You See A Big Red Button In Front of You

Imagining DR in real life would be scary.

  • Moon Mages being able to instantaneously connect two points in space would revolutionize the transportation sector, particularly mass transit of goods. Something like ~70-80% of the cost of consumer goods is the development of supply chains, and shipping from cheap centers of labor like China to first-world areas of consumption like the U.S. Globalization and cheaper shipping have already changed the world economy, imagine that like 5-10x what it is currently. What about teleporting to the moon? The huge barrier to space travel is the cost of orbital escape, what if you can just teleport a huge container of supplies up to microgravity, with no need for rockets? We'd colonize the entire solar system within ~50 years. I don't think their scrying abilities would change much, we already have massively effective surveillance via worldwide satellite networks, drones, and internet monitoring, but their ability to change Fate itself is scary to think about.
  • Cleric and Empath appeal is obvious from a healthcare standpoint, life expectancy would be like ~300 years and the rich would basically be immortal. Get run over by a car and die? We can heal that and rezz you. I personally am more interested in the implications of the Clerics. What happens to the world when faith-based resurrection works, and God(s) can be scientifically demonstrated to exist?
  • Traders would basically own the world, they literally use magic to make themselves more charismatic and bring people to their view. It's not much of an exaggeration to say the U.S. government is largely, or entirely, run by special interest collusion and lobbyists representing big business. In a world of magic teleportation and near-literal immortality, this is possibly the scariest thing. Magic brought to real life could open a futuristic world we only dreamed of; Traders could single-handledly turn that future from Star Trek into Blade Runner.
  • The stealth guilds have invisibility, which has staggering military and corporate implications, especially if it somehow dodges alternative methods of detection like radar and infrared. Espionage is the new method of warfare. Why spend billions invading another country when you can dispatch a team of stealth primary guilds to completely wreck their economy from within? I'm not sure how the general stealth skill or stuff like snipe/backstab would translate to real life, DR's stealth system is way too "video game" for me, not in a sense of being unrealistic (everything here is unrealistic), but just in a sense of being game-ified. I don't think it would translate to reality in any coherent way.
  • Bards would revolutionize art, both classic and popular. Projection of voice and popular appeal to a level literally magical... I don't think all your favorite SoundCloud rappers would be able to compete in any way, shape, or form. They would use art to shape popular opinion, perhaps being the counter-culture to Traders. Like, Trump would be a Trader, and Banksy would be a Bard... something like that.
  • I don't think the primary role of Warrior Mages (shock and awe/dps) in DR would translate well to real life, since modern military ordnance like tactical nukes and tomahawk missiles does that just fine. Weather manipulation and minute manipulation of elemental forces like lightning/fire have some amazing scientific implications though. They could be our first responders and first line of defense against natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes. I don't know if they would change day-to-day life much for a first world country, but on a global scale they would absolutely revolutionize our long-term ability to handle things like climate change.
  • Barbarians serve an interesting niche. The world is changed suddenly: politicians use magic, artists use magic, people can use magic to read your mind or sling fireballs at you, what suddenly is the role of those who are largely resistant or immune to all of this? Furthermore, does their supernatural weapon inclination apply to an M16? Their ability to bypass traditional physical limitations would make them the sports stars and super soldiers of the world. I'm suddenly imagining a world where there are 10,000 real-life John Wicks, and that is super effing scary. I think the typical Special Forces unit would be something like three Barbarians, two Thieves/Rangers/Necros, one Cleric and one Moon Mage, and their military effectiveness over modern Armed Forces would be like, the difference between modern Spec Forces and American Revolution spec forces.
  • Like Barbarians, I think Paladins would be good soldiers, maybe a traditional standing army would be mostly Paladins/Barbarians with stealth/magic serving in support roles. I imagine they would heavily resist damage as well as disease. Sadly in DR, unlike in say D&D, a lot of their niche is taken by Clerics. Do Necros mean zombies/undead are coming over too? Then maybe Holy Magic has a lot more practical use.
  • Necros would have a baaaaad time. The societal perversion of their acts, and the ensuing conflict that creates, have been downplayed over time by GMS because they can't commit lots of time to policing player interactions. In real life, they'd be on the same level as child molesters. The minute someone definitely catches you, you're not only locked up (or killed), you're a social pariah the remainder of your days.
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