On the nature of magic in Shadowrun, Why is this so difficult? |
On the nature of magic in Shadowrun, Why is this so difficult? |
Nov 30 2004, 05:10 AM
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#1
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
The driving force behind all of magic's permutations in Shadowrun seems obvious to me- it's whatever the magician believes it is.
The spirit types and totems exist because people think they exist- from the loa to the nature spirits. The totem of, for example, Dove isn’t really related to what doves are- white birds that kinda crap all over. It’s related to the meaning and symbolism metahumanity attatches to doves, that of a peaceful messenger/mediator. In the absence of metahuman belief, I seriously doubt any of those would be there. Even the metaplanes seem shaped by belief, particularly the ancestor-spirit planes but also others. Magic manifests as 'miracles' for those inclined to believe that. Magic manifests as 'mental powers' for those inclined to believe that. If a magically-active individual truly believed in the totem of Strong Bad, guess what Mexican-wrestling-masked boxing-gloved figure would greet them on their Astral quests? This begs the question- why are the hermetics so intent on puzzling out magic's nature when it's staring them full in the face? This also raises the question of what could be done to change the nature of magic, the metaplanes and reality itself if you manipulated belief. If you got a significant fraction of the population, particularly the magically-active population, to believe that such a thing is so, then it is so. This raises the possibility of manipulating the information available to a sealed community of magically-active individuals to make changes in the nature of reality and of magic- the larger the change needed, the larger the community necessary to make it. Make them believe that teleporting magic is possible, and it’s possible. Make them believe that a certain man is a God on Earth… Thoughts? |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:16 AM
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#2
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
Gee, I wonder why it's so hard for psionics then? Or right, because thousands of years of trial and error beats preconceptions any day. Sorry, but I don't by it. There is a give and take between belief and magic, but one does not control the other. |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:19 AM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
It's consistant with the theory, though- the reason thousands of years of trial and error beat psionics is that the thousands of years of many people confidant they're discovering new aspects of magic when they are, in fact, creating them have left a more lasting and stronger imprint on reality than the small numbers and recent duration of the psionic movement have had, in effect 'aspecting' magic to work better with other traditions than for Psionics.
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Nov 30 2004, 05:20 AM
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#4
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
Well, I'd go the other way and say that magic aspected society and ritual practices.
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Nov 30 2004, 05:23 AM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
But where is the proof that those who think that they're 'discovering' aspects of magic are not in fact creating those aspects?
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Nov 30 2004, 05:25 AM
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#6
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
And vice versa? Come now, Bug Queens can summon other spirits, surely you can see that as evidence...
One can shape how magic works, just as magic shapes how the world works. |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:27 AM
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#7
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
So we agree on the mechanism, just not the theory. |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:28 AM
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#8
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
The more a magician does something, the more powerful it is; and the more powerful it is, the more a magician does it.
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Nov 30 2004, 05:30 AM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
*casts Force 1 Heal to get rid of the headache*
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Nov 30 2004, 05:31 AM
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#10
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
Binds force 1 heal on self to a macro button, on the path to ultimate magical power...
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Nov 30 2004, 05:31 AM
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#11
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
I'm not really sure I follow. Belief is important, but it's only one ingerdient in the soup. One must still learn by trial and error or from a teacher regardless of it what will actually affect mana and force it to your will.
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Nov 30 2004, 05:33 AM
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#12
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
Or is it only that way because many people THINK you need to learn by trial-and-error or by teacher?
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Nov 30 2004, 05:34 AM
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#13
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Shamans and the "belief shapes magic" crowd have kept magical theory back by decades. Please, let's waste no more time on this nonsense.
-Diarmuid |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:35 AM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
Then explain the phenomenon.
:D :proof: :grinbig: |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:36 AM
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#15
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
:rotfl: By the rules of the game actually. One cannot cast spells without a Sorcery skill becasue they cannot default. Pretty good evidence you need to be taught or learn... :P |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:37 AM
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#16
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Creating a god with his own hands Group: Members Posts: 1,405 Joined: 30-September 02 From: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 Member No.: 3,364 |
Now, everyone think about expanding Fix-it's bank account, and we'll see if this really works.
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Nov 30 2004, 05:38 AM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
OK, point. Belief isn't the whole story- unless you consider the Sorcery skill your ability to 'disbelieve' in the regidity of currant way the world works. But it still shapes magic and thus reality to a phenomenal degree.
Could the expiriments described above work in the Shadowrun world? |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:41 AM
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#18
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
People have believed in magic for quite some time. For that matter, belief was stronger thousands of years ago, back in the height of the downcycle. Why was that belief insufficient to make it the height of the upcycle, or for that matter anything at all?
~J |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:41 AM
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#19
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
In the beginning there were a few drunken none to clean individuals who though to create a world. We know them today as the mighty [b]game designers[b] being well versed neither intricacies of human psychology, the rigors of mathematics, or the clear simplicity of the science of book editing they gave several nonsensical and contradictory commandments to their poor, benighted followers.
When asked what great secrets of the universe they knew that allowed them to make such commandments they replied, 'Well it looked like a good idea at the time.' |
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Nov 30 2004, 05:54 AM
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#20
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
toptomcat, the strongest evidence against your theory is that people can't change the way their magic works. a shaman of YHWH, for instance, can't suddenly have a revelation that God is dead and stop being a shaman of YHWH. to answer your question, no, these experiments would fail in SR.
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Nov 30 2004, 05:58 AM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 626 Joined: 1-March 04 Member No.: 6,112 |
Where in the rulebooks does it say that magical traditions cannot be changed? There's nothing I've seen that specifically disallows it. I'd make it difficult, as well as RP-and Karma-intensive, but possible.
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Nov 30 2004, 06:26 AM
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#22
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
well, the fact that you'd have to make up rules to do it pretty strongly implies that it's not, by the rules, allowed. also, SR3 page 158 says that the choice is for life, and cannot be changed.
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Nov 30 2004, 09:28 AM
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#23
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Target Group: Members Posts: 50 Joined: 29-October 04 Member No.: 6,793 |
I'd say that it is because if you have built a perfectly fine little boat with methods handed down to you from your father's father and the high tide has yet to come in the boat simply will not float. A rather crude comparison to the mana cycle, I think, but not completely inaccurate. Since no one is sure where Daniel Howling Coyote learned the Great Ghost Dance (or magic for that matter) one could assume that he had the boat built already and was just waiting for the tides. I happen to agree with the basic idea of belief influencing the way magic functions, though I haven't put all that much time in to it. Though to address the question of why a Shaman can't suddenly change his spots, as it were, I would postulate that people are stuborn at heart, and once we are set in our ways we tend to resist change. If magic in the 6th World is an extension of humanity and its views then it may make sense that such a collective unconcious be resistant on a macro scale. Or, to put it 4th world terms, metahumanity has already Named their magical paths, and every time someone refers to hermatism or shamanism or voodoan, ect., they further re-inforce the strict structures that they have unknowingly put into place. Holdovers from earlier ages of magic don't seem to follow a hermatic path or shamanistic totem, though they might be visited from certain Passions from time to time. Ah hell. It's late. I don't know what the bugger I'm talking about. |
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Nov 30 2004, 09:34 AM
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#24
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 |
And people wonder why Audun and I thought writing up the different paradigms of magic was so much fun...
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Nov 30 2004, 09:34 AM
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#25
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Target Group: Members Posts: 56 Joined: 24-July 04 Member No.: 6,512 |
Done and done. I got a bunch of friends together to attempt just that, and when I checked my account, the file was indeed 15K larger. The amount of money available, however, remained unchanged. :grinbig: |
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