Possibly. I've been thinking about this sort of thing for future BBI stories. 'Wavium animating corpses and the like. The one that stuck in my mind is that some idiot is going to mix 'wavium into tattoo ink and see what happens. I'm torn between the Tsoo, Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man," and something along the lines of Tetsuo's final form in "Akira" only smaller (i.e., a huge bloody mess).
On the other hand, I think that the idea that belief dictates the power of 'wavium "magic" is a good idea. If enough people believe that you can do magic, then the magic works, more or less. You could have a number of semi-humorous effects, a la the Harold Shea stories, Spellsinger series, or Schmendrick from "The Last Unicorn" (although Schmendrick's incantation of "Magic, do as you will." might not have much effect). However, it does mean that if people believe you to be a charlatan or illusionist, your magic may be easily debunked. Which might be interesting in and of itself. Imagine a 'waved magician who does really interesting things that can all can be explained off as sleight-of-hand and misdirection, but are actually 'waved effects that appear as such. Silly, but a suitable biomod limitation, I think.
Consequently, really good illusionists might convince people to have faith in their abilities. Or, it could backfire because people like Kris Angel and Penn & Teller, despite performing amazing stage magic are known to be illusionists, which might undermine any faith that people have in the magic.
However, here's how I see it developing. Someone 'waves some focus, say a replica wand from Harry Potter, or even one of the original props. He or she believes strongly enough that, for example "Accio " makes something move towards them. Their belief gets stronger, making the effect stronger and making their faith in themselves stronger. Eventually, they get it to work well enough to show someone else. Their faith in the original person's ability and the ability in the wand adds to this, increasing the strength. The more people shown cause increases in the belief, and strengthen the "magic" even more.
Of course, any amount of self-doubt undermines the whole thing. If we do use this idea, I would suggest that the person's self-esteem and faith in self become the lynchpin. If you don't think you can do it, it doesn't work, no matter how many people believe you can. Fear of failure, injury, and doubts limit your strength. It doesn't matter how many people think you can fly; if you're afraid of heights, you'll never get that broom or carpet off the ground.
I'm not sure we want to open this can of worms. Maybe the Hogwart's faction is experimenting with this, but can't get reproducable results. Maybe James Randi visits someone claiming to be able to use 'wavium to make a broom fly, and they can't do it around him because of the weight of his skepticism. I'm open to it, but in the Pulper/BBI idea, magic should be mysterious and murky, rather than quantifiable. I think that we should keep it that way, at least for the first generation of Fenspace. If it exists, it's not something that is terribly reliable or empirical, but rather something that some people can do, some of the time.
Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
On the other hand, I think that the idea that belief dictates the power of 'wavium "magic" is a good idea. If enough people believe that you can do magic, then the magic works, more or less. You could have a number of semi-humorous effects, a la the Harold Shea stories, Spellsinger series, or Schmendrick from "The Last Unicorn" (although Schmendrick's incantation of "Magic, do as you will." might not have much effect). However, it does mean that if people believe you to be a charlatan or illusionist, your magic may be easily debunked. Which might be interesting in and of itself. Imagine a 'waved magician who does really interesting things that can all can be explained off as sleight-of-hand and misdirection, but are actually 'waved effects that appear as such. Silly, but a suitable biomod limitation, I think.
Consequently, really good illusionists might convince people to have faith in their abilities. Or, it could backfire because people like Kris Angel and Penn & Teller, despite performing amazing stage magic are known to be illusionists, which might undermine any faith that people have in the magic.
However, here's how I see it developing. Someone 'waves some focus, say a replica wand from Harry Potter, or even one of the original props. He or she believes strongly enough that, for example "Accio " makes something move towards them. Their belief gets stronger, making the effect stronger and making their faith in themselves stronger. Eventually, they get it to work well enough to show someone else. Their faith in the original person's ability and the ability in the wand adds to this, increasing the strength. The more people shown cause increases in the belief, and strengthen the "magic" even more.
Of course, any amount of self-doubt undermines the whole thing. If we do use this idea, I would suggest that the person's self-esteem and faith in self become the lynchpin. If you don't think you can do it, it doesn't work, no matter how many people believe you can. Fear of failure, injury, and doubts limit your strength. It doesn't matter how many people think you can fly; if you're afraid of heights, you'll never get that broom or carpet off the ground.
I'm not sure we want to open this can of worms. Maybe the Hogwart's faction is experimenting with this, but can't get reproducable results. Maybe James Randi visits someone claiming to be able to use 'wavium to make a broom fly, and they can't do it around him because of the weight of his skepticism. I'm open to it, but in the Pulper/BBI idea, magic should be mysterious and murky, rather than quantifiable. I think that we should keep it that way, at least for the first generation of Fenspace. If it exists, it's not something that is terribly reliable or empirical, but rather something that some people can do, some of the time.
Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."