Technology
There is not a lot of technology on the Disc. In general, cities are smelly, sewage lines are unheard of, oxen pull carts, etc. That said, there have been some innovations recently:
- Imp-powered devices, while not so reliable, have become commonplace. These imps are actually small demons*. Items that they tend to be found in are watches, organizers, and picture-boxes (photographs). They can be trained well or poorly, although often they tend to be somewhat inept.
- Assembly lines are not common but do exist
- Movies (film) do not exist
- The printing press does exist
Magic
Magic is quite a lot more ubiquitous than technology on the Disc. There are areas of high magic, and areas of lower magic. Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork can be considered a high magic area. In such areas things can bend the rules of Reality much more easily and odd creatures such as talking dogs, sentient rats and the like tend to evolve. There are other high magic areas on the Disc, such as the Wyrmberg (where the dragon people live), parts of the Ramptop Mountains, and a few other places. Most of the Disc, however, is permeated with more tolerable levels of magic.
There are a few points about magic that bear mentioning:
- A LOT of magical activity is bad, as it tends to draw the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions. Like Cthulhu and similar. You don't want to see these things. On the bright side, it does take a LOT to get them here.
- Wizards tend to cast spells using silly names, such as Frubjoubous' Frizzling Franticator. Generally spell names involve the spell creator's name, an adjective and a noun. Alliteration is good. Otherwise punning is fine.
- Wizards are generally celibate (an 8th son of an 8th son makes a sourcerer, and everyone knows that's BAD NEWS).
- Witches are more free with their magic and tend to walk the line between light and dark. There aren't really witches in Ankh-Morpork because of the wizards (who have a deep distrust of them in general). Wizards generally think females shouldn't play with magic.
For casting a spell, see So, You're a Discworld Wizard and Want to Cast a Spell...
*Hell in the Discworld exists. It's an incredibly boring place. Demons have no imagination. Plus, all the difficulties associated with torment become somewhat moot when the soul realizes that it has no body with which to feel pain. As such, the lost souls tend to eventually get along with their tormenting demons, with the occasional howl just so everyone knows the place is running properly.