Wednesday 20 August 2003

Pic of the day: "Cracking the Myrror". Annotated screenshot from Master of Magic.

MoM fantasies

When spelled like this, MoM, that's Master of Magic, not female parent. What were you people thinking? O.o Anyway, I don't think any computer game has fueled my fantasy quite like Master of Magic. OK, perhaps Daggerfall did, but Daggerfall was a role playing game. I did not really have to supply much fantasy because I acted out so many of the fantasies in the game itself. But MoM opened a birds-eye view on a world that I found fascinating in so many ways. Actually two worlds, but Myrror was by far the most interesting.

For the unlucky who came too late to play this strategy game from the mid-90es, it is a kind of Sid Meier's Civilization meets Magic: The Gathering. It takes place on two planes or worlds, Arcanus and Myrror. Arcanus is more like your classic sword and sorcery fantasy world. It has lairs and ruins, often guarded by monsters (and you cannot see from a distance what kind of monster). It has various races like High Men, High Elves, Nomads, Barbarians, Halflings and (sadly) Klackons. There are magic nodes that will supply you with magic power (as will any religious buildings you can afford to build in your cities). The name of my journal come from one such type of node. ^_^

Myrror is a parallel world, richer in magic. But not quite parallel. What is land in one world may be ocean in the other. There are spells that take you from one world to the other, but they are not basic spells. The other way is through special towers, which are also guarded by monsters (and most of them stand on an island in one of the worlds). Myrror has other races such as trolls, dwarves, dark elves and dragons. The nodes give more magic but are much better guarded; some of the monsters there are a challenge even in the final stages of the game. There are also two levels of magic minerals that give a bonus to weapons (if you have alchemy) and a bonus to power too.

***

I have lately been reading the Derlavai series about a magic world and its equivalent of World War II (not a mirror image by any means, just an equivalent). Some of the atmosphere made me think about Master of Magic and Myrror in particular. Oh, it is not really the same, not even quite the same level. But unbidden, my thoughts went to how Myrror would have been if advanced to near our own times. And a "voice" in my head started to sketch a project it called MoM2000.

In some ways MoM2000 is less advanced ... rather than the laser-like "sticks" of Derlavai, soldiers would probably wield Bow+5 (or slightly higher in the most advanced armies) ... weapons so magical that you don't really need strength or accuracy to use them; much like rifles. And doing magic damage like pretty good rifles too ... actually a good bow is comparable to many rifles in terms of sheer penetrating power. For handguns (police?) you would have Sling+5; civilians would not be allowed to wear any of those, that's for sure!

Cities would increasingly be placed near tamed nodes, which in the game are surrounded by a penumbra of magic in their color. Cities that lie within the colored fog in the game have magic distorted, which may be useful if you have to fight invaders. But in my fantasy, it would also serve as a universal power grid for the city, giving a standard of living comparable to our own as people used magic for light, heating, cooling, and to power household appliances. The same for cities built on a seam of Quork or CrysX crystals, and Adamantium mines I guess. I don't think Mithril would be that powerful, although having Mithril artifacts in your home would probably make them self-powered.

I have not quite decided on whether less lucky cities might be able to draw some magic from the enchanted roads. Borrowing from another fantasy of mine, I imagine these roads coming in two variants: Shining paths for pedestrian and local traffic, and the more powerful brilliant roads that would be the equivalent of railroads and then some. Brilliant roads are pretty powerful; I can easily see them also serving as a national grid to supply magic to outlying places, although it may not be as effective as having ambient magic from nodes or crystal mines.

In the MoM2000 universe, serf-style laborers would be out. Much of the workforce would be wizards, but with a limited set of spells. Or perhaps workers would use enchanted items like Broom+3 or Mithril Frying Pan of Instant Pancakes ... the upper middle class would be the utility mages making and maintaining the equipment. Sounds "realistic" to me (given the world in which it is set).

***

As for the stories themselves, I have only brief sketches of people and places and scenes, barely the seed of a story. My muses tend to come up with more if I listen to them and write it down, but my hand is probably going to hurt for the rest of my life. How long that is, I will not make any attempt to guess at all. But the hand generally aches less now than it did in spring and early summer. It may never be healed, but it might stabilize. If so, there may be more MoM2000 in the future. Or perhaps not. My life is full of funny things, and besides I like to have some time for serious thoughts too. Still ... you never know.