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Hidden 1 yr ago Post by naomimyselfandi
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naomimyselfandi

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Oh, something I should ask - is everyone capable of working magic in the world, or is it a talent only some have? Typically along family lines (but talent doesn't always appear), but sometimes especially in the 60's, some children were born out of wedlock with the magic genes?


I think this came up on the first page:

I also think it's a skill like baking or working on cars. Obviously some people do it professionally, but a lot of people have some knowledge and skill in the subject that they've picked up here and there. Conversely, some people can't work a spell to save their life, and that's okay!
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Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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@Expendable magic is an accepted part of the the natural world in this setting. Your questions keep centering around magic and science as opposing forces, but in this setting they are not. Magicians didn't come out, because they were never hidden.

I recognize the instinct to try to fit everything together, because you're right that the world would be drastically different if magic were real. But the premise of this roleplay is that magic is just another part of modern life. I know there are aspects that are unrealistic, and if I were trying to make a movie or publish a book I might try harder to address them.

As Naomi points out, yes, anyone can use magic.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by naomimyselfandi
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On a different note, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think my character concept keeps getting buried. Gisk, how does this sound?


Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Expendable
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@Expendable magic is an accepted part of the the natural world in this setting. Your questions keep centering around magic and science as opposing forces, but in this setting they are not. Magicians didn't come out, because they were never hidden.

I recognize the instinct to try to fit everything together, because you're right that the world would be drastically different if magic were real. But the premise of this roleplay is that magic is just another part of modern life. I know there are aspects that are unrealistic, and if I were trying to make a movie or publish a book I might try harder to address them.

As Naomi points out, yes, anyone can use magic.


I'm just trying to twist my mind around to how this came about so I can better image a character to fit within its framework. I'll probably file the bits I brought up for a future rp.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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@naomimyselfandi Ah! Yes, sorry! It really did keep getting buried, my bad. It sounds great, algorithmic spellcraft is definitely a thing, too. If you need a spell to affect things differently depending on certain criteria, or to only affect certain targets etc.

I think I've brought up that there's some very real overlap between programming and spellwriting. But if I'm to understand correctly, this person isn't studying magic personally, are they?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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<Snipped quote by Gisk>

I'm just trying to twist my mind around to how this came about so I can better image a character to fit within its framework. I'll probably file the bits I brought up for a future rp.


Yeah, I hear you, believe me! In this world, magic is one of the sciences. It isn't treated differently from engineering, electricity, radiation etc, and it developed alongside them.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by naomimyselfandi
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Ah! Yes, sorry! It really did keep getting buried, my bad. It sounds great, algorithmic spellcraft is definitely a thing, too. If you need a spell to affect things differently depending on certain criteria, or to only affect certain targets etc.

I think I've brought up that there's some very real overlap between programming and spellwriting. But if I'm to understand correctly, this person isn't studying magic personally, are they?


Ah, that's a great question! She definitely knows the theory, being a grad student and all, and she can definitely perform workings with help from a computer - gotta test those theories, right? I think she probably knows some simple utility spells (moving small objects, illumination, that kind of thing) since she already knows the theory and they're convenient, but we'll see; I might adjust that based on the group dynamic.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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I've added some of my work in progress to the opening post. Nothing is set in stone there yet, but I'm working on it.
Hidden 1 yr ago → 1 yr ago Post by Expendable
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Some suggestions:

Main (former residence)
Student Union with vending machines and old telephone kiosks along a wall. Stories about a phone ringing in the night, and if you answer, all you hear is moaning and panting. Someday we'll get that spirit out of the switchboard. Summer used book sale and S&M (science & magic) fairs for the kids.
Student book store (with official Sanctuary Hill swag! Go Grims!)
Student Health Center
College police
Scattered telephone booths.
Mary Parker Memorial Library (Remember to call for an extension, late books will be summoned). Still using Pneumatic tubes to convey book requests to the underground stacks. Lunchroom with vending machines for sticky ice cream sandwiches, small heated tins of potted food, half-frozen sodas, sandwiches of unknown mystery meat, and Charlie, the library ghost. Died in WW2 during the London Blitz, not all together sure how he got here. Likes to pull pranks, and is typically called in for introductory medium classes.
Classroom building(s)
Science building
Nuclear Reactor building
High Energy Magic Research Building (people have been known to leave *before* they went in)
Computer building
Registrar building
Sanctuary Hill Federal Credit Union
Art tower - sways in the wind, weird capsule like elevator cars.
Steam tunnels - mostly occupied by abandoned feral familiars, who wander the campus for hand outs and good garbage.
Gym
Pools
Basketball courts
Tennis Courts
Football stadium
The "Clump" - some pine trees on the far side of the football stadium, known hangout spot
The Visitor Center - across from the Football Stadium.
"Old" dorms with central cafeteria building. Currently empty as construction crews rip out the old wiring and plumbing. Hopefully that will rid the place of the last few ghosts, they're mostly jerks.
New Dorms with cafeteria on ground floor. Known for the raised carpet flooring.

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Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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@Expendable there's a lot of great stuff in there, and our sportsball mascot is definitely the Grim, although I think the school's main sport is baseball.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Fading Memory
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Fading Memory The Final Flame of a Fiery Bird

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The energy of the room is mildly infectious, my muse is stirring on some such nonsense of character conceptualization. I’ll flip some coins and drop some ideas in the next day or so, once I have a chance to sit down outside work and catch up on other guild obligations first.
Hidden 1 yr ago → 1 yr ago Post by Expendable
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@Expendable there's a lot of great stuff in there, and our sportsball mascot is definitely the Grim, although I think the school's main sport is baseball.


So a baseball field or two is a must.

I've already spawned a second character idea, a gargoyle named Stanley. Bums cigarettes, sits in on classes in the back.

Some more town ideas, mostly in the streets in front of the school's gates.

A fancy restaurant with bar as close as possible to the main gate.
A local drug store. (should be two or three of them)
A diner (may be two at opposite ends).
A movie theater/playhouse - midnight showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show on Fridays and Saturdays. Bring Your Own Toast.
A Hot dog/ Sausage on a Bun Hut
A jewelry store
A small store selling stuffies and beanie babies.
A bicycle shop
A discount store selling cheap clothes, school supplies, home goods, has a small luncheon counter in the bottom level and paid toilets (don't forget to bring your dime)
A couple of churches
Ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Indian, Mexican)
Pizza parlors
Ice cream place
Comic/game store (already mentioned I'm sure)
Used book store
Magazine/newspaper shop (sells coffee, soda, candy bars, packaged honey rolls, snack cakes and hand pies)
Local candy store
Movie Palace - video rental with large private booths upstairs with large, boxy rear-projection tvs and a vcr, you can rent one of the booths for groups up to eight people, movie concessions stand. Notorious make-out place.
Tobacconist shop
Crazy Dave's Tattoo parlor - famous for the demon tattoo, but you must bring your own demon.
Bars
Army/Navy Surplus (sells messenger bags and backpacks)
Thrift shops/goodwill.
A small mall, possibly outside of town, with various common stores and restaurants. (Malls are parasites that feed off of cities and towns)
Trinket stores (candles, occult goods)
Stationery stores (one sells fancy journals, pens, framed sayings, etc. while one's further out with office supplies, typewriters, cubical settings)
Fancy kitchen store.
Lumber yards and hardware stores (do you know how hard it is to scrape together a coffin at 3 AM?)
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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@Expendable cool! Deciding what a gargoyle is in this world just became your responsibility!
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Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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I truthfully did not write as much as I meant to, but there's been some updates to the opening post, now including a character sheet.
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Hidden 1 yr ago → 1 yr ago Post by Expendable
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@Gisk For your consideration:



Gargoyle is coming.
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Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Fading Memory
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Fading Memory The Final Flame of a Fiery Bird

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My muse struck pretty hard as I tossed and turned last night; a wannabe amateur author is in the works.
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Hidden 1 yr ago → 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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@Expendable Looks good!

I need to know the name of that furniture store, unless you don't mind me making it up wholesale.

I want to make two quick notes on her magic. Firstly, just remember that magic still follows conservation of matter. If She makes an item bigger or smaller, the mass needs to come from somewhere(or go somewhere). But I think you can just kind of minecraft it. If you're making a chair bigger, literally any wood could be added. Alternatively, if you make a chair smaller, you'll have some random pieces of wood left over(probably in weirdly regular shapes, spheres maybe).

Secondly, if she attended school, she's probably had some further education on the basic principles of how to actually write a spell.

In fact, let me expound a little on how different people use magic.

Technically, magician is a title that's tied to a degree. Colloquially speaking, however, the accepted difference between a magician and a witch is that a witch just learns spells. A magician writes them. They understand the principles of the magic, and know enough about the fundamentals of the physical world to know how the magic will interact with it. They know the "language" of magic, so to speak, and how to tell it what to do.

If you're a gamer, it's like knowing how to install mods, vs knowing how to make them.

Though, that might not give witches enough credit. They still need to know enough to make minor changes for things like scale of effect, and specifying the object of the spell. Even if someone only knows a spell for light, they usually know how to change the casting to make it brighter or dimmer.

A little update for all: I'm still hard at work! Unfortunately, as I said I didn't get as much writing time over the weekend as I expected, and I've been busy today. I actually went whole hog and bought a fancy keyboard, set up my computer and everything, to try to inspire myself to write more(for this, and other things). It seems to be working so far! I'm definitely working more efficiently.

I've also started working on a playlist for the roleplay, if you have any suggestions, my only criteria is that songs be from 1994 or earlier(though when in 94 they released isn't important). Right now there's mostly grunge and pop.

EDIT: The first post has been updated again. It will take me a long time to fill in all the details that I want to add, we honestly might start the game before it's done. There's so many ideas in my head(including a bunch that y'all have put there), but I've gotten a lot of the important background stuff out, so people should have an easy enough time making characters that are integrated with the world.
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Hidden 1 yr ago → 1 yr ago Post by Expendable
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Added a few songs to her sheet, songs that appeal to her. And all before 1994.

In some ways, magic is like electricity. We're not completely sure how it works, but while others try to work it out, we use it, just the same.

Sam, from her classes, knows there's space between the atoms, and what she thinks she's doing is removing that space. It's actually losing mass while retaining its form, slipping the left-over mass into a pocket dimension. When she wants to return it full size, she can pull that mass out of the pocket. Something larger than full size needs to pull more mass out of that pocket dimension.

Her sacrifice is her blood, used to draw her personal rune on the object so that she can recall it later.

Hidden 1 yr ago → 1 yr ago Post by Gisk
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That's exactly what I'm talking about! I'm imagining she copied the pocket dimension part from somewhere without fully understanding it. This is why magic used to be viewed as unpredictable, because people would(and still do) cast spells without knowing what they were really doing. And then it's usually fine, until it isn't.

At some point, this will cause a problem. I don't know what, why, or how exactly, but it will.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Fading Memory
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Meanwhile I’m over here wrestling with whether or not magical literature would be called Science Fiction or Fantasy.

Something about ‘aspiring science fiction novelist’ but the story being about magical theory in the medieval era just makes me giggle.
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