Even in the third movie, where magic is used MUCH more extensively, there are several spells that get little use or poor use. For example the spell used in the opening credits (A discontinuity from the idea that students can't cast magic outside of school) the spell "Luminos Maximus" is introduced. This spell creates a bright outpouring of light, much like a concussionless flashbang grenade (And more importantly, fragmentless.) Imbued into an item, this would be an effective weapon, but even in the context of the movie, in the scene in the shrieking shack, either Harry or Herminoie, or ANY of the several adults could have implemented a bit of crowd control with the simple use of this spell. It would have also been quite useful in the scene with the werewolf, a quick flick of the wrist, and I ASSURE you that the werewolf would not have pursued. And these are just the spells that are easy to cast.
But that still doesn't completely account for my complaint. See, the Harry Potter world is set in a world where the magi are quite literally mixed with the population. Your next door neighbor could be a witch and you'd never notice. And even if you did, they'd just wipe your memory and call it a day. So for these people, electricity and indoor plumbing should not be novel concepts. I can understand that they would be hesitant to use things like cars and trains (even though they DO use trains...) since alternative modes of travel do exist (The Flue Network, Disapperation, Broomsticks, etc...) But these people, for some reason completely beyond me, seem fixated on using candlelight and owl messengers. Ya, it adds to the mystic allure of the magical setting, but these people can cause spontaneous light to come from nothing for no reason at all, why would they choose something like a candle for illumination. And we're not talking magical, cool flame. No. We're talking full out fire, as well as plain ol' wax based candles. Mix that with the fact that their fashion sense seems to completely defy any kind of logic about the limit to layers, and what you have is a unhappy, crispy mage. If they where to use some form of cool light, they could easily save themselves a fortune in candles and new clothes to replace recently combusted mage's robes. And as for owl communication, GET WITH THE 21ST CENTURY!!! I can get a message to a friend in 81 milliseconds who lives on the other side of the world. Worse case it takes a whopping 5 seconds. These people deliver messages by owl. Not exactly what I would call a reasonable means of communication. And then on top of that, all of their books are on parchment, how many sheep will have to die?
But if they want to find something (for example, the search for the name Nicholas Flammel in the first book/movie) it can take weeks. Starting from the moment I wrote that last period to when I found the information on Nicholas Flammel was approximately 15 seconds (First site hit on Google.) Why haven't they adopted some kind of magi-net? Even if they did it using 1980's era technology, they would still do better than their current system. But what's worse is the fact that they can go beyond the power of modern computers. With the availability of intelligent items, as well as translocation, they could easily make a network where not only can you download information about Mr. Flammel, you could greet an artificial representation of him and ask him about the stone yourself. Envision the possibility of ordering a book on Amazon and having it spontaneously appear just moments after clicking? Heck, why click? There's no reason why with divination techniques and other kinds of mind to mind contact that you couldn't have an immersive interface. Kinda like an astral projection into the net (for all you Shadow Run and GURPS people out there, think decking.) And with intelligent items, you could have a sentient computer, or at least one with some problem solving skill of its own.
This is why I created Sarrl's Wonderful World. It allows me to solve all those stupid little issues that I'm bringing up here, but in a creative, and fun way. Kinda like getting to live an extra life, but only when I feel like it.
Either way, Check it out!
Sarrl's Wonderful World
WWSD: Create a sentient telecommunications network, and then create mobile slates with access to this network. Then market it for extrodinarily high prices to the morons in the wizzarding community. (He actually did this one. Epic Sarrl actually co-founded a company that dealt with telecom and media services in one of our D&D campaigns. Nothing like a midevil (kinda) setting with cell-rocks, newspapers, and tablet computers.)
Mood: Sore (All this typing hurts. ^^;;;)