Magic? Or at least sort of?

Magic in science fiction tends to break down into psionic capabilities or psychokinesis. I'm honestly not too sure if I'd personally like to see that happen in this game, but I wouldn't be bothered either. PK Fire!

 

We keep getting these Earthbound References!

 

Too many earthbound references! We have to Use the Force! For the Emperor!

 

Hey now, I'm one of the lucky owners of an actual copy of Earthbound for the SNES. and to be more accurate, PSI Fire!

 

How about the To Aru route where religion = magic while science = technology+espers

 

Constructive, really.

 

^^^^Someone who replies to 2 page old posts.
SMART .

 

There is no magic in space.

ONLY SCIENCE

 

And the thread lives again! Psionics is science?

 

http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/magic-mimicking-technology.849/

Go like it, and stuff

 

Isn't magic just stuff not yet discovered by science?
If yes, then go for it!

If not... then go for it!

 

Psi powers, now.
PK STARSTORM!
(Although Ness can't actually learn PK Starstorm but whatever.)

 

You can make magic work in a sci-fi setting like Rifts (the pen and paper RPG, not to be confused with RIFT MMO) here the site
What they had done was there was more then one way to go about it. You have Psionics, Magic, Technology or a hybrid of them like for instance Techno Wizard was a mechanic that infused weapons and Armor with magic so he/she had a gun the shoots a orb of daylight or a fireball
and as for the Psionics there a huge number things they can do.

The people with out magic or Psionics had other skills like the body fixer can take a worst case scenario victim and make him/her as good as new
and again the people without supernatural things were harder to detect because they had no power that makes them obvious

I could go on but I think you get the picture

 

magic would be cool, but please tell me there is a world called bender's iceball and there is a constant attack of penguins and the ice is covered in dark matter....err....oil

 

I i actually played rifts once. It was awesome. I agree something like this should be the case.

 

See the thing is that if you get some kind of magic in a sci-fi setting, the setting will kinda build around that magic. This game obviously however builds more around space and technology, so any kind of magic or supernatural power doesn't really fit. That's why the magic would have to be some kind of weird highly advanced technology.

No magic. No psionics. Just technology.

Also genetic manipulation for acidic barf.

 

I would have to disagree with you on this you don't have to build around magic if its just there as a matter of fact some games just change the name of "magic" like Phantasy Star what they had was "Photon arts" which was magic it doesn't mean that it's not magic.

But I could also see a culture shock for example a place has no tech just "magic" and our science called it something else and who know who's right.

Technically you can bring magic in a sci-fi setting with out it looking like magic because science "explains" what it is.

 

+10 for that Phantasy Star Universe reference, you are right, the same happens in the old phantasy star series, characters were able to use techs, only espers and special people, like Rune could harness the true power of the elements. So you see, normal people had learned to perform elemental attacks thanks to SCIENCE.

 

I'd really prefer this game to just have hard technology. Maybe genetic mutations and genetic engineering, but still hard technology.

 

I should expect that if people can travel around the universe at faster than light speed, their scientific knowledge would be advanced enough that they could explain most things without invoking the gods/magic/mana/whatever.

Beyond that, magic in sci-fi most often leads down the path of space-hippy races, who forever dress themselves in robes, and decorate their bridges with crystals. They only speak in riddles and appeal to mysteries of the universe at every dialog option. Magicky sci-fi characters are often provided as stock from the factory -- irregular cast-offs from the fantasy-elf production line.

In short I think magic in sci-fi leads to lazy writing. It is an easy way out of writing a clever explanation for what's going on. But also, it's the first step toward writing characters/species without subtlety or uniqueness.

I hope I don't sound too harsh, it's just that I'm trying to wrap words around why I react poorly when I hear "sci-fi with magic."