Gregory's Server
I have been wondering about Brian Moriarty's adventure game Loom (1990) because its conception of magic is somewhat unusual:
1) Magic stems from crafts such as weaving and glassmaking.
2) Magic spells can be found by observing natural phenomena.
Both of these elements are rare in modern fantasy; I'm unable to find any other examples besides Loom itself. However they can be found in folk beliefs (e.g. in the Finnic tradition, sorcery and blacksmithry can be equated, and magical words can be found in nature). I therefore assumed Moriarty may have studied some anthropology.
But no. In a "classic game postmortem" presentation about Loom, Moriarty tells a story of divine inspiration instead: when leafing thru a computer magazine, he noticed an expansion board that was called a "loom", and the entire world with is guilds and magic suddenly came to his mind in a flash.
This made me even more curious about the game.
1) Magic stems from crafts such as weaving and glassmaking.
2) Magic spells can be found by observing natural phenomena.
Both of these elements are rare in modern fantasy; I'm unable to find any other examples besides Loom itself. However they can be found in folk beliefs (e.g. in the Finnic tradition, sorcery and blacksmithry can be equated, and magical words can be found in nature). I therefore assumed Moriarty may have studied some anthropology.
But no. In a "classic game postmortem" presentation about Loom, Moriarty tells a story of divine inspiration instead: when leafing thru a computer magazine, he noticed an expansion board that was called a "loom", and the entire world with is guilds and magic suddenly came to his mind in a flash.
This made me even more curious about the game.