Magic and Technology

This idea that somehow magic and technology are at odds in fantasy settings is, in our mind, incredibly lazy thinking. We had a long talk with a friend about this, and we spent the time basically pointing out just how unlikely it would be for magic to be an actual hindrance for technology unless the game master / world builder made the two forces artificially hinder one another in some fashion (like the idea that technology doesn't work around magic / magic doesn't work around technology).

He believed that with magic, people wouldn't put the time and effort into developing technology when magic could do it 'easier'. We pointed out a few things that put the lie to that:

• Magic is generally restricted to the middle or upper class.
• Magic tends to be 'local', with a small area of effect.
• Magic use is restricted to specific individuals.
• The use of technology can generally be taught and shared.
• Technology has a longer 'duration' than magic tends to.
• Technology can be developed at any level of society.

So. If you're from a middle class family or lower, and you need to get things done, you can either shell out serious coin to get some magic done, try to solve the issue yourself, or see if someone's already developed the solution. We can bet most of the effort put into running a farm is done without magic. Most crafts probably don't use magic, either.

Then of course, there's the people with an inquisitive mind who don't have access to magic. For example, the sciences were started in ancient Greece, and continued on into the dark ages and renaissance.  In a fantasy setting, saying that each and every one of these thinkers were mages would be incredibly lazy. Sir Isaac Newton doesn't need to be a mage, and neither does the likes of Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, or Socrates. 

Knowledge tends to create more knowledge, building upon itself as people learn and share what they've learned.  Mathematics, algebra, physics, all of this is human learning that can easily be developed even when there's magic. New inventions can be crafted, and there will always more efficient ways of doing things developed as time progresses. The ancient Greeks had steam technology. Rome had aqueducts and plumbing. When you get into the Renaissance (and most generic fantasy games are, technically, pushing into the Renaissance - just look at the weapon, armour, and gear lists), then academic learning begins to significantly speed up.

And here's the big thing.

Magic can supplement learning. Look at those games where there's magic that can be used to augment attributes (Intelligence and Wisdom being important), or that can boost skill checks (Knowledges? Craft?).  Magic items which give long term boosts allows characters to make leaps in deduction, or come up with new theories to test out. This can get written down, and shared over time.

There's spells which can determine if a given action is 'good' or 'bad', which can be used to avoid mishaps, or make unexpected discoveries. Other divinations can be used to look at the outcome of 'well, what if I did X + Y'? Magic can be used to refine materials, or to make certain technological items better and more efficient. And, technology being technology, this can be handed down through generations.

An amusing example:

Steam exists.  People know how steam creates pressure, pressure creates force, and force can be used to create motion. Someone decides to make a projectile launcher that uses steam. An artificer sees this and begins to refine this.  Has gear which will give a huge bonus on Intelligence, Crafting Skills, and Knowledges, so has a keen insight into how this works and how to make it better.  She then creates a handgun which fires bolts, using compressed fire and water chambers inside the weapon itself.  A bolt thrower fuelled by steam.  Then creates a piston system which allows the pistol to be magazine fed.  Uses divination to ask 'how can I improve accuracy?' and gets insight into rifling.

Then you've got steam powered carriages (much like early automobiles), trains aren't that far-fetched either, especially with magic to help refine the crafting of parts - since trains are a Big Thing, you can expect the people crafting them to hire artificers to assist in the development. And that's just it. Magic supplements the growth of knowledge and technology, and both are going to drastically shape society. Magic wouldn't hinder learning and science, it would supplement it and significantly speed it up.

Even combat magic 'I create X elemental effect' would have people wondering how else these could be employed.  You can create water?  Well, what can be done with water?  What can be done with instant water?  And fire?  Or wind?  How do these apply force or energy? What can be done with that?

And here's the thing.  Even if a setting doesn't have this baked in - if players begin to work on these principles, it should probably be applauded. In one game, we had a dwarf, and found mithral.  We had enemies who had a castle, and we didn't.  So we designed, through a combination of engineering and magic, a ballista that could fire over the horizon with precision accuracy.  It was a literal game changer.

To wrap up - the only reason we can think that anyone would limit technology in a fantasy setting is to capture a 'medieval' feel - even when ignoring the things that actually existed in that period - and taking things from later periods which most likely wouldn't be there yet because the needs for them wouldn't exist yet.  (For example, rapiers when people are still wandering around in heavy armour).