Crafting a magic system is an essential step to creating a distinct fantasy world for your book or homebrew RPG campaign. Even if you’re making a homebrew world for a D&D 5E campaign, crafting a unique magic system -  if it still works the same gameplay wise - can help your players feel more immersed. Making your own magic system will ensure that its rules, themes, and mechanics are designed specifically for your world, main characters, and stories. 

Where to look for inspiration for your magic system

When creating a magic system for your fantasy world, there are many places where you could find creative inspiration. For example, elements of real world science like space exploration, geology, botany, and animal behaviours might contain the spark you need. 

Alternatively, you could look at historical or cultural examples of mysticism or magic practices - such as Native American and indigenous magic use, Aboriginal magic, Romani magical history and traditions, or Haitian Voodoo practices (seek out knowledge from experts in these subjects and cultures if you can).

You can also find inspiration in the many, many examples of fictional types of magic out there: from Brandon Sanderson’s Surgebinding in The Stormlight Archive and Allomancy in the Mistborn trilogy, to elemental magic bending from the Avatar franchise, to reaching out through the Veil in the Dragon Age video game series. 

Hard magic versus soft magic - which should you choose?

Hard magic and soft magic are two very broad descriptors for different approaches to creating a magic system. 

Hard magic is a system that’s built on a set of unbending rules that shape the foundations of how magic can be used, and what magic is capable of. Sort of like the rules of the natural world or the rules of gravity, hard magic works on the understanding that these rules have to be followed by characters and/or players in your world. 

Examples of hard magic systems include the aforementioned Surgebinding in The Stormlight Archive and Allomancy in the Mistborn trilogy.

Soft magic is a system that’s much looser, wherein magic use is not bound by a set of rules that must be followed. Instead, a soft magic system is much more driven by vibes, sensations, and feelings, with less of an emphasis on where it comes from and how it works.

Examples of soft magic systems include the Force in the Star Wars universe (though there are some loose rules), magic in The Lord of the Rings and magic in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. 

Whether you choose to create a hard magic or soft magic system for your world depends on its purpose - gameplay mechanics tend to work better with hard magic systems, whilst a soft magic system is much less reliant on rules and could offer more opportunities for unbound creativity. 

Where to start with creating your magic system?

When creating your magic system, the most important question to ask yourself is how will it serve worldbuilding, character development, and storytelling? A magic system isn’t an item you tick off a fantasy checklist, it’s one of many tools you’ll use to get your audience/players invested in your world and the fantasy story told within it. 

How will your magic system enable story and character conflict? Perhaps magical powers are banned in your world, or it’s only used by a certain faction of characters, or its use is directly endangering the world and its people?

What are the core concepts behind your magic system? Is it a representation of morality (like in Star Wars), is it a means to an end, is it accessible to only a certain group of privileged magic users, does it depend on self-belief or a devotion to a certain way of life?

How does your magic system communicate key ideas within your world and stories? Themes of overcoming adversity, or the strength of supportive relationships, or the need to maintain balance?

Take time to brainstorm ideas to these questions, try writing exercises like mind mapping, writing freely without specific purpose, and collaboration with other fantasy authors or even your players. 

Where does your magic come from? 

Deciding what the sources of magic in your fantasy world are and where they originate from is an essential part of creating your own magic system. 

Determining how people access magic plays a vital part in shaping the ideas, themes, and mechanics around your magic system. 

When it comes to the origins of your magic system and how characters/players access it, there are various paths you can go down:

• Does magic stem from a pantheon of gods, spirits, or magical creatures who bestow it on people they deem worthy enough to wield it?
• Do people acquire magical abilities through an accident of birth or a process? - such as a bloodline connection, or a ritual that’s performed.
• Can people learn how to use magic through rigorous study or a trial of skill?: like individual study, tutoring, a school or master.
• Is magic acquired through a connection with a powerful force, like the natural world or an unknowable cosmic energy? Does this connection need to be nurtured, are people chosen or do they seek it?
• Maybe magic is a completely random occurrence and cannot be reliably used, with instances of sorcery being chaotic disasters.
  
  Where magic comes from in your world can greatly affect its place in it and how it affects its civilizations, societies, environments, and characters. If you have specific ideas or themes you’d like to explore in your magical world, then you should think carefully about how the origins of your magic system affect this.

How can characters and/or players use your magic?

The next thing you’ll need to decide is how characters and/or players can use your magic? This doesn’t just mean what your magic can do, but also how it’s activated, what the costs are, and the limitations of magic in your world. 

The three core concepts driving this are rules, abilities, and limitations. 

Rules define what someone needs to do in order to access magic in your world. These should be somewhat connected to the origins of your magic system, and should continue to communicate the key ideas and themes of your world. 

• Can magic be accessed through prayer, devotion, or following a way of life?
• Is magic gained through self-betterment, unlocking inner potential, and personal growth?
• Does magic happen through the strengthening of a bond or affirmation of a connection?
• Can magic only be obtained through self-sacrifice - mental or physical - or the sacrifices of others?
• Are resources required to perform magic? Or can magic be accessed through energy use?
  

Abilities are what you can do with the magic in your world - how magic affects the elements around it, and what changes it can implement. This section can be as broad or as focused as you like, with magic able to potentially cause a wide variety of effects ranging in power, or only able to affect a specific aspect of the world. 

Maybe your magic system is purely elemental? Like in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Or perhaps it can affect sentient beings through mind trickery? Maybe you can only impact certain rules of the natural world - like gravity or living creatures? Perhaps your magic system can involve everything from turning invisible, to healing, to influencing the gods?

Limitations refer to the restrictions around your magic system and the consequences for not following those restrictions. This is a crucial part of creating your magic system, as it informs the audience/players what the limits are and seals up loopholes (or even allows them), so that magic cannot be a deus ex machina, or be so powerful that it doesn’t really mean anything and there are no stakes in your world. 

What needs to be sacrificed for magic to be used? How are different wielders limited? What can’t be done with magic? Who can’t use magic? What are the consequences for pushing the limits?

How to implement your magic system in your fantasy world

Finally, you’ll need to consider how your magic system is implemented into your fantasy world. This means outlining how your magic is viewed and used by the people in your world. How accessible is magic? Can only a certain type of person or faction use it? 

Is magic widely accepted in your world? Is the use of magic completely forbidden by society or is it not used by certain groups? Is magic a powerful force that has to be handled with care by only the most experienced wielders, or are people using it to do everyday activities from baking bread to building houses? Has magic been forgotten or not even discovered just yet?

If you’re creating a magic system that’s intended for a tabletop roleplaying game campaign, you’ll also have to decide how players and non-player characters actually interact with the gameplay mechanics around magic. You could use an existing system with your own unique lore coat of paint, or you could alter a system that you like - such as the action and spell slot system in DnD 5E or the percentile system from Call of Cthulhu?

You could also create your own original gameplay rules specifically designed for your type of magic system, allowing you to ensure that your chosen themes and ideas are fully communicated through the mechanics as well as the lore. 

You don’t have to make a hugely complicated system either, you could require players to collect and spend a certain resource to use magic, or have access to a limited source of energy that needs to be replenished every day, or even require them to engage in some creative storytelling to cast magic.

Whatever kind of magic system you choose to create, you can do so easily with LegendKeeper’s comprehensive worldbuilding platform including: 

• Wiki pages for explaining the requirements for casting magic 
• Timelines for sketching out a history of magic usage in your world 
• Maps for labelling where magic usage is allowed and where it’s forbidden
• Tools for safely sharing information with players or a writing group
• And much more….
  
  Unlock your free trial of LegendKeeper today, or sign up for an account right now to start creating your magic system.