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  1. aguywhotypes

    aguywhotypes Active Member

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    "poof" the monsters are back... but now like how you think.

    Discussion in 'Fantasy' started by aguywhotypes, Nov 13, 2017.

    OK. suppose there is this sructure that is full of "badies" (monsters, whatever)
    The MC has to clear them out for xyz reason.

    ok, he does only to find that apparently they are "summoned" back down and "poof" there are more of them.

    Now, what I'm looking for is the "poof" without the "summoning" aspect.

    In other words in a fantasy world. Couldn't it just naturally work that way? It could look like it's from a paranormal source but in reality (and when I use the word reality, I mean the "reality" of the fantasy world) they could just appear again?

    I have to confess I think you authors that write the paranormal have it made ( I know you don't but at times it seems that way to me.) You don't have to explain the why or the reason that makes sense because the paranormal being or whatever doesn't have to make to sense. It just is and it just happens. Boom! Done.)

    I'm wanting the "poof" ability without having the "poof" tied to a paranormal or diety. I just want it to be part of the fantasy world, like gravity is to our real earth, etc. Laws of Science, but more like the laws of the fantasy world. It's just how it works.

    Can I just do this and get a way with it or not?

    I should just do it anyway as a writing exercise... "what would I write if it didn't have to make sense or be explained?"
     
  2. Gadock

    Gadock Active Member

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    Paranormal is only paranormal to us but doesn’t necessarily have to be paranormal to your fantasy world. Hence “denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding”.

    So making your monsters come out of thin air would be paranormal to us, but a daily activity for them.
     
  3. aguywhotypes

    aguywhotypes Active Member

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    Oh yeah, I see what you mean..
    Just another day at the office.
     
  4. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    like the hydra in mythology - every time you cut off a head , two more grow in its place - you don't need a reason it just does
     
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  5. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Currently Reading::
    Telemachus Sneezed
    "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
    -Arthur C. Clarke

    "Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
    -Some clever guy or girl.

    The point is, paranormal people don't have it easier or harder than other authors. All you need to do is keep your system consistent. I'm typing this on a Bluetooth keyboard connected to an Android tablet running Nougat, which is in turn tethered by Wifi to a Galaxy phone running Oreo, which I'm using to access the internet and send you this message from Japan, all powered by batteries made of rare minerals from Africa and China that violently catch fire if you use them wrong.

    Now run your mind back ten years and see how much of that makes sense.

    But it works, and I have no idea how it does. I've got a fuzzy understanding of some of the links in the chain above, but every time I perform a certain series of actions and gestures, I'm greeted by the WritingForums.org homepage. Dunno how, dunno why, but it works.

    Just like your monsters.
     
  6. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    I don't think the exact mechanism matters so much as it's consistent with whatever rules you've established for your universe, and that you think through the implications so that you don't have to rely on the characters' idiocy to create problems for them to solve (unless, I suppose, you are deliberately writing idiot characters).

    As someone up above posted, it could be that monsters spawning out of nowhere is totally normal in this world. It could be really abnormal too, and part of the story is your characters being surprised by it and needing to figure out how it's done in order to stop it. In either case, it's immaterial whether the monsters spawn through magic, or some exotic biological process, or some advanced technology. In both cases the important thing is that everything else in the story doesn't fall into some plot hole or another.
     
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  7. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Paranormal can't just do anything, it has to make sense. I personally find paranormal really hard to read specifically because of that.

    I hate the trope that once the hero has dispatched a whole bunch of enemies, a few more teleport in. Sure, I can conceive of the technology to do it but why? If you have the ability to track someone as they're slaughtering there way through your men and you have the technology to teleport, why on earth would you teleport more men to the intruder? Why not simply teleport the intruder to your men, or your prison, or teleport his weapon away at least.

    Star Trek at least attempted to fix this problem by putting up barriers or radiation that interfered with their transporter, but I can think of multiplier times where the main danger could have been thwarted by teleporting someone or something somewhere.
     
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  8. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    New idea: transporters don't lock onto the person directly, they communicate with identification devices implanted throughout the person's body. Maybe a human would need two on each limb, one in the gut, one in the chest, and one behind the brain?

    That way, if you wanted to force-teleport an enemy, they would need to have been given implants by their own people in the first place, and you would need to be able to hack whatever program their implants were encrypted with.

    Also, giving yourself the implants to be teleported by your own people makes you vulnerable to getting grabbed by an enemy who can hack into your own implants :)
     
  9. Primordial Knight

    Primordial Knight Member

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    To be fair, Science in itself is Poof, if you go back far enough. Sure we have Theories over the big bang, But before it happened, Time, Space, None of it truly existed. The laws of our reality Did not exist, before it's expansion. However to topic.
    Whenever I make a monster, depending on the specific world I'm building. Either a deity created it(Usually by controlling evolution through millions of years, to create it. Like man), Or the "magic" or paranormal is just another part of the world. Just like water, or wind. I have one where heaven and Hell, are just Different Dimensions, Angels and Demons are just primordial beings made in a time before Time was really a thing. Fourth Dimensional, even Fifth Dimensional beings in a way. Magic, is just a force of nature. It has it's own rules of existence. At least that's how I always treated it.
    So through Evolution, a beast can be born.
    Through the natural plains of existence unseen to our eyes, they can be created.
    Perhaps they are Lovecraftian and travel through multiple Dimensions.
    Or perhaps through the errors of man they were created in a horrible experiment gone wrong, Perhaps this experiment changed the enviroment where these beings could be made naturally, Like a horrific version of Nuclear Fallout.
    There are many ways you can make them pop into existence without Random effect.
     
  10. aguywhotypes

    aguywhotypes Active Member

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    This is really good stuff. I'm thankful for all of it.

    This made me think back when I was frustrated with Psionics. Instead of being magic it was basically a two-way radio. The person eavesdropping on the victims thoughts would have to wear a headband/helmet/implant/tablet/whatever to listen and the victim had to be "tagged" with an electronic transmitter however that might be. Throwing in some form of materials blocking the waves and/or distance it could be quite fun.
     
  11. Danyal

    Danyal New Member

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    if you want meaning in the creatures you make and actually build a reason why they have their traits I highly recommend creating an Encyclopedia of your universe: This takes time and effort but it will help create stories and give you and some readers closure for the reasoning. Biggest question of everything is "why?" you can either keep the mystery or give them the answers which isn't a bad thing because some answers just provide more questions!
     
  12. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    You just reminded me of the latest Avengers' movie. At one point, my friend beside me couldn't stop yelling, "Just chop off his arm!"

    If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about...
     

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