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From: tgm@ukc.UUCP (T.Murphy)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: fizicks in d&d
Message-ID: <5047@ukc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Apr-85 07:17:33 EST
Article-I.D.: ukc.5047
Posted: Mon Apr 15 07:17:33 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Apr-85 20:27:15 EST
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Lines: 64

>net.games.frp.physics is a great idea!   I'm a technical type, and i always
>enjoy a game more when there is a semi-plausible physical explanation.
>This also helps figure out tricky questions, such as mana depletion.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Kahn. To me, a system of physics
governing magic is essential. The way I see magic is as a subset
of an overall system of physics. In no way inconsistent with the
normal laws of physics. This brings up arguments like the following:

Argument:
	If you are invisible then all light passes through
	you so you aren't seen. But if this is so, then there
	is no light reaching your retina so you shouldn't
	be able to see.
Counter argument:
	The invisibility spell is illusion/phantasm not
	alteration. So you are in effect invisible because
	Those who are affected refuse to acknowelege your
	presence (like a S.E.P. field). This is why it is
	negated when you attack (How can you ignore someone
	who is attacking you?).Discovery:
	So if you are invisible and you stand in front of
	a small object (a secret door, say) then your
	oponents should not be able to see it since they
	`refuse' to look at you.
Answer:
	Try it and find out!

Physics is still physics; the heat has to go somewhere after a fireball.
You don't end up with such idiotic things like gunpowder not
working for unexplained reasons (cf. Greyhawk by the Great Ghod
Gygax). I prefer my players to know the how and why of the world
they are living in so they can make intelegent decisions instead
of stumbling around in the dark.

I admire Niven's fantasy stories for their adhearence to the
laws they set up and I get many of my ideas from him. Magic in
my world is driven by taping the power flow from the positive
material plane to the negative material plane. (I see these not
as being the source of good and evil but as the source of light
and darkness, no mysticism) Normal space has a certain permability
to this power flow. Thus effectively causing your regions of
high and low mana. An apprentice learns you to create micro-
scopic gates to both planes and to chanel the power flow from
one to the other (the notation black and white holes has just
occured to me). The higher in level the larger the gate one can
control. So a fireball is a split-second gate to the positive
material plane 1mm cubed. This is effected by opening your gates
and shutting the negative of just before the positive. Cold is
a bit more tricky. You have to open a gate to the negative slightly
larger that the positive and create a siphon effect. Sorry to
be so technical but I find this type of discussion a large part
of the enjoyment I get out of D&D. Of course those who run a
hacking campaign or a `lets keep the players in the dark so I
can fiddle it as I want' or a `I make it up as I go along' will
probably find this /realistic/ viewpoint objectionable.
Just to Theoretical Physics and Magic go hand in hand.

	{decvax,seismo}!mcvax!uck!tcdmath!jaymin
Joe Jaquinta; c/o D.U. Maths Society; 39.16 Trinity College Dublin; Ireland
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