caloric and phlogiston are a remarkably coherent system for understanding a lot of things about the world but break down under closer observation. humans are not incurious but also not omniscient, not even scientifically modern ones
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arguably many of the most important parts of nuclear physics - as in the physics of nucleons - were only particularly clear even to specialists long after the point at which humanity as a species was using implosion lenses to turn lumps of plutonium into hell bombs
sep 1, 2025, 6:53 am • 39 2 • view
a system where wizards throw lightning bolts and lack any particular system for understanding them is incorrect. there should be more lightning wizards who incorrectly believe they can resurrect the dead if they cast lightning good enough
sep 1, 2025, 6:54 am • 54 8 • view
your characters should in the general case know less than you about the world they live in. i can't imagine they could know more and if they know exactly as much as you do, it becomes very boring very quick
sep 1, 2025, 6:56 am • 41 3 • view
sometimes experiments yield unexpected results which never meet with a satisfactory explanation in the lifetime of those who perform it. if your corpse explosion spell depends intimately on blood type, good luck to a necromancer who doesn't even know about red blood cells figuring it out
sep 1, 2025, 6:58 am • 34 1 • view
i don't think all such necromancers would be satisfied by simply saying "it works sometimes and doesn't work others". maybe superstitions develop, or maybe a completely incorrect systematization becomes part of the occupational folklore. who knows. way more interesting that way
sep 1, 2025, 6:59 am • 37 1 • view
type O necromancer who's corpse explosion spell only works on the same blood type slowly learns they can get consistent results on enemies who their blood splattered onto, multi-classes berserker instead of learning the secret
sep 1, 2025, 7:44 am • 13 0 • view
the royal family holds up their immunity to necromantic attacks as proof of divine favor but it turns out to just be inbreeding
sep 1, 2025, 9:16 pm • 3 0 • view
Magic system based on thermodynamics but most people learning magic think there's a precise hierarchy of demons you summon to cause magic effects and their system of true names and bindings works 67% of the time because the summoning ritual creates a pocket of equilibrium completely by accident
sep 1, 2025, 7:33 am • 4 0 • view
sep 4, 2025, 12:42 am • 0 0 • view