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Doomboy911
2012-10-27, 05:09 PM
So I'm working on a Dresden files character who's a practitioner who deals in electricity our gm mentioned me having three spells since I'm in the minor leagues right now. He told me to keep it general so I could do more which I'm all game for. The first was in moving around electricity which I can think of plenty for, the other is in controlling magnetic fields and the third one I figured I could use radio waves to stick with my whole electricity theme. Problem is I can't think of anything to do with radio waves outside of maybe popping popcorn so any ideas folks on what to do with it or something that sticks within my theme?

Glimbur
2012-10-27, 05:50 PM
Note: I haven't actually played or even read this system, though I have read the books.

Radio waves would suggest communication with people that have radios, but magic and tech don't get along very well. You might be able to talk the GM into letting you use them to see in the dark.

NichG
2012-10-27, 06:27 PM
For radio waves, you might be able to do a very low-resolution see-through-walls trick. Sort of like 'is there a space at least 5ft in size on the other side of this wall?', rather than 'where is the soup spoon?' scale. The shorter wavelength you convince him to let you have, the better this sight would be (up until it has problems getting through material).

Deophaun
2012-10-27, 08:01 PM
You could get in contact with Rubber Duck and get yourself a convoy.

And if you go small, you can get an RC convoy going.

Hylas
2012-10-27, 08:17 PM
The difference between radio waves, microwaves, visible light, and gamma radiation is wavelength. What's the limit on your powers?

Ravenica
2012-10-27, 08:33 PM
without knowing anything about the system I could point out uses for radio waves but thats about it. Radar is specifically out of the radio range of frequencies however. (radar is generally 1300-1600 mhz, Radio is 500 khz-900 mhz)

Radio is a LARGE section of the em spectrum so I will start at the most common

interrupt wireless/cell devices, intercept wireless/cellphone signals, power small devices (DC low-powered only, but that's a lot) Create noise via existing radio receivers (static or coherent) Flicker lights and other powered devices, AC or DC(no serious damage or interruption but hey, the lights flickered) adjust images recieved by tv's or any wireless image transmission (cctv that's wireless between the camera and viewing/transmission point is a LOT more common now so you could fool most security cams) Control remote devices that use rf frequencies (can't turn off tv's or change the channel sorry, thats all infrared :smalltongue:)

depending on the level of control you get you could view, interrupt, listen to, or alter any signal sent wirelessly. Depending on your distance of control you could easily be the perfect spy. Depending on your range of control (how much of the spectrum) it may limit you from some of these options.

Grod_The_Giant
2012-10-28, 12:05 PM
Ravenica's got some great uses, but the problem comes with the Dresden Files magic-tech interactions. Aside from magic radar, most of the radio-wave stuff will deal with technology... which doesn't get along with magic...

The Glyphstone
2012-10-28, 12:32 PM
Ravenica's got some great uses, but the problem comes with the Dresden Files magic-tech interactions. Aside from magic radar, most of the radio-wave stuff will deal with technology... which doesn't get along with magic...

Though depending on how much your GM is willing to explore the murky boundaries of canon, this could be an exception to the rule - a narrowly focused 'technomancer' who's specialized his power to where he can function with and around technology to a limited degree. We know Harry can suppress his 'anti-tech' field with effort and he's a forces mage inherently in tune with destruction, so someone with an actual affinity for technology isn't out of the question. I can see it being milked for all sorts of plot, in fact - older and more experienced mages would absolutely want to know how they do it, if it can be imitated, and Dark mages wouldn't be picky about how they went about learning.

Ravenica
2012-10-28, 12:37 PM
most of those uses wouldn't have to interact with the tech itself as you are merely affecting the waves in transit. So knock off the powering small devices bit, but scrambling and light flickering seems consistent with not meshing well heh.

Doomboy911
2012-10-28, 03:00 PM
Hmm they did state in one of the books that Harry can control his anti-tech field by better understanding how the technology works. My character has an affinity for electricity (carrying around a book on engineering along with a couple of degrees in the field. ) so it stands to reason that he could deal with most technology, a ham radio is easy for him to interrupt but an iphone is like trying to solve a rubik's cube that explodes every couple of seconds. Perhaps expand things from dealing with radio waves to doing the whole electromagnetic field.

Xefas
2012-10-28, 03:54 PM
Re: Magic and Tech not working out together.

You could use this for some really long range Hexing, I imagine. For Harry to intentionally Hex something, he has to be relatively close, and focus on it. You might be able to use your electricity powers to broadcast a tech-hexing magical radio wave in a big area. Just a thought.

Alternatively, Harry does mention once that the form Hexing takes has changed throughout history. Back in the dark ages, magic didn't Hex technology. Because, well, there wasn't a lot of technology back then to begin with. Rather, the Hex manifested in things like scaring animals, wilting plants, snuffing out fires, omen weather, and so on.

Why? Well, Magic is belief, and belief effects Magic. Look at page 253 of the core book. It mentions that, while mages like Harry, who learn more European traditions of magic, work with the Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit elements, a mage from China is likely going to work with Metal, Water, Wood, Earth, Fire, and Spirit. Their concepts of magic are different, and that directly effects what they are capable of doing with it.

It's possible that, a young person, born in the modern era, with a life focused heavily on technology, whose mind has never been constrained by the classical traditions of magic, might develop their magic with a non-standard (non-technology destroying) Hex involved.

edit: Granted, if you were trained by someone on the White Council, they would probably enforce their old traditions on you hard enough that your magic would end up conforming to theirs anyway, but still...

Sith_Happens
2012-10-28, 04:30 PM
You could use this for some really long range Hexing, I imagine. For Harry to intentionally Hex something, he has to be relatively close, and focus on it. You might be able to use your electricity powers to broadcast a tech-hexing magical radio wave in a big area. Just a thought.

Beat me to it. Basically, if you can magically control radio waves, and this is a setting/system in which magic and tech don't play nice with each other, then you now have an easy method to freak out a large variety of devices at very long range.

Doomboy911
2012-10-28, 10:40 PM
Hmm perhaps we're going about things the wrong way. We're thinking of hexing but say we try hacking instead. Phone sends out a signal crucial information goes about and than they hear on both ends "thanks guys a bit fast but I managed to write it all down." Than both of their ends click.

supermonkeyjoe
2012-10-29, 07:27 AM
I can see the argument for not allowing actual interaction with tech but I don't see why you couldn't blast out enough radio interference to knock out some technological devices. Maybe even pick up on radio signals that are being transmitted, think of it less like interacting with the devices, more interacting with what the devices produce.

Gravitron5000
2012-10-29, 09:02 AM
without knowing anything about the system I could point out uses for radio waves but thats about it. Radar is specifically out of the radio range of frequencies however. (radar is generally 1300-1600 mhz, Radio is 500 khz-900 mhz)

RADAR stands for RAdio Detection And Ranging. The ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum are separate because otherwise the signals transmitted for different purposes would interfere, and you would not be able to get the information you were hoping for. Both purposes are still using electromagnetic radiation. For radar, higher frequencies wave a lower wavelength, and so can be used resolve smaller details. If you want an idea for all the things your character could interfere with, here is a chart of the frequency allocation for the USA. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/United_States_Frequency_Allocations_Chart_2011_-_The_Radio_Spectrum.pdf)

Ravenica
2012-10-29, 09:57 AM
RADAR stands for RAdio Detection And Ranging. The ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum are separate because otherwise the signals transmitted for different purposes would interfere, and you would not be able to get the information you were hoping for. Both purposes are still using electromagnetic radiation. For radar, higher frequencies wave a lower wavelength, and so can be used resolve smaller details. If you want an idea for all the things your character could interfere with, here is a chart of the frequency allocation for the USA. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/United_States_Frequency_Allocations_Chart_2011_-_The_Radio_Spectrum.pdf)

Pedantic at best. One nations labelling (in a single language) does not define the spectrum as a whole.

Kornaki
2012-10-29, 10:03 AM
without knowing anything about the system I could point out uses for radio waves but thats about it. Radar is specifically out of the radio range of frequencies however. (radar is generally 1300-1600 mhz, Radio is 500 khz-900 mhz)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_waves


Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz,

Radio as in frequencies used in radios in the US is not the same as radio waves.

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-10-29, 10:09 AM
Re: Magic and Tech not working out together.

You could use this for some really long range Hexing, I imagine. For Harry to intentionally Hex something, he has to be relatively close, and focus on it. You might be able to use your electricity powers to broadcast a tech-hexing magical radio wave
Shiro'd.

(The hacking scenario is interesting, too.)

Ravenica
2012-10-29, 10:25 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_waves



Radio as in frequencies used in radios in the US is not the same as radio waves.
How many systems use such a general definition as intended. Assuming general usage understanding, I stand by my post.

The Glyphstone
2012-10-29, 10:44 AM
It's possible that, a young person, born in the modern era, with a life focused heavily on technology, whose mind has never been constrained by the classical traditions of magic, might develop their magic with a non-standard (non-technology destroying) Hex involved.
..

And would they use verbalized command-line computer code as their incantations? Or be literally fluent in Java?


I'd be funny to see Harry meet this character just for the BSOD he'd go through.

Wyntonian
2012-10-29, 11:12 AM
And would they use verbalized command-line computer code as their incantations? Or be literally fluent in Java?


I'd be funny to see Harry meet this character just for the BSOD he'd go through.

I predict a massive, deadpan and utterly precise "What."

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-10-29, 11:36 AM
And would they use verbalized command-line computer code as their incantations? Or be literally fluent in Java?

Remember, Harry uses quasi-language for his incantations, so as to keep a safety buffer of meaning between him and the magic.

So said hacker wizard would probably use a made-up computer language to incant.

The Glyphstone
2012-10-29, 11:45 AM
Remember, Harry uses quasi-language for his incantations, so as to keep a safety buffer of meaning between him and the magic.

So said hacker wizard would probably use a made-up computer language to incant.

So they'd speak Hollywood Hacking then?:smallcool:

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-10-29, 11:50 AM
So they'd speak Hollywood Hacking then?:smallcool:
Oh my goodness YES. They totally would. With healthy doses of technobabble to boot.

Sith_Happens
2012-10-29, 12:45 PM
So they'd speak Hollywood Hacking then?:smallcool:

HACK THE PLANEEEEEEET!!!

kardar233
2012-10-29, 05:04 PM
So they'd speak Hollywood Hacking then?:smallcool:

Or Gibson-esque Matrix imagery.

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-10-29, 05:21 PM
....TOPHER WIZARD.

"Zap-around squiggles...go!"

Wyntonian
2012-10-29, 05:56 PM
"Quick, I need to slide in some ICE codes to mix their security bleepers! Try to pwn their server port while I jimmy the network key!"

TuggyNE
2012-10-29, 06:23 PM
"Quick, I need to slide in some ICE codes to mix their security bleepers! Try to pwn their server port while I jimmy the network key!"

The pain, the horrible horrible pain!

The Glyphstone
2012-10-29, 06:40 PM
Stunning spell. Verbal component: "Beesod".

Wyntonian
2012-10-29, 07:21 PM
"Sudo drop your weapon"

Doomboy911
2012-10-29, 08:34 PM
Perhaps the incantations for more difficult spells would be spoken in binary.

01010100 01110010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01110000 01101000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101

First one to decode would be grand.

TuggyNE
2012-10-29, 09:26 PM
Perhaps the incantations for more difficult spells would be spoken in binary.

01010100 01110010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01110000 01101000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101

First one to decode would be grand.

Literally, Tracj phone pkease, though I suspect you meant Track phone please.

However. Hex is the number system of the future, not binary. :smalltongue:

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-10-30, 09:10 AM
Now I wanna play in DFRPG just to pitch this concept...

Eldan
2012-10-30, 10:38 AM
"Sir, they are hacking the internet!" - "The Internet?!" - "Yes! All of it!"

Instead of a staff and rod, would he have a keyboard and USB cable? And instead of gestures, he'd type really fast.

Kitten Champion
2012-10-30, 10:40 AM
Perhaps, and I don't think there's anything specific in the canon to support this, you could do something on a wavelength that can interfere with or speak with ghosts. Putting a small foot in the echtomancy door.

Ya'know, the paranormal trope about electromagnetic phantoms which appear on recorded images or can be heard in a radio's deep static.

Wyntonian
2012-10-30, 10:42 AM
Now I wanna play in DFRPG just to pitch this concept...

Start a game. I'm in. I have three character ideas ready, too!

Eldan
2012-10-30, 10:44 AM
Somehow, I think it would just end up as a slightly more comedic Shadowrun.

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-10-30, 10:51 AM
Start a game. I'm in. I have three character ideas ready, too!
Well, see, I have neither the books nor the wherewithall to start a PBP game (or to run a game, really).

Gravitron5000
2012-10-30, 12:02 PM
Pedantic at best. One nations labelling (in a single language) does not define the spectrum as a whole.

I'm an engineer. Pedantry is in my blood :smallbiggrin:. The table was not addressing your post. Looking at what the op asking looking for, I thought that a list of possible uses for the electromagnetic spectrum was along the lines of what Doomboy911 what might be looking for, or at least of interest. Also, the fact that the table is for the USA specifically does not matter. Most countries have a similar allocation scheme, and even if there are large differences, the different ways in which the spectrum is used was more what I was hoping to convey.


How many systems use such a general definition as intended. Assuming general usage understanding, I stand by my post.

Since Doombooy911 was asking for other uses for his electrical manipulation abilities, and brought up magnetism specifically, I figured that limiting the discussion to what is commonly referred to as radio did not capture the range of possibilities that are available. Also ... RAdio Detection And Ranging.

The rest of what you stated in the original post was good, but ... apparently I am a bit of a pedant :smallbiggrin:.