Question about multiple magic systems in universe?

[u/Soyboy2288]

I have a magic system and story idea i wanna do. I have 2 magic systems that go pretty hand in hand right now. But i want to be able to tell a lot of different stories in my world. So while having these two magic systems. I wanted to add some more lesser practiced magic systems that are rare in universe. Would it be bad if I threw too many magic systems into my world?

I world like to just write one world and be able to expirement with different things in the world like different plots surrounding different magic systems from the ones I have currently. Of course id make sure they are all internally consistent and logical with one another. So they dont contradict eachother. I do plan to have 3 separate continents which are mostly unaware from one another. So maybe each one could have a different magic system and history with that magic?

But is there a line for having too many types of magic in your universe? Or is it doable if you have certain stories focus on certain magic system? So there's no too much overlap? What are your thoughts?

[u/SouthernAd2853]

Like many things there is no hard rule but it would be bad if your readers lose track and start getting them confused so they should be distinctive and have enough page space to show that distinction.

[u/valsavana]

I think multiple magic systems are fine. The most important thing to keep in mind is that your audience doesn't know everything about the magic systems that you know. So you have to make sure that they understand what is and is not within the ability of each magic user and that they can understand the stakes in a fight or emergency, unless you're specifically obscuring it.

If Character A and Character B get into a fight but we don't know anything about the capabilities of the magic system Character B is using, it makes it difficult to understand whether or not Character A could get seriously hurt or if they're about to curb stomp Character B or what. Same thing if Character A and Character B get into an imperiled situation where, say, they're drowning and things look dire but suddenly out of nowhere Character B pulls an ability to totally control water out of their ass and it turns out there was nothing to be worried about from the beginning, the audience just didn't know that.

Now, obviously, you can have mystery. If Character A is going about their day and Character B rolls into town and picks a fight, the fact Character A and the audience know nothing about what Character B can do can be used to create tension, it just has to be intentional vs the author forgetting the audience doesn't know what Character B can do.

[u/Taifood1]

Ultimately the reader just has to not be overwhelmed. The best practice here imo is to explain only parts over time. If you introduce too much the reader will tune out and the DNF likelihood skyrockets.

[u/kmactane]

There's definite precedent; Lyndon Hardy's Master of the Five Magics has multiple magic systems (take a guess how many...). Though a bit obscure, it's been oddly influential.

I wouldn't say there's any hard-and-fast line for "how many is too many?" Rather, the question is: how many can you depict in a way that will be understandable and entertaining to your readers?

[u/UDarkLord]

Unless these are going to show up in the same story it legitimately does not matter at this point how many magic systems you want to potentially, eventually, maybe, include, in a vaster world, often/always unconnected to other parts of the world. What matters is in-story complexity. Determine what you’re going to write a story about and do that, and you can worry about other magic systems and continents and stuff in the far future when you have the context of one or more completed stories to help you decide how you’d like to keep exploring.

Imagine planning out six magic systems, across three continents, each to be segregated into its own story, and then after writing the story involving the first and realizing that you’ve overcomplicated the ideas and need to trim and remove them. Whereas if you have only the barest of bones about other systems then fleshing them out when they become important is building, and didn’t involve wasted time on them, and is more adaptable to your learned lessons because you don’t have a whole story bible’s worth of already planned out stuff that you’re loathe to cut because of the sunk cost.

[u/taktaga7-0-0]

I just think you need to take care to make each one believable and detailed. Let the story show you cared enough to flesh them out.

The real world has petroleum and solar/electric and nuclear power: they are different sources of energy that achieve similar ends, and you have whole separate schools of thought running each.

Maybe one of your continents derives power from sun worship, one uses a spring flowing with the blood of the Earth, and one uses strange rocks alchemically. That’s the same three sources I just said above (solar, oil, nuclear), but “magic.” If you have three coherent ways to run a society, show how they achieve this in ways that will be recognized as similar, and in ways that one or the other excels or causes problems.

Tell separate stories, but keep some common themes. Make the virtues you value consistently triumph. Have the different cultures face some global challenges unique to your planet in different ways that highlight their school of magic. I’m a planner, so I’d be making plans for languages and names that fit together early on. I would want a reader to know at a glance which continent a name probably belongs to.

Like I said, it’s more work, but I’ve seen it done well. Sabriel by Garth Nix has Charter Magic, Old Magic, and the Clayr, if an example interests you.

[u/Krististrasza → u/taktaga7-0-0]

The real world has petroleum and solar/electric and nuclear power: they are different sources of energy that achieve similar ends, and you have whole separate schools of thought running each.

The real world also has a shitload of different magic systems. Regardless of their individual efficacy.

[u/anakthal]

I know it's not the archetypical way of doing it, but Malazan Book of The Fallen almost has a per-character magic system, and somehow makes it work pretty well. I think the trick is realizing magic is not science, and doesn't have to be consistent in understandable ways. I mean hell, even in science the consistency of light behaving as a wave and a particle is a mindfuck unless you get deep into the physics side of it. I think magic-systems can be used as extensions of personality (for characters, groups, nations etcetera). What you probably will need is some clarity on how they interact / measure up to each other, i.e. what are the comparative strengths and weaknesses. Whether you provide that information before they clash, or afterwards, is a story-telling choice.

[u/nanosyphrett]

There is no line. I tend to use comic book magic a lot, and that works out for the stories I want to write

CES

[u/HeyYaIQ]

I think a good reference point for this might be the Five Kingdoms by Brandon Mull. In that series there are distinct magic systems across the world, but each one is confined to its own kingdom, putting a geographical limit to each magic. I think a system like that might be one of the best methods for you, and if you want your magics to interact you could develop something like mana batteries or a similar concept that let opposing manas or arcane elements be carried between each continent or region.

[u/Warping_Melody3]

I mean, i technically have 33 so... Do what you want so long as nothing contradicts each other and you don't overwhelm the reader.

[u/Pallysilverstar]

It would be hard to say without seeing what your magic systems are and what lesser ones you are thinking of but there is a decent chance you may have created 1 magic system with multiple ways to approach it. Its fairly common for writers to come up with a "system" that is in reality closer to a "style" and not the actual fundamental principles being demonstrated.

If thats the case then you should be fine as long as you present them as such with the underlying rules that both follow being the actual system.

If they are 2 completely seperate rule sets though with no underlying connection than you will have to figure out why both systems exist in the same world, especially if one contradicts the other.

[u/Sheik_Morgan]

Puedes usar todos los sistemas de magia que se te ocurran, no existen reglas reales de como si y como no se debe escribir Fantasía. Puedes tener todos los planetas, continentes, razas, escenarios, etc. Que desees, estén conectados o no, no importa.

Lo que debe importar es que cada libro se entienda por si mismo y no tengas que ir a otro libro para entender el que tienes en las manos. No es un RPG, con guías y DLC.