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Line 3: {{quote\|'''Judge:''' You're a fool! No weapon forged can harm me! '''Buffy:''' That was then... ''[[Muggles Do It Better\|(raises a rocket launcher)]]'' This is now.~~<br />~~ (Dru and Angel duck for cover.)~~<br />~~ '''Judge:''' [[Famous Last Words\|What's that do?]]~~\|''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''}}~~ \|''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''}} Most fantasy is based on folklore, but what if you want to be really creative (or rip off someone who was really creative) and [[Urban Fantasy\|set your fantasy in the modern age?]] When you do this, you are forced to update some of the trappings of your fantasy. Line 11 ⟶ 12: If vampires can't safely go out in daylight, does sunscreen help them? What about just shining a flashlight at them with a UV bulb? And what about the UV ray from ''moonlight''? Given that Christianity was regarded as the one true faith in medieval Europe, it made sense that only crosses would affect them, [[Values Dissonance\|but in a different region and time]], [[Fridge Logic\|how well would that weakness carry over?]] Would a cross work on a [[Chinese Vampire\|Taoist vampire]]? What could you use on a Muslim vampire when Islam is against the use of symbols for its faith? Is it the faith of the wielder that matters? Can a Jew fend off vampires with a Star of David? This is [['''Post-Modern Magik]]'''. It's what you get when you decide that magic shotguns make as much sense as magic swords, and vampires that don't show up in mirrors also don't show up on camera. Even if a series tries to avoid modern day entirely, [[Powers as Programs\|the tendency for magic to act like computer programs]] has bled into the "pure" magical genre. Line 17 ⟶ 18: Can be common in [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]], where you have robots and fairies both running around. However, many of those authors try to separate the sci-fi and fantasy elements; the most common way around this is to make a [[Magic A Is Magic A\|rule]] that [[Magic Versus Science\|magic gives off an anti-technology field]] (or vice-versa) so that at any one place only magic or technology works. Note that this is not [[Magitek]]. Magitek is the use of magic to recreate modern inventions, like a camera which is really just [[Discworld\|a box with an Imp inside drawing really fast]], or an "Internet" made from magic mirrors and living books. [['''Post-Modern Magik]]''' is when cameras work as normal, but aren't able to take pictures of vampires due to the use of mirrors,<ref>If the writer knew a bit more about camera technology, vampires might show up on digital cameras and film, but not the viewfinder of a film camera</ref>, and demons are real, but can be beaten up by [[Ultimate Marvel\|mutants]] or be fooled by [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer\|realistic androids]]. Common in [[Urban Fantasy]] settings, and often seen where [[Our Monsters Are Different]] (especially [[Our Vampires Are Different\|vampires]]). Now to figure out where this fits in [[Harmony Versus Discipline]]. Line 24 ⟶ 25: {{examples}} == [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] == * ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has this in spades, involving things like robots using magic, a massive hacking battle between a robot and a magical girl, the (mage) protagonist using a cell phone, a magic internet that's somehow compatible with the mundane internet, guns that fire magic bullets, etc. Line 31: ** Pencil and Paper? Drawing in the dirt with a stick? Hand signs? * ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' has Gilgamesh in an ancient Babylonian spaceship [[High Altitude Battle\|dogfighting]] {{spoiler\|Lancelot}} in a magically enhanced F-15, and King Arthur riding a motorcycle {{spoiler\|to battle Alexander the Great in his divine chariot.}} [[Rule of Cool\|Yeah, it's that kind of story.]] * Possibly Devil Fruit in ''[[One Piece]]'', which were originally believed to have been extensions of the Sea Devil. While most examples of them confer "natural", body altering, or elemental-style powers on the recipient, some seem to rely on human achievement and man-made technology. For instance, Baby-5's ''Buki Buki no Mi'' lets her change into ''any'' weapon, including modern ones like guns and missiles, while Sugar's ''Hobi Hobi no Mi'' turns anyone she touches into [[Living Toy]]s. One of the weirdest in this regard is Capone Bege's ''Shiro Shiro no Mi'', which turns him into a living fortress, complete with cannons. Either the Sea Devil keeps informed about modern civilization or Devil Fruit has some stranger origin altogether. == [[Comic Books]] == Line 39: ** It should be noted the vampire in question was {{spoiler\|the ''hero'' of the piece}}, and that the cyborg survived (just barely) fighting a monster that took a time- and space-manipulating, centuries-old spirit to destroy. * At a time when he was free of the [[Ghost Rider]], Johnny Blaze carried a shotgun loaded with hellfire. Similar weapons were also owned by the Caretaker and Vengeance. This showed up again in [[The Movie]]. Honestly, the character's ''core concept'' ~~-- a~~—a blazing demonic ''motorcycle rider'' ~~-- is~~—is a textbook example of this trope. His kindred spirits Daimon Hellstrom and Jaine Cutter have both been in possession of a "breathing gun", an enchanted living gun that makes its own living bullets and is especially adept at killing demons. * In the first issue [[Doctor Strange]] miniseries, ''The Oath'', Doc is seriously wounded by a shot from ''the pistol [[Adolf Hitler]] used to commit suicide''. The shooter wasn't a sorcerer, but figured that a weapon with that kind of history would have enough Bad Mojo around it to blow right through Doc's protective spells. ** Only ''slightly'' messed up by the fact that Marvel Hitler didn't commit suicide - he got burned to death by the (robot) Human Torch. Then came back as a supervillain clone. . * ''Phonogram'', in which magic is intricately bound up with pop music. * The Rock Zombies arc of [[Runaways]] did something similar - a spell was recorded and hidden in a song, then broadcast on a popular radio station, turning a decent portion of L.A. in to [[Body Horror~~\|Body Horrors~~]]s * [[Trese]], a Filipino comic, features the titular character using variations of existing beliefs and supernatural traditions. Examples include trying to bribe a local goblin with imported chocolate instead of the local cheap kind, and using a watch in freezing a suspect in time. One memorable incident involved binding a God of War into eternal combat by making him a high level raid boss in an MMORPG. Line 66: At the end of ''Dead Beat'': {{spoiler\|[[Raising the Steaks\|Reviving]] [[Tyrannosaurus Rex\|a T-rex]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome\|from a skeleton at a natural history museum.]]}} Using a powder made from depleted uranium to bind ghosts to the earth (depleted uranium standing for weight in the sympathetic magic). Dewdrop fairies can still be bribed with milk and ~~honey -- but~~honey—but they'll do ''anything'' for pizza. Garlic powder is just as effective against [[Our Vampires Are Different\|vampires]] as the cloves are. ** Harry once defeated a vampire using holy water balloons. Line 86: * [[China Mieville]] ''loves'' this trope. His recent novel ''Kraken'' has several examples, such as a prop phaser from Star Trek that's been enchanted so that it actually works. ''[[Perdido Street Station]]'', in spades. Among other things, blood sacrifices have been replaced with electrostatic generators. The Pied Piper in ''[[Literature/King Rat\|King Rat]]'' overcomes his chief ~~weakness -- the~~weakness—the inability to musically control more than one type of creature at a ~~time -- by~~time—by mind-controlling a DJ and having her record mix tracks of his performances. * The point of [[Charles Stross]]' [[The Laundry Series]]. All magic is based around very complicated mathematics. This made it very hard to do... until Turing invented the computer. ** "The [[Medusa]] Effect" (also found in basilisks and cockatrices) is caused by a tumor in humans, and "makes about 1 percent of the carbon nuclei in the target body automagically turn into silicon with no apparent net energy input", and is both a particle and a wave. [[Paranoia Fuel\|And can be deployed from any Internet-connected CCTV camera in Great Britain]]. And a good deal of modern cell phone cameras and video cameras. Line 112: * Turns up from time to time in [[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories, as when Robert Bloch's "The Sorcerer's Jewel" shows what happens when a crystal once used by mystics for fortune-telling is ground into a camera lens, and photos are taken through it. * [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Elemental Masters]]'' have elements of this. For example the lead of ''The Serpent's Shadow'', Dr. Maya Witherspoon, used her largely untrained healing perceptions to help determine the effectiveness of new medical concepts like electrical stimulation and antiseptic surgery; in addition to using her knowledge of anatomy and the actual progression of tuberculosis to efficiently cure it via magic. * ''[[A Certain Magical Index]]'' has many combinations of science and magic. It's noted that magic doesn't have to use traditional materials, as modern-day objects will work if they have the same shape. One example is a magician who mass-produces rune cards using a printer, and laminates them for waterproofing. Another is {{spoiler\|the entirety of Academy City, which functions as a temple for a magic ritual.}} Line 145 ⟶ 146: Urban Arcana IS Post Modern Magik. You can send spells by e-mail. There are magic paint jobs for cars. The book is a source of plenty of amusement from the sheer incongruity of magic and technology. You can shoot [[Healing Shiv\|Bullets of Cure Light Wounds]]. There is a spell that makes Traffic lights go green for you and make taxis arrive in 1 round (among other things). * ''[[Unknown Armies]]'' plays the whole Post Modern Magik thing to the hilt (it even has a source book by that name). In the game, magick doesn't arise out of a certain religion or belief ~~system -- rather~~system—rather, it arises out of doing something that ''shouldn't'' work and ''making'' it work, usually with extremely risky results. Certain magical schools include: Epideromancy, the ability to control flesh by wounding yourself; Videomancy, the ability to rewrite reality by obsessively watching television programs; Entropomancy, the ability to manipulate probability by doing [[Jackass\|Jackass-level]] things; Dipsomancy, one of the more versatile schools of magick, powered by alcoholism; and Pornomancy, the ability to control people and their emotions by performing ritual sex acts copied from a magical porno tape. ** ''Unknown Armies'' takes the notion of Post Modern Magik a step further than ~~this -- instead~~this—instead of just finding small, modern innovations in archaic magic, the game makes a point of stating that what is considered to be "traditional" magic is obsolete. Magic-users who practice antiquated forms of occultism are shown to have fairly minor abilities when compared to what the postmodern magicians can bring to bear... until they manage to dig up the right ritual. * This is pretty much the entire concept of ''[[GURPS]] Technomancer'', hence the name. Examples include television sets being used as [[Crystal Ball~~\|Crystal Balls~~]]s, plastic golems, magical production lines, spells that do everything from deleting commercials on TV to making someone get a busy signal every time he calls you and even smart bombs driven by the pilot possessing a rat in the bomb with a little joystick! The only reason why magic exists in the setting is due to a scientist working on the Trinity nuclear tests unwittingly closing a necromatic ritual by saying "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" which then turned the mushroom cloud into the "Hellstorm" - an everlasting tornado that spews mana into the world. Russia also detonates their own bomb over Antarctica, leading to a second, large hellstorm (now blanketing the entire world in mana) which causes the local penguins to become sapient magic users with a hive mind, their own technology and the ability to transform humans into hive-mind penguins. Line 153 ⟶ 154: * In ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'', the Virtual Adepts and Sons of Ether (computer geeks and mad scientists, respectively) are known for technomagic, as is the Technocracy (though they'd laugh derisively and/or do unpleasant things to you if you called their "science" magic). [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse\|Elsewhere]] in the [[Old World of Darkness]], the Glass Walkers tribe of werewolves, urban-oriented tribe that they are, also deal extensively with technology spirits. * Pretty much the entire [[New World of Darkness\|NWoD]] operates like this. [[Werewolf: The Forsaken\|Werewolves]] (and mages) can have dealings with technology-spirits. ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'' has the Cheiron Group, whose MO is to butcher supernatural creatures and [[Body Horror\|stitch the remains to their operatives]]. ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters\|Geist]]'' has Mementos, supernatural artifacts charged with the power of death, which can be literally anything, from an animal's skull or Vlad Tepes' sword, to a '68 WV Beetle or the jacket Elvis died in. [[Mage: The Awakening\|In Mage: the Awakening]], the Free Council are the [[Spiritual Successor~~\|Spiritual Successors~~]]s to the Adepts. Incidentally, in the fan-made ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'', this means that the Free Council are the few mages that can get along with [[Mad Scientist\|Geniuses]], and perform hasty swaps whenever one is mistaken for the other. In ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', vampire show blurred faces in mirrors, as well as on photographs and any kind of camera unless they make an effort of will to be seen clearly. One sourcebook has an in-character essay from a vampire who says that the [[Masquerade]] will likely be broken any day now, as camera phones are fucking ''everywhere''. * Nearly any ''[[Munchkin (game)\|Munchkin]]'' game, no matter what the setting is, will include anachronistic weaponry. Such as a [[BFG]] in ''Munchkin Cthulhu'', or the ever-popular Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment in the original ''Munchkin''. Line 165 ⟶ 166: * In ''[[Game/Fetch Quest\|Fetch Quest]]'', Solomon had to collect the four mystic shotguns to activate a powerful EMP bomb. * In ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'', [[The Dragon\|Pious]] normally uses magic but {{spoiler\|is quite willing to use a pistol to try and take out Lindsey}}. One of the most prominent spells is enchanting weapons, which works on guns. Towards the end of the game, {{spoiler\|Michael destroys the Forbidden City using enchanted C4.}} * ''[[Touhou Project]]'' has plenty of this, thanks to being about magical beings hiding from the modern world, but still capable of stealing modern tech. ''Subterranean Animism'' takes the cake, however, as the plot involved [[Physical God~~\|Physical Godesses~~]]esses feeding a dead sun god to a hell raven to create a [[I Love Nuclear Power\|Nuclear-Powered Hell Raven]] with the power of Nuclear Fusion, so as to let their worshippers jump from [[Bamboo Technology]] to Hatate being introduced a year later as an ancient [[Youkai]] whose superpower related to her cellphone camera. ** ''Undefined Fantastic Object'' begins with the characters thinking that the sudden appearance of [[Flying Saucer\|UFOs]] is connected to the [[wikipedia:Seven Lucky Gods\|Seven Gods of Fortune]]. The truth is actually far stranger: they were created by the [[wikipedia:Nue\|Nue]]. * ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' has plenty of this, with Dante shooting enchanted bullets, shotgun blasts and grenades as readily as he swings an enchanted sword. * Most of the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games have the main character using a specially-programmed personal computer to communicate with and summon [[Mons\|demons]]. The ''[[Devil Survivor]]'' version explicitly notes that it is preforming the various "traditional" rituals on its own. * ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' is set in a classic [[Medieval European Fantasy]] world, but also features a physics simulation that is realistic in most non-magical respects. This causes side effects that put it firmly in [[Post-Modern Magik]]. Magical diseases follow the same contagion rules as mundane ones, making it possible for a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] to infect your fort even when nobody's been bitten, if somedwarf wears a tainted tunic. Anything that came from an animal can be reanimated by a necromancer, including e.g. the empty pelt. This is an [[Ascended Glitch]]. Line 177 ⟶ 178: == [[Web Comics]] == * ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' normally keeps magic and technology separate, even though two of the science teachers are practicing magicians. They probably want to avoid incidents like the one with the shadow-possessed robot. Recent revelations show this ''definitely'' hasn't always been the case- there's a large room full of functional "robots" with no moving or electrical parts, yet which ~~rely~~have onsockets ~~socketed~~for microchips (from what we see later, probably added by the golems themselves, back when they were active and [[Recursive Creators\|built the next "generations"]]). And now it doesn't, since magic is being used ''as'' a branch of technology, connected to computers. Also, robots turned out to have a strange secondary function, as components of magical defenses. ** On the amusing side, Jenny uses lipstick for [[Geometric Magic\|magical diagrams]]. Some of which is activated by "playing hopscotch" on them. And another was used as a guidance system slapped on a small drone. * ''[[Dragon Tails]]'' goes along a similar line of reasoning as [[Buffy]] vs. the Judge. A malevolent legendary creature's only documented weakness involves mirrors and moonlight, but it turns out to have an undocumented weakness to rocket launchers. ** Also, a Gorgon's stare doesn't work if you look at it through a sniper scope and a stinger missle can take out a phoenix before it does the whole "ashes" thing. Line 186 ⟶ 188: '''Demon Cockroach:''' He besieged me with science! }} * Happens frequently in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': When they [https://web.archive.org/web/20030613151043/http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980920 raid a vampire's lair], the characters bring along a [[Gatling Good\|gatling gun]] that fires wooden stakes, a switchblade they silver-plated, and a whoopie cushion filled with holy water. Demons who [[Demonic Invaders\|invade another dimension]] sell the human souls they capture in [https://web.archive.org/web/20160604014112/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=041005 supermarkets], and, after some hassle figuring out how they work, use [https://web.archive.org/web/20160130123224/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040613 cellphones] to coordinate their battle plans. [[Cute Witch]] Gwynn [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080121 creates a magical golem] out of the various pieces of clutter around the apartment, named "Clutter Monster." The Orsintos research center, though shrouded in mystery, seems to have been a government program designed to "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140929092805/http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=061022 weaponize ghosts]," at least one of which communicates with the heroes via cellphone. Three Words: [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=990321 Mecha Easter Bunny]. And, of course, the [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970825 very first strip]: Line 196 ⟶ 198: '''Riff:''' Yes! Spam Satan! }} * ''[[Xkcd]]'': ''Time passes differently in [[The Chronicles of Narnia\|Narnia]], [http://xkcd.com/821/ so by putting the CPU and storage for my machine there, I was able to run through the Folding@Home and SETI@Home databases in about an hour.]" == [[Web Original]] == * In the novel ''[[John Dies at the End]]'', two college dropouts become freelance [[Action Hero~~\|Action Heroes~~]]es after a run-in with a supernatural drug lets them see the paranormal. Their fight against unholy horrors includes the use of traditional weapons like crucifixes and holy water, along with modern innovations like [http://www.testamints.net/ Testamints] and, in a pinch, a Bible bound to a baseball bat with electrical tape. * Done a lot in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Demons and devils exist, but a tough enough mutant can fight them. The mutant Ecto-Tek hawks devises which can stop or even kill Weres, but are harmless to humans. Carmilla and Fey have specifically talked about devisers and whether that counts as modern magic. ** And in "Christmas Elves", when Hekate wants to make sure that Fey cannot escape, she has the requisite magic circle ''welded'' into the (metal) floor of the base she's using. Line 224 ⟶ 225: '''Previously crippled Iron Man stands up surrounded by electricity.''' '''Jarvis:''' Armor energy reserves at 214%. }} * ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' often deals with [[Post-Modern Magik]] while trying to figure out how to defeat a supernatural enemy, whether it's by tricking the Headless Horseman into crossing running water through holography or jury-rigging solar-frequency lasers to fight off vampires. Some of the mythological figures have also taken on more relevant forms for the modern age: the Headless Horseman now looks like a headless motorcyclist, the Sumerian god Marduk appears as an ordinary New Yorker (though photographs can [[Glamour Failure\|reveal his true form]]) and a famous pop singer turns out to be a genocidal banshee. ** One episode reveals that the Eiffel Tower is a primitive Magitek containment unit. {{reflist}} [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] [[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]] [[Category:Magic and Powers]] [[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]] [[Category:~~Post-Modern~~Technology ~~Magik~~Tropes]]