Forums » RP Discussion » How do you interpret the genre spectrums?

For a long time now we've had the "genre spectrums" in the Find RP tools, represented by three sliders that let you rate your RP from 0-10 in Magic, Technology, and Combat.

What do the various numbers for those spectrums mean to you?

For example, I've always seen the technology spectrum roughly like this...

0: Stone tools and fire
1: Bronze age
2: Iron age
3: Renaissance
4: Industrial revolution
5: Modern
6: Near future, perhaps cloning and genetic manipulation
7: Further future, perhaps visit mars or upload your brain
8: Far future, perhaps interstaller travel (generation ships)
9: Far future, perhaps interstaller travel (faster than light)
10: Far future, perhaps galactic teleporters and fast terraforming

Obviously, these are just "for examples", as the actual history of your world might be different. But it helps me to get a flavor of what I'm in for with these as reference points.

How does it look in your head? Do you have examples of books/movies/shows that would fall into specific places in the magic, technology or combat spectrum?

Oh, oh, I want to help!

Magic
0. No magic what-so-ever. Doesn't exist, not acknowledged.
1. No magic what-so-ever. Could possible be magic speculation/tales (like here on Earth), but no actual magic.
2. A barely bit of magic. Fleeting, possibly forgotten, not a big part of the story.
3. Some magic. Few can use it, but most of the players probably won't have it.
4. Magic is common but not heavy. Some of the players can have it.
5. Magic is common and every day, but not grandiose. Harry Potter.
6. Magic is common, every day, and possibly a bit impressive. Verging on more exciting bits of Harry Potter.
7. Magic is very common, plays an active role. Most players and NPCs important to the tale will have it. Nothing world-changing though.
8. Magic is extremely common. Now you're looking at large-scale usage that plays heavily into the story and will affect it for years to come ICly.
9. Steeped heavily in magic, crucial to the story. Magic-tech, grand floating islands, forests that sing, magical creatures are an every-day occurrence.
10. Magic IS. A story so heavily filled with magic that it plays huge roles in both life and the concept posted. Verging upon reality-altering. Entire dimensions dedicated to it. Epic magic-based stories. Can't think of examples.

That's about what I think for the tech!

Magic:
0: Entirely mundane. No one has any magic of any kind. "Real world."
1: Minor "environmental" magic. Perhaps implies the existence of a deity or the truth of a creation myth, though these entities/this myth doesn't have any/much impact on the RP.
2: The only magical entities are gods and mythological figures. There may be multiple "pantheons" that are all magical. Still not likely to impact the RP, but it's treated as slightly more of a given than in 1.
3: Magic can be utilized by some "mortals," though people don't think that this is possible. Magical characters will likely believe that they are all alone. There are no established places of study for magic, and a magical character will likely not receive any clues on how to deal with the situation.
4: Magic is still extremely rare, but a character might be able to seek out some kind of mighty sage for tutelage (for instance). Mundane characters likely won't believe in literal magic.
5: Magic is rare, but not unheard of. Mundane characters may or may not believe in it. Magical characters may form small and exclusive pockets for study, protection, etc.
6: Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones. Magic is accepted as truth but not common, harnessed only by specific beings that may be treated with mistrust.
7: Mistborn. Magic can be harnessed by about 10% of the population and, though possibly side-eyed by mundanes, can function in common society. Society isn't "geared" forwards magical folk, though there may be certain societal niches for them.
8: Magic can be used by about half of the population.
9: Magic is common enough that 75% of people can harness it. The world is structured such that it's much easier for magical folk to get by. Mundanes may be seen as a lesser caste.
10: The "wizarding world" in Harry Potter, where magic permeates every part of a setting and defines rules for etiquette, morality, legality, etc. Mundanes are shamed and treated as lesser. (This only is taking into count the wizarding part of the HP world--pretend Muggles don't exist.)


Combat:
0: Cuddly soft. The setting is at peace and players are expected to settle IC problems without trying to hit them with a stick. (Rated G)
1: For the most part, the same as 0, but with the potential for occasional brief, cartoonish combat. (Rated G)
2: Still implies a peaceful setting, but with more chance for small fights and struggles to break out on a very small scale (playground bullies, etc.) (Rated G to PG)
3: Distant war may be part of the setting, but any scenes that happen to involve combat will likely be summarized, not played out in detail. If it is detailed, it won't be graphic. (Rated PG)
4: Uhh... just kinda in between 3 and 5! (Rated PG)
5: Combat is expected as part of the storyline but it won't completely dominate the scenes. Scenes with combat involved may be played out in some detail. (Rated PG to PG-13)
6: The setting is at war, though it hasn't progressed too far. Combat is woven into the storyline and could come to the forefront if the characters seek it out. (Rated PG-13)
7: The setting is at war, and the characters will likely get involved whether or not they seek it out. (Rated PG-13 to R)
8: Wartime/soldier RPs. World War 2, Vietnam, etc. Combat is a given and will likely be graphic, but there's the potential for non-combat "in the trenches" scenes. (Rated R, possibly rated PG-13)
9: Warhammer Fantasy/40k. The world is war, but as with 8, there may be RPs that don't feature it. Graphic. (Rated R)
10: The RP is entirely based around combat and nothing else. "Arena" RPs where nothing else happens. The combat can be detailed, intimate and potentially graphic. (Rated R or perhaps NC-17 depending on how graphic it gets)

Oh, these are so cool!

I find it VERY interesting that Copper put "Harry Potter" as a 5 and I put it as a 10! We're focusing on different aspects of the setting!

I was focusing on the intensity of magic! How common it is + how epic it is. Harry pottery's got its exciting "magic did something AMAZING" parts, but magic is also a common every-day thing in many of the characters' lives--like any muggle just going about their own day-to-day stuff. I do like how we saw it in different lights though. This is a fun exercise!

Also I second you, Heim, in that I see tech much how Kim listed it.

Especially fascinating that so far 3 people agree on tech but have much varied views of the magic spectrum. When I was writing my own I had also put Harry Potter at a 5, because I was including the muggle half of things.

I think we can reconcile both scales to explain this disagreement, though! The "average" magic we're shown in Harry Potter is middling, and no one but magic folks know that magic exists. The Potterverse does have a few "special" NPCs who can do some fairly mind-bending things, who are probably sitting at a 8-10 on practically anyone's magical scale. But I note that these types of things exist even in Heimdall's magic range 2-4. Even at those low numbers, they acknowledge that there may be super powered (but very rare) NPCs that exist in the setting.

I tend to think of the truly outrageous pieces of Harry Potter as brushes with those super powered NPCs, not "the norm" that the setting and the PCs should expect.

So, yes, if you take ONLY the wizarding world part, I'd agree that it sits fairly high on the scale! It's hard for me to divorce the two parts in my brain, though.

I took the magic scale to be the general prevalence of magic in the setting, rather than the strength of the magical acts that are possible, if that makes any sense! Which are two very different criteria that both work with this scale. That's why I included gods quite low--they are powerful, but not prevalent, and might not even be believed in by the populace. Whereas in the wizarding half of the HP world, the society revolves so heavily around magic that someone going without would have a VERY hard time. You don't use magic for huge sweeping powerful acts--you use it to pass the butter. I wish I could think of a better example than that though, because yeah, I'm definitely ignoring Muggles here!

There we go, I couldn't put my finger on why your scale was quite so differently flavored! That makes sense. I think it's likely used for both a whole lot of the time. Thank goodness people can write explanations of what they mean as well!

Oh! I have an alternative idea for the tech scale. For 0, I would say NO tech at all, as in the RP mostly focuses around feral animals, dinosaurs, or something like that!

I had actually considered this too! That's actually why low magic, 0 tech games in the RP Finder get assigned the wolf icon. They are for sure all big wide ballparks! But then again, even some animals use tools...

Without having read any other answers here (my phone lags like heck on the public forums so it was enough of a pain just to reply), I always found them too vague. They're sliders, but they represent percentages in blocks of ten, which is confusing enough, but if you hadn't listed those examples, I'd never have thought of them on my own. That there are technically two sliders to a line only made it worse.

Are they the outer limits of what we want? Inner, with wiggle room? What does any of it mean? I never really knew, so I generally ignore them when reading others' posts, and just went with what looked possibly, maybe, sort'a okay when I posted.

In short, to answer te question of what they mean to me--not much because there was never a clear delineation of what they meant and how they were supposed to be used. I know that'll all be sorted when the Great Merge happens, so don't think I'm wagging fingers or whinging,

Sliders are by definition pretty vague, but you can map them out: if the 0/10 extremes are "could not be any less/more", 5 has to be "as we know it/what we're used to" and you can fill in the blanks from there. To that end I think Kim's example for Technology is more or less perfect.

For Magic the problemo is the whole "as we know it" is that magic isn't real, but the grading system still works if you get a bit meta and consider instead what 'magic' tends to imply for a story. For me that's Dungeons and Dragons, generic fantasy novels etc; magic is common, but not to the extent that everyday life is any different for the average joe I imagine it's the same for most people. Harry Potter would be higher on the scale because their wizarding world has magical substitutes for everything from angry e-mails to jellybeans, Game of Thrones would be lower because magic's not so accessible and everyone anyways is too busy backstabbing one another to care.

For Combat I interpret the middle of the spectrum as the kind of conflict resolution you see in comic books/primetime, ie. violence levels fit for the mainstream. Violence being avoided = lower, explicit = higher, simple stuff. That said I would consider a story 100% to do with boxing a 5 on the scale just because there's nothing particularly gratuitious or exploitative about medically-supervised athletes punching eachother in a ring. Mortal Kombat, on the other hand...

The two sliders are only present when searching for games -- i.e. they're used to obtain a range of different settings, such as 'anywhere between 30-60%'.

I'm curious, why did you never ask for help/explanations? We'd have been very happy to save you all that trouble and help you figure it out.

Entirely my fault, there. Wasn't used to how, well, not-crappy the place is, so I didn't think about it. Still not used to it, sometimes, so.

Oh, yes, I can see how that would be confusing. There will definitely be more help content on the subject after Monday's update. When you create a game, you have to pick just one place on the slider, but when you search, you get two so you can define a range of things you're interested in.

I think that on the age/period one I'd include the Roman empire somewhere. Maybe Egypt and Greece too, and the 3 would go By Ancient something?

And I guess steampunk would be more of a stylish thing, but who knows~
Also, there is the 'apocalyptic' genre that exists

But mostly I'm in for the ones you listed, they could fit something like 'an era' thing~
Maybe?

I also forgot to mention, I've been using it the way you listed it, Kim!

Oh no, it's not an "age/period" spectrum, it's just meant to represent ballpark levels of technology. You could have a RP that was set Long, Long Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away that still had massive levels of tech!

Ancient Egypt corresponds well enough to 1 - Bronze Age and Rome corresponds well enough to 2 - Iron age. Of course, both were empires that spanned many ages, so you might want something different for your particular setting.

For a complete picture of a genre, you need all 3 sliders. For example, to me, apocalyptic could be modern tech, near future tech, or maybe even mostly iron age tech if a lot has been lost and there isn't anything left lying around. Then I'd crank the combat slider up pretty high, and drop the magic to low, possibly even 0.

For steampunk, I'd probably go Tech: 4, Magic: 3-5 (depending), and Combat: 3-5 (depending)

Well, these are my thoughts on the subject
Magic:
0. Non-existing , unspoken of, zilch
1. Pretty much the same as 0
2. A slight amount, not affecting the main plot at all
3. Getting there. Some exists but not many usecan handle it
4. Not quite common, but getting there
5. Quite common and affects the plot a little bit more, however, not essential
6. Very common with many of those who have mastered it. Slightly more meaningful to the plot
7. Pretty much everyone can use it and now it's a common sight to see buildings and other objects to be built with it
8. Magic is apart of life and greatly essential to the plot
9. Everyone, I repeat, everyone can use magic. It's rare to see someone not use it
10. The plot would fall apart without Magic as it had become essential to the worlds in the Role Play