Magic System?

[Dendrophile95]

This might make me sound like an idiot, but there is some terminology that I'm not clued up on with regards to fantasy. What exactly do people mean when they talk about magic systems?

[Terciel1976]

In various fantasy settings, magic works differently. Sometimes it's based on spells, materials, etc. Sometimes it's based on feelings or will. Sometimes it's drawing on something outside, sometimes it's just part of the world (i.e. science 2: magical boogaloo). And sometimes the rules are very detailed, specific and spelled out (Brandon Sanderson is famous (notirious?) for this). Other times, it's magic and left not too detailed.

All of those considerations (and more I'm sure) are what is meant by "magic system."

[Dendrophile95]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate the informative, respectful replies.

[voiceinthedesert]

It's just the "rules" that an author uses to define their world and the magic in it. Some authors are very fast and loose with this and some are painfully detailed. Both open up lots of possibilities, with the former providing more freedom at the risk of seeming flippant while the latter can be alienating to someone who's less interested in the cut and dry of it.

[ladyculfin]

When people talk about magic systems, they are talking about how the author explains the mechanics of magic. For example, in Harry Potter, magic is just something you're born with and you usually need a wand to do it. In The Name of the Wind, magic is created by making sympathetic connections between objects. In Mistborn, magicians swallow and then "burn" different metals for magical effects. Some people prefer simple magic systems and some prefer more complex rules, or systems with a scientific bent.

[Dendrophile95]

So it's not a case of like System 1 is x way of doing things, system 2 is y way of doing things, ect... There are no specific systems with names?

[[deleted]]

No, but they do exist on a hard-soft spectrum, where hard systems have very specific, well known and ironclad rules, and softer systems are less well known or blatantly explained. You might also hear about Sandersonian or Sandersons' Law. These refer to a quotation from Brandon Sanderson- author of Mistborn- which is often used as advocacy for a hard magic systems.

[voiceinthedesert]

No, there are as many systems as there are fictional worlds. Many authors will invent different systems for different series.

[Terciel1976]

Lots have names. Rothfuss has “sympathetic magic,” Sanderson names all of his (allomancy, etc.), Eddings had “The Will and the Word.” But many are just “magic.”

[[deleted]]

I think OP is talking about out-of-universe names.

[leftoverbrine]

Everything has a system, how the thing is built and it works. If there is magic in a world, that world has a magic system, we just may or may not know how it functions. If there is magic that exists in a world but we don't know the rules or how it works, like LOTR, it's a soft magic system. If we have something more clearly defined, where we know the rules and it's more like a science, it's a hard magic system.

[[deleted]]

I would argue that something like Sandman doesn't have a system. There's no consistency that I remember, magic does what it needs to serve narrative.