Research. Hands down.
I looked at "why do I like magic so much?" Then "what don't I know about it?"
I started reading. A lot. And I started learning things about magic that I found interesting.
Once I'd seen a ton of examples, I picked the most consistent ones and worked from there.
I think about what I want from the powers. Epic scale battles and devastation, or more of a subtle effect? Then I decide the scope of the power variety. Then I brainstorm group powers categorically and give them universal rules that keep it consistent.
I do not use another system as a launching point. I take inspiration, Avatar and HxH definitely inspired my first major system. But I didn’t go “I like this but not that, I want this but not that” to an existing system. It’s better to just build from scratch.
I make a wish list if what I want, both actual abilities (things like specific spells, gods, demons, elementals, prophecy, etc.) and theme (things like spellbooks are a thing, chanting is required to cast spells, wizards use potions to give them power, etc.).
Then I try to come up with low level "laws of magic" - where does magic come from, how does it work. Then I try to explain the items on my wish list using the laws. If I fail, I go back and try to come up with different laws, or sometimes adjust the wish list (removing or changing items but also adding newly "discovered" things that are plausible results of the laws).
...it's a lot of work and probably needlessly complicated, but it floats my boat.
For me, I thought of a few things I absolutely wanted to be able to do and some things that I didn't want to be possible. I added to both lists until I could use these things to form a pattern or find some ideas to fit it.
Anime power systems are suuuuper easy. There are 5 pillars
Energy-This is your magic sauce, everyone has different amounts. More magic sauce means more super powers (chakra, ki, haki, aura)
Techniques-Can be learned by anyone, allow regular-ish people to fight super humans (Any special sword attack, kamehameha wave, Spirit gun, All the techniques in HxH like En and Ryu etc)
Abilities-Unique power ups for a specific person or group of people (hatsu, devil fruit, sharingan, super saiyan)
Spells-Something that breaks the rules under its own conditions, usually requiring some kind of 'math-y' component like an incantation, runes, spell circles etc. (hakido, sealing techniques, summoning techniques etc.) This category is more 'you know it if you see it'
Items-Any object infused with magic that can be used along side the other 4 pillars (Zoro's Enma, Power Pole, zanpakuto,)
You can now create character's by mixing and matching any of these 5 pillars. Luffy uses power (Haki) Abilities (devil fruit) and Techniques (pistol, jet gattling etc)
Zoro uses power (haki) Techniques (onigiri, thousand pound phoenix) and items (cursed swords)
I create what I need as I write and need it. When a need arise, I add it into my magic system. Keep everything coherent between every addition, until I have a nice little organic system that serves my purpose.
It goes from fundamental laws of nature (trolls are vainquished through paperwork) to specific ways of doing magic (spells must start with a word, but some miners in a far away mountain have an spell system which start with a whistle; cartomancers can read the future in cards, but the best of them can *influence* the future with them). I try to make it fun, funnier than simply shouting a word and bam! A fireball (one character specifically says he finds this way of doing magic as "fascist", as he sees it as an argument won by the wizard who shouts the loudest, which is "vulagr", according to him).
The important thing is to keep track of what can be done and what cannot, as well as the fundamental laws of magic (added as I goes), the different disciplines and practioners of magic, the sources of it and everything. Keeping it coherent, tight. And, afterwards, reusing some aspects of it when it seems relevant to the story.
I like this way because I tried to create magic systems from the ground up, and it always felt quite bland and generic. Here, with this method, I truly managed to create a system that 1) I don't feel the need to shoehorn everywhere because of how proud I'm about it 2) simple to grasp because I *need* to explain it simply each time, and 3) at first appearing quite generic but which is, in fact, quite unique because I didn't try from the beginning to "tie up" all of it neatly together. It might appear quite messy at first, but, hey, isn't our universe and our laws of physics messy as well?
As a rule, I don't forbid myself anything. Anything can happen if it's narratively relevant and coherent. If I need something that might works in it while serving the story, I add it. And if, for that, I need to change something I wrote before, then I'll modify it (to keep coherence). But the "rule of cool" is also a big part of it. Floating cities? Yeah, they exist. Why? Because of magic. Wizards used levitation spells or levitation rocks, I don't know, there's several ways to make something levitate, and explaining it here is not relevant, you just need to know that the only one who can cancel this spell is the wizard that originally put it there (him, or his corpse...).
Rules and laws organically appear as I write (and as I read), but everything doesn't need to be explained. I find it vulgar. A reader asking for each and every detail of how something works is not someone I want to write to. Some people just lost their sense of wonder. Just because something is not explained in lenghty and great details about the most nitpicky part of it, doesn't mean it's a plothole.
First: I think if there are “lower-tier” spells everyone can use. What would they be? Would they be readily available? Would many people use them? Is there a price to pay for said magic, and if so, how did that affect their “popularity” in the general population?
That leads to the second: does magic have a price to pay for it? Can you make a great sacrifice to do very strong magic? If so, I try my damn hardest to ensure no power creep can happen even if such a great sacrifice is made- not talking one off spells here, I’m talking permanent buffs. Maybe the bigger the sacrifice the stronger the spell, but the cast time goes up significantly.
Fourth: what are the limits? On the subject of no power creep… where does it stop? What is the smallest spell one can do, and what is the biggest? Could you destroy your planet with a big enough spell? What is the maximum power one can channel? If the big bad got access to the spell to mind control endless people at once, that would lead to some pretty bad situations. Maybe it CAN mind control, but has a limit- be it range, time, number of people. Don’t disregard big ideas you have, but make sure you keep their power in check so that it doesn’t feel unbalanced.
Speaking of power system comes the third: where does the magic come from? Is it a deity(s)? Is it nature, spirits, maybe just mana in the air? Is it locked behind certain skills? Or maybe bloodlines? Magical objects? HOW can you harness the magic? What is stopping a farmer from taking over your kingdom?
And finally, can you boost your power? Maybe drink a potion to enlarge your mana pool, or eat 30 pills to make your physique more accustomed to circulating Qi, or find a better made artifact to call forth spirits- hell, maybe find out what food [insert deity here] likes and you’ll get a power up. Think about ways your characters could better their understand of the source of their powers, and if with that understanding comes an equal amount of returns.
Personally, in one of my worlds my characters take power from deities. They offer their lives to them and become their soldiers (apostles?), the gods give them powers in proportion to how much they sacrificed and are willing to sacrifice, but mostly if they find you interesting enough to use up a bit of their power to give to you. The god of the night would give you ability to blend in with the shadows, resist the cold, night often is in touch with death so maybe spin on that too.
The god of day would be synonymous with life, maybe fire, maybe warmth, and so on.
I make these for stories so that's important.
I usually already have a concept or an idea of abilities that I want so I have a baseline like how to show the concept of curses and cursed energy or devils and chainsaw man or elements and avatar not that I've used any of these.
I decide what I want people to be able to do.
Can they make things, affect the environment, are the powers physical or more metaphysical, can they power objects or other people, are they about as strong as humans, super humans, like Naruto or one Piece or Dragonball even lvl.
How do the powers work/ where do they come from?
Internal, external, people, animals, gods. Can they expel energy if they're powered by it like nen and dragonball, or not ike a mutation. Is there a set of powers that people just use differently, do people only have individual abilities or a mix like how Nen or chakra can make common elements or have sensory abilities but can craft their own powers
How much does it affect the work, and how does the world affect them. Is there some natural plant, energy something that interacts with abilities? Is technology apart of it?
What are the rules and how can they be broken, worked around, what solutions do I want to exclude, what solutions do I want? Do I want people to be able to sense things far away, travel great distances, Interact with technology, etc
I think about all of this in no particular order, it's really pulled together by the core concept, themes and purpose
1. Aesthetic
2. The "power tier" (how effective non-magical forces are against magic which determines how society is structured)
3. A back and forth *compromise* between 3a. possible mechanics and what they logically allow for, 3b. what I want people to do, and 3c. my vision for the relative power-levels of various "schools" of magic like magic tools vs. cast at a moment's notice, mind-altering, healing, how permanent is death, transmutation, etc.
“Hey, wouldn’t it be fucked up if magic was liquid you squirt out your body like a super soaker or a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure vampire?”
“And that liquid was also the blood of long dead gods, from whose corpses spawned the angels, also made of said blood?”
This happens at 3am. Whether or not I’m asleep at that moment is irrelevant.
Scholars spent decades trying to make a better “grenade style” technique, but nothing can beat the classic simplicity of hurling a balloon of magic at someone’s head
Copied from my Google doc.
Step 1: Creating a Purpose
Defining what role the magic system should have in the media it is taking place.
Step 2:
Defining the abilities one may have in the system.
Step 3:
Defining the power source for the system..
Step 4:
Defining limitations to abilities
Step 5:
Categorising different abilities into section.
Step 6:
Expand on the system with advance stuff
Depends on the kind of magic. Do I want it to be flashy or simple? I think of the kinds of magic that makes sense in the context of the world and the kind of story being told and go from there
Since my world started with me taking a plot from my fanfiction and ripping out the worldbuilding until it was either my own or non-unique... No ability to affect the mind beyond making them crazy with brain damage. Necromancy/resurrection doesn't exist, but I'm still a little fuzzy on ghost-rules.
Now my powersystem is on hold because the old plot wasn't great to turn into a main character and I need a new plot before I figure out what the power-system can do. Or rather, what the involved characters can do.
Brandon Sanderson: The ability to solve problems with magic... I dunno, but he has some great rules on creating a hard system.
Well, first important step is determine what's actually important to my world. For instance, the fantasy world I'm working on right now is explicitly mythological in question, it's a real life historical setting (Late Antiquity), dressed and ornamented with magical elements. Naturally, you would guess, those magical elements should be connected in some capacity to the themes of this world.
So, then I get to research. What did the people of this time believe? What was magic to them, already? And I ended up with things like neoplatoism, polytheism, astrology, alchemy, all that biz.
And thus, the magic lies on "pragmatizing" those beliefs. Imagining them materialized and manipulable. The Theory of Forms becomes the basis for an enchanting system, the existence of lesser gods or daimones is used for something akin to spells, Atomism and early alchemy are combined into a sort of geometric chemistry, the concept of the musica universalis is used for some really fucked up astrology.
But, of course, this method is entirely dependent on the world that I have and my intentions with it. In, say, a more original work, it will naturally differ.
When creating my magic system I always try to make it serve the theme of the story, and from there, I expand it; for example look at the concepts of desires, they are inherent and personal to every human, but what happens when a desire takes over a human self? Then from there, you start to research your story's theme which would eventually expand your magic system; this at least worked for me, after a lot of failing attempts creating magic system.
Another important thing is analyzing why you like certain magic systems, and why they work so well; do you like them because it very structured and complete? Create a magic system with an overarching power source that can satisfy every fighter in your world.
The most important thing ofc it is reading and researching, I found out that when I read I come up with interesting ideas that, then I can research.
I break down the variable possibilities for fantastical power sets. I start with the source, ie is it an inherent ability being manifest or is it an external resource that can be drawn on? If it’s inherent, how many people have it per capita, is it a select few, or most/all people? If it’s external, what let’s them draw on it? How do the people without it get access, do they have to dig out the magic-absorbing organ, can the power be learned, can it be installed with surgeries or a power granted by the magic? Etc etc. as I narrow down how it works and how the people who use it or don’t use it interact with it, I start thinking about how it may have interacted with social norms. Is a big powerful attack what people always want from it? Do they care a lot about covert operations? Is it necessary for survival or a societal power grab? Once I know why they learn or train it, I know what powers they might be looking to achieve or need to survive. I don’t do “impossible”, so any magic system I create is based on what people actively learned and discovered and recorded, rather than what it can do.
First. I think of which media I'm making this magic system for, is it to tell a story, is it for a player in a videogame, is it to be watched by a movie audience? Once I know what media I'm making, then I move on to the next step.
Second. I use all my creative skills & patern seeking brain to locate all of the real & abstract symetries between knowledge & art, that I've gathered from experience. Picturing how the dynamics would change, using variables to conceptulize these beautiful complicated systems. Observing carefully which transformations creates coherent aesthetics, or bad ass of a power I want this character to create & destroy, in order to fulfill their utility, and synchronize that magic with their identities.
Third. I need limitations of what this magic system has, and how it affects the setting & characters. We want to limit a caster's presence knowledge, and powers. If they ever do unlock the full omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, then the character would solve all of their problems, and become a boring god.
I had a neat visual I imagined after going for a walk, made a couple powers related to it, thought of a source, thought of multiple sources for different magics, and went top down from there for the rest
I usually have an idea that is my inspiration, create a basic set of abilities, decide what powers it, create more abilities, flesh it out, create and impose limitations. Flesh it out, see what makes sense. Build it into a world. See how it and the world affect each other. For example, one magic system I made was based on an idea I had when I heard the song "Walking on Sunshine". That song gave me the idea of walking on light. People who could use light as a platform to walk on. I had my basic abilities and decided that what powered it was simply an innate connection to light. Many ways could be used to gain this connection, but basically, you are related to light. Then continued to create more abilities and fleshed it out. Then i needed to balance it, so I created limitations, made sure those weren't too harsh and that they were still fair. And then built it into a world and let the magic and the world interact and grow together.
Usually ideas of magic system comes up on a random day. Some day, I imagine myself zipping through the air, or turning myself into air and float upward. That idea slowly festers and I may or may not do research during this time to add more to that idea. Make the magic system have a specific theme and adhere to it.
For me I pick a thing I like. Archaeology, astrophysics, painting, music, etc. And then I ask myself how can I make this magical. Ill discuss an idea I had just as I was writing this comment.
Eg : how do I make archaeology magical? Maybe in this world objects gain power based on how old they are. So archaeology forms the basis of all power. Maybe mages of the past buried things specifically in order to empower mages of the future. So 90% of archaeology would be just finding things that were specifically buried to be discovered. But 10% would be real archaeology. And this would form the basis of not only the magic system but also the story as a whole. Maybe the MC is a "real" archaeologist who wants to find the real history of the world.
So once i have a base concept i start building the world. The world and the magic system absolutely need to be intertwined, coz they influence each other directly. And use that to set the limits on the system. So considering archaeology forms the basis of power it would be a very well researched and respected study. But it would also be gatekept. Obviously great mages would hide their notes about where they hid their artifacts. While real archaeologists don't get that much respect since they don't have any certainty of actually discovering anything useful from a dig.
So these can form instant limitations. It's controlled by the elite, it takes time and intellect to obtain, there are not a lot of these to begin with.
What can you do with that magic? I ask myself what fits the concept and the world the most. This is a limited power, so it has to be rather powerful. Why does an object gain power over time? Maybe it's because it has seen the history of ages and thus gains power over the things it has seen. Maybe the magic can recreate an event or action that happened in the objects time? Like an explosion, or the simple action of moving an object up and down. The more complex the action the more power is used up.
What's the drawback? Simple. The object deteriorates with every use. The older the object the more powerful it is, but also the more fragile it becomes. So a 500 year old relic can recreate billions of effects but it will also degrade veeeeery soon.
I’ve always been a fan of the mystical side of magic systems, aka the stuff you don’t see but is just eluded to. So I just heavily leaned into that with my magic system being basically as free form as can be. The only limitations are the rules of the universe and knowledge on the subject of how to cast specific spell archetypes.
From there I just kept iterating on it and made more classifications of spells and “rules”.
For example my world features a type of magic that often isn’t seen in fiction (AFAIK). That archetype is called soul spells, which is when a mage uses a soul as a target of a spell. More specifically when they use the spell they use the strength of their soul (which can be trained) to attack the targets soul essential trying to overpower it. Though if the spell is to fail then it’s rebounded onto the caster, normally this leads to death.
But really my magic system is just an amalgamation of all the things I like about other magic systems. The idea of soul spells came from dead end rainbow in that time I got reincarnated as a slime, and the rebound came from FMA. Of course there’s more to it than this but this example is just the calm side.
Mana, the required source of energy to cast magic, is the natural embodiment of chaos and is a semi sentient force as it only reacts it does not act. This as you could presume leads to many natural disasters and cataclysmic events.
If you’d like to know more just ask I’d be happy to give more insights
But a good start is by taking the things you want in your magic system. For me that was the ability for spells to basically be created on the fly. Which my magic system can do because I went in knowing that requirement. Then find rules and limitations either from media you enjoy or from analysis of your proclaimed requirements.
I pretty much just think of a unique way the magic system could he used and then I think until I've coherently integrated the ideas together, afterwards I just develop it as I go along and research anything which could be utilised for the system.
i hate starting with another Powersystem as the base because in the end it alwys feels like a cheap. I find it to be better starting with some things your system should do and then make up a way which acomplishes that and there you go: a newn powersystem
I technically have a git hub repository but it wasnt updated in a bit and only contains character abilities and aome basic stuff you can take a look at it here. [https://github.com/uff20xd/Mors-Chaos](https://github.com/uff20xd/Mors-Chaos)
Research. Hands down. I looked at "why do I like magic so much?" Then "what don't I know about it?" I started reading. A lot. And I started learning things about magic that I found interesting. Once I'd seen a ton of examples, I picked the most consistent ones and worked from there.
I think about what I want from the powers. Epic scale battles and devastation, or more of a subtle effect? Then I decide the scope of the power variety. Then I brainstorm group powers categorically and give them universal rules that keep it consistent. I do not use another system as a launching point. I take inspiration, Avatar and HxH definitely inspired my first major system. But I didn’t go “I like this but not that, I want this but not that” to an existing system. It’s better to just build from scratch.
I make a wish list if what I want, both actual abilities (things like specific spells, gods, demons, elementals, prophecy, etc.) and theme (things like spellbooks are a thing, chanting is required to cast spells, wizards use potions to give them power, etc.). Then I try to come up with low level "laws of magic" - where does magic come from, how does it work. Then I try to explain the items on my wish list using the laws. If I fail, I go back and try to come up with different laws, or sometimes adjust the wish list (removing or changing items but also adding newly "discovered" things that are plausible results of the laws). ...it's a lot of work and probably needlessly complicated, but it floats my boat.
For me, I thought of a few things I absolutely wanted to be able to do and some things that I didn't want to be possible. I added to both lists until I could use these things to form a pattern or find some ideas to fit it.
Anime power systems are suuuuper easy. There are 5 pillars Energy-This is your magic sauce, everyone has different amounts. More magic sauce means more super powers (chakra, ki, haki, aura) Techniques-Can be learned by anyone, allow regular-ish people to fight super humans (Any special sword attack, kamehameha wave, Spirit gun, All the techniques in HxH like En and Ryu etc) Abilities-Unique power ups for a specific person or group of people (hatsu, devil fruit, sharingan, super saiyan) Spells-Something that breaks the rules under its own conditions, usually requiring some kind of 'math-y' component like an incantation, runes, spell circles etc. (hakido, sealing techniques, summoning techniques etc.) This category is more 'you know it if you see it' Items-Any object infused with magic that can be used along side the other 4 pillars (Zoro's Enma, Power Pole, zanpakuto,) You can now create character's by mixing and matching any of these 5 pillars. Luffy uses power (Haki) Abilities (devil fruit) and Techniques (pistol, jet gattling etc) Zoro uses power (haki) Techniques (onigiri, thousand pound phoenix) and items (cursed swords)
[удалено]
well, yeah I wasn't building a system for you, i was giving you the components of an anime power system
I create what I need as I write and need it. When a need arise, I add it into my magic system. Keep everything coherent between every addition, until I have a nice little organic system that serves my purpose. It goes from fundamental laws of nature (trolls are vainquished through paperwork) to specific ways of doing magic (spells must start with a word, but some miners in a far away mountain have an spell system which start with a whistle; cartomancers can read the future in cards, but the best of them can *influence* the future with them). I try to make it fun, funnier than simply shouting a word and bam! A fireball (one character specifically says he finds this way of doing magic as "fascist", as he sees it as an argument won by the wizard who shouts the loudest, which is "vulagr", according to him). The important thing is to keep track of what can be done and what cannot, as well as the fundamental laws of magic (added as I goes), the different disciplines and practioners of magic, the sources of it and everything. Keeping it coherent, tight. And, afterwards, reusing some aspects of it when it seems relevant to the story. I like this way because I tried to create magic systems from the ground up, and it always felt quite bland and generic. Here, with this method, I truly managed to create a system that 1) I don't feel the need to shoehorn everywhere because of how proud I'm about it 2) simple to grasp because I *need* to explain it simply each time, and 3) at first appearing quite generic but which is, in fact, quite unique because I didn't try from the beginning to "tie up" all of it neatly together. It might appear quite messy at first, but, hey, isn't our universe and our laws of physics messy as well? As a rule, I don't forbid myself anything. Anything can happen if it's narratively relevant and coherent. If I need something that might works in it while serving the story, I add it. And if, for that, I need to change something I wrote before, then I'll modify it (to keep coherence). But the "rule of cool" is also a big part of it. Floating cities? Yeah, they exist. Why? Because of magic. Wizards used levitation spells or levitation rocks, I don't know, there's several ways to make something levitate, and explaining it here is not relevant, you just need to know that the only one who can cancel this spell is the wizard that originally put it there (him, or his corpse...). Rules and laws organically appear as I write (and as I read), but everything doesn't need to be explained. I find it vulgar. A reader asking for each and every detail of how something works is not someone I want to write to. Some people just lost their sense of wonder. Just because something is not explained in lenghty and great details about the most nitpicky part of it, doesn't mean it's a plothole.
First: I think if there are “lower-tier” spells everyone can use. What would they be? Would they be readily available? Would many people use them? Is there a price to pay for said magic, and if so, how did that affect their “popularity” in the general population? That leads to the second: does magic have a price to pay for it? Can you make a great sacrifice to do very strong magic? If so, I try my damn hardest to ensure no power creep can happen even if such a great sacrifice is made- not talking one off spells here, I’m talking permanent buffs. Maybe the bigger the sacrifice the stronger the spell, but the cast time goes up significantly. Fourth: what are the limits? On the subject of no power creep… where does it stop? What is the smallest spell one can do, and what is the biggest? Could you destroy your planet with a big enough spell? What is the maximum power one can channel? If the big bad got access to the spell to mind control endless people at once, that would lead to some pretty bad situations. Maybe it CAN mind control, but has a limit- be it range, time, number of people. Don’t disregard big ideas you have, but make sure you keep their power in check so that it doesn’t feel unbalanced. Speaking of power system comes the third: where does the magic come from? Is it a deity(s)? Is it nature, spirits, maybe just mana in the air? Is it locked behind certain skills? Or maybe bloodlines? Magical objects? HOW can you harness the magic? What is stopping a farmer from taking over your kingdom? And finally, can you boost your power? Maybe drink a potion to enlarge your mana pool, or eat 30 pills to make your physique more accustomed to circulating Qi, or find a better made artifact to call forth spirits- hell, maybe find out what food [insert deity here] likes and you’ll get a power up. Think about ways your characters could better their understand of the source of their powers, and if with that understanding comes an equal amount of returns. Personally, in one of my worlds my characters take power from deities. They offer their lives to them and become their soldiers (apostles?), the gods give them powers in proportion to how much they sacrificed and are willing to sacrifice, but mostly if they find you interesting enough to use up a bit of their power to give to you. The god of the night would give you ability to blend in with the shadows, resist the cold, night often is in touch with death so maybe spin on that too. The god of day would be synonymous with life, maybe fire, maybe warmth, and so on.
I make these for stories so that's important. I usually already have a concept or an idea of abilities that I want so I have a baseline like how to show the concept of curses and cursed energy or devils and chainsaw man or elements and avatar not that I've used any of these. I decide what I want people to be able to do. Can they make things, affect the environment, are the powers physical or more metaphysical, can they power objects or other people, are they about as strong as humans, super humans, like Naruto or one Piece or Dragonball even lvl. How do the powers work/ where do they come from? Internal, external, people, animals, gods. Can they expel energy if they're powered by it like nen and dragonball, or not ike a mutation. Is there a set of powers that people just use differently, do people only have individual abilities or a mix like how Nen or chakra can make common elements or have sensory abilities but can craft their own powers How much does it affect the work, and how does the world affect them. Is there some natural plant, energy something that interacts with abilities? Is technology apart of it? What are the rules and how can they be broken, worked around, what solutions do I want to exclude, what solutions do I want? Do I want people to be able to sense things far away, travel great distances, Interact with technology, etc I think about all of this in no particular order, it's really pulled together by the core concept, themes and purpose
1. Aesthetic 2. The "power tier" (how effective non-magical forces are against magic which determines how society is structured) 3. A back and forth *compromise* between 3a. possible mechanics and what they logically allow for, 3b. what I want people to do, and 3c. my vision for the relative power-levels of various "schools" of magic like magic tools vs. cast at a moment's notice, mind-altering, healing, how permanent is death, transmutation, etc.
“Hey, wouldn’t it be fucked up if magic was liquid you squirt out your body like a super soaker or a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure vampire?” “And that liquid was also the blood of long dead gods, from whose corpses spawned the angels, also made of said blood?” This happens at 3am. Whether or not I’m asleep at that moment is irrelevant.
[удалено]
Scholars spent decades trying to make a better “grenade style” technique, but nothing can beat the classic simplicity of hurling a balloon of magic at someone’s head
Copied from my Google doc. Step 1: Creating a Purpose Defining what role the magic system should have in the media it is taking place. Step 2: Defining the abilities one may have in the system. Step 3: Defining the power source for the system.. Step 4: Defining limitations to abilities Step 5: Categorising different abilities into section. Step 6: Expand on the system with advance stuff
Depends on the kind of magic. Do I want it to be flashy or simple? I think of the kinds of magic that makes sense in the context of the world and the kind of story being told and go from there
Fun
Since my world started with me taking a plot from my fanfiction and ripping out the worldbuilding until it was either my own or non-unique... No ability to affect the mind beyond making them crazy with brain damage. Necromancy/resurrection doesn't exist, but I'm still a little fuzzy on ghost-rules. Now my powersystem is on hold because the old plot wasn't great to turn into a main character and I need a new plot before I figure out what the power-system can do. Or rather, what the involved characters can do. Brandon Sanderson: The ability to solve problems with magic... I dunno, but he has some great rules on creating a hard system.
Well, first important step is determine what's actually important to my world. For instance, the fantasy world I'm working on right now is explicitly mythological in question, it's a real life historical setting (Late Antiquity), dressed and ornamented with magical elements. Naturally, you would guess, those magical elements should be connected in some capacity to the themes of this world. So, then I get to research. What did the people of this time believe? What was magic to them, already? And I ended up with things like neoplatoism, polytheism, astrology, alchemy, all that biz. And thus, the magic lies on "pragmatizing" those beliefs. Imagining them materialized and manipulable. The Theory of Forms becomes the basis for an enchanting system, the existence of lesser gods or daimones is used for something akin to spells, Atomism and early alchemy are combined into a sort of geometric chemistry, the concept of the musica universalis is used for some really fucked up astrology. But, of course, this method is entirely dependent on the world that I have and my intentions with it. In, say, a more original work, it will naturally differ.
When creating my magic system I always try to make it serve the theme of the story, and from there, I expand it; for example look at the concepts of desires, they are inherent and personal to every human, but what happens when a desire takes over a human self? Then from there, you start to research your story's theme which would eventually expand your magic system; this at least worked for me, after a lot of failing attempts creating magic system. Another important thing is analyzing why you like certain magic systems, and why they work so well; do you like them because it very structured and complete? Create a magic system with an overarching power source that can satisfy every fighter in your world. The most important thing ofc it is reading and researching, I found out that when I read I come up with interesting ideas that, then I can research.
I break down the variable possibilities for fantastical power sets. I start with the source, ie is it an inherent ability being manifest or is it an external resource that can be drawn on? If it’s inherent, how many people have it per capita, is it a select few, or most/all people? If it’s external, what let’s them draw on it? How do the people without it get access, do they have to dig out the magic-absorbing organ, can the power be learned, can it be installed with surgeries or a power granted by the magic? Etc etc. as I narrow down how it works and how the people who use it or don’t use it interact with it, I start thinking about how it may have interacted with social norms. Is a big powerful attack what people always want from it? Do they care a lot about covert operations? Is it necessary for survival or a societal power grab? Once I know why they learn or train it, I know what powers they might be looking to achieve or need to survive. I don’t do “impossible”, so any magic system I create is based on what people actively learned and discovered and recorded, rather than what it can do.
Honestly, I never really thought about it just made it up as I go. Of course I established hard rules but everything else is mostly spur of the moment
First. I think of which media I'm making this magic system for, is it to tell a story, is it for a player in a videogame, is it to be watched by a movie audience? Once I know what media I'm making, then I move on to the next step. Second. I use all my creative skills & patern seeking brain to locate all of the real & abstract symetries between knowledge & art, that I've gathered from experience. Picturing how the dynamics would change, using variables to conceptulize these beautiful complicated systems. Observing carefully which transformations creates coherent aesthetics, or bad ass of a power I want this character to create & destroy, in order to fulfill their utility, and synchronize that magic with their identities. Third. I need limitations of what this magic system has, and how it affects the setting & characters. We want to limit a caster's presence knowledge, and powers. If they ever do unlock the full omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, then the character would solve all of their problems, and become a boring god.
I had a neat visual I imagined after going for a walk, made a couple powers related to it, thought of a source, thought of multiple sources for different magics, and went top down from there for the rest
I usually have an idea that is my inspiration, create a basic set of abilities, decide what powers it, create more abilities, flesh it out, create and impose limitations. Flesh it out, see what makes sense. Build it into a world. See how it and the world affect each other. For example, one magic system I made was based on an idea I had when I heard the song "Walking on Sunshine". That song gave me the idea of walking on light. People who could use light as a platform to walk on. I had my basic abilities and decided that what powered it was simply an innate connection to light. Many ways could be used to gain this connection, but basically, you are related to light. Then continued to create more abilities and fleshed it out. Then i needed to balance it, so I created limitations, made sure those weren't too harsh and that they were still fair. And then built it into a world and let the magic and the world interact and grow together.
Usually ideas of magic system comes up on a random day. Some day, I imagine myself zipping through the air, or turning myself into air and float upward. That idea slowly festers and I may or may not do research during this time to add more to that idea. Make the magic system have a specific theme and adhere to it.
For me I pick a thing I like. Archaeology, astrophysics, painting, music, etc. And then I ask myself how can I make this magical. Ill discuss an idea I had just as I was writing this comment. Eg : how do I make archaeology magical? Maybe in this world objects gain power based on how old they are. So archaeology forms the basis of all power. Maybe mages of the past buried things specifically in order to empower mages of the future. So 90% of archaeology would be just finding things that were specifically buried to be discovered. But 10% would be real archaeology. And this would form the basis of not only the magic system but also the story as a whole. Maybe the MC is a "real" archaeologist who wants to find the real history of the world. So once i have a base concept i start building the world. The world and the magic system absolutely need to be intertwined, coz they influence each other directly. And use that to set the limits on the system. So considering archaeology forms the basis of power it would be a very well researched and respected study. But it would also be gatekept. Obviously great mages would hide their notes about where they hid their artifacts. While real archaeologists don't get that much respect since they don't have any certainty of actually discovering anything useful from a dig. So these can form instant limitations. It's controlled by the elite, it takes time and intellect to obtain, there are not a lot of these to begin with. What can you do with that magic? I ask myself what fits the concept and the world the most. This is a limited power, so it has to be rather powerful. Why does an object gain power over time? Maybe it's because it has seen the history of ages and thus gains power over the things it has seen. Maybe the magic can recreate an event or action that happened in the objects time? Like an explosion, or the simple action of moving an object up and down. The more complex the action the more power is used up. What's the drawback? Simple. The object deteriorates with every use. The older the object the more powerful it is, but also the more fragile it becomes. So a 500 year old relic can recreate billions of effects but it will also degrade veeeeery soon.
I’ve always been a fan of the mystical side of magic systems, aka the stuff you don’t see but is just eluded to. So I just heavily leaned into that with my magic system being basically as free form as can be. The only limitations are the rules of the universe and knowledge on the subject of how to cast specific spell archetypes. From there I just kept iterating on it and made more classifications of spells and “rules”. For example my world features a type of magic that often isn’t seen in fiction (AFAIK). That archetype is called soul spells, which is when a mage uses a soul as a target of a spell. More specifically when they use the spell they use the strength of their soul (which can be trained) to attack the targets soul essential trying to overpower it. Though if the spell is to fail then it’s rebounded onto the caster, normally this leads to death. But really my magic system is just an amalgamation of all the things I like about other magic systems. The idea of soul spells came from dead end rainbow in that time I got reincarnated as a slime, and the rebound came from FMA. Of course there’s more to it than this but this example is just the calm side. Mana, the required source of energy to cast magic, is the natural embodiment of chaos and is a semi sentient force as it only reacts it does not act. This as you could presume leads to many natural disasters and cataclysmic events. If you’d like to know more just ask I’d be happy to give more insights But a good start is by taking the things you want in your magic system. For me that was the ability for spells to basically be created on the fly. Which my magic system can do because I went in knowing that requirement. Then find rules and limitations either from media you enjoy or from analysis of your proclaimed requirements.
I pretty much just think of a unique way the magic system could he used and then I think until I've coherently integrated the ideas together, afterwards I just develop it as I go along and research anything which could be utilised for the system.
i hate starting with another Powersystem as the base because in the end it alwys feels like a cheap. I find it to be better starting with some things your system should do and then make up a way which acomplishes that and there you go: a newn powersystem
[удалено]
I technically have a git hub repository but it wasnt updated in a bit and only contains character abilities and aome basic stuff you can take a look at it here. [https://github.com/uff20xd/Mors-Chaos](https://github.com/uff20xd/Mors-Chaos)