Ancient technology is frequently magical in nature. About the only way you find magic having a negative impact on technology is when lightning spells are used on metallic creatures. Developed by Troika Games and published by Sierra, Arcanum is set in a rather interesting world. Modeled after late 1800's Europe, the game begins as you find your character taking a trip on an airship. You are approached by a man who claims you're the Chosen One to save the world - and you're off on a quest to find out what exactly is going on.
Character creation is flexible and actually quite amusing.
After that, you have several character points to allocate. You gain more points with each level, and they're important - you can use them to raise your attributes, raise skills, or learn technological disciplines or magical spells. Skills fall into the general RPG categories - there are sixteen skills, divided amongst combat, thieving, social, and technological skills. If you want to dabble in the technological disciplines, there are 8 disciplines, ranging from chemistry and herbology to explosives and gun smithing. Of course, greater levels of technological wizardry require higher intelligence, and the relatively low number of character points mean you're not going to be able to learn how to build everything.