4.4 KiB
[BST][RT]Magic mechanics for Rational Urban Fantasy
-
Author: u/DreamingOfGoats *
-
URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3jktyv/bstrtmagic_mechanics_for_rational_urban_fantasy/
-
Score: 6
-
Created: 2015-09-04T04:12:22
Post:
I've been building for a modern day urban fantasy world recently and I'd like to flesh it out with some real world magick systems to stick to Sanderson's magic laws to avoid asspulls. So far, I've been working off base premise that the earth's telluric field serves as a weak ambient mana field and bioelectric energy can be used to pull in mana or invoke spiritual beings to perform energy changes.
Does anyone know of some good, fleshed out magic systems based on the real world out there? I plan on building this world into an actual story eventually, and the central lead is a brilliant young professional learning magic for the first time and using what little power he has to maximum effect. I've already come up with quite a few ideas for plot points based around the Nasuverse rune magic thread here.
Comments:
u/FishNetwork [+4] (3 hours later)
I'd go for something like the Mystborn system (8 powers, total, each of which is relatively minor).
For something broader, I might look at 4th edition D&D's Rituals http://dnd4.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Rituals . They'd be nice because a character would know a very small number of rituals. And the effects are super-specific, so the reader could reasonably learn the main character's whole set of options.
More general than that might be something like Larry Correa's Grimnoir chronicles. In the book, people get one of a few super-hero type powers. You could probably adapt that list so that the effects came from drawn designs instead of internal effort. Then you could have stuff like "the seal that holds back water" or "the inscription that lowers inertial-mass but not gravitational mass."
For rationalist UF, I'd go for really weak or hyper-specific powers. It's feels weird to read all the books where a world with powerful, general-purpose magic turned out just like the contemporary US.
u/Solonarv [+3] Chaos Legion (an hour later)
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but I'd still recommend you take a look at Ra.
u/Chronophilia [+1] sci-fi ≠ futurology (2 hours later)
At least up to the chapter What You Don't Know - that one explains a lot of mechanics as part of a graduate course in applied magic. (Which I think is an important point to note - thirty short years after the discovery of magic, everyone treats it more like electrical engineering than anything mystical.)
u/DreamingOfGoats [+3] (3 hours later)
Thanks guys, good place to start and I've already started twisting and adopting some of the ideas for my own =]
u/Nepene [+2] (8 hours later)
http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/
A good magic system should both visually appealing and should work to enhance the mood of a story. It should facilitate the narrative, and provide a source of conflict.
Make sure you remember that element when writing it. A good magic system is visually exciting as that's fun for people to read.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UrbanFantasy
There are no shortage of urban magic systems.
Alex Verus, Dresden, two popular ones.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+1] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (6 hours later)
The most rational magic system I know of is the classic Frazerian "laws of magic", as adapted by L Sprague de Camp, Randall Garret, and others.
u/2-4601 [+1] (3 days later)
Not what you're looking for, but you might like the Metamor City podcast as Urban Fantasy. It doesn't focus on magic so much, but it's pretty rich all the same.
u/None [+1] (5 days later)
Sufficiently examined magic is indistinguishable from science.
Do you call this new nifty effect "magic"? No, that sounds crazy. It's the Ortega field, and interacts with humans for... reasons. We're figuring it out. Results are promising, and several universities have begun funding research. Elon Musk just announced that "Ortega-tech is the next step for mankind." And, oh, look, a commercial application is set for release next September.