magic interacts with the world.
Eragon also drags like a motherfucker. It's a decent story but not well written.
If ya want a real mindfuck the CRPG Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscurum also has a well thought out tech system. Though the broad points are that magic fucks with the nature of reality for example casting a fireball may reduce friction by 5 percent, technology is closer to anti magic and anchors reality down meaning it becomes really hard to do magic. Also don't mix the two someone in lore tried to put a fire enchantment on a flintlock rifle and took out a city block.
That's silly. Any sufficiently analysed magic is indistinguishable from technology.
That's kinda an element of Arcanum magic is a science and technology in Arcanum is in many ways a form of magic. They are simply two different sciences that are largely mutually exclusive, also it's part of a larger meta commentary of progress vs traditions as well as a critique on capitalism. Also it was made by alumni from Interplay most of whom worked on the original Fallout, gotta love Troika games they only ever made three but Arcanum, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines are damned good ones.
Read Mistborn.