"Magic is what makes fantasy fantastic," someone says, "you can't apply rules to them or else it loses wonder!" I respond, "Sure, but if you want to write them you will certainly want to know how they work." Writing is all about execution, and I find applying some basic laws of physics to magic systems make them more understandable and realistic. Here, I'm going to outline my basic method for developing a magic system.
Column by Chaos2651
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2015-10-21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 3355 |
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2015-10-24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 7522 |
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2015-10-28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2799 |
2015-10-29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 3725 |
2015-10-30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 4497 |
2015-10-31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 4994 |
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August 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 169257 |
July 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 96768 |
June 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 74616 |
May 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 107147 |
April 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 75513 |
March 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 76151 |
February 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 67885 |
January 2015 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 34 | 79366 |
2014 | 1041 | 1111 | 860 | 41 | 790554 |
December 2014 | 2 | 44 | 0 | 41 | 76288 |
November 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 80240 |
October 2014 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 93043 |
September 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 79876 |
August 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 74496 |
July 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 74164 |
June 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 77316 |
May 2014 | 329 | 338 | 0 | 22 | 91113 |
April 2014 | 676 | 695 | 807 | 30 | 123613 |
March 2014 | 33 | 33 | 53 | 22 | 20405 |
2011 | 451 | 4204 | 2657 | 179 | 2649220 |
August 2011 | 50 | 395 | 281 | 65 | 201977 |
July 2011 | 46 | 411 | 351 | 74 | 375151 |
June 2011 | 36 | 554 | 371 | 70 | 461234 |
May 2011 | 30 | 406 | 368 | 179 | 359679 |
April 2011 | 59 | 530 | 386 | 65 | 289880 |
March 2011 | 65 | 673 | 306 | 96 | 305952 |
February 2011 | 104 | 466 | 272 | 78 | 316837 |
January 2011 | 61 | 769 | 322 | 49 | 338510 |
2010 | 685 | 12959 | 1813 | 96 | 3020933 |
December 2010 | 41 | 348 | 191 | 44 | 168663 |
November 2010 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 143309 |
October 2010 | 48 | 1084 | 121 | 55 | 312038 |
September 2010 | 140 | 2607 | 229 | 96 | 389034 |
August 2010 | 56 | 952 | 164 | 68 | 265267 |
July 2010 | 41 | 1002 | 153 | 80 | 268957 |
June 2010 | 63 | 1247 | 167 | 47 | 225113 |
May 2010 | 53 | 832 | 152 | 55 | 204781 |
April 2010 | 47 | 1006 | 140 | 70 | 223892 |
March 2010 | 59 | 1020 | 181 | 51 | 235681 |
February 2010 | 68 | 1074 | 167 | 72 | 271413 |
January 2010 | 69 | 1787 | 148 | 42 | 312785 |
2009 | 944 | 24786 | 752 | 77 | 4790016 |
December 2009 | 60 | 1416 | 208 | 48 | 548442 |
November 2009 | 60 | 1496 | 84 | 44 | 304379 |
October 2009 | 46 | 1220 | 51 | 61 | 402093 |
September 2009 | 63 | 1260 | 41 | 53 | 484818 |
August 2009 | 91 | 1934 | 49 | 55 | 493464 |
July 2009 | 68 | 1716 | 55 | 53 | 353402 |
2009-07-01 | 6 | 59 | 0 | 40 | 13863 |
2009-07-02 | 1 | 56 | 3 | 42 | 15169 |
2009-07-03 | 5 | 51 | 2 | 36 | 9315 |
2009-07-04 | 0 | 48 | 3 | 36 | 6111 |
2009-07-05 | 3 | 51 | 1 | 40 | 8188 |
2009-07-06 | 2 | 72 | 0 | 39 | 8620 |
2009-07-07 | 1 | 83 | 2 | 33 | 9700 |
2009-07-08 | 1 | 94 | 2 | 40 | 10719 |
2009-07-09 | 5 | 106 | 3 | 53 | 12536 |
2009-07-10 | 2 | 74 | 5 | 45 | 10354 |
2009-07-11 | 0 | 51 | 2 | 31 | 8950 |
2009-07-12 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 34 | 8829 |
2009-07-13 | 3 | 79 | 3 | 37 | 8772 |
2009-07-14 | 3 | 86 | 0 | 44 | 13331 |
2009-07-15 | 3 | 55 | 4 | 41 | 20738 |
2009-07-16 | 2 | 48 | 3 | 29 | 17725 |
2009-07-17 | 1 | 28 | 0 | 31 | 14434 |
2009-07-18 | 1 | 64 | 0 | 28 | 19952 |
2009-07-19 | 2 | 47 | 0 | 27 | 19946 |
2009-07-20 | 9 | 109 | 3 | 43 | 10119 |
2009-07-21 | 4 | 76 | 2 | 34 | 14890 |
2009-07-22 | 1 | 50 | 3 | 34 | 7979 |
2009-07-23 | 1 | 60 | 4 | 40 | 8877 |
2009-07-24 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 27 | 10945 |
2009-07-25 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 19 | 5371 |
2009-07-26 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 22 | 5493 |
2009-07-27 | 3 | 28 | 0 | 34 | 8095 |
2009-07-28 | 1 | 42 | 3 | 27 | 9819 |
2009-07-29 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 33 | 7204 |
2009-07-30 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 28 | 8080 |
2009-07-31 | 1 | 49 | 2 | 27 | 19278 |
June 2009 | 99 | 2516 | 70 | 49 | 406555 |
May 2009 | 121 | 2554 | 38 | 40 | 417812 |
April 2009 | 98 | 3558 | 37 | 48 | 394284 |
March 2009 | 91 | 2648 | 43 | 77 | 348066 |
February 2009 | 77 | 1742 | 30 | 41 | 343533 |
January 2009 | 70 | 2726 | 46 | 42 | 293168 |
2008 | 705 | 19322 | 565 | 91 | 3659957 |
December 2008 | 81 | 3784 | 50 | 36 | 382694 |
November 2008 | 71 | 2723 | 66 | 51 | 329589 |
October 2008 | 81 | 2196 | 87 | 54 | 374346 |
September 2008 | 88 | 2859 | 43 | 77 | 349760 |
August 2008 | 73 | 1667 | 65 | 91 | 171621 |
July 2008 | 49 | 1191 | 37 | 49 | 366893 |
June 2008 | 34 | 611 | 38 | 35 | 436615 |
May 2008 | 33 | 807 | 21 | 35 | 349100 |
April 2008 | 47 | 1024 | 34 | 56 | 254165 |
March 2008 | 43 | 780 | 37 | 27 | 168977 |
February 2008 | 45 | 716 | 43 | 27 | 140004 |
January 2008 | 60 | 964 | 44 | 28 | 336193 |
2007 | 536 | 7872 | 239 | 50 | 1191977 |
December 2007 | 49 | 961 | 78 | 50 | 195901 |
November 2007 | 29 | 458 | 10 | 29 | 95334 |
October 2007 | 36 | 494 | 18 | 19 | 97258 |
September 2007 | 46 | 578 | 18 | 24 | 79337 |
August 2007 | 45 | 358 | 19 | 22 | 102914 |
July 2007 | 36 | 429 | 3 | 15 | 119466 |
June 2007 | 47 | 533 | 13 | 19 | 105527 |
May 2007 | 35 | 501 | 15 | 20 | 82906 |
April 2007 | 42 | 692 | 12 | 28 | 51413 |
March 2007 | 50 | 896 | 13 | 25 | 81979 |
February 2007 | 50 | 935 | 19 | 31 | 88102 |
January 2007 | 71 | 1037 | 21 | 23 | 91840 |
2006 | 92 | 1346 | 31 | 26 | 111805 |
December 2006 | 65 | 996 | 25 | 26 | 93103 |
November 2006 | 27 | 350 | 6 | 16 | 18702 |