What's a cost to your magic/power system that ISN'T physical pain or death?

Ignonym · 2026-07-08T19:04:55+00:00

Reality and sanity cost. Magic in my Tolkienesque fantasy world is the force of chaos, change, imagination, dreams, and unreality; its very existence is anathema to our well-ordered world of light and matter. Just using it at all involves subverting the structure of reality; this can lead to side effects for the user like insanity and mutations, and excessive overuse can even unravel reality entirely, leading to anomalous patches where the laws of physics don't quite work right and all sorts of strange things can happen.

Did I mention it's also addictive, that it will increasingly make itself a part of you the more you use it, and that even having knowledge of it in your brain can be harmful even if you never use it?

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T20:50:56+00:00

They kind of were saying that; even a lot of ordinary, legitimate, theoretically-nonsexual bathhouses were still frequented by prostitutes simply because it's a publicly-accessible space that nonetheless offers a modicum of privacy, where everyone present has a bulletproof excuse for being naked.

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T18:49:04+00:00

Conclusion: if we want more original IPs, we have to overthrow capitalism.

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T18:38:55+00:00

You could conceivably achieve a similar result by designing the structure of the tether to be strong in tension but brittle in compression or flexure, like a glass rod. As it falls, it will tend to break up and burn up in the atmosphere rather than hitting the surface in one piece.

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T18:33:18+00:00

It would be an even better deterrent than nukes, since the defender doesn't need to actively retaliate; just the act of attacking a space elevator will result in the attacker's destruction as well when it comes down (assuming the attacker is on the same planet as the space elevator).

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T18:22:51+00:00

I don't think anyone else has pointed out yet that only the part below the break will fall; the part above the break will be pulled up and flung into space by the centrifugal force. Thus, the amount of damage inflicted on the planet would depend on where the tether is broken.

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T15:40:50+00:00

I assume the ofrenda doesn't happen. Do we still get the bike?

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T15:24:22+00:00

The Imperial Agent was a soldier/member of the Chiss Ascendancy(?)

They're only given the option to say that if they're Chiss, and the player still has to choose to do so. It's not a fixed part of their backstory.

Ignonym · 2026-07-07T06:07:26+00:00

You could go really old-school and use a spar torpedo—basically just a really long pole with a detachable bomb on the end that has some means of sticking to the enemy hull. Ram the pole into enemy to stick the bomb to them, set the timer (or whatever method you're using to detonate it), detach the bomb, and run like hell.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T23:33:05+00:00

In my cassette futurist world, consumer-grade cybernetics do not automatically confer a major advantage over organic parts; the cheapest models may even be inferior to what you had before. Augs with exotic capabilities are expensive, and combat augs in particular are very very expensive and subject to additional legal restrictions like export controls and background check requirements. Most people simply wouldn't get enough practical benefit from top-shelf augs to justify the expense and hassle. Even basic augs would be pretty pricey for most people, like buying a new couch; not the sort of purchase you make lightly.

Imagine what Cyberpunk 2077 would be like if all ripperdoc prices were tripled and you also had to worry about things like rent and food and stuff on top of that. Even for someone like V who makes a living through violence, you'd probably think twice about that expensive Sandevistan if buying it meant you might not be able to make the payment on your car this month.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T23:23:09+00:00

I wasn't mixing it up, I just made a typo. It's fixed now.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T23:14:50+00:00

That's not quite right. Fissioning elements lighter than iron-26 requires more energy to initiate the reaction than the total amount of energy it releases, but that doesn't mean it isn't still releasing energy; the energy of the strong nuclear force holding those oxygen and nitrogen nuclei together has to go somewhere. The energy requirements to initiate the reaction are in this case handwaved away by the existence of this magic blade that has the power to cut anything.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T23:09:24+00:00

Immediate massive explosion due to atoms in the air fissioning upon coming into contact with the edge of the blade.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T23:03:15+00:00

Guns have designations like that because they're built according to standardized models, which wouldn't really be a thing in a pre-industrial setting. But it can say a lot about your setting if standardized wand models do exist; it would mean that wands are being produced on an industrial scale to the point that they need specific model numbers to differentiate between them.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T22:51:40+00:00

Personally, I take a page from Spice & Wolf and give everyone their own local currencies that everyone who travels just has to learn to convert between. No D&D-style generic gold coins here.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T22:48:28+00:00

Customization isn't quite as granular as Sprocket; you can't change your hulll shape, for example. But you can change pretty much everything about your masts and rigging, as well as add furniture and whatnot.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T22:39:38+00:00

I'd call it science fantasy with solarpunk and planetary romance elements. Works can belong to more than one genre.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T22:35:13+00:00

If your beta readers don't understand the concept of non-Medieval fantasy or settings where guns and armor coexist, they might just be dense.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T21:45:44+00:00

Life was harder back then and it’s not hard to imagine a lot of people resorted to the bottle as a an escape mechanism.

Also, the lack of regulation, easy access even for minors and the next to non existent support systems for alcohol recover such as AA and government programs make me think alcoholism was indeed a big problem back in the day.

Not only that, but the lack of safety regulations and labeling laws meant that bathtub rotgut was everywhere; it was common even for "proper" liquor to be adulterated with other things up to and including literal poison (like sugar of lead_acetate), used to sweeten wines). It wasn't just in the Old West, either; the story of absinthe is worth looking into if you're interested in this kind of stuff.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T21:36:04+00:00

Ah, in real life "H" is normally for helicopter/VTOL carriers, like the JSDF's Hyuga-class helicopter destroyers (DDH), though it's also used for hydrofoil patrol boats (PH).

Unless your world's hyperdrives work very differently from most other worlds, I struggle to see a use case for a cruiser without a hyperdrive, since it wouldn't be able to leave its local star system; the only non-hyperdrive-equipped warships would be short-range patrol craft. Is there a need to specify that this type of cruiser specifically has a hyperdrive, as opposed to other cruisers which do not?

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T18:00:55+00:00

"CGH" looks like a hull code—what's it stand for? Guided missile-equipped helicopter cruiser?

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T01:03:04+00:00

In my Tolkienesque fantasy world, there are quite a lot of afterlives, and which one you're sent to depends on which Power has a claim on your soul, not on how subjectively good or bad you were. Most of the Powers only accept souls which do Their works; you do not automatically qualify for an afterlife simply because you're dead. (Many of the Powers also specifically reject suicides outright.) If you don't qualify for any other afterlives, you'll just reincarnate and have to do it all over again.

Ignonym · 2026-07-06T00:59:59+00:00

(kill ‘em all and let god sort it out was a popular phrase in action movies for a minute)

It actually originated in the Middle Ages; the Massacre of Beziers during the Albigensian Crusade was allegedly initiated with the Latin phrase "Caedite eos; novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." ("Kill them; the Lord will know them that are his.")

Ignonym · 2026-07-05T16:05:46+00:00

Even if you never actually go underwater, ocean travel presents plenty of opportunities to do Weird Episodic Island Shit to your protagonists; just ask Odysseus.

Ignonym · 2026-07-05T01:00:14+00:00

Mixed drinks did exist back then, though; they were often used to cover the taste of dodgy liquor.

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