fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5442 ]

[ SECRET POST #5442 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5442 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 29 secrets from Secret Submission Post #779.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Three related questions here I guess.

- Do you prefer science fiction-y technology, or do you prefer magic?
- What kinds of science fiction technology do you like best?
- What kinds of magic do you like best?

1. Either.
2. Easy FTL travel, or body swapping devices.
3. Whatever puts a magic sword in an orphan's hand and sets them off in their quest to reassert their position as the True King of the land. That and Magic Missile.

As long as the tone is upbeat and hopeful, evil will be vanquished, good will prevail, peasants will shut up complaining about watery tarts dispensing swords, that sort of thing.

-I prefer science fiction-y technology. My favourite genre is sci-fi horror.
-Time Travel!!! Mind swapping technology. Hibernation.
-Summoning magic (especially if dark summonings).

You can combine all these and create the perfect horror movie for me.

- Magic all the way
- I don't, really, but I guess I like seeing the ship designs people come up with
- All sorts, though if your magic system is complicated enough that a reader has to take notes to understand what's going on / cross-reference with the lexicon at the back of the book you are kind of a terrible writer.

-both, both is good
-artificial lifeforms/intelligences, spaceships, those handy scan-everything devices, phase/dimension-hopping technology, force fields, teleportation, cool habitats that can support various lifeforms in various precarious locations
-curses/blessings, ambient magic that hangs around like radiation and makes everything weird, scrying/divination, alchemy, subtle ritual magic that needs a lot of preparation but in competent hands can go a long way, wards and magical defenses, luck magic
-I’m going to add ESP/psychic powers in a separate section, because they’re basically magic, but they’re often given a bit of sci-fi/technological gloss to fit elsewhere, and I love them. Also add hauntings to this, horror trope, varying magic/science explanations, goes great everywhere

Magic all the way. I love fantasy elements even in my scifi. I mean, I like tech, but for me I only like it as far as a way to tell a story. I don't care about technology for its own sake. Just being used as an element to tell a story, playing the same role magic does. I'm more interested in character/culture exploration. I don't really do a whole lot of hard scifi.

I like it best with less explanation. It is for me just a prop to tell a good story. I like it a lot when different cultures have different tech, an the canon explores that and what that means in terms of inter-cultural interactions. I like magic-like tech, tech/magic integration, and magic-like tech (lightsabers, the TARDIS, a lot of the MCU stuff).

With magic I'm honestly happy as long as it makes sense in-universe. Magic is fun to me, I like all different kinds. And while I'm not into tech explanation, I do find magic explanations a lot of fun. When there are rules that are consistent and the author teases out how the magic works in that particular world. But I also like magic that has less rules and just works, as long as it makes some inner sense.

3) I love magic approached like science or technology. Characters trying to understand how it works, performing experiments, or innovating spells/potions/etc.

I love it when characters approach magic like that too, but only when all attempts to quantify it go wrong because it is magic and magic doesn't have to obey rules or be consistent. It leaves the scientific method sobbing in the corner of the room about the unfairness of magic just working.

nayrt. Ha, I like it the exact opposite. I like my magic to have rules and be consistent. I hate how hand-wavey authors get over their protagonist's use of magic so I like rules to help keep them honest. And if they break them, there should be consequences.

Where is the magic in that then? Any magic which obeys rules is insufficiently magical. It is technobabble with a fake beard.

DA

But not all magic has to be unknowable and beyond reason to work in fiction. The way you like it is good, but it’s not suddenly “not real magic” if it works in a world the way AYRT likes. Why should it always work one way? It would be boring that way.

What are you reading where magic has no rules at all? I mean, at the most basic level, a spell is a repeatable experiment. Say some words, wave a wand --> thing happens.

Are we talking about fantasy where omnipotent gods just do random miracles?

Edit: To clarify, my original comment wasn't actually in favor of magic systems where everything is figured out. My favourite version is where people are somewhere along the path of uncovering patterns and linking cause and effect. Maybe ultimately not all of it can be fit into a neat theory. But magic with no room for analytical curiosity is just boring to me.

Edited 2021-11-30 03:48 (UTC)

-This is a difficult one but I have to go with magic. Science fiction has that problem where it has to be realistic while magic is limited only by creativity.

-Robots. Love the different designs and characterizations they can have.

-I prefer the mysterious and wonderous magic. Where there's different types but no one can really explain it. Really not a fan of the overly structured magic where there's so many rules that it may as well be science.

I like both. I like sci-fi tech that is basically everywhere. Kind of like how pretty much everyone has a smart phone. FTL, of course, because unless you're gonna just stay in our particular little system, thousand year voyages to some random planet don't interest me. Sci-fi tech that builds of things we're just now discovering or experimenting with. Space stations and spaceships and aliens among us!

I love magic where people don't have to like...abide by weird and arbitrary rules to use it (mostly seemingly set up to put roadblocks into the plot rather than for a really good reason). Magic where most people can do *some* kind of little magic, but only some few can do really big, crazy magics. High-fantasy magic with elves and fairy and other supernatural creatures (pookas and things).

-I like both, technology would probably slightly edge out magic, if I had to choose.
-I like a lot of the Star Trek stuff, especially transporters, replicators, and holodecks.
-I like the idea of magic that really increases convenience in everyday life - teleportation spells, packing spells, the laundry folding itself, etc. But I also like the really bizarrely specific magic, like, I don't know, a potion that can make something grow from seed to bush in three minutes, but it only works on mulberry and yucca.

"really bizarrely specific magic"

Yes, thank you! I forgot about this as a genre thing. I always liked the idea of Xanth "talents" better than the actual books, largely for this reason. People basically get one innate magic power, often highly specific and/or generally useless.

This whole thread is actually helping me remember the things I do sometimes like about fantasy.

...everything!

When I am in a good mood, I like too many science fiction and fantasy tropes stuck in a blender, puréed till smooth, and poured out to drink.

( I personally blame Andrew Hussey for this strange predicament. Damn you, Homestuck! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #5442 ]

Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic

Re: Science fiction technology and magic