If you could have one magical power, what would it be, and what would you be willing to pay for it?
Super speed flight. I want to be able to get to places quickly without driving (I can drive but I hate driving) or taking a plane. I am willing to pay the energy cost as long as I can eat what I want w/o risking diabetes and other health problems 😂
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Hard magic or soft magic (Hard: systems with strict rules and consequences, or Soft: a little extra splash of Handwavium in your magic?
Soft! Lol I like seeing how far magic can go and handwavium is fun in small splashes. Plus, I struggle to keep up with expansive fantasy worlds with lots of creatures and worlds. But I admire who are able to create such worlds and hard magic.
This question reminds me of the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh and how there were no set rules so it was arbitary and you had the wildest things, like one monster destroying the moon etc. Lol
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What’s your favorite magic system or fantastical creature?
Dragons 😃 They fascinate me and look cool. My favorite Yu-Gi-Oh monster is The Blue Eyes White Dragon.
Excellent monologue! True. Magic does not exist in a vacuum. There is a lot to think about.
I have not seen the movie haha.
Delete your list! Kidding lol
I need to think about the impact on the body, where the magic is from, and politics of magic in my stories. My elf mage character Katrina has ice and fire magic and is tough and powerful. However, she might have some pain too, especially when she sneezes, ice flies out of her nose. She is like Wolverine in that she has super healing too, and she ages very slowly, but I started thinking about what the toll of her magic will be when she is old. (Like how in the movie Logan, Wolverine was ailing when he was old and his healing factor was weakened). There are also cyborgs and superheroes and aliens - and the superheroes' power origins are from some tech made by a brilliant engineer on another Earth but yeah, I have more thinking to do.
Sci-fi and fantasy are really alike. I agree. And I like your checklist. Do you also have a Word version of it? I'd love to have a copy to reference. No rush to share it! Science can absolutely feel like magic.
Yeah, I can see how magic is what we don't understand 😊. The unknown is magical.
Yep, while I understand some, I do not understand the full complexities of cars. But, I am fascinated by them. And the engineering and science of it all is cool! Fascinating too.
Have you watched Initial D or read the manga? It got me intrigued in the details of how cars work.
Scientific skills and practical skills are invaluable. I think plumbing will always be important to know, even with AI.
Yeah, magic can be small scale too. Katrina might make some small flames to help someone light a cigarette lol
True, very few can use magic in stories.
I did not think about high and low for magic. Makes sense that low magic is only known by few and it is not used in a widespread way. I think Katrina uses low magic. My superhero characters' powers would probably be considered low magic.
I found the hard magic explanation helpful 😊
True, it needs to be consistent. And yes, the rules are not fully written in books. Hard to balance showing and telling.
I lean towards soft magic/sci-fi...BUT, I think I am starting to have some harder sci-fi. My character Caitlyn is a superhero and can manipulate energy to make constructs (though, unlike Green Lanterns she doesn't need to recharge and is not part of some galactic police force). However, making giant constructs can lead to her feeling a lot of pain and exhaustion. I need to make sure I am consistent. That is key. I will focus much on this with my latest story. It stars Caitlyn.
B.L. has a cool magic system!
Cool that they make pacts. Interesting how they have limits.
Listeners, speakers, and commanders - they are intriguing 😊.
Love the variety of beings in BL's story.
Now that I think about it, I think that some characters may have powers due to genes but I am afraid of that being too close to X-Men. Curious about your thoughts, Joe.
Agreed. People are becoming less curious. More anti-science. It is scary. They want simple ideas...but life is way more nuanced. Way more complex.
Yikes. Huge consequences when humans use magic. It makes sense though.
Good question regarding dragons 😊.
Hahaha I want a dog size dragon.
My silly character Peculiarexus is a 4'6 dino-dragon.
Cool that it takes hundreds of years for the dragons to become big dragons.
Cool that dragons are keepers of time in BL's stories! 😃
Yeah, flying too long can make one hungry. My character Steph gets tired and hangry when she flies too long without eating lol. I think she once ate 15 big macs after a long battle while flying.
Cool that there is energy in the sky that ensure they can fly.
I wonder what would be the internal logic in the MCU.
Lol! I like your dragon theory. So the truth is that it's an emu and not a dragon 😂 Love this lol 😅
LOL Unicorn farts. Natural gas is from them. Kidding 😂
LOL On Cunk on Earth, I remember the character Philomena Cunk said that planes can fly because of belief lol
The myths about the cost of magic are intriguing. Reminds me of Faust.
Lol yes, a Jedi destroyed a Death Star.
The Jedi became too integrated with The Republic. They got housing and food and money, if I remember correctly. And they were focused too much on suppressing emotions and were dogmatic IMO. The Empire was way worse and genocidal. But, the Jedi Order had flaws.
I wanna read "The Power"😊.
I like how you touched on ethics. That is very important. And when you have something so powerful, ethics are particularly important.
Good point about environmental costs. Those can be so huge too, especially with tech and magic. And we already see such high costs in real life.
Shapeshifting would be so helpful and cool and wide ranging.
Hahaha yeah werewolves should have tails, I agree.
I would love to be able to understand more languages. I want to learn German so that I can talk with a friend of mine in German and surprise her by speaking Gernan lol 😊 She is from Germany and is fluent in English but I think it'd be fun to speak with her in German also.
Air bending would be awesome! I need to see Avatar.
Great point! I bet if Emma Frost and Professor X and Jean Grey were drained when they first learned how to use their powers.
https://youtu.be/cVWZ4pBP290?is=ID3LeFiD2eMaGsRK
Apologies for a third comment but I just found a Cunk on Earth clip that reminded me a lot of today's podcast episode. Enjoy 😂😂
If you could have one magical power, what would it be, and what would you be willing to pay for it?
Super speed flight. I want to be able to get to places quickly without driving (I can drive but I hate driving) or taking a plane. I am willing to pay the energy cost as long as I can eat what I want w/o risking diabetes and other health problems 😂
--
Hard magic or soft magic (Hard: systems with strict rules and consequences, or Soft: a little extra splash of Handwavium in your magic?
Soft! Lol I like seeing how far magic can go and handwavium is fun in small splashes. Plus, I struggle to keep up with expansive fantasy worlds with lots of creatures and worlds. But I admire who are able to create such worlds and hard magic.
This question reminds me of the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh and how there were no set rules so it was arbitary and you had the wildest things, like one monster destroying the moon etc. Lol
--
What’s your favorite magic system or fantastical creature?
Dragons 😃 They fascinate me and look cool. My favorite Yu-Gi-Oh monster is The Blue Eyes White Dragon.
Hey Joe, Nick, Mary, Georgia, and B.L.!
Excellent monologue! True. Magic does not exist in a vacuum. There is a lot to think about.
I have not seen the movie haha.
Delete your list! Kidding lol
I need to think about the impact on the body, where the magic is from, and politics of magic in my stories. My elf mage character Katrina has ice and fire magic and is tough and powerful. However, she might have some pain too, especially when she sneezes, ice flies out of her nose. She is like Wolverine in that she has super healing too, and she ages very slowly, but I started thinking about what the toll of her magic will be when she is old. (Like how in the movie Logan, Wolverine was ailing when he was old and his healing factor was weakened). There are also cyborgs and superheroes and aliens - and the superheroes' power origins are from some tech made by a brilliant engineer on another Earth but yeah, I have more thinking to do.
Sci-fi and fantasy are really alike. I agree. And I like your checklist. Do you also have a Word version of it? I'd love to have a copy to reference. No rush to share it! Science can absolutely feel like magic.
Yeah, I can see how magic is what we don't understand 😊. The unknown is magical.
Yep, while I understand some, I do not understand the full complexities of cars. But, I am fascinated by them. And the engineering and science of it all is cool! Fascinating too.
Have you watched Initial D or read the manga? It got me intrigued in the details of how cars work.
Scientific skills and practical skills are invaluable. I think plumbing will always be important to know, even with AI.
Yeah, magic can be small scale too. Katrina might make some small flames to help someone light a cigarette lol
True, very few can use magic in stories.
I did not think about high and low for magic. Makes sense that low magic is only known by few and it is not used in a widespread way. I think Katrina uses low magic. My superhero characters' powers would probably be considered low magic.
I found the hard magic explanation helpful 😊
True, it needs to be consistent. And yes, the rules are not fully written in books. Hard to balance showing and telling.
I lean towards soft magic/sci-fi...BUT, I think I am starting to have some harder sci-fi. My character Caitlyn is a superhero and can manipulate energy to make constructs (though, unlike Green Lanterns she doesn't need to recharge and is not part of some galactic police force). However, making giant constructs can lead to her feeling a lot of pain and exhaustion. I need to make sure I am consistent. That is key. I will focus much on this with my latest story. It stars Caitlyn.
B.L. has a cool magic system!
Cool that they make pacts. Interesting how they have limits.
Listeners, speakers, and commanders - they are intriguing 😊.
Love the variety of beings in BL's story.
Now that I think about it, I think that some characters may have powers due to genes but I am afraid of that being too close to X-Men. Curious about your thoughts, Joe.
Agreed. People are becoming less curious. More anti-science. It is scary. They want simple ideas...but life is way more nuanced. Way more complex.
Yikes. Huge consequences when humans use magic. It makes sense though.
Good question regarding dragons 😊.
Hahaha I want a dog size dragon.
My silly character Peculiarexus is a 4'6 dino-dragon.
Cool that it takes hundreds of years for the dragons to become big dragons.
Cool that dragons are keepers of time in BL's stories! 😃
Yeah, flying too long can make one hungry. My character Steph gets tired and hangry when she flies too long without eating lol. I think she once ate 15 big macs after a long battle while flying.
Cool that there is energy in the sky that ensure they can fly.
I wonder what would be the internal logic in the MCU.
Lol! I like your dragon theory. So the truth is that it's an emu and not a dragon 😂 Love this lol 😅
LOL Unicorn farts. Natural gas is from them. Kidding 😂
LOL On Cunk on Earth, I remember the character Philomena Cunk said that planes can fly because of belief lol
The myths about the cost of magic are intriguing. Reminds me of Faust.
Lol yes, a Jedi destroyed a Death Star.
The Jedi became too integrated with The Republic. They got housing and food and money, if I remember correctly. And they were focused too much on suppressing emotions and were dogmatic IMO. The Empire was way worse and genocidal. But, the Jedi Order had flaws.
I wanna read "The Power"😊.
I like how you touched on ethics. That is very important. And when you have something so powerful, ethics are particularly important.
Good point about environmental costs. Those can be so huge too, especially with tech and magic. And we already see such high costs in real life.
Shapeshifting would be so helpful and cool and wide ranging.
Hahaha yeah werewolves should have tails, I agree.
I would love to be able to understand more languages. I want to learn German so that I can talk with a friend of mine in German and surprise her by speaking Gernan lol 😊 She is from Germany and is fluent in English but I think it'd be fun to speak with her in German also.
Air bending would be awesome! I need to see Avatar.
Great point! I bet if Emma Frost and Professor X and Jean Grey were drained when they first learned how to use their powers.
I need to read Heroes of Another Age!
Superb episode! Excellent discussion!