McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Magic Measurment Systems that a reader can buy
MrWolfwood:
Depending on the setting, here are a few ideas!
1. If steam or cyberpunk-ish consider a literal magic counter, like a pressure gauge. However, it does present the "I just read an rpg discussion forum" response from the reader.
2. A full body tattoo that slowly disappears as the caster's pool is drained. Good for ritual magic, and the tattoo could also be representative of important things to the caster. Might also consider at lowerr power levels, the wizard merely has a sleeve or backpiece, and more powerful magi might not have any more room to spare.
3. Opposite the above, a series of markings appear as power is expended.
4. Plain old physical effects would also work. Yeah, throwing seven fireballs might be tiring, but using a force-ram to knockdown a two-story would feel more like running the New York marathon.
5. Scanners, dbz style. Over 9000!!!
(sorry about 5, couldn't resist
thausgt:
--- Quote from: MrWolfwood on April 30, 2009, 09:00:39 PM ---Depending on the setting, here are a few ideas!
1. If steam or cyberpunk-ish consider a literal magic counter, like a pressure gauge. However, it does present the "I just read an rpg discussion forum" response from the reader.
--- End quote ---
This idea suggests an opportunity to do some research. Modern medicine has access to all kinds of medical sensors and whatnot to determine the patient's health by various measures: blood pressure, electrocardiogram, respiratory efficiency, etc. You might want to do some research to see what the average patient can buy/rent to wear for constant monitoring. This should result in some ideas of what the "magic-energy monitoring unit" is actually scanning. And don't forget to include different levels of quality: "That top-of-the-line unit gives me accuracy down to four decimal points. Your cheap piece of crap has an error rate of around three percentage points. Are you sure you want to gamble your magic and your life on something that prone to failure?"
--- Quote from: MrWolfwood on April 30, 2009, 09:00:39 PM ---2. A full body tattoo that slowly disappears as the caster's pool is drained. Good for ritual magic, and the tattoo could also be representative of important things to the caster. Might also consider at lowerr power levels, the wizard merely has a sleeve or backpiece, and more powerful magi might not have any more room to spare.
3. Opposite the above, a series of markings appear as power is expended.
--- End quote ---
Both of these ideas seem interesting, and which one a magic user chooses could say a lot about the magic user in question. One whose tatto fades during combat could figure out a way to keep enemies from seeing it, in order to run bluffs. One whose tattoo appears probably values accuracy over combat efficiency (a researcher, for example, who is usually not under attack while casting magic).
--- Quote from: MrWolfwood on April 30, 2009, 09:00:39 PM ---4. Plain old physical effects would also work. Yeah, throwing seven fireballs might be tiring, but using a force-ram to knockdown a two-story would feel more like running the New York marathon.
--- End quote ---
That implies that magic is based on the same system that fuels physical activities: the balance between blood sugar and fatigue toxin levels in the blood. It also gives you a wonderful magical MacGuffin: a spell or artifact that directly converts fatigue toxins into blood sugar. Every magic user in your world would be after such a gimmick. Some would want to use it in order to fuel spells that they couldn't handle otherwise, the rest to destroy it so the magic users don't burn themselves out, probably violently.
--- Quote from: MrWolfwood on April 30, 2009, 09:00:39 PM ---5. Scanners, dbz style. Over 9000!!!
(sorry about 5, couldn't resist
--- End quote ---
If you hadn't tossed it in, someone else would. :D One of the greaterst advantages one side can have in a fight is the capacity to not only monitor one's own magic levels, but to analyze the threat presented by any opponents to the greatest degree of accuracy possible. And one of the greatest defenses against such scans is to either A) decieve the scanner or B) keep the attacker from using it.
The Corvidian:
Do they have tools? If they do, have it where their magical tools tell them how much power they have.
Lanodantheon:
--- Quote from: The Corvidian on May 04, 2009, 04:15:24 PM ---Do they have tools? If they do, have it where their magical tools tell them how much power they have.
--- End quote ---
Yes, they have tools. They have many tools. They without a doubt will be one of the ways to keep track.
One of the slated classes on the docket (it is a school drama after all) is Magical Theory, Craftsmanship and Formula Design aka Magecraft. Magecraft is all about how to use magic. Wands, staves, gloves, pens, cards, and I gotta hand one "That Guy" with the audacity to use Sock Puppets for Sonomancy.
At this point though, I've kind of decided that the exact measurement thing is an "Advanced Topic". In a first time novel like this is, a detailed discussion of magical units would bog down the narrative something awful. The MC will only have enough understanding of the systems involved to be able to say, "That's bad isn't it?"
The Corvidian:
You could also throw in the idea of batteries.
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