Soft VS Hard Magic systems: (The Lounge Podcast)

[D.S.Nate]

We talked of Hard vs Soft Magic systems and a little about our story world settings.

I'll leave it here with a question:

What way dose your magic system lean? (Soft or hard) and why?

We do Weekly podcasts like this every Saturday. If you want to partake then let me know.

 

[J_Chemist]

Hard. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[Iamnotabot]

Hard. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

*Bonk*

We talked of Hard vs Soft Magic systems and a little about our story world settings.

I'll leave it here with a question:

What way dose your magic system lean? (Soft or hard) and why?

We do Weekly podcasts like this every Saturday. If you want to partake then let me know.

I call upon the ancient scholar of writting. @Story_Marc

 

[Darkcrow.]

People snorting drugs to activate their abilities? Definitely leans towards Hard Magic system.

 

[Piisfun]

Hard magic is like hard water: both take a lot of processing to be usable.

 

[Jerynboe]

As an extremely horny Litrpg flavored thing where I go into detail on how everything works? Fairly hard in both the technical and ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) senses of the word.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Is it really magic if you've turned it into a science?

 

[KrakenRiderEmma]

It’s all relative. Compared to how “hard” some scientific explanations get in hard sci-fi, hard magic is still jello-soft. It’s just not pudding soft.

 

[Bartun]

The magic system in my novel ?

 

[John_Owl]

Is it really magic if you've turned it into a science?

interesting point. As Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." so I'd say yes. Science can be magic, regardless if the laws behind it are known.

What way dose your magic system lean? (Soft or hard) and why?

To your question, I believe mine is a hybrid. actual magic in my stories are usually harder, and solidly explained. but there's passive magics, that usually get little more than a "It works because trust me bro" explanation, such as why a human and a dragon having a child results in a being capable of switching between full human, full dragon, and a halfway point. or why a dragon that falls in love with a humanoid will naturally take on a humanoid form. or why a human with said humanoid dragon will result in birthing an egg that then hatches later on, rather than simply live birth or laying an egg.

but the actually castable magic (fire balls, blades made of wind, etc) have solid laws that are explained as they become necessary.

 

[melchi]

Whoa, that vid is over an hour O_O

 

[D.S.Nate]

Is it really magic if you've turned it into a science?

A very solid question, we touched upon this on the podcast but I think what it boils down to is your POV of the the magic system you make and the POV of the character's take on the magic system itself. Even in the real world if you where to take somebody from years ago and show them the things we can do today they will see it as magic. And then there are things one person may understand how it works but we don't so where the line of science and magic can really be blurred by ones POV and understanding of the concept.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Whoa, that vid is over an hour O_O

It is a podcast.

 

[MagmaRazor]

Soft-ish. Some rules, but mainly just "do fucking whatever"

 

[Chaos_Sinner777]

Mostly hard so far, established what it generally does and how it does it. I do intend to add some softer elements later though.

 

[D.S.Nate]

Mostly hard so far, established what it generally does and how it does it. I do intend to add some softer elements later though.

Yeah, overall there is always a lot of overlap no matter which way you take things.

 

[Sweetmeat]

I prefer my magic systems at half-mast.

If they're too well defined, then they don't feel magical anymore. But if there's no rules to them at all, then it just feels like a get out of jail free card to use whenever it's convenient for the plot.

 

[CubicleHermit]

My WIP has magic systems - "Traditional" which is soft-ish - and can in theory do anything but where there isn't a defined path to any of it until someone discovers it (and where knowledge of how to do things is often kept secret by the discoverers), and "Modern" which is hard, and can only do things the caster can actually understand, and within the limits of thermodynamics, so big flashy things use a huge amount of magical energy...

In principle, they're (mostly) one system, but there's a huge amount of traditional magic that modern can't explain/account for and within the timeline of the story, that won't change (and some of it can't... anything that depends on deities/extraplanar beings.)

 

[HelloHound]

mostly soft, those with the ability usually just vibe the magic into effect...though there are ways to get more efficient it's like getting a coach to run better

 

[Comiak]

Mostly hard magic for my story with softer magic for the bond and true magic.