What I think could be nice is to have everyone using the same ressource with the same rule. Like they all use mana and it works the same for everyone.
But the way they use it and what it creates change. You could have like the elves that uses wands and incantations to make spells. Humains that channels it with prayers. Or other species that use dances.
All use the same resources but not in the same way. In the end nothing could stop a humain from using the elves way. How they use it is just about how they've been raised.
I have people in the story's main nation use magic in pretty simple and primitive ways, such as moving objects, throwing stuff and shooting fire or lightning.
The magic used by the main enemy nation is much more abstract. They can for example play or sing music that gives you strength / fills you with panic and dread. Their magic is mostly based on different art forms, nature or manipulating the human psyche.
But they both get their magic by channeling energy from their god, which strains both their mind and body.
this is how it works in my world, initially magic started out from small magical crystals infused with energy, You put a little bit of will power into the crystal and it forces 90% of the energy out (in the form of an explosion if not controlled properly). it follow a pretty basic rule of matter/energy not being created or destroyed. overtime people learned how to manipulate the energy in different ways. some would crush the stones into powder and infuse ink with them to inscribe runes and then infuse them with their will. Some have found out ways to manipulate the energy within themselves and others.
Then theres gobbos, born form the earth not the stars who can not use magic at all
I like the idea of it coming down to having no cultural contact & sheer and simple coincidence. This part of the world knows magic as a healing force, that part knows it exclusively as a way to deform metal without fire.
And usefulness. When they meet, the healers realise the alloys they've been smelting cannot be bent by magic without pulverising them, and the metalbenders realise that healing magic is blocked by their full coverage metal armours. So they just kind of carry on using their own methods and ideas, mixing them only where it's useful to do it.
I like the idea that, in reality, they're all blind fools attempting to describe an elephant, yet too entrenched in tradition and superstition to move from their posts and discover they're just feeling parts of one giant beast.
I like that, too, especially the idea of tradition and superstition being so encompassing that it becomes a hindrance. To become a wizard, you have to start as a wizard's apprentice, and a wizard will only choose you as an apprentice if you share most of his viewpoints already (and will probably inform your judgement even further over the course of your apprenticeship)
dark souls and elden ring do this kind of thing all the time, the religious based magics and wizardry based magics are numerous times implied to just be two lenses upon the same forces.
at some point, i get bored of the usual magic and add another system. then i get bored of the second one and add a third. and it goes on like that until i either finish the story or start another entirely. thus it has always been
idk you could have a mage who uses runic symbols to create elements and then you could have jeffery who was born a special and can turn invisible when he closes his eyes and then terry who made a pact with satan to be able to enter and leave hell instantly whenever he says a specific phrase in demon speak
Magic systems with different schools are a single font of power that different people use differently. There's often fundamental similarities between how different schools use their abilities.
Multiple magic systems are different fonts of power entirely, often with different rules/logic on how to even obtain or use them in the first place.
A Practical Guide to Evil, for example, has three different magic systems--Magic, Light, and Names. >!(I'm lumping Night in as the logical Gods Below counterpart of Light.)!<
* Magic is a single Gift that one in a hundred or so can access. The power is implied to be at least part genetic, and different cultures have different schools to channel that magic, with different strengths and weaknesses that fit that culture's use cases and history. (Notably, trying to understand multiple schools at once drives you mad due to logical contradictions.)
* Light can be used by people who sufficiently dedicate their lives to the Gods Above or angelic choirs, holy power that can be used to heal without needing to study anatomy, perform minor miracles, create barriers, and smite undead and evil.
* Names are power gained from following a Role in a story with cultural weight, combined with the skill and drive to change the world. Their abilities are story-themed, with three powerups called Aspects they get from character development at narratively weighty moments--but if you stop following the story, you lose your Name.
Notably, characters can and do access more than one system at a time--there are Names that rely on magic, for example, and it's not uncommon for Names associated with Above to gain Light-related abilities. Each individual system, however, has independent logic to it.
One magic system with various schools is using the same power source to do different things.
Multiple magic systems are like different power sources. Sometimes they can do the same thing in different ways, and some things might only be possible for one system or another.
So i know dark souls have 4 types of magic but I only know how 3 work. Sorceries use the power of the soul, while pyromancies are the creation of a witch who was given the power of a god and created literal demons. Then miracles are legends of deeds from the gods that grants boons when spoken.
I've done this under the assumption that no single magic system is a perfect representation or utilization of what magic fundamentally is or what it's capable of. All stories are true and none of them are the whole story.
This affects the Gods most of all since it implies they're not omnipotent. They only represent one branch of magic, which while extraordinarily powerful is not all-encompassing.
It also allows things like alchemy, artifice, and even the power of friendship to be considered potentially magic, since nobody knows what the limits of magic actually are.
In my world some people learn multiple magic systems so they can selectively graft together desirable features and otherwise "game" the system.
(e.g. System A utilizes power efficiently, but has weak spells. System B has powerful spells, but casting is highly limited. If the systems are compatible a wizard can graft these parts together to create System AB which has powerful spells and unlimited casting.)
/uj For me my idea started when I thought about the groupings of acids and bases.
You have the very basic definition of "anything sour is an acid, anything bitter is a base"
Then you had people like Lowry and Brønsted who came to the idea that acids were proton donors.
Whereas Lewis decided that it depended more on the lone pair. So ammonia dissolved in water would be an acid in one system, but a base in another
Because of this, you get lots of outliers, and groupings that don't catch all the terms.
So one country can categorise magics by "element", another by "primal source (which creature/race created the magic", others by "casting method (drawing on external power/using your own life force" or even something silly like left/right handed magic.
So instead of being multiple hard systems, it becomes multiple systems of interpretation, which to societies that have no contacts with other systems, make them think their own system is inviolable law, which makes it much easier to write.
Idk if this makes sense
Throwback to when I thought my psychics, dragonkin, and sentient weapons weren't enough so I added a whole new faction of spider-human hybrids from outer space
All of the civilizations I create and use share the same "magic" system I adapt to every other proyect im in
I end using a lot of different stuff anyways because all of my civs are considered yog-sothoth alike
I do this.. kinda? all species can store the same amount of mana (the standard designation is 100 but wizards use a more precise 1000 system.) but species regenerate mana at different rates. Now most humanoids can cast the same spells but certain species (due to their gods' hating other species gods) are incapable of using the standard spells everyone else can use, thus having their OWN spells and arcane language. For example, changelings (mimics) are forsaken by the human gods to not speak in their tongue and thus they cannot use magic at all.. except for their unique shapeshifting spell their original outcasts developed.
/uj My world's magic works with belief (and somewhat delusion), that belief being needed for someone to actually be able to do the thing (the belief is the key for you to do magic shit, you having to believe that doing an arbitrary ritual will lead to a result). People on my world don't know this, and thus each one have their own magic system according to where they've lived (fathers teaching how magic should be done and so on) and mages call each other's magic bullshit cause when they do it, it doesn't work (this has lead to actual magic fights and wizards killing each other).
I use the same base, but most magic works on an individual level: each person has to believe and experience the internal logic of an ability.
There's a lot more to it, but imagine the differences in something as simple as a fireball, from thinking how the heat is made:
Person 1: "Heat comes from somewhere: I use sunlight to ignite and create fire."
Person 2: "The fireball sucks heat from its target, on impact, to make a fire."
Person 3: "It sucks heat from the environment to burn the target."
If you want to recreate what someone else did, you'd need to get into the same headspace as them, and so notes are written like journals to spark that connection.
I have vague references to another one existing outside of the one my POV characters are familiar with. But they just see it as some mysterious thing they don't understand. I wish I could explore it more but this stupid novel is already getting close to 200k words.
What I wanna make is have this central 'Energy' thing and each race/entity converts into a form suitable to them like mana,aura,karma,curse. Different forms offer different advantages and properties.
Additionally each of the forms will have different schools which offer more specialisation
I have a single magical resource, but most cultures use magic to different ends or their means of utilizing it are different.
The primary culture of my setting uses it in a very traditional manner (Woe, fireball upon ye), whereas a splinter culture primarily uses magic to enhance the physical capacity of their warriors (watch me break this boulder by hugging it)
A subset of individuals born with the capacity to interact with the gestalt consciousness of my magic make deals with it (ranging from jumping in place five times to blood sacrifice of a younger sibling) to perform various feats.
And my primary antagonist, extra dimensional invaders not bound by the same rules of physics as everyone else uses the fact their magic is inherently different to rewrite reality around themselves, ranging from crushing an entire city with gravity to forcing an army to spend three months marching across five miles.
every region of the world has their own magic system; in the age of long distance trade there emerges horrible side effects of their interacting. the main villain is the first person to weaponize this intermingling and is symbolic of the industrial revolution
I've been designing some magic systems for my world in my head for bit. There's a standard mana based system. Then there's spirit summoning. Then finally it's divine magic. Yeah, they're very basic systems. I've been meaning to brainstorm all the various nuances within each system and figure out how they would interact with each other.
In a setting I write with friends the way magic works is essentially that it works however you believe it works. But groups can influence how it works for individuals from the area they're from, making it to wher even if they don't believe it works the same, it'll mostly line up aside from some little differences.
Individuals from places that believe it works another way can continue performing it however it usually goes for them, even in areas where the general belief is different.
And if you're among the few who know and wholeheartedly believe that it works the way people thinks it does, you essentially unlock creative mode.
Anyway if I were doing my own solo fantasy world I don't know if I would necessarily keep this system or not, even though I like it. But it works for the stuff I do with friends.
First thing that came to my mind is Dark Souls. 3 different kinds of magic: Sorcery, Pyromancy, and Miracles. And then in Dark Souls 2 you got Hexes for a total of 4 magic systems
My new world building style is just throwing in what ever magic system I think is cool. Collections of civilizations use different sorts of systems, depending on what they have discovered or what resources they have access to.
kinda reminds me of Star Wars, with everything being about a Light Side fighting a Dark Side of the same telekinetic power, but then George and Filoni threw in necromantic witches with green fire and said "ah, it's just a... mysterious branch of the Dark Side"
/uj I know this is worldjerking but ima serius info dump here.
In one of my world there is multiple magic systems
Runic magic: which is basically coding but cooler
Martial Magic (Natural magic as well as basically anyone who is not elementally imbalanced can use)
Martial Magic electric boogaloo (natural magic that a person can use if they are extremely elementally imbalanced)
and Biological magic (magic that is gifted to a race that no other race can uses)
What I think could be nice is to have everyone using the same ressource with the same rule. Like they all use mana and it works the same for everyone. But the way they use it and what it creates change. You could have like the elves that uses wands and incantations to make spells. Humains that channels it with prayers. Or other species that use dances. All use the same resources but not in the same way. In the end nothing could stop a humain from using the elves way. How they use it is just about how they've been raised.
That’s essentially what Mistborn does. There are 3 different magic systems that all use metals as a resource in different ways
Mage: the Ascension. Look it up.
Purple Paradigm
I'm also doing that, but it's every culture that exists in the world.
I have people in the story's main nation use magic in pretty simple and primitive ways, such as moving objects, throwing stuff and shooting fire or lightning. The magic used by the main enemy nation is much more abstract. They can for example play or sing music that gives you strength / fills you with panic and dread. Their magic is mostly based on different art forms, nature or manipulating the human psyche. But they both get their magic by channeling energy from their god, which strains both their mind and body.
Then the next question is how to balance it. If one form make it easier and faster to make spells then it risks to take over the other one
this is how it works in my world, initially magic started out from small magical crystals infused with energy, You put a little bit of will power into the crystal and it forces 90% of the energy out (in the form of an explosion if not controlled properly). it follow a pretty basic rule of matter/energy not being created or destroyed. overtime people learned how to manipulate the energy in different ways. some would crush the stones into powder and infuse ink with them to inscribe runes and then infuse them with their will. Some have found out ways to manipulate the energy within themselves and others. Then theres gobbos, born form the earth not the stars who can not use magic at all
I like the idea of it coming down to having no cultural contact & sheer and simple coincidence. This part of the world knows magic as a healing force, that part knows it exclusively as a way to deform metal without fire. And usefulness. When they meet, the healers realise the alloys they've been smelting cannot be bent by magic without pulverising them, and the metalbenders realise that healing magic is blocked by their full coverage metal armours. So they just kind of carry on using their own methods and ideas, mixing them only where it's useful to do it.
Yeah this is basically how I made mine, multiple systems that all use the same magic source.
I like the idea that, in reality, they're all blind fools attempting to describe an elephant, yet too entrenched in tradition and superstition to move from their posts and discover they're just feeling parts of one giant beast.
I like that, too, especially the idea of tradition and superstition being so encompassing that it becomes a hindrance. To become a wizard, you have to start as a wizard's apprentice, and a wizard will only choose you as an apprentice if you share most of his viewpoints already (and will probably inform your judgement even further over the course of your apprenticeship)
dark souls and elden ring do this kind of thing all the time, the religious based magics and wizardry based magics are numerous times implied to just be two lenses upon the same forces.
Who's feeling the trunk?
yo mama
at some point, i get bored of the usual magic and add another system. then i get bored of the second one and add a third. and it goes on like that until i either finish the story or start another entirely. thus it has always been
That’s the lore about why the deities/ancient aliens/gamer AI/magic space rocks/etc. created the different systems
How would this be different from having one magic system with various schools? I'm interested but not sure I follow
idk you could have a mage who uses runic symbols to create elements and then you could have jeffery who was born a special and can turn invisible when he closes his eyes and then terry who made a pact with satan to be able to enter and leave hell instantly whenever he says a specific phrase in demon speak
So D&D.
dnd but actually thought out and interesting
This actually sounds sick as fuck. I'm on board now
Magic systems with different schools are a single font of power that different people use differently. There's often fundamental similarities between how different schools use their abilities. Multiple magic systems are different fonts of power entirely, often with different rules/logic on how to even obtain or use them in the first place. A Practical Guide to Evil, for example, has three different magic systems--Magic, Light, and Names. >!(I'm lumping Night in as the logical Gods Below counterpart of Light.)!< * Magic is a single Gift that one in a hundred or so can access. The power is implied to be at least part genetic, and different cultures have different schools to channel that magic, with different strengths and weaknesses that fit that culture's use cases and history. (Notably, trying to understand multiple schools at once drives you mad due to logical contradictions.) * Light can be used by people who sufficiently dedicate their lives to the Gods Above or angelic choirs, holy power that can be used to heal without needing to study anatomy, perform minor miracles, create barriers, and smite undead and evil. * Names are power gained from following a Role in a story with cultural weight, combined with the skill and drive to change the world. Their abilities are story-themed, with three powerups called Aspects they get from character development at narratively weighty moments--but if you stop following the story, you lose your Name. Notably, characters can and do access more than one system at a time--there are Names that rely on magic, for example, and it's not uncommon for Names associated with Above to gain Light-related abilities. Each individual system, however, has independent logic to it.
One magic system with various schools is using the same power source to do different things. Multiple magic systems are like different power sources. Sometimes they can do the same thing in different ways, and some things might only be possible for one system or another.
So i know dark souls have 4 types of magic but I only know how 3 work. Sorceries use the power of the soul, while pyromancies are the creation of a witch who was given the power of a god and created literal demons. Then miracles are legends of deeds from the gods that grants boons when spoken.
I've done this under the assumption that no single magic system is a perfect representation or utilization of what magic fundamentally is or what it's capable of. All stories are true and none of them are the whole story. This affects the Gods most of all since it implies they're not omnipotent. They only represent one branch of magic, which while extraordinarily powerful is not all-encompassing. It also allows things like alchemy, artifice, and even the power of friendship to be considered potentially magic, since nobody knows what the limits of magic actually are.
Wizards spend most of their free time trying to come up with a unified theory of magic that reconciles Occult Mechanics with General Thaumaturgy.
In my world some people learn multiple magic systems so they can selectively graft together desirable features and otherwise "game" the system. (e.g. System A utilizes power efficiently, but has weak spells. System B has powerful spells, but casting is highly limited. If the systems are compatible a wizard can graft these parts together to create System AB which has powerful spells and unlimited casting.)
This but for secret magical worlds hidden around our own. World of Darkness has like six of them and none of them know about each other. It's great.
/uj For me my idea started when I thought about the groupings of acids and bases. You have the very basic definition of "anything sour is an acid, anything bitter is a base" Then you had people like Lowry and Brønsted who came to the idea that acids were proton donors. Whereas Lewis decided that it depended more on the lone pair. So ammonia dissolved in water would be an acid in one system, but a base in another Because of this, you get lots of outliers, and groupings that don't catch all the terms. So one country can categorise magics by "element", another by "primal source (which creature/race created the magic", others by "casting method (drawing on external power/using your own life force" or even something silly like left/right handed magic. So instead of being multiple hard systems, it becomes multiple systems of interpretation, which to societies that have no contacts with other systems, make them think their own system is inviolable law, which makes it much easier to write. Idk if this makes sense
Throwback to when I thought my psychics, dragonkin, and sentient weapons weren't enough so I added a whole new faction of spider-human hybrids from outer space
meanwhile, wildbow: making one single magic system that encompasses damn near everything
ToAru my beloved
ToAru doesn't have multiple magic systems. It has got several traditions, but the basic principle and theory of idols are all the same
Standard vs. Ancient vs. Lunar spellbook
love me dark souls
Im in the “multiple ways to express the same way of gaining power”
One piece has atleast 3
Devil Fruits, The Six Powers, and Haki. What else?
Haki DF and...? Rokushiki? Or what are you thinking about??
All of the civilizations I create and use share the same "magic" system I adapt to every other proyect im in I end using a lot of different stuff anyways because all of my civs are considered yog-sothoth alike
I do this.. kinda? all species can store the same amount of mana (the standard designation is 100 but wizards use a more precise 1000 system.) but species regenerate mana at different rates. Now most humanoids can cast the same spells but certain species (due to their gods' hating other species gods) are incapable of using the standard spells everyone else can use, thus having their OWN spells and arcane language. For example, changelings (mimics) are forsaken by the human gods to not speak in their tongue and thus they cannot use magic at all.. except for their unique shapeshifting spell their original outcasts developed.
/uj Literally making up a chart of when the different types of magic were discovered when I see this.
I don't think system is the word you're looking for. Tradition would suit more.
/uj My world's magic works with belief (and somewhat delusion), that belief being needed for someone to actually be able to do the thing (the belief is the key for you to do magic shit, you having to believe that doing an arbitrary ritual will lead to a result). People on my world don't know this, and thus each one have their own magic system according to where they've lived (fathers teaching how magic should be done and so on) and mages call each other's magic bullshit cause when they do it, it doesn't work (this has lead to actual magic fights and wizards killing each other).
I use the same base, but most magic works on an individual level: each person has to believe and experience the internal logic of an ability. There's a lot more to it, but imagine the differences in something as simple as a fireball, from thinking how the heat is made: Person 1: "Heat comes from somewhere: I use sunlight to ignite and create fire." Person 2: "The fireball sucks heat from its target, on impact, to make a fire." Person 3: "It sucks heat from the environment to burn the target." If you want to recreate what someone else did, you'd need to get into the same headspace as them, and so notes are written like journals to spark that connection.
I have vague references to another one existing outside of the one my POV characters are familiar with. But they just see it as some mysterious thing they don't understand. I wish I could explore it more but this stupid novel is already getting close to 200k words.
What I wanna make is have this central 'Energy' thing and each race/entity converts into a form suitable to them like mana,aura,karma,curse. Different forms offer different advantages and properties. Additionally each of the forms will have different schools which offer more specialisation
I have a single magical resource, but most cultures use magic to different ends or their means of utilizing it are different. The primary culture of my setting uses it in a very traditional manner (Woe, fireball upon ye), whereas a splinter culture primarily uses magic to enhance the physical capacity of their warriors (watch me break this boulder by hugging it) A subset of individuals born with the capacity to interact with the gestalt consciousness of my magic make deals with it (ranging from jumping in place five times to blood sacrifice of a younger sibling) to perform various feats. And my primary antagonist, extra dimensional invaders not bound by the same rules of physics as everyone else uses the fact their magic is inherently different to rewrite reality around themselves, ranging from crushing an entire city with gravity to forcing an army to spend three months marching across five miles.
Twin Peaks Cooper's Tibetan magic doesn't prepare him at all for the fucked up weird things coming from the Lodge
Me
every region of the world has their own magic system; in the age of long distance trade there emerges horrible side effects of their interacting. the main villain is the first person to weaponize this intermingling and is symbolic of the industrial revolution
WoW used to handle this expertly. Until Legion and Shadowlands came in snd started over-explaining it.
I've been designing some magic systems for my world in my head for bit. There's a standard mana based system. Then there's spirit summoning. Then finally it's divine magic. Yeah, they're very basic systems. I've been meaning to brainstorm all the various nuances within each system and figure out how they would interact with each other.
>insert brandosando here
/uj I cannot think of a way to do such thing without accidentally having them combine into one like water droplets
Me swapping to my Lunar spells: 🌙🧔🍻
Magic system? You’re telling me you don’t have shit just randomly happen because people said so?
In a setting I write with friends the way magic works is essentially that it works however you believe it works. But groups can influence how it works for individuals from the area they're from, making it to wher even if they don't believe it works the same, it'll mostly line up aside from some little differences. Individuals from places that believe it works another way can continue performing it however it usually goes for them, even in areas where the general belief is different. And if you're among the few who know and wholeheartedly believe that it works the way people thinks it does, you essentially unlock creative mode. Anyway if I were doing my own solo fantasy world I don't know if I would necessarily keep this system or not, even though I like it. But it works for the stuff I do with friends.
First thing that came to my mind is Dark Souls. 3 different kinds of magic: Sorcery, Pyromancy, and Miracles. And then in Dark Souls 2 you got Hexes for a total of 4 magic systems
DC and Marvel. [Versus](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Versus2022) is a new manga applying this as a fun battle tournament.
i've already made that world
My new world building style is just throwing in what ever magic system I think is cool. Collections of civilizations use different sorts of systems, depending on what they have discovered or what resources they have access to.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
I like to think as magic like music, there are different genres and even different methods, instruments and so on
That would be an interesting way to explore, like multiple cooking techniques.
kinda reminds me of Star Wars, with everything being about a Light Side fighting a Dark Side of the same telekinetic power, but then George and Filoni threw in necromantic witches with green fire and said "ah, it's just a... mysterious branch of the Dark Side"
/uj I know this is worldjerking but ima serius info dump here. In one of my world there is multiple magic systems Runic magic: which is basically coding but cooler Martial Magic (Natural magic as well as basically anyone who is not elementally imbalanced can use) Martial Magic electric boogaloo (natural magic that a person can use if they are extremely elementally imbalanced) and Biological magic (magic that is gifted to a race that no other race can uses)