The Dresden Files > DFRPG
Being a bane for technology
Wanderer:
I might be interested in playing a character that is just as bad with technology as Harry, or even worse, in order to emphasize their focus on magic, supernatural powers, and non-tech skills. I assume I'm going to follow PP's advice to make the wizards' trouble with tech an individually variable thing rather than a function of the wizard's age. So I suppose giving a 'Technology Jinx' Aspect to such a character might be appropriate. How is like to live with that kind of curse? I have not read the books, so I don't know how Harry deals with it.
Griffyn612:
--- Quote from: Wanderer on May 17, 2017, 02:29:21 AM ---I might be interested in playing a character that is just as bad with technology as Harry, or even worse, in order to emphasize their focus on magic, supernatural powers, and non-tech skills. I assume I'm going to follow PP's advice to make the wizards' trouble with tech an individually variable thing rather than a function of the wizard's age. So I suppose giving a 'Technology Jinx' Aspect to such a character might be appropriate. How is like to live with that kind of curse? I have not read the books, so I don't know how Harry deals with it.
--- End quote ---
Harry doesn't have a hot water heater, so his showers are always cold. For heat and light, he relies on a fireplace and candles in his basement apartment. He's got an old Mickey Mouse alarm clock that seems to work well enough. He has no television, nor any other handy electronics. He's got an old house phone that's mostly reliable, although it sometimes suffers from inconvenient static. He's got an ice box for his cold storage, although I can't recall if it's a plug-in or if it's a literal ice box which he has to refill regularly; I think the latter, actually. He drives an old Volkswagon Beetle that breaks down a lot, which he bought specifically because his mechanic said it's easy to fix and find parts for.
As for his interaction with electronics in public, the impact on technology is often increased depending on his nerves. He was on a television set once, and the lights and electronics shorted when he got nervous. He'd attempted casting a containment spell to try and hold back the Murphyonic Field, but it wasn't very good, and only made things worse when it eventually failed. Other people's cell phones can have trouble if he's near them. He's got a policy with two friends to give them warning before entering their offices/rooms, to give them time to power off their electronics to try and avoid breakdowns. When he hasn't, computers have started smoking.
If he rides in other peoples' modern cars, the more advanced tech like navigation systems tend to fail first, followed by the rest. He used to avoid elevators, but hasn't seemed to bother with that since the early days. He uses a boat on occasion, but it's an older one that someone else maintains. He avoids planes, and if long distance travel is required, it's via car or train, if not via travel through the Never-never on foot.
At least one practitioner has shown a curiosity in how technology works because of the Murphyonic field, but there's been no sign that a mortal has been able to overcome the issue. At least one practitioner has more modern items in their home, but those may have been warded and shielded by supernatural creatures known for their magical craftsmanship. Such workings are extremely expensive, and the practitioner in question came about theirs by fortunate circumstances that mitigated the costs.
As for practitioners compensating for technology, there's not much. Rather than using computers to store information, they tend to write things down in grimoires. Those that have access to Spirits of Intellect, supernatural beings that have incredibly good memories and are loyal to whoever possesses them, will use those as lab assistants. In one of the later books, a magical item was introduced that allowed practitioners to not only speak with each other remotely, but it allowed them to hold an audio/video conference call in their heads. It's unknown just how commonplace that magical item is, but it doesn't seem to be available to the masses yet. There have been scenes in other locations where practitioners seem to be using a magically crafted lighting system that illuminates large areas without the benefit of electricity.
Wanderer:
--- Quote from: Griffyn612 on May 17, 2017, 02:55:11 AM ---Harry doesn't have a hot water heater, so his showers are always cold. For heat and light, he relies on a fireplace and candles in his basement apartment. He's got an old Mickey Mouse alarm clock that seems to work well enough. He has no television, nor any other handy electronics. He's got an old house phone that's mostly reliable, although it sometimes suffers from inconvenient static. He's got an ice box for his cold storage, although I can't recall if it's a plug-in or if it's a literal ice box which he has to refill regularly; I think the latter, actually. He drives an old Volkswagon Beetle that breaks down a lot, which he bought specifically because his mechanic said it's easy to fix and find parts for.
As for his interaction with electronics in public, the impact on technology is often increased depending on his nerves. He was on a television set once, and the lights and electronics shorted when he got nervous. He'd attempted casting a containment spell to try and hold back the Murphyonic Field, but it wasn't very good, and only made things worse when it eventually failed. Other people's cell phones can have trouble if he's near them. He's got a policy with two friends to give them warning before entering their offices/rooms, to give them time to power off their electronics to try and avoid breakdowns. When he hasn't, computers have started smoking.
If he rides in other peoples' modern cars, the more advanced tech like navigation systems tend to fail first, followed by the rest. He used to avoid elevators, but hasn't seemed to bother with that since the early days. He uses a boat on occasion, but it's an older one that someone else maintains. He avoids planes, and if long distance travel is required, it's via car or train, if not via travel through the Never-never on foot.
At least one practitioner has shown a curiosity in how technology works because of the Murphyonic field, but there's been no sign that a mortal has been able to overcome the issue. At least one practitioner has more modern items in their home, but those may have been warded and shielded by supernatural creatures known for their magical craftsmanship. Such workings are extremely expensive, and the practitioner in question came about theirs by fortunate circumstances that mitigated the costs.
As for practitioners compensating for technology, there's not much. Rather than using computers to store information, they tend to write things down in grimoires. Those that have access to Spirits of Intellect, supernatural beings that have incredibly good memories and are loyal to whoever possesses them, will use those as lab assistants. In one of the later books, a magical item was introduced that allowed practitioners to not only speak with each other remotely, but it allowed them to hold an audio/video conference call in their heads. It's unknown just how commonplace that magical item is, but it doesn't seem to be available to the masses yet. There have been scenes in other locations where practitioners seem to be using a magically crafted lighting system that illuminates large areas without the benefit of electricity.
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Most of this seems reasonable and a model I may adopt for my own games, with a few exceptions such as cold showers (the horror!). Hot water heating is fairly old and simple technology and does not really need any electronics or modern tech if you give up such frilly fancies as timers and stuff. It's just a burner heating water and a system of pipes to transport hot water. If you have running water and cooking gas, you can have hot water as well. It should be relatively simple to set up a retrotech version. Moreover, in many cases central heating systems working for an entire building do exist for apartments (I lived in such a place just a few years ago) where only the hot-water pipes would be within reach of the disruption field, not the heater. Since they use no moving parts nor electricity and they just transport water, I assume the pipes should be fairly resistant to heightened entropy. If everything else fails, using magic to heat water should be relatively simple to set up, more or less the same as magical illumination. Central heating remedy, of course, works just as effectively for heating needs, for the same reasons.
By the same reasoning, it should be theoretically feasible to set up and use a gaslight illumination system (it's Victorian tech), but I guess in such a case it would probably be simpler to use either magic or a fireplace and candles for illumination. I assume Harry does suffer somewhat more lifestyle penalties than many other mages because being perpetually broke is a curse-like part of his concept (and a noir detective cliché), same as his horrible luck with women (however from what I know a big part of the latter problem comes from his self-defeating attitude to dating and romance), so a few potential magical or retrotech remedies are outside his financial reach. Why he doesn't just go living in a rented apartment with central heating, however, is beyond me; from my own experience, they are not any especially expensive, although in recent times they do seem to be going out of fashion. Being in perpetual poverty is a feature I do not usually find appealing to RP, so at the moment I do not plan to apply it to any of my characters. Unless perhaps it is a side effect of picking a nomad lifestyle, which I rather fancy to play, but then a rather different set of circumstances apply to this issue that may be highly variable depending on travel methods.
Griffyn612:
--- Quote from: Wanderer on May 17, 2017, 03:05:54 PM ---Most of this seems reasonable and a model I may adopt for my own games, with a few exceptions such as cold showers (the horror!). Hot water heating is fairly old and simple technology and does not really need any electronics or modern tech if you give up such frilly fancies as timers and stuff. It's just a burner heating water and a system of pipes to transport hot water. If you have running water and cooking gas, you can have hot water as well. It should be relatively simple to set up a retrotech version. Moreover, in many cases central heating systems working for an entire building do exist for apartments (I lived in such a place just a few years ago) where only the hot-water pipes would be within reach of the disruption field, not the heater. Since they use no moving parts nor electricity and they just transport water, I assume the pipes should be fairly resistant to heightened entropy. If everything else fails, using magic to heat water should be relatively simple to set up, more or less the same as magical illumination. Central heating remedy, of course, works just as effectively for heating needs, for the same reasons.
By the same reasoning, it should be theoretically feasible to set up and use a gaslight illumination system (it's Victorian tech), but I guess in such a case it would probably be simpler to use either magic or a fireplace and candles for illumination. I assume Harry does suffer somewhat more lifestyle penalties than many other mages because being perpetually broke is a curse-like part of his concept (and a noir detective cliché), same as his horrible luck with women (however from what I know a big part of the latter problem comes from his self-defeating attitude to dating and romance), so a few potential magical or retrotech remedies are outside his financial reach. Why he doesn't just go living in a rented apartment with central heating, however, is beyond me; from my own experience, they are not any especially expensive, although in recent times they do seem to be going out of fashion. Being in perpetual poverty is a feature I do not usually find appealing to RP, so at the moment I do not plan to apply it to any of my characters. Unless perhaps it is a side effect of picking a nomad lifestyle, which I rather fancy to play, but then a rather different set of circumstances apply to this issue that may be highly variable depending on travel methods.
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The only issue I see is that it's not just an electronics issue. The Murphyonic effect can impair any mechanical system. Harry uses revolvers because there are less things that can break or go wrong. Modem weapons jamming and having mechanical failure due to wizard proximity isn't unheard of. It's not as big of an issue as electronics, nor is it as frequent. But if there's a significant chance that a gas hot water heater breaks down, then he could end up with a bad situation.
Wanderer:
--- Quote from: Griffyn612 on May 18, 2017, 10:29:21 PM ---The only issue I see is that it's not just an electronics issue. The Murphyonic effect can impair any mechanical system. Harry uses revolvers because there are less things that can break or go wrong. Modem weapons jamming and having mechanical failure due to wizard proximity isn't unheard of. It's not as big of an issue as electronics, nor is it as frequent. But if there's a significant chance that a gas hot water heater breaks down, then he could end up with a bad situation.
--- End quote ---
Sure, no doubt delicate or complex mechanical systems with moving parts may be almost as vulnerable to Murphyonic effect as electronics, if not exactly so. And a malfunctioning gas burner may become rather dangerous. It is a reason why I'm not enthused of mages using gaslight for illumination, and they should probably be cautious with using cooking gas in all but limited amounts, or be paranoid about gas leakages. Prepackaged or uncooked food, firelight cooking, or at least small, portable camping burners are probably the safest options for them. This is why I advocate them using central heating systems for heating and hot-water needs. Go live in a building with such a system if they have an apartment, have a technician replicate it on a smaller scale by placing the heater outside lived-in areas (e.g. the attic, basement, or garden) if you live in a house or mansion. Or pick the nomad lifestyle and make an habit of showering in cheap hotels. From what I understand the range of the Murphyonic effect never exceeds a room or three, so it is feasible. This way, water pipes are simply not as vulnerable to heightened entropy as electronics or complex mechanics, and if/when they do break down, the very worst you'd suffer is the occasional leakage, same as for running water.
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