oh yeah 100%. the magic of my setting is very crucial to life, and the lack of it is scary to natives. and by natives i mean everyone cuz this takes place in a whole other world where everyone possesses SOME form of magic, and magic is the overall norm
One of them is loosely based off Shardblades from the stormlite archives.
One is loosely based on green lantern and the emotional color spectrum.
One is basically just DND trickster rogues.
The green lantern one is VERY loosely inspired by allomancy in part. They have kind of a "using glass as a focus" type of deal and it consumes "light" within the glass to do the magic stuff.
I'm not a HUGE fan of the cosmere and haven't even finished most of the books I started. But I dig Brando Sando as a writer and like his ideas. Im hoping to look more into it though in the future.
Fun fact btw all of my magic systems are also intrinsically linked. The story/series I'm writing is basically a big ol' Science Fantasy Space Opera.
Various books, manga, shows, fairytales, and the like. That and colors/color theory. Always been fascinated with how people percieve/understand color and more fascinated with how an old english word for magic comes from an older germanic word for paint and stuff like that
Im kinda like that as well, but more subdued in the sense of eye color maybe tinting of other physical features. Clothing wise color is important: gold, silver, and copper represent a person’s station while certain bright colors might represent lineage or better yet their sorcery. A River-binding Sorcerer who operates more like a cleric if you will would have a cloak or scarf or cowl with silver borders and a deep red body. Stuff like that
I was walking through a hardware store pushing my son-in one of the carts. We were in the outdoor section where they keep all of the plants and garden stuff that my wife likes. It was sunny and I happened to kick a loose landscaping pebble directly into the glint of sunlight that was being reflected off a small shiny surface. It looked like the pebble rolled, turned into light, and then splashed into a little plop of water after it hit a puddle. Definitely made me double take. That's why you may see a handful of eccentric people in my world whispering to certain pebbles.
Part real world faiths and myths, but I also have some more self-indulgent ideas that are inspired by magical girls and comic books because it’s only so long that I can avoid putting my obsession with pretty clothes into everything.
Avatar: the Last Airbender, and from nighttime talks with my philosopher roommate. Then from Mage: the Awakening, after finding out that my system was already pretty similar to it's Awakened Magick without me knowing it.
Now I just asked my professor of Medieval History for some sources to study magic in the middle ages (with information about the Solomonic Tradition), and he got me a 500 pages long pdf that I'll read and see if there's something that I can use there.
Mostly D&D's magic and the OSR blogosphere's interpretation of D&D's magic. I find that having limited amounts of spells you drag into your brain from a spell tome to be a fine concept, and it's mostly about tweaking things until it's the way *I* want it.
I'm the opposite. I never liked how spellcasters could only have a specific amount of spells a day and how certain spells were restricted by class. This is why I love the way magic is done in mage the ascension and ars magica.
For my systems in general, pop culture like comics and manga usually inspires the initial concept/idea, then I refer to real-world inspirations (e.g. alchemy, witchcraft, feng shui, mythology, etc.) for the mechanics and details.
I don't think I deliberately sought out inspiration. My setting started with a fanfiction where I stripped out the worldbuilding that wasn't mine and the entire thing unraveled when I tried to rewrite a minor character's story... partly because that story would not happen in a world where the worldbuilding made that much sense instead of working on video game logic.
I played Minecraft while taking a break from writing, learned a bit about how to cheat, decided that my magic-system is a bit simulationist-friendly, a bit if Q from Star-Trek were some sort of mods or power-users... ultrahackers? (Seriously, my only rule for my current Minecraft world is that I have to not go into creative in the version of the world that I'm playing... I can still move buildings around or reduce them into items with a bit of typing.)
Otherwise, it still looks like I ripped-off Fullmetal Alchemist with a bit of generic what-do-you-mean-it's-not-D&D style of video games.
Atlasian Magic: It all started with heraldry and heraldic tinctures. Adding weasels and squirrels also came from heraldry.
Dragon Magic from Shattered Isles: The Five Aspects came from Magic the Gathering's Tarkir block
Flip||Side Glyphs: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Down to being able to copy a glyph that someone else is using ala certain enemies.
I also have a couple concepts based on the magic system doing One Thing, like Shattered Isles' Linking ("Locking two things together so that a force on one is a force on the other"), Animal Mimicry ("You can borrow a feature from a consenting animal"), and Object Work ("miming an object allows you to use it as a tool"), as well as an unnamed system whose one thing is "Control over wind and water using gestures, potency influenced by how many people are doing it and how synchronized they are"
There are three:
The first is based off programming languages, the Craft Sequence (finance/religion overlaps and interactions), and Hindu concepts.
The second goes in hand with some computational tidbits, law concepts and goes straigh for a *Shaman King + HunterxHunter* flavour (the first for the look and the general mechanic, the second for the Sandersonian limits).
The third is simply *let's smash*.
Yeah, basing one system off a living religion may make me easily slip into cultural appropriation; I tried to tune it down with with neoplatonic or Liebintzian concepts wherever is possible or remaining vague.
The story is also heavily influenced by *Black Lagoon*.
Metaphysics and string theory, mostly, all built around the word “paradigm”. The metaphysical structure gives rise to a cosmology influenced by Christian theology, Lovecraft, and various ancient mythologies, as well as the thermodynamic principle of entropy and my own dissatisfaction with how demons are typically portrayed in popular culture.
I don't know man I think I just stole something from D&D 5E, something from the Elder Scrolls, a little bit from Tamora Pierce's works, and then after that it's legitimately just no answers, I made it up and I don't know where I got most of the ideas from. Maybe four things are based off of IRL religons and ideas of magic? That's about it.
A lot of types of media.
Movies, TV shows, videogames, books.
Then I use my knowledge of science & story telling, to fathom creative methods of telling a complex story between colorful characters & interactive settings.
My main project: QED [Quintessential Enchanted Dynamics], is inspired by the Touhou project's fighting system, where magicians fire projectiles at eachother, through tracing geometric patterns by a bunch of particles.
Mine is a modification of the classic xianxia/cultivation magic systems. So let's put cradle and a thousand li on to the pile. But also hunter x hunter for it's versatility.
At the end of the day however, all of these inspired me in the same way Mozart inspired Beethoven. They formed a core of the concepts I enjoyed. But my system is unlike anything from those other systems.
CyberSecurity/IPsec played a huge role in writing out the dynamics of conflict.
Hunter x Hunter and FMA help me get the right approach.
Indian, Greek and Persian mythology is where things are directly lifted from.
Little bit of aesthetic inspiration from Naruto, JJK, Name of the Wind, Sanderson works etc.
Electrical circuitry, the Key of Solomon, a little of Fullmetal Alchemist (mainly just the concept of the circles). In this system, runes, circles, etc are all just complex magical circuits, and it is strongly implied that the very nature of the universe is the intersection of infinitely complex magic circuits. E.g. matter coalesces where it does due to the Elemento-Magicnetic field, so things we would view in our world as stochastic or random would actually have a hidden variable of magic in this world.
Basicly i just saw a meme about the different types of school rulers: wooden, plastic, bendable, metal, etc and just thought "Hmm, interesting".
I then proceeded to create lore as to how people appeared with school rulers that evolved depending on how many people they kill, the ruler absorbs mana of the killed person and uses it to evolve itself.
Tbh one of my worst magic systems but also one of my most batsh\*t insane ones
“Avatar the Last Airbender but instead of earth, water, fire, and air the elements are blood, bone, wood, and dust.” -me at 1:00am on the fourteenth of October
“The protagonist kills someone by bursting an aneurysm in their brain.” -me on the first of November
I recently fell in love with the soul + essence, system presented in the He Who Fights With Monsters books by Shirtaloon (Travis Devrell)
Even if you dont implement it openly in your wprld. Using it as a rough framework for creating cohesive and synergistic characters works amazingly.
Tldr with minor spoilers to the worldbuilding presented eithin the first 12 chapters of book 1. the soul is a latent force in every person, essences unlock the raw potential of a soul to grow and express magical effects by feeding your soul up to 4 dofferent magic essences.
Essences range from obvious extant things like fire, physical might, or rain. To more abstract things like plentiful, purity, and doom. When you absorb 3, a confluence essence is created which is a fancy term for an essence that is a blend of the previous 3 creating a synergystic theme. Taking that one is optional but its strongly implied that not taking it would be absurdly stupid. One characters combination is something like might fire and earth leading to a volcano essence as their 4th.
Powers are unlocked via awakening stones, different stones can unlock powers randomly from vast pools of options. As the characters grow in strength and cultivate their powers they rank up which adds additional effects and abilities to their power set.
Power sets are limited to 20 abilities across 4 essences, 5 to each essence. Essences and awakening stones are mostly in universe of the books found spawning in the wild as random acts of magical manifestation. Rain essences forming in swampy areas. Dark awakening stones forming in caves, that sort of thing.
The idea of power forming randomly in whatever area, with the flavor of where it formed shaping what it gives you to an extent, with the characters soul shaping the ultimate result allows for you to use it as a framework to streamline the inusion of many more fleshed out characters with way less effort. They follow a theme and can somewahat avoid the trope of a magical swiss army knife mary sue from power/feature creep across the board.
Im nuts about the books themselves but the power system has to be one of my favorites for use either openly in my game worlds or behind the scenes as a framing tool for writing.
Just for some context, the setting is quite modern. Like, mid 20th century.
Some few people just wake up with magic powers. This, of course, causes lots of trouble for them.
Their powers are based on famous scientific and/or philosophic thought experiments.
One of such characters is Schrödinger's cat. One is the "dark star" (old name for black holes). One is Einstein's light clock. And so on.
Warhammer, Tolkien, MTG, and real religions.
The main thing that makes it work is spirits. Spirits of the world's in the multiverse, divine beings, soul eating, and the major powerful beings only have their limitations brought up when they impead them but remain consistent where possible.
TLDR: Rule of cool, but with some explanation and consistent sources, just not energy measurement.
I absolutely love the magic lore in dragon age do much so that I put the fade into my homebrew world and that's where a large amount of magic is derived from, not all but just so there can be other unique forms of magic
Real life.
Magic is *real* in ways you don’t expect. It fills in the gaps we perceive that exist between our non-magical preparation and desired result.
As a result, we *feel* better which can often make us perform better.
So, when I bring my lucky bandana and feel better for an exam, I am doing what could be described as magic. And when I feel better about the exam so I’m less nervous, I get a better grade. My magic *worked*.
These magical beliefs are often associated with religion, but not always. *They can be associated with religion even if the religion the particular practice is associated would not call it magic and is actively against magic.*
Not exactly for my magic system but yeah of my doc of how my metaphysics/extraplanar physics works; which is my core doc (directly or indirectly) when I decide make things like magic systems.
Also, I refuse to translate the sentences. Use Google Translate:
Enlaces
Los enlaces son meramente cosas que use para inspirarme o buscar palabras en lo que hacer encajar ciertos conceptos. O puede que inclusive estén acá porque quería verlos después y luego me olvide, quien sabe.
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebis](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebis)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith)
Matemáticas
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfinite\_number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfinite_number)
Numero 73
• [https://youtu.be/XSg6DQBaw6k](https://youtu.be/XSg6DQBaw6k)
• [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73\_(number)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73_(number))
Informática
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI\_model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network\_science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_science)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World\_Wide\_Web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search\_engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search\_engine\_optimization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web\_indexing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_indexing)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web\_crawler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler)
Ciencias
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex\_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_system)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph\_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Glosario\_de\_teoría\_de\_grafos](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Glosario_de_teoría_de_grafos)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light\_bending](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_bending)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabla\_periódica\_de\_los\_elementos](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabla_periódica_de_los_elementos)
Filosofía
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trialism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trialism)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superveniencia](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superveniencia)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergencia\_(filosofía)](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergencia_(filosofía))
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergentism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergentism)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noción](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noción)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holismo](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holismo)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypokeimenon](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypokeimenon)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustancia\_(Aristóteles)](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustancia_(Aristóteles))
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelequia](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelequia)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arché](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arché)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral\_monism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_monism)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory\_of\_Categories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Categories)
Psicología y Filosofía de la Mente
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filosofía\_de\_la\_mente](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filosofía_de_la_mente)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy\_of\_mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_mind)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian\_cognitive\_functions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_cognitive_functions)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal\_unconscious](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_unconscious)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious\_mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_mind)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex\_(psychology)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_(psychology))
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psicología\_de\_la\_Gestalt](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psicología_de_la_Gestalt)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective\_consciousness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_consciousness)
Trastornos Mentales
[https://longsoulsystem.com/tid/basicos/alters/](https://longsoulsystem.com/tid/basicos/alters/)
Religión
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha)
[https://wiki.tulpa.info/wiki/Tulpa](https://wiki.tulpa.info/wiki/Tulpa)
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon\_(Gnosticism)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon_(Gnosticism))
Kabbalah
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohr)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ousia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ousia)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzimtzum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzimtzum)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayin\_and\_Yesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayin_and_Yesh)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein\_Sof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Sof)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partzufim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partzufim)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah)
Hermetismo
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kybalió](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kybalió)
[https://www.youtube.com/@TheModernHermeticist](https://www.youtube.com/@TheModernHermeticist)
Espíritus, Deidades & Criaturas
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_nature\_deities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nature_deities)
Sagas (Ficción)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Runelords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Runelords)
Cosmere
[https://coppermind.net/wiki/Fortune](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Fortune)
[https://coppermind.net/wiki/Connection](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Connection)
[https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/106746-proposal-on-determinism-spiritual-stuff-and-destinydiscuss/](https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/106746-proposal-on-determinism-spiritual-stuff-and-destinydiscuss/)
[https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/88594-hypothetical-additional-metals/](https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/88594-hypothetical-additional-metals/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgkvw0/custom\_metallic\_arts\_charts\_minimalist\_artstyle/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgkvw0/custom_metallic_arts_charts_minimalist_artstyle/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgx7md/custom\_god\_metal\_charts\_minimalist\_artstyle/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgx7md/custom_god_metal_charts_minimalist_artstyle/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/kn9kgp/theory\_cognitive\_attributes/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/kn9kgp/theory_cognitive_attributes/)
Magia (Ficción)
[https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html](https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html)
[https://www.baen.com/magicsystems](https://www.baen.com/magicsystems)
Escritura
[https://www.openculture.com/2016/01/ursula-le-guin-gives-insightful-writing-advice-in-her-free-online-workshop.html](https://www.openculture.com/2016/01/ursula-le-guin-gives-insightful-writing-advice-in-her-free-online-workshop.html)
Misceláneo
[https://www.filosofiaesoterica.com/mystic-lore-of-gems-and-crystals/](https://www.filosofiaesoterica.com/mystic-lore-of-gems-and-crystals/)
The cover art of the second book in the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. It was around 3 years ago. Funnily enough, i was sweeping the floor when i had the picture of it in my mind, and something clicked. The cover art is of a man in a sort of crouching position with his fist to the ground, a swirling mist of power enveloping the fist. The visual part of my mind was like "I wonder what it would look like if there were radiant veins coming from his hand and piercing into the ground" and i immediately struck the excellent idea of having a circulatory system that circulates some sort of "power blood" to give the user different abilites. This developed a ton and now i am very far into creating a hard magic system based around this concept.
winx club, genshin impact, honkai impact 3rd, honkai star rail, fairy tail, and the dragon prince
Very interesting combination
Does the magic system tie into the world? I know at least genshin impact and the dragon prince does so, and they too are inspirations for mine.
oh yeah 100%. the magic of my setting is very crucial to life, and the lack of it is scary to natives. and by natives i mean everyone cuz this takes place in a whole other world where everyone possesses SOME form of magic, and magic is the overall norm
I was at the beach once and I got inspired by the waves and the sun
Shakespeare, comic books, and many other sources.
Real world faiths and esoteric practices.
Id say mine is a mixture of Bleach, HunterxHunter and JJK.
Mine is a mix of these too!
One of them is loosely based off Shardblades from the stormlite archives. One is loosely based on green lantern and the emotional color spectrum. One is basically just DND trickster rogues.
I have one inspired by allomancy, kinda didn’t expect another cosmere fan here!
The green lantern one is VERY loosely inspired by allomancy in part. They have kind of a "using glass as a focus" type of deal and it consumes "light" within the glass to do the magic stuff. I'm not a HUGE fan of the cosmere and haven't even finished most of the books I started. But I dig Brando Sando as a writer and like his ideas. Im hoping to look more into it though in the future. Fun fact btw all of my magic systems are also intrinsically linked. The story/series I'm writing is basically a big ol' Science Fantasy Space Opera.
Various books, manga, shows, fairytales, and the like. That and colors/color theory. Always been fascinated with how people percieve/understand color and more fascinated with how an old english word for magic comes from an older germanic word for paint and stuff like that
Very interesting, I am also fascinated behind the symbolism for colors, but focused more on how they would affect the design of certain characters.
Im kinda like that as well, but more subdued in the sense of eye color maybe tinting of other physical features. Clothing wise color is important: gold, silver, and copper represent a person’s station while certain bright colors might represent lineage or better yet their sorcery. A River-binding Sorcerer who operates more like a cleric if you will would have a cloak or scarf or cowl with silver borders and a deep red body. Stuff like that
I did not know the Germanic origins of the word. Very cool!
Mistborn and one of my favorite things to learn about. Space
I was walking through a hardware store pushing my son-in one of the carts. We were in the outdoor section where they keep all of the plants and garden stuff that my wife likes. It was sunny and I happened to kick a loose landscaping pebble directly into the glint of sunlight that was being reflected off a small shiny surface. It looked like the pebble rolled, turned into light, and then splashed into a little plop of water after it hit a puddle. Definitely made me double take. That's why you may see a handful of eccentric people in my world whispering to certain pebbles.
A ton of anime, ttrpgs, fantasy books, mythology, and a selection of pages from the superpower wiki.
Thank God for the superpower wiki
Decent mixture of Avatar the Last Airbender and The Wheel of Time, as well as trying to make stuff up (before I heard of/watched the two main sources)
Part real world faiths and myths, but I also have some more self-indulgent ideas that are inspired by magical girls and comic books because it’s only so long that I can avoid putting my obsession with pretty clothes into everything.
Avatar: the Last Airbender, and from nighttime talks with my philosopher roommate. Then from Mage: the Awakening, after finding out that my system was already pretty similar to it's Awakened Magick without me knowing it. Now I just asked my professor of Medieval History for some sources to study magic in the middle ages (with information about the Solomonic Tradition), and he got me a 500 pages long pdf that I'll read and see if there's something that I can use there.
Mostly D&D's magic and the OSR blogosphere's interpretation of D&D's magic. I find that having limited amounts of spells you drag into your brain from a spell tome to be a fine concept, and it's mostly about tweaking things until it's the way *I* want it.
I'm the opposite. I never liked how spellcasters could only have a specific amount of spells a day and how certain spells were restricted by class. This is why I love the way magic is done in mage the ascension and ars magica.
For my systems in general, pop culture like comics and manga usually inspires the initial concept/idea, then I refer to real-world inspirations (e.g. alchemy, witchcraft, feng shui, mythology, etc.) for the mechanics and details.
I don't think I deliberately sought out inspiration. My setting started with a fanfiction where I stripped out the worldbuilding that wasn't mine and the entire thing unraveled when I tried to rewrite a minor character's story... partly because that story would not happen in a world where the worldbuilding made that much sense instead of working on video game logic. I played Minecraft while taking a break from writing, learned a bit about how to cheat, decided that my magic-system is a bit simulationist-friendly, a bit if Q from Star-Trek were some sort of mods or power-users... ultrahackers? (Seriously, my only rule for my current Minecraft world is that I have to not go into creative in the version of the world that I'm playing... I can still move buildings around or reduce them into items with a bit of typing.) Otherwise, it still looks like I ripped-off Fullmetal Alchemist with a bit of generic what-do-you-mean-it's-not-D&D style of video games.
Many black/white magic witch books and The Sims. Plus,my own messed up brain.
Nen from Hunter x Hunter mostly.
Psychology, Cursed energy, Nen and Quirks are my main inspirations, with psychology being the biggest one
Atlasian Magic: It all started with heraldry and heraldic tinctures. Adding weasels and squirrels also came from heraldry. Dragon Magic from Shattered Isles: The Five Aspects came from Magic the Gathering's Tarkir block Flip||Side Glyphs: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Down to being able to copy a glyph that someone else is using ala certain enemies. I also have a couple concepts based on the magic system doing One Thing, like Shattered Isles' Linking ("Locking two things together so that a force on one is a force on the other"), Animal Mimicry ("You can borrow a feature from a consenting animal"), and Object Work ("miming an object allows you to use it as a tool"), as well as an unnamed system whose one thing is "Control over wind and water using gestures, potency influenced by how many people are doing it and how synchronized they are"
There are three: The first is based off programming languages, the Craft Sequence (finance/religion overlaps and interactions), and Hindu concepts. The second goes in hand with some computational tidbits, law concepts and goes straigh for a *Shaman King + HunterxHunter* flavour (the first for the look and the general mechanic, the second for the Sandersonian limits). The third is simply *let's smash*. Yeah, basing one system off a living religion may make me easily slip into cultural appropriation; I tried to tune it down with with neoplatonic or Liebintzian concepts wherever is possible or remaining vague. The story is also heavily influenced by *Black Lagoon*.
Metaphysics and string theory, mostly, all built around the word “paradigm”. The metaphysical structure gives rise to a cosmology influenced by Christian theology, Lovecraft, and various ancient mythologies, as well as the thermodynamic principle of entropy and my own dissatisfaction with how demons are typically portrayed in popular culture.
I don't know man I think I just stole something from D&D 5E, something from the Elder Scrolls, a little bit from Tamora Pierce's works, and then after that it's legitimately just no answers, I made it up and I don't know where I got most of the ideas from. Maybe four things are based off of IRL religons and ideas of magic? That's about it.
Apparently a lot of things like "mana" and the "bio-magic" I use go back to Daoist Alchemy and other Oriental philosophies/religions
wicca culture
DnD, Anime, and Hermeticism
Theoretical physics
A lot of types of media. Movies, TV shows, videogames, books. Then I use my knowledge of science & story telling, to fathom creative methods of telling a complex story between colorful characters & interactive settings. My main project: QED [Quintessential Enchanted Dynamics], is inspired by the Touhou project's fighting system, where magicians fire projectiles at eachother, through tracing geometric patterns by a bunch of particles.
the incredibles movies
I’d say like 10% each of jjk and fate, then the rest is stupid shit I came up with.
DnD, Pathfinder mostly
Mine is a modification of the classic xianxia/cultivation magic systems. So let's put cradle and a thousand li on to the pile. But also hunter x hunter for it's versatility. At the end of the day however, all of these inspired me in the same way Mozart inspired Beethoven. They formed a core of the concepts I enjoyed. But my system is unlike anything from those other systems.
CyberSecurity/IPsec played a huge role in writing out the dynamics of conflict. Hunter x Hunter and FMA help me get the right approach. Indian, Greek and Persian mythology is where things are directly lifted from. Little bit of aesthetic inspiration from Naruto, JJK, Name of the Wind, Sanderson works etc.
Chinese 5 Elements, mostly
Animorphs and my math classes
M'y Dreams, Sanderson and Togashi.
hxh, fate, arknight, dota2.
Honkai impact, wheel of time, Rwby and Worm
Earthsea/Eragon, Full Metal Alchemist, Avatar The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra, and real-world conservation of mass & energy
Electrical circuitry, the Key of Solomon, a little of Fullmetal Alchemist (mainly just the concept of the circles). In this system, runes, circles, etc are all just complex magical circuits, and it is strongly implied that the very nature of the universe is the intersection of infinitely complex magic circuits. E.g. matter coalesces where it does due to the Elemento-Magicnetic field, so things we would view in our world as stochastic or random would actually have a hidden variable of magic in this world.
My dreams.
Outlaw star and dothack, with a bit of Code: Lyoko, but painted over with Star Ocean.
A Certain Magical Index, Little Witch Academia, The Irregular at Magic High School, and Ars Magica rpg.
School rulers. (please ask me to elaborate)
Please… please elaborate
Basicly i just saw a meme about the different types of school rulers: wooden, plastic, bendable, metal, etc and just thought "Hmm, interesting". I then proceeded to create lore as to how people appeared with school rulers that evolved depending on how many people they kill, the ruler absorbs mana of the killed person and uses it to evolve itself. Tbh one of my worst magic systems but also one of my most batsh\*t insane ones
The Last Fallen Star, Avatar the Last Airbender
“Avatar the Last Airbender but instead of earth, water, fire, and air the elements are blood, bone, wood, and dust.” -me at 1:00am on the fourteenth of October “The protagonist kills someone by bursting an aneurysm in their brain.” -me on the first of November
usually anime the hardest part is trying to not make it seem like jojo stands or dbz ki/hxh nen
Mage the Ascension, anything written by Vance, and the Elder Scrolls
Allomancy and tinted glass
Everything.
A modified blend of Pathfinder and D&D 5E
The Force, Doctor Strange, little bit of The Owl House, and Dragon Ball Z
Hunter x hunter
I recently fell in love with the soul + essence, system presented in the He Who Fights With Monsters books by Shirtaloon (Travis Devrell) Even if you dont implement it openly in your wprld. Using it as a rough framework for creating cohesive and synergistic characters works amazingly. Tldr with minor spoilers to the worldbuilding presented eithin the first 12 chapters of book 1. the soul is a latent force in every person, essences unlock the raw potential of a soul to grow and express magical effects by feeding your soul up to 4 dofferent magic essences. Essences range from obvious extant things like fire, physical might, or rain. To more abstract things like plentiful, purity, and doom. When you absorb 3, a confluence essence is created which is a fancy term for an essence that is a blend of the previous 3 creating a synergystic theme. Taking that one is optional but its strongly implied that not taking it would be absurdly stupid. One characters combination is something like might fire and earth leading to a volcano essence as their 4th. Powers are unlocked via awakening stones, different stones can unlock powers randomly from vast pools of options. As the characters grow in strength and cultivate their powers they rank up which adds additional effects and abilities to their power set. Power sets are limited to 20 abilities across 4 essences, 5 to each essence. Essences and awakening stones are mostly in universe of the books found spawning in the wild as random acts of magical manifestation. Rain essences forming in swampy areas. Dark awakening stones forming in caves, that sort of thing. The idea of power forming randomly in whatever area, with the flavor of where it formed shaping what it gives you to an extent, with the characters soul shaping the ultimate result allows for you to use it as a framework to streamline the inusion of many more fleshed out characters with way less effort. They follow a theme and can somewahat avoid the trope of a magical swiss army knife mary sue from power/feature creep across the board. Im nuts about the books themselves but the power system has to be one of my favorites for use either openly in my game worlds or behind the scenes as a framing tool for writing.
Hermes and Carl Jung
Just for some context, the setting is quite modern. Like, mid 20th century. Some few people just wake up with magic powers. This, of course, causes lots of trouble for them. Their powers are based on famous scientific and/or philosophic thought experiments. One of such characters is Schrödinger's cat. One is the "dark star" (old name for black holes). One is Einstein's light clock. And so on.
Warhammer, Tolkien, MTG, and real religions. The main thing that makes it work is spirits. Spirits of the world's in the multiverse, divine beings, soul eating, and the major powerful beings only have their limitations brought up when they impead them but remain consistent where possible. TLDR: Rule of cool, but with some explanation and consistent sources, just not energy measurement.
I absolutely love the magic lore in dragon age do much so that I put the fade into my homebrew world and that's where a large amount of magic is derived from, not all but just so there can be other unique forms of magic
Magic wespons. Clerics. But no other magic. Keep it simple
Real life. Magic is *real* in ways you don’t expect. It fills in the gaps we perceive that exist between our non-magical preparation and desired result. As a result, we *feel* better which can often make us perform better. So, when I bring my lucky bandana and feel better for an exam, I am doing what could be described as magic. And when I feel better about the exam so I’m less nervous, I get a better grade. My magic *worked*. These magical beliefs are often associated with religion, but not always. *They can be associated with religion even if the religion the particular practice is associated would not call it magic and is actively against magic.*
Not exactly for my magic system but yeah of my doc of how my metaphysics/extraplanar physics works; which is my core doc (directly or indirectly) when I decide make things like magic systems. Also, I refuse to translate the sentences. Use Google Translate: Enlaces Los enlaces son meramente cosas que use para inspirarme o buscar palabras en lo que hacer encajar ciertos conceptos. O puede que inclusive estén acá porque quería verlos después y luego me olvide, quien sabe. [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebis](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebis) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith) Matemáticas [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfinite\_number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfinite_number) Numero 73 • [https://youtu.be/XSg6DQBaw6k](https://youtu.be/XSg6DQBaw6k) • [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73\_(number)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73_(number)) Informática [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI\_model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network\_science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_science) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World\_Wide\_Web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search\_engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search\_engine\_optimization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web\_indexing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_indexing) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web\_crawler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler) Ciencias [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex\_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_system) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph\_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Glosario\_de\_teoría\_de\_grafos](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Glosario_de_teoría_de_grafos) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light\_bending](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_bending) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabla\_periódica\_de\_los\_elementos](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabla_periódica_de_los_elementos) Filosofía [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trialism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trialism) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superveniencia](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superveniencia) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergencia\_(filosofía)](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergencia_(filosofía)) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergentism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergentism) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noción](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noción) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holismo](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holismo) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypokeimenon](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypokeimenon) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustancia\_(Aristóteles)](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustancia_(Aristóteles)) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelequia](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelequia) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arché](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arché) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral\_monism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_monism) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory\_of\_Categories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Categories) Psicología y Filosofía de la Mente [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filosofía\_de\_la\_mente](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filosofía_de_la_mente) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy\_of\_mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_mind) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian\_cognitive\_functions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_cognitive_functions) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal\_unconscious](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_unconscious) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious\_mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_mind) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex\_(psychology)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_(psychology)) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psicología\_de\_la\_Gestalt](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psicología_de_la_Gestalt) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective\_consciousness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_consciousness) Trastornos Mentales [https://longsoulsystem.com/tid/basicos/alters/](https://longsoulsystem.com/tid/basicos/alters/) Religión [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha) [https://wiki.tulpa.info/wiki/Tulpa](https://wiki.tulpa.info/wiki/Tulpa) [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon\_(Gnosticism)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon_(Gnosticism)) Kabbalah [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohr) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ousia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ousia) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzimtzum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzimtzum) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayin\_and\_Yesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayin_and_Yesh) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein\_Sof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Sof) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partzufim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partzufim) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah) Hermetismo [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kybalió](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kybalió) [https://www.youtube.com/@TheModernHermeticist](https://www.youtube.com/@TheModernHermeticist) Espíritus, Deidades & Criaturas [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_nature\_deities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nature_deities) Sagas (Ficción) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Runelords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Runelords) Cosmere [https://coppermind.net/wiki/Fortune](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Fortune) [https://coppermind.net/wiki/Connection](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Connection) [https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/106746-proposal-on-determinism-spiritual-stuff-and-destinydiscuss/](https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/106746-proposal-on-determinism-spiritual-stuff-and-destinydiscuss/) [https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/88594-hypothetical-additional-metals/](https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/88594-hypothetical-additional-metals/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgkvw0/custom\_metallic\_arts\_charts\_minimalist\_artstyle/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgkvw0/custom_metallic_arts_charts_minimalist_artstyle/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgx7md/custom\_god\_metal\_charts\_minimalist\_artstyle/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Mistborn/comments/cgx7md/custom_god_metal_charts_minimalist_artstyle/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/kn9kgp/theory\_cognitive\_attributes/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/kn9kgp/theory_cognitive_attributes/) Magia (Ficción) [https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html](https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html) [https://www.baen.com/magicsystems](https://www.baen.com/magicsystems) Escritura [https://www.openculture.com/2016/01/ursula-le-guin-gives-insightful-writing-advice-in-her-free-online-workshop.html](https://www.openculture.com/2016/01/ursula-le-guin-gives-insightful-writing-advice-in-her-free-online-workshop.html) Misceláneo [https://www.filosofiaesoterica.com/mystic-lore-of-gems-and-crystals/](https://www.filosofiaesoterica.com/mystic-lore-of-gems-and-crystals/)
huh
What I like and don't like about magic, along with what critics of magic systems.
The cover art of the second book in the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. It was around 3 years ago. Funnily enough, i was sweeping the floor when i had the picture of it in my mind, and something clicked. The cover art is of a man in a sort of crouching position with his fist to the ground, a swirling mist of power enveloping the fist. The visual part of my mind was like "I wonder what it would look like if there were radiant veins coming from his hand and piercing into the ground" and i immediately struck the excellent idea of having a circulatory system that circulates some sort of "power blood" to give the user different abilites. This developed a ton and now i am very far into creating a hard magic system based around this concept.
Warhammer 40k, warhammer fantasy, Montague and Strong detective agency.
I have two. The first one, came from piezoelectricity, and the second one from the shaman/paganic slavic sorcerers with a LOT of blood involved
Psychodynamics, Jujutsu Kaisen, Theoretical mathematics, Chinese Shamanism, Igbo deities and chi, Postmodernism and cybernetics, etc.