My husband wrote a Business for Breakfast book about World-Building Space Opera. Recently, while we were going for a drive (as we do) and talking about the next B4B book he’s writing, he asked me if I’d consider writing a business book on how to create magic systems.
I thought about it and decided that it wasn’t as big of a topic. Instead, I’m going to try to cover it all in a long(ish) essay.
One note: There are exceptions to everything I say here. I’ll try to include those as well. I don’t want to come across as saying that there is only one way to do a magic system. Obviously, there are many, many ways to portray magic. This is just to give you some general bullet points to follow.
Geography
For me, almost all world-building starts with the world. What is the geography? Are they a desert people, so their spells are sand-based? Are they a dessert people, so it’s all about sugar? Geography shapes people. If your magicians are set on an archipelago of islands, having spells that involve lots of land mass don’t make any sense. Ditto if they’re from someplace that’s landlocked, they might not have many sea spells.
Perhaps your desert people use spells to find water, to accumulate water, or to destroy an enemy’s water. So put them in a rainforest, and they’re suddenly going to feel useless. (Good way to introduce character conflict.)
So the first thing to think about is your geography, and how that influences your magic system.
Or even, if that influences your magic system.
It may be that your particular magic system isn’t nature-based. Perhaps all the spells that people cast are more ability-based. I read a book where the magic was almost scientifically described, in that it all was based on sine waves and frequencies. In that case, you still might have some more nature-based spells, but frequently, they’ll be more general. This has advantages as well as disadvantages, like all systems.
Power
Usually, all magic comes from some sort of power source. Is it internal, external, or some combination of the two? (There are stories where everyone has some level of magic, or the land itself is magical, so this isn’t as much of an issue.) You’ll need to figure out if there’s a lot of available power so magic is easy, or if there’s only a very small amount of power (or it’s difficult to obtain) so magic is hard.
Once you’ve figured out the power source, you need to answer the question of whether it’s waxing, waning, or maintaining. Is the magic getting stronger, weaker, or is it not really an issue for your story?
This is for magic systems that have people doing magic. We’ll get into artifacts and enchanted items later.
Cost
I strongly believe that all magic has a cost. Sure, maybe your character can throw fireballs at an oncoming army. However, then they need to sleep for three days. Or they can throw one fireball, but that’s the only one of those that they get for the day. Or perhaps there’s a very high cost for strong magic. Simple cantrips don’t cost anything, but the bigger magic carves out a piece of your soul until there’s nothing left but a ghoul. Maybe spells can only be cast after chanting undisturbed for fifteen minutes, which makes it difficult to fight and cast. Perhaps every spell needs specific ingredients, and while some of the simpler spells can make use of easy to obtain ingredients, more powerful spells require rare reagents?
One of my favorite systems was based on ancestral worship. The character prayed to their ancestors for aid in whatever they were doing. What happened next was always random luck. The ancestors may not have listened. They may have heard and decided that the character isn’t worth helping. Maybe they heard and believe the ask is stupid, so the magic they grant deliberately backfires. Or perhaps they hear the pleas, agree with the cause, and the character becomes godlike for a short while. Hell of a cost, but sometimes it might be worth it.
Magic Items
Are there magic items in your world? If so, are they permanently enchanted, or will the spell die with the enchanter? Are they general-use items, like an amulet that increases power, or single-use items, like a ring that generates a shield?
I find this question a lot of fun and play with different combinations of all of the above.
You could also have a magic system where people have no magical ability themselves. All magic is granted by items, which happen to be rare because they’re difficult and expensive to make. Or perhaps items are easy to enchant, like for lights and things, but serious items are harder? You can take it wherever you like. It’s your world after all.
Acceptance
How accepted is magic in your world? Is it common so everyone has it and the magically inclined are accepted? Is magic perceived as evil, so those who have it have to hide their abilities? Is it class-based, so that only the rich people are supposed to have magic and the poor people are killed if they are found to have magical abilities? Is it based on the race of the person, so that Elves have magic and Humans don’t? So a Human with magic would be hunted not just by the Elves (who want to kill the character) as well as other Humans (who want to use the character for their evil deeds?)
Is magic just a dirty little secret hidden in a family, so you can do magic at home but not out in the rest of the world? Is it so accepted that the character is considered weird if they don’t have and use magic regularly? This is tied somewhat to the amount of power in the world, but just because a lot of people can do magic doesn’t mean that it would be accepted.
Familiars and Other Critters
Does the magic in your system require Human-level intelligence and consciousness? Or can critters who aren’t necessarily conscious or intelligent in Human ways also have magic? Perhaps everything in your world has magic, including the horses that people ride as well as the sheep they sheer and the goats that they hunt. A magical goat might be able to jump unbelievable distances to get away when they’re being stalked. A lion might be able to put its prey to sleep before attacking. Or maybe it’s just the small magic of cats being able to hide in plain sight or appear out of nowhere.
In addition to other critters having magic, there’s the concept of a familiar, that is, a magical creature that aids your primary character. (Though I have also read stories told from the point of view of the familiar, not their Human sidekick…) If you decide to have familiars, how you portray them requires some thought.
Are they intelligent in their own right? They might not be—they might only have ferret intelligence and not Human levels. How do they help the primary spellcaster? Are they a battery for storing power? Do they have their own initiative and cast their own spells?
How connected is your familiar to the spellcaster? If the familiar is injured, is the spellcaster also hurt? Is there a telepathic bond, or do they have to come up with their conversational shorthand? Is it a form of slavery, or is it freely chosen by the familiar?
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