Magic Industrialization

[grimmhold]

Just wondering what you guys/gals thought about a technowizard creating a magic device that creates or instills one specific magic power. I would say once created the device will install that one specific power on a specific type of equipment, such as a cloak or armor. All one would have to do is have the ppe to enchant/whatever you want to call it, and it can be used by anyone without having to know a specific power, or even being a trained technowizard. An example would be for a one to always impart lets say, see the invisible, every time the ppe price is paid on a ring for example. That would eliminate the need for technowizards to spend countless hours producing magic devices. Thanks again.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Back before the release of the CWC series of books I was running a Tolkien based game. And in my champagne Tolkien was pass producing tecnowizard weapons and also a line of magic "Rune Weapon-esque" modern guns (basically just guns with magic "To Strike" bonuses).

Is that what you mean? Or are you talking about something 'a la' Movie Tony Stark's lab with its ability to auto-produce Iron Man suits for him.

Does the high lighted suppose to be 'mass producing'?

[Anthar]

It is certainly possible with current TW devices in cannon. Use the massive PPE generators detailed in the UWW ships combine that with your standard assembly line with a few TW tweaks in order to construct specific devices and bang, you've got TW equipment mass produced.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Just wondering what you guys/gals thought about a technowizard creating a magic device that creates or instills one specific magic power. I would say once created the device will install that one specific power on a specific type of equipment, such as a cloak or armor. All one would have to do is have the ppe to enchant/whatever you want to call it, and it can be used by anyone without having to know a specific power, or even being a trained technowizard. An example would be for a one to always impart lets say, see the invisible, every time the ppe price is paid on a ring for example. That would eliminate the need for technowizards to spend countless hours producing magic devices. Thanks again.

So basically you want techno wizards to stop being techno-wizards...why, exsactly?

[dragonfett]

For the whole paying a ppe price when a TW makes something, he could set up shop on a ley line or at a nexus point (like in Tolkeen, before it fell, or Lazlo I would presume). As for making the process quicker, you can utilize one non-Techno Wizard for every other level the Techno Wizard has, and each assistant provides a 5% reduction in Construction Time. The maximum number of assistants that I a Techno Wizard can have is 7, for a max of 35% reduction in time, which can be really helpful in time consuming endeavors.

[cornholioprime]

Just wondering what you guys/gals thought about a technowizard creating a magic device that creates or instills one specific magic power. I would say once created the device will install that one specific power on a specific type of equipment, such as a cloak or armor. All one would have to do is have the ppe to enchant/whatever you want to call it, and it can be used by anyone without having to know a specific power, or even being a trained technowizard. An example would be for a one to always impart lets say, see the invisible, every time the ppe price is paid on a ring for example. That would eliminate the need for technowizards to spend countless hours producing magic devices. Thanks again.

So basically you want techno wizards to stop being techno-wizards...why, exsactly?

What she said, and the basic concept applies to more than just Techno-Wizards.
The time and bother and expense of it all is SUPPOSED to be an insurmountable "price" to choosing the TW O.C.C. That's part of what gives the OCC its flavor.

(And on an in-game note: You can't mass-produce Magic Scrolls, either, so why would one think that mass-producing whole complex TW devices would be any easier??)

[Shadow Wyrm]

Once a TW item has been created and there are plans for it, I see no reason why the major components couldn't be prodused en'mass to cut down on build time. Though a TW would have to do the enchanting himself.

[cornholioprime]

Once a TW item has been created and there are plans for it, I see no reason why the major components couldn't be prodused en'mass to cut down on build time. Though a TW would have to do the enchanting himself.

The "major components" are ALREADY mass-produced (Raw metal for the item, precious stones, wires, etc).

However, Techno-Wizardy production, in canon, STRONGLY implies that there is more to making a TW item than just slapping the parts together and then uttering some mumbo-jumbo over a pre-assembled device, just as you can't go over to a bunch of pre-written Magic Scrolls and say "abra-cadabra!" and pump P.P.E. into them to activate them. Or the way that you can't just have a bunch of ready-made Zombies or Golems on standby awaiting you putting a few words and pumping in some P.P.E/I.S.P/Hit Points.

From inside of the Game, there is an undefined "supernatural something," unrelated to the physical components of the TW item, that forces everyone from Splynn to Stormspire to Dweomer to Lazlo to painstakingly and slowly build the things.

In the real world, "overall pain in the arse" and "time-consuming" and "damned expensive" are the prices that you have to pay to choose the Techno-Wizard O.C.C.

Making TW gear something that you can crank out en masse and at will in a factory is as anathema to the concept of tradeoffs in Rifts/Palladium as a Glitter Boy with an infinite drum of Boom Gun ammo, or a Crazy without insanities.

[Mallak's Place]

In our game a TW device using custom designed mass produced parts still takes half the time to make the item. It takes time to properly invest a item with the ability to channel magic, and this can only be done by hand. The making of a TW device is like a Ritual, TW Plans are like instructions on how to perform that ritual, a mixture of technical and magic knowlege.

[Killer Cyborg]

The main advantage of technology over magic is mass production.
The main advantage of magic over technology is power and versatility.

The world of Rifts is best if things are kept this way.

[Damian Magecraft]

The main advantage of technology over magic is mass production.
The main advantage of magic over technology is power and versatility.

The world of Rifts is best if things are kept this way.

agreed

[Nekira Sudacne]

Exsactly. the UUW just has around 20 billion techno-wizards. They can make a whole lotta stuff.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Personally, the way I handle TW Manufactuers like Tolkeen, Stormspire and Magefire is that ordinary humans can assisst and aid in the design and construction of techno-wizard devices, but it requires the person know both the principles of magic skill and the appropriate engineering skills as well as basic electronics. They can do the actual crafting of the device, but ultimately a genuine techno wizard has to do the final enchantments.

Similarly, Mages who are interested are also highly valued, not only do they cut a lot of the training time down as they don't have to teach a non-mage the principles of magic, but it expands the potential designs as it's well established that Techno-wizards don't have to know the spells that go into it, but are required for the final imuement of the device with the spell.

So a Techno-Wizard foundry, in my games, much resembles a mideval guild and workshop. You have ordinay humans and apprentice techno-wizards actually construct and build the devices mostly with a one techno-wizard journyman supervising the construction of many projects at once. For established models, the assembly is largely with premade parts that just have to be installed with the approriate systems and gemstones. After a lot of them are ready, the actual Techno-wizards and any assissting mages begin the process of enchanting them with custom-made rituals that imbue a large number of items at once and cost a lot of PPE.

The end result is one TW Foundy being able to produce thousands of devices a month though basic assembly line process, and a city like stormspire will have many foundries.

That's for established models like TK Firebolt pistols. For custom jobs it requires the full attention of a Techno-wizard and a number of his apprentices to build it and part of the guild floor to construct it. It takes longer as they have to go though many experiments to get it right, and all that's time they could be using to do something else. Concequently unique TW devices are quite expensive in my games but aquireable in any major TW City.