This is a slightly updated version of an article I wrote on the Ellusionist boards a few months back. I cleaned up some of my some of my spelling mistakes and altered a few passages for the sake of brevity and clarity, and now hope to see what the community here can do with it.
I want to start off with a quote from a book.
"Imagine if instead of brewing traditional potions, Mages began baking their spells into cokies and cakes. Imagine further that they then begin to use factories to mass produce them. On the other hand, would it be possible for spellcasters to use food processors to render all of their most frequently used material components into a single, fine powder that could then be used for almost any spell they cared to cast?"
That passage comes from a game book. Specifically, a game called Urban Arcana. It's a game that takes place in a modern urban fantasy setting, juxtaposing the Tolkkien-esque high fantasy setting of traditional pen-and-paper games with our modern world. The passage I showed above is a brief part of a description of how creatures accustomed to magic and sorcery would react to the modern world.
The book goes on to say:
"Take a walk through the hardware or a home appliance section of your local department store -- look for tools you've never seen before, then try to imagine the most outlandish use for them possible. This is the sort of process that Shadowkind would go through every day in our world."
We hear a lot of great, visual products described as, "Looks like real magic." That begs the question of what real magic would look like.
Archeopath (of the Ellusionist boards) spoke in one of his threads of how it's possible to let the need for technology to simplify things do all the work for you, and thus remove the miraculous aspect of magic from your performances.
An example he gave that I thought was particularly good was an ad in a magazine that talked about using a "modern LED screen" to reveal a thought of card or something similar.
You know what works better? Ghost Vision. It's practical.
If we really could use real magic, why not use the technology of the camera to see what the naked eye cannot, even going so far as to capture images on a paranormal level? That would be darn handy, wouldn't it?
I've actually used the Urban Arcana game setting as well as urban fantasy novels as a springboard for creativity. Here's a short list of effects I'm currently working on methods for that were inspired by this line of thinking.
Licensed: My friends call me Werewolf. Long story. As a joke, I got to thinking about if werewolves were real and I was one. That could lead to some complications, especially with licenses and ID and all... So I thought, why not an effect where I can transform my normal driver's license into an ID for a werewolf, complete with modified info (height, eye color, etc) and a picture of me in full werewolf make-up. And what if I could hand it out for inspection?
Essence: The old idea of alchemy and potions. The Scorpion kit already uses the idea. But how about some geek magic that ends with me quaffing a liquid that smells faintly of peppermint and magically healing my wound in front of everyone?
Ice Box: When I first heard there were effects for freezing bottled beverages, I fell in love with the idea. Then I started thinking of volume, and wondered if I could work out a way to borrow several bottles at once, place them in a portable cooler and retrieve them seconds later completely frozen.
Grafitti: Everyone has a distinctive signature. Some people have a symbol they like to associate with themselves. How cool would it be to be able to just touch an object like a plastic cup, a business card, a dollar bill, a playing card, or some other mundane object, and be able to permanently leave my personal mark on it... after showing both hands empty!
These are just a few of the ideas I've gotten and am currently working on. The whole thing was about thinking how real magic would look. We would use everything around us, and more often than not it would have a very practical purpose.
Why are people so impressed with Cyril pulling a burger out of a menu? Because we wish we could do that! Being able to get a free lunch out of a menu on the side of building, that is fantastic! If magic really did exist, it would probably look like that because it's what we would do. Acquiring food and drink, money, solving daily problems and chores... all could be done via magic.
That's not to say that the standard fair of card and coin tricks are inferior. They can produce equally great reactions if you have the right performance to them. Entertainment is a big part of being human. As sentient creatures, we need entertaining distractions to occupy our minds or we'll go totally looney from boredom. And in that regard, magic has found a truly important practical application.
But every so often, think about what a real conjurer would do with his powers... well, within the bounds of local and national law, I mean. Let me give you a few more examples of already existing effects that cover this idea.
Miser's Dream: This one is kind of self-explanatory. Producing a large quantity of money out of thin air. Nice!
Electrical Artlet: From the Miracles for Mortals DVD set, you draw a picture of an electrical outlet, plug your boombox in, and it starts playing. That would save me a lot of headaches looking for extension cords or struggling to make the existing power cord reach the stupid outlet.
Everything's a Radio: Also from Miracles for Mortals, you pick up any object and it starts playing radio broadcasts. Convenient to say the least.
Hot Chocolate: An AoA effect that impressed me when I first heard of it. An empty Hershey wrapper is refilled with chocolate. If you're the kind of person who could not see the value in this, then you don't like chocolate. In which case, I don't think I would condescend to talk to you.
Print!: Included in Ellusionist's How To Do Street Magic, this is essentially a self-printing business card trick. I do this all the time, and when I tell people that buying the blank stock is cheaper, I can tell they're on the same page as me. It's much more efficient to spontaneously print out business cards whenever you need them.
So what would real magic look like? Well, it may or may not be visual depending on the situation or application. It would also appear practical, something you can see doing in your day-to-day life.
Utilizing the world around us, including technology makes for powerful magic, but don't look at technology as how it can give you a shortcut to an effect. The problem with some magicians is that they look at the technology as the method rather than the vehicle for magic. Remember my earlier example? What's more magical to you?
a) A guy revealing something you wrote down using an LED screen he was carrying with him.
b) A guy borrowing your cell phone to use the camera to find a hazy, ghostly image of the card you selected written on your palm.
Which one looks more like real magic?
The modern world has many great conveniences for us. We should be using these things as the props in our act, conduits through which the forces we manipulate from the other side can manifest themselves and contact us... or vice versa.
I want to start off with a quote from a book.
"Imagine if instead of brewing traditional potions, Mages began baking their spells into cokies and cakes. Imagine further that they then begin to use factories to mass produce them. On the other hand, would it be possible for spellcasters to use food processors to render all of their most frequently used material components into a single, fine powder that could then be used for almost any spell they cared to cast?"
That passage comes from a game book. Specifically, a game called Urban Arcana. It's a game that takes place in a modern urban fantasy setting, juxtaposing the Tolkkien-esque high fantasy setting of traditional pen-and-paper games with our modern world. The passage I showed above is a brief part of a description of how creatures accustomed to magic and sorcery would react to the modern world.
The book goes on to say:
"Take a walk through the hardware or a home appliance section of your local department store -- look for tools you've never seen before, then try to imagine the most outlandish use for them possible. This is the sort of process that Shadowkind would go through every day in our world."
We hear a lot of great, visual products described as, "Looks like real magic." That begs the question of what real magic would look like.
Archeopath (of the Ellusionist boards) spoke in one of his threads of how it's possible to let the need for technology to simplify things do all the work for you, and thus remove the miraculous aspect of magic from your performances.
An example he gave that I thought was particularly good was an ad in a magazine that talked about using a "modern LED screen" to reveal a thought of card or something similar.
You know what works better? Ghost Vision. It's practical.
If we really could use real magic, why not use the technology of the camera to see what the naked eye cannot, even going so far as to capture images on a paranormal level? That would be darn handy, wouldn't it?
I've actually used the Urban Arcana game setting as well as urban fantasy novels as a springboard for creativity. Here's a short list of effects I'm currently working on methods for that were inspired by this line of thinking.
Licensed: My friends call me Werewolf. Long story. As a joke, I got to thinking about if werewolves were real and I was one. That could lead to some complications, especially with licenses and ID and all... So I thought, why not an effect where I can transform my normal driver's license into an ID for a werewolf, complete with modified info (height, eye color, etc) and a picture of me in full werewolf make-up. And what if I could hand it out for inspection?
Essence: The old idea of alchemy and potions. The Scorpion kit already uses the idea. But how about some geek magic that ends with me quaffing a liquid that smells faintly of peppermint and magically healing my wound in front of everyone?
Ice Box: When I first heard there were effects for freezing bottled beverages, I fell in love with the idea. Then I started thinking of volume, and wondered if I could work out a way to borrow several bottles at once, place them in a portable cooler and retrieve them seconds later completely frozen.
Grafitti: Everyone has a distinctive signature. Some people have a symbol they like to associate with themselves. How cool would it be to be able to just touch an object like a plastic cup, a business card, a dollar bill, a playing card, or some other mundane object, and be able to permanently leave my personal mark on it... after showing both hands empty!
These are just a few of the ideas I've gotten and am currently working on. The whole thing was about thinking how real magic would look. We would use everything around us, and more often than not it would have a very practical purpose.
Why are people so impressed with Cyril pulling a burger out of a menu? Because we wish we could do that! Being able to get a free lunch out of a menu on the side of building, that is fantastic! If magic really did exist, it would probably look like that because it's what we would do. Acquiring food and drink, money, solving daily problems and chores... all could be done via magic.
That's not to say that the standard fair of card and coin tricks are inferior. They can produce equally great reactions if you have the right performance to them. Entertainment is a big part of being human. As sentient creatures, we need entertaining distractions to occupy our minds or we'll go totally looney from boredom. And in that regard, magic has found a truly important practical application.
But every so often, think about what a real conjurer would do with his powers... well, within the bounds of local and national law, I mean. Let me give you a few more examples of already existing effects that cover this idea.
Miser's Dream: This one is kind of self-explanatory. Producing a large quantity of money out of thin air. Nice!
Electrical Artlet: From the Miracles for Mortals DVD set, you draw a picture of an electrical outlet, plug your boombox in, and it starts playing. That would save me a lot of headaches looking for extension cords or struggling to make the existing power cord reach the stupid outlet.
Everything's a Radio: Also from Miracles for Mortals, you pick up any object and it starts playing radio broadcasts. Convenient to say the least.
Hot Chocolate: An AoA effect that impressed me when I first heard of it. An empty Hershey wrapper is refilled with chocolate. If you're the kind of person who could not see the value in this, then you don't like chocolate. In which case, I don't think I would condescend to talk to you.
Print!: Included in Ellusionist's How To Do Street Magic, this is essentially a self-printing business card trick. I do this all the time, and when I tell people that buying the blank stock is cheaper, I can tell they're on the same page as me. It's much more efficient to spontaneously print out business cards whenever you need them.
So what would real magic look like? Well, it may or may not be visual depending on the situation or application. It would also appear practical, something you can see doing in your day-to-day life.
Utilizing the world around us, including technology makes for powerful magic, but don't look at technology as how it can give you a shortcut to an effect. The problem with some magicians is that they look at the technology as the method rather than the vehicle for magic. Remember my earlier example? What's more magical to you?
a) A guy revealing something you wrote down using an LED screen he was carrying with him.
b) A guy borrowing your cell phone to use the camera to find a hazy, ghostly image of the card you selected written on your palm.
Which one looks more like real magic?
The modern world has many great conveniences for us. We should be using these things as the props in our act, conduits through which the forces we manipulate from the other side can manifest themselves and contact us... or vice versa.