how about some sort of mind power (ie. teleconesis, precognition) in a game like a mmorpg? thought of moveing objects (like other characters) across the room at high levels, or being able to block moves with some sort of precognition? so its a real sort of magic. *scientists have probed the brain, making parts of the brain normaly "hybornating" come alive, bringing powerful people with the ability to accelerate atoms, making them explode or the clasic bending the spoon? thought that this should be brought up since im thinking of puting it into my MMORPG...

mmmmmm psynegy...............

well anyway, alot game already have similar thoughts, such as finial fantasy 6 or 3, where magic doesnt exist, but exist as a different form.

or golden sun, its replaced with psynegy.

Force At A Distance! Luminiferous Ether!

http://members.austarmetro.com.au/~hubbca/conspiracy.htm

Thanks for the link to the conspiritorial crap, inmate. It reminded me that there really are ultra-paranoid folks out there whose minds can be monkied with.. j/k.

I''ve put a lot of thought into different types of non-arcane "magic" in games. Psionics is probably the most well-known and the most believable. The one I''m working on myself though is a bit Star Wars-ish -- the game takes place on a planet where a certain ambient presence of energy, rather like "The Force" in some ways, amplifies intelligent thought and causes it to take a physical effect upon the world.

An interesting attribute of this concept I''m working on is that its practice is not unlike the exercising of religious faith. In other words, on this planet a faithless man may look at an empty glass and wish there were water in it, and even imagine the water being in it, but to no avail -- while a "faithful" man may look at the glass and simply cause himself to believe that there is already water in the glass -- and do to the amplication of thought, it so happens that the previously empty glass is now full of water.

The more extreme or unlikely the action, the more "faith" it takes for the action to be fulfilled. For example the same man who filled the glass with water may look at a valley, and no matter how hard he tries, he will never see it become a lake -- whereas another may look upon it and believe that indeed it IS a lake, and thus the valley would now be a lake.

Of course, as an RPG, player characters are able to grow their faith in various methods, and thus become more powerful as they exercise this practice.

Please note, I use the term "faith" as a way to relate to those who read this post -- there are other terms that would be used in the game.

****************************************

Brian Lacy
ForeverDream Studios

Comments? Questions? Curious?
brian@foreverdreamstudios.com

"I create. Therefore I am."

Okay, I understand what concept of ''Magic'' you want to go with, but you have to elaborate on how you''ll implement it as a gameplay feature. For example, if the player can wish lakes into existance, how come they can''t wish the badguy out of existance?

Also, you want the magic to have a sense of real attached to it. Mankind already has some unique "Real" magic, such as light and heat, and these are generated by machines. You could suggest an evolution in mandkind or discovery of physics laws that beg abuse, but even then just making water appear is a bit akin to Christ''s miracles. A more real magic would be along the lines of telepathy (decoding electromagnetic noise created by human neurons firing), and telekenesis (moving objects using fundamental forces). Since its just a game, you can skip the details of HOW mankind manages to pull this off.

As for the planet having an energy field that faithful humans feed off of, go back to that conspiracy page and read the sections on ether, free energy, radiology, etc. You can always say the planet''s drag on the ether is great, and as a side effect makes more energy availiable for life to tinker with.

what you want is Mage : The Ascension, by White Wolf
Just bought it this week and it absolutely kicks ass. The best magic system ever. Except there is no way on Earth you can code it into an actual computer game ...
still, read about it and dream

Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

if you''ve never played system shock 2 go get it. It''s a great RPG and it has an amazing number of psionic abilities. If I remember correctly abilities are grouped into sets and abilities in each set cost a certain number of points, and it also costs points to gain access to the abilities in the next set. Abilities included telekinesis, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, etc (there were tons of them). It also had localized abilities, such as localized pryokinesis which gave off a ring of fire instead of a projectile. I''m sure you could get lots of ideas from this game.

digital radiation

Can someone please edit that last post? It makes it more difficult to read the others..

Are there moderators on this forum??

[edited by - irbrian on May 1, 2003 5:19:41 PM]

quote: Original post by Inmate2993
Okay, I understand what concept of ''Magic'' you want to go with, but you have to elaborate on how you''ll implement it as a gameplay feature.

That''s a good point Inmate. I haven''t put enough thought into that part of my design yet, and I appreciate you pointing it out. You present some interesting ideas too. I''ll check that page when I get home... I''m not sure what my boss would think if he saw me studying a conspiracy theories website at work.

Alright, I''ve read those sections you recommended. "Ether" may in fact be a decent solution for my game, although I have to figure out how the physical properties of the planet allow the human mind to harness this energy.

As a side note, I think its all a bunch of baloney.