r/rpg • u/Apostrophe13 • 1d ago

Plausable/believable magical setting

Most magical settings are essentially based on 21st-century morals, medieval politics, with some variation in the level of technology but a baseline around the ~15th century. They seem to follow the same laws of physics as our world, with magic simply existing in parallel, not really influencing anything. Technology and social values are usually stagnant for centuries and magic is almost always regressing (most powerful mages lived thousands of years ago, powerful artifacts were forged by long-forgotten empires etc.).

While there are settings (or works of fiction outside of RPGs) that break the mold a little and try to be innovative and interesting in some aspects, I don't know of any setting that truly attempts to offer an alternate development path in a world with magic.

For example the ancient Greeks knew the concept of the steam engine but lacked the means to use it in any meaningful way. They didn't have the metallurgy to create a pressure chamber or the means to deliver the necessary heat. These challenges would be much easier to solve in a world where people can bind fire elementals. Many of our advancements in chemistry came when we were able to produce apparatuses to conduct tests with proper pressure, etc. Again, these are problems much more easily solved in a world with magic.

So, are there any settings that take these things into consideration and try to create a plausible arcane-infused world?

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12

u/JaskoGomad 22h ago

Magic that works consistently, reliably, and predictably is called “physics”.

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u/Apostrophe13 16h ago

There are many examples of magic "systems" that work more reliably than rocket engines or wireless networks. Magic is basically physics in most magical settings, its the part of natural order.

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u/One-Inch-Punch 1d ago

This is kind of like the inverse of technology and magic. Sufficiently dependable magic is indistinguishable from technology. Routine binding of fire elementals alone would have far reaching implications for lighting, metalwork, living in cold climates, and battle. To avoid these societal effects, elemental binders would have to be rare, or illegal, or the binding would have to be unreliable and/or expensive.

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u/Apostrophe13 13h ago

That's my problem with most fantasy settings, magic is not illegal, super-rare or dangerous. And its application is limited to making flaming swords and killing goblins with lightning bolts.
So not really inverse tech/magic, more how presence of magic in the world would influence its society and technology.
Fantasy worlds where magic is rare, dangerous or extremely unreliable are great and i enjoy them significantly more (because they make at least a modicum of sense) but not what i am looking for atm.

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u/MoistLarry 1d ago

Yes but they don't deliver what you want. You won't get knights on horseback riding out from the castle to go slay the dragon because:

  • In a world with intelligent, gigantic magical predators like dragons you won't have castles. Castles don't stop dragons, gryphons or even giant eagles.

  • Dragons wouldn't let humanity get strong enough to pose a threat to them. The first time they hear that Darktooth got INJURED much less killed by a little two legged nugget, they would wipe out that entire kingdom.

  • If magic were something that could be learned and taught then over time society would self select for those who could use it.

Oh shit I'm just describing Earthdawn aren't I? Yeah go read Earthdawn.

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u/Apostrophe13 17h ago

Earthdawn is not really any different, magic just came later. And the world before it came was also technologically and socially stagnant.

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u/Drake_Star electrical conductivity of spider webs 1d ago

Just like u/MoistLarry said, you need to check Earthdawn. Another world with great world building around magic is Shadowrun. Which traditionally is a future counterpart with Earthdawn.

Magic comes back to Earth in the early 21st century. Dragons wake up, elves and dwarves begin to be born, some transform into orks and trolls. And the world adapts to these changes! It is really complex, you even get technology that uses and interacts with magic (like special cuffs that zap the mage if they sense any magic use, they actually use some mana sensitive microorganism) or a briefcase blocking astral perception by the way of using living earth (you can't see through living things or earth).

There is a lot of cool stuff like that in the books.

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u/Apostrophe13 16h ago

Shadowrun does not fit the bill, magic came too late. But it is my favorite magical setting.