Comment on Speedy Delivery
my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 1 week ago“Magic system” is a bit of an oxymoron imo. The problem with having hard rules for magic is that that’s not magic, that’s science. You just end up with a world with slightly different physical laws.
Technology can be interesting on its own but a deep understanding of the underlying mechanics kills the magic. A rock that lets you talk with someone over great distance is magic but if you explain it as manipulating imperceptible vibrations in the air you just have a radio.
MisterFrog@lemmy.world 1 week ago
This is just the currently accepted terminology in world building: rebeccashedd.com/…/the-worldbuilders-toolkit-buil…
I’m just extending this to sci-fi also, as have many others, because they’re basically the same thing, only that the sci-fi magic systems are vaugely based on real-life science (but vary wildly how closely).
Think Stargate with their loosey-goosey ancients and accession, vs the much more grounded The Expanse.
I’m just not a fan of magic systems without any rules at all.
Hence why I find supernatural stories less interesting, which streaming services, book shops, and movie theatres, frustratingly categorise under fantasy. They are very different from sci-fi and fantasy, in my opinion.
If your magic is purely “mysterious”, that’s boring, and lazy story-telling (In my opinion).