The Campaign Builder's Guild

When i say level of supernaturality i just mean how much it pervades the setting. I can see what you mean by a power axis, but most settings should be able to accomodate many levels of power. The magic axis would be set equally high for a campaign where mages can blow up worlds as one where idiotic but virtually powerless faeries are everywhere.

Don't get me going on frequency distributions of power vs availablity...in my book, that's it's own statistical test.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowWhen i say level of supernaturality i just mean how much it pervades the setting. I can see what you mean by a power axis, but most settings should be able to accomodate many levels of power. The magic axis would be set equally high for a campaign where mages can blow up worlds as one where idiotic but virtually powerless faeries are everywhere.

But there should be a category for settings with nothing supernatural but with the availability of powers and how much.

Power falls into several categories. Whether the residents of the creators realm know which category their power falls into is up to the world builder.

Power of Mortals: Power derived from science, technology, or pure cussed willpower. Most often takes the form of technological wonders.

Power of Nature: Power derived from a neutral force, either a non-sentient presence (such as nature), or one or more powerful and uncaring beings. Often shows up in the form of supernatural abilities.

Power of Divinity: Power derived from a more powerful force or being(s) with their own conflicts and agendas. Tends to be common in many fantasy settings with definite gods.

It's quite possible to model tables/charts with more then 2 axis, its just complicated and doesn't lend itself to a 2d forum.

Now I have to ask a question. Is the source of Power, really that important? Or is it unecessary detail. I'm sure we can make up thousands of filters and tables and graphis etc...  The question is, where do we draw the line.

I just wanted to throw that out there before we all get too carried away. More so we can realize the pit were about to step into ~~

The source of the power is all flavor and meaningless to the discussion. What does matter is how much magic affects the society and how common it is.

I don't even get what powers you could be considering silvercat? Either they are supernatural, or included somehow in the tech level.
But it might be useful to say something about how the setting perceives gods. of course, i'm overcomplicating things like i did with magic...

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowI don't even get what powers you could be considering silvercat? Either they are supernatural, or included somehow in the tech level.
But it might be useful to say something about how the setting perceives gods. of course, i'm overcomplicating things like i did with magic...

Overcomplicating things is good but this is a more general chart, not a focused one.  :)

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowI don't even get what powers you could be considering silvercat? Either they are supernatural, or included somehow in the tech level.

I think the problem is that I'm defining "supernatural" as akin to "unnatural"/"unscientific".  You may be defining it as "beyond what we currently see, whether natural or not".

What I most worry about is lumping powers that are based on a scientific or pseudo-scientific method but NOT technology in with a made up method (e.g. magic/psionics).

I can't see how that would be an issue. Scientific magic still leads to a higher level of "strangeness" in the setting

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowI can't see how that would be an issue. Scientific magic still leads to a higher level of "strangeness" in the setting

I just read one too many sci-fi settings that have allowed themselves to use psionics as if it doesn't destroy their scientific feel.

And are we talking about "strangeness" seen by those within the setting or outside?

What? psionics is still magic. So for a sci-fi setting you would be able to discern whether you'd like it just by looking at whether it had a non-zero magic level.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowWhat? psionics is still magic.

I know, I said that.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowSo for a sci-fi setting you would be able to discern whether you'd like it just by looking at whether it had a non-zero magic level.

But what would I look at to tell me that non-magic powers existed?

but what are non-magic powers?

Where are we drawing the line?  What's really real or what can be explained using real or near-real words/ideas?

I see non-magic powers as anything where you do not need to make up words/ideas not found in the laws of physics.