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Find this week's riddle at the bottom of the page.
The coexistence of magick and technology is a rare combination in any world. But add to the mix a
conflict, an inability of either to function well in the presence of the other, and you've got
yourself the groundwork for one great gaming system.
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When Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson, the founders of Troika Games, sat down to
design and plan out their next project, they knew they really wanted to create an original RPG.
They loved the depth and story they were able to create in their previous project, Fallout, and
wanted to make their next game even better. Tim really wanted to do a more traditional fantasy
based world, as opposed to the post-apocalyptic one they had just completed. Leonard thought it
would be cool to do a "twist" on the traditional fantasy world, by bringing it forward a few
hundred years, into a surreal, Jules Verne 1880's industrial revolution-type setting. Jason
thought that such a world should really have both magick and new, low-level technology co-existing,
but that it would be even cooler if they were at odds with one another. And so, as they fleshed
out the world, history and peoples of Arcanum, the conflict between magick and technology took
shape.
The greatest challenge in designing Arcanum was making magick and technology distinctly different
from one another. It was, of course, important that Arcanum's system be balanced. However, they
did not want magick and technology to be mere opposites of one another (different art and visual
effects, but mirroring each other in what they actually did). So they set about designing magick
and technology to BE completely different, and to create a groundbreaking system that would take
the CRPG to a whole new level.
The world of Arcanum is one where many fantastical races coexist, in what can sometimes be a
precarious balance. For millennia, Arcanum has been ruled by the supernatural forces of magick,
with the elves and other long-lived races ensuring its continuing power. The use of technological
items has been limited to the dwarven communities, who kept their knowledge closely guarded from
outside forces, not mixing often with those outside of their race. However, over the course of
the last 80 years or so, the short-lived, and thus somewhat insignificant races of human and
human half-breeds have advanced significantly in technological abilities, taking by surprise
those who have long been in power.
Magick, long the mainstay of Arcanum, has suddenly become a second-class citizen in various parts
of the land, taking a backseat to the ever-increasing use of technology by the common citizen.
For while the more powerful art of magick has long been available to only a few, as it is a
serious undertaking, requiring prolonged study and extreme concentration to master, technology,
especially the simple types, can be used by the everyday man, and has quickly become a powerful
tool utilized by many.
It is impossible for the two forces to coexist in harmony. Allow me to explain a bit further.
On the one hand there is technology, which uses natural law. On the other hand there is magick,
which bends the natural law to the will of the caster, overriding natural law, creating in its
place supernatural law. The two forces are at irreversible odds with one another, often having
catastrophic results when interacting together. Following is a brief excerpt demonstrating the
conflict between magick and technology in the land of Arcanum.
The following is excerpted from the Principia Technologica, re-printed here with permission of
the publisher, Tarant University Press, and the author. ©1876 all rights reserved.
Principia Technologica
being the collected lectures of
Sir Harris Guffingford
A Helpful Illustration of the Principles of Science
Chapter the Fourth: On the Eternal Conflict Between Natural and Supernatural Forces
Up to this point, our experiments have served only to illustrate the principles of Natural Law.
The purpose of the exercises in this chapter, however, is to demonstrate the fundamental conflict
between Natural Law and its nemesis, Supernatural Law-Natural Law being represented by a variety
of simple Technological Devices, while Supernatural Law is embodied by an equally simple Magickal
Device. Like all our experiments, these exercises were chosen for their lucid design and
straightforward execution; they should prove suitable for students of all ages.
Laboratorie #3: The Electric Circuit
In our final demonstration, we will use the self-same Electric Circuit which we built in last
week's lesson. As you will recall, this is a machine of very simple design: a small battery
serves as our source of Electromotive Force, driving its current across a Resistance-here,
that Resistance is evinced by a small filamentary Bulb. For the purpose of this experiment,
the wires used to form the Circuit can be assumed to be of negligible resistance.
Recall now that when the Circuit is closed, using switch B, a potential difference is created
between the battery and the Bulb. According to Natural Law, Electricity flows from highest
potential to lowest, following along the path of least resistance-and that path, in this case,
is the wire. As a result, the filament within the Bulb glows, because Electricity is passing
through it. However, when the Circuit is opened again, no path is available for the Electricity
to follow…and the Bulb goes dark.
Close the circuit to light the Bulb again: observe how the filament glows bright and steady.
Now, introduce a Magickal Artifacte into close proximity. Take notice that the Bulb immediately
begins to flicker! The Artifacte appears to sporadically disrupt the Electric Potentialities
inherent in the Circuit, and the Electricity, which would normally flow from highest potential
to lowest in a predictable fashion, now flows back and forth along the wires in haphazard
confusion.
No insulative substance has yet been discovered to shield a machine from this effect.
Accordingly, the presence of Supernatural Force continues to wreak havoc on any machine
which requires a steady flow of Electricity for proper functioning. Please take special
note: because our Electrical Circuit is a very small machine, and our battery is not
possessed of any great power, we are not in any particular danger as we perform this
experiment. The same cannot be said of exposing larger and more complex machines, which
marshal far more powerful energies, to the disruptive influence of Supernatural Forces!
The result of disrupting Electrical Potentials within a machine which harbors a great deal
of Electromotive Force can be not only inconvenient and nettlesome, but downright explosive:
Technologists have been known to lose their lives to engines and generators gone mad.
The utmost caution is urgently advised.
Magick in Arcanum is a very powerful and very ancient teaching. Harnessing its powers
requires great effort of will, and casting fatigues the caster according to the strength
of the spell. So more powerful spells require more fatigue to cast, while lesser ones
fatigue the caster only slightly. Arcanum provides you with 80 spells that can be learned,
broken up into 16 colleges. There are also many magickal items that can be purchased or
found throughout the land. There are magickal potions, weapons, staves, rings and armors,
some of which are enchanted by current day practitioners, others ancient, possessing great
powers that have been lost for many generations. But you must beware, for not all of these
ancient items are beneficial, and you will find many magickal items that have been cursed,
providing both positive and negative benefits to the wielder.
Technology in Arcanum is a fantastical representation of technology from the late 1800s.
Firearms, steam engines and grenades exist alongside electrically enhanced rings, which
increase your dexterity when worn, and robotic arachnids, which creak to life at your command.
You can create technology through learning schematics, which are blueprints that allow you
to combine two common components in order to make a higher-level technological device. There
are 56 schematics that can be learned, and they are divided up into 8 disciplines. In addition
to these, a significant number of powerful schematics can be found throughout Arcanum, allowing
you to build even more objects.
All things in Arcanum, from armor and healing concoctions to people and even monsters, have an
inherent Magick/Tech aptitude. This aptitude ranges from zero (being neither magickal nor
technological) to 100% magickal or 100% technological. This aptitude increases in either
direction (magick or tech) as the person or object becomes either more magickal or more
technological in abilities and it is this aptitude that determines how the object or person
interacts with the people and items in the world around them.
As examples of interacting with items, let us compare 3 things: a common bow, an enchanted
sword, which increases the speed at which its wielder can swing it by 20%, and a fine revolver.
Now the bow, being a mundane item, has a magick/tech aptitude of zero, or neutral. The sword,
being magickally enchanted, but not overly powerful, would have a magick aptitude of 20. The
fine revolver, being a technological item of somewhat intricate workings, would have a
technological aptitude of 30. Following is a more technical explanation of the magick/tech
interactions that occur when wielding one of these items.
Let us use the enchanted sword mentioned above, to explain magick weapons and their interactions.
If the person wielding the sword had a 20 or higher magickal aptitude, the sword would operate
at 100% of its magickal ability, and increase their sword speed by 20%, because the aptitude
of the person was equal to or higher than that of the weapon. If the person wielding the
sword had a zero magick/tech aptitude, it would function at 50% of its magickal ability,
because their magick aptitude was less than that of the sword. If, however, the person
wielding the sword had a 20 or higher technological aptitude, the sword's magickal abilities
would be negated completely and it would behave just like a normal sword in their hands.
Now let us move on to the fine revolver as an example. As technology works somewhat differently
than magick, it is not merely the operation of the technological device that is affected by the
magick/tech aptitude, but also the chance of the item critically failing, perhaps catastrophically,
when the person attempts to use it. Note also that the magick/tech aptitude does not determine
how "good" the person is with a technological weapon, this comes from your various skills, in
the case of a gun, the perception stat and firearms skill. The magick/tech aptitude determines
only that the person is capable of using the item without interfering with its mechanical
workings.
As an example, if the person wielding the revolver had a 1 or higher technological aptitude,
the weapon would never critically fail for them. If, however, the person wielding the revolver
is neutral, or possesses magickal aptitude, the revolver would have a chance of critically failing
when they tried to use it. A person with a 30 magickal aptitude would have a 9% chance that the
revolver would critically fail each time they tried to use it. While a person with an 80%
magickal aptitude would have a 24% chance.
In regards to the mundane bow with the zero aptitude, any type of character could wield it and
suffer no penalties, as it remains neutral and is not affected by either magick or technology.
The magick/tech aptitude is also called into play when two players of opposing aptitudes come
up against each other in battle. The opponent with the higher aptitude (either magick or
technology) is most likely to be successful in their attacks, while the other will suffer a
higher than normal percentage of failures when using weapons or spells in line with their
aptitude.
As an example, let us use a person with a magickal aptitude of 90 who is fighting a person
with a technological aptitude of 20. The player with the higher magickal aptitude, having
the more powerful "pull", will bend the natural law to his will. The spells and magickal
items he uses on the technologist will only have a 2% chance of failing to go off. The player
with the lower technological aptitude will notice his technological weapons will operate
inefficiently, having a 72% chance of failing to operate at all against the mage. However,
the player with the technological aptitude could, in fact, choose to fight with a mundane
weapon instead (axe, sword, bow, etc.), and suffer no chances of failure from the magick/tech
conflict.
Arcanum's innovative combination of magick and technology clearly sets it apart from its
competitors, adding not only reactivity and depth, but tons of replay value as well.
Combine this with an in-depth story line, an open-ended character development system,
and a multi-player world editor, and you have a CRPG that stands poised to take the
genre by storm.
A cage with no bars
Unchained but not free
A ceiling of stars
Thick walls of the sea
Men wail on my shores
They cry to the sky
Condemned only to live
Here 'til the day they die.
What am I?
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+5 |
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-7 |
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-18 |
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+11 |
+11 |
-10 |
Hint: The answer to this riddle can be found in "The World" section of this website.
Return to "Get in the Game" contest page.
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