Futuristic tech or Magic?

Magic is too beautiful to pass up on in my opinion however I do see the alure towards tech and it's potential. If I was asked for Sci-fi I wouldn't say no.
 
Both, please! I think a story about an old wizard who specializes in say... fire magic seeing an oven or a lighter for the first time would be hilarious!
 
I personally kind of like the Clarke-based ethos embodied by Numenera: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. "Magic Items" in that game are tech from past fallen civilizations, and "Mages" are those who can tap into the old tech.

In a similar way, the Star Ocean symbol-based "magic" has always intrigued me.

So, I guess I'd answer this with, "why choose?"
 
I think I have to hop on the both train. It's quite fun to see magitech in stories and even separate, they both have their charm. I love both Sci-fi and Fantasy. I'd say I care more about the story than the mechanisms behind the characters abilities.
 
Give me both! I love future tech stuff as well as magic! They can be quite interesting together if done right. Of course, they're just as good being on their own too.
 
I like both! Just depends in what mood I'm in. Although I do tend to lean more towards magic because magic doesn't have to be explained compared to tech.
 
I like both! Just depends in what mood I'm in. Although I do tend to lean more towards magic because magic doesn't have to be explained compared to tech.

Depends on the magic in the world or your story. You do need to explain magic a bit. How it works, the power level of it that characters would be able to use, not to mention if you make up attacks and powers with magic, you'd need to explain what they are, how they work, and the affect they have.
 
That is true. From a player perspective it would be better to have an understanding of how it all works and what its limits are and such. I guess I was thinking from the perspective of a character and not the writer. Writers know the ins and out of the magic system but characters don't always know either. I like some mystery, or letting characters 'guess' what the nature of magic is.
 
That is true. From a player perspective it would be better to have an understanding of how it all works and what its limits are and such. I guess I was thinking from the perspective of a character and not the writer. Writers know the ins and out of the magic system but characters don't always know either. I like some mystery, or letting characters 'guess' what the nature of magic is.

I understand where you're coming from. We as the writers know everything about the world and how it works, but the characters don't. It's fun to have them guess what to do, what works, and what doesn't. That also implies for roleplaying it as well. You gotta explain how your world works to your fellow writers, and the characters can know some stuff, but have to guess others. It's a lot more fun that way.
 
Sci-Fi Tech, from firearms to cybernetics. More room for fast-paced action. While I do enjoy Fantasy, I've never been much of a magic person.
 
It would depend more on the magic-system for me, you can have a blend of all of that, but if the magic system isn't hard, then it's just gonna be all over the place. A Hard set magic-system (Avatar: The Last Airbender) has clear set rules for their benders, and it's always interesting to see what characters do when they can't always rely on their powers. It's pretty consistent. Whether it's high-tech or magic, I don't mind either of them. It's how you make it work into a story that makes it interesting.
 
Magic and high tech are really the the same thing in my mind, As much as you could slap your buttcheeks and go ''Cause mAgic!' you could do with high tech with a 'Cause Nano/Quantum'

A root system of magic and gods can be traded out for tech and energy and I would say technology in its extreme would be more scary than some super mage, I mean would you fear tim the fire mage who can conjure out a fireball in whatever way your world handles magic or bob the space trooper in power armor with a plasma rifle that can vitrify you into dust till they run out of ammo and as fast as the recoil would allow?

I say magic is more fun and simpler with the plus of being able to set down rules and control over what you could or couldn't do even in its extreme whereas High technology would be akin to a group of demi gods fighting it out but because either side could command insane power would have to be more arcane with their actions adding more layers to it.

Moreover I would dare to say more people think about magic due to culture and games and like it more due to how much more fun it can be but not too many people think about that right now here in 2023 any one of the USA SSBN (nuke subs) could just end all life on earth right now and it wouldn't even take 45 minutes for it to occur, or that we are at the start of making super test tube babies, think about the madness you could have in a high tech world....and having to explain it all <__> Magic gets that +++ for being easy to understand even at its end

All that said I do think its alot more fun to mix the two
 
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Do you prefer Sci-Fi technology with teleporters, hoverboards, lightsabers and stuff, or Magical powers, with lightning, fire, and other crap?
I think that a good setting contains magic and technology. Perhaps magic is just technology that is so advanced it's difficult to even comprehend its uses and properties. I have a slight preference for Sci Fi technology because I like things that are explainable. Despite this preference, I also like magic. My favorite kind of magic is the kind that can bend reality to the will of the magic user.
 
In general I prefer magic. Rather than pretending to understand concepts that they quite simply do not, the creator(s) just work with a system that they themselves create.
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I prefer magic because I feel like it's easier to understand and write about and like know what to do with it? Tech for me personally I feel like I struggle on writing especially since my years in RPing I mostly always stuck with magic and only recently did we- well me add some tech into the plot.
 
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