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View Full Version : How do you make items seem magical and supernatural?



Accelerator
2019-11-28, 10:34 AM
Setting is an urban fantasy with Sci fi elements. Girl from mundane normal earth walks into another dimension, with a bizarre bazaar going on. The dimensions got sci fi stuff like anti grav and holograms, while combined with ubiquitous magic. Like things from the fae. Cloth spin of sunlight and glory. Hair clips that conceptually emphasise your beauty. Magic potions. Not like other fantasy with its flying brooms, but not quite like those stuff where you have phones that can cast spells.

How do I make the things she buys there look magical? Like, say, someone can look at it, and know that it's supernatural or somehow different.

Squire Doodad
2019-11-29, 11:40 PM
Hm, some standard ways to describe them...

"It shimmers with an otherworldly glow"

"It's rainbow. Like, rainbow."

"You can't seem to get your eyes to stay on any one part of it"

"The blade pulses with an untold energy. You feel like you could cleave through flesh, bone and soul with this."

"For a split second after picking it up, you hear what sound like faint whispers, [as if there was a tutor speaking to his student (if good)/an irate madman complaining to his jailer (if bad)]"

"It feels light as a [fantasy/medieval associated object, like fairy wings or a rose petal]!"

"This is crackling with electricity, but you can't find the power source. Or wires, for that matter." (emphasizes that it's not being run by traditional means.)

"You feel like something is watching you." [person tries to do a check] "...the feeling seems to be coming from the clock you picked up."

Anything that involves someone's eyes or body briefly flashing/changing color. Furthermore, having "unusual markings" on it or some sort of "aura" or "ethereal feel" tends to suggest supernatural aspects.