Offering Magic System Help

[Shardwatcher01 he/him]

Hey, so I know a lot of people struggle to create their own magic system for whatever they're writing, whether it be they can't think of it themselves or they don't have the time for it, so I am offering for people if they want to come to me and I will help make magic systems.

I have always loved making them and I have way too much free time, so if you need help just come and we can do it together or I can do it alone. Not sure how much traction this will get but I thought I'd give it a try.

Just give me like the plot/setting/characters and I will try to fit one to your world.

Happy writing!

Edited September 18, 2024 by Shardwatcher01

[AltonicKeys he/him]

I got some concepts sitting in my head, but I don't really know where to go with them!

The setting is the industrial revolution, maybe Boston, but in a Cold War situation. Competing nations invent things to one-up the other, with the end goal being a secret doomsday weapon. Very simple, and also vague. I'll work on the plot later, but it's probably going to be a The Emperor's Soul type deal.

The magic system I have in mind is the conversion of nutrition (or some other bodily function) to electrical current. People can store electricity in exchange for something like heat or weariness. They can use the stored energy to make electrons move and power stuff, but it's a lot more efficient and powerful than non-magic power generation.

My main problems are:
1: Should this be a genetic thing, or something for everyone to do? And should it be a newly discovered or ancient thing?
2: It's kinda boring right now. Eat food, make electricity. There should be some more risk and reward, maybe a reason to make it illegal.
3: Is this the right setting? I love the idea of 1600s-1800s North America, but I don't really know how to blend this into a setting that's already fairly advanced.

There are probably a few more issues that I'm forgetting, but whatever. Please fix this up however you want! Honestly, this might not go anywhere anyways, so no pressure. Thanks!

Edited September 24, 2024 by AltonicKeys

[Shardwatcher01 he/him]

12 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

 

My main problems are:
1: Should this be a genetic thing, or something for everyone to do? And should it be a newly discovered or ancient thing?
2: It's kinda boring right now. Eat food, make electricity. There should be some more risk and reward, maybe a reason to make it illegal.
3: Is this the right setting? I love the idea of 1600s-1800s North America, but I don't really know how to blend this into a setting that's already fairly advanced.

There are probably a few more issues that I'm forgetting, but whatever. Please fix this up however you want! Honestly, this might not go anywhere anyways, so no pressure. Thanks!

1. I think it would be interesting if everyone could do it, but only on very basic levels, and people who can use it expertly got it through genetics and training.

2. If you're genetically strong enough, it protects you from radiation. This would make them all really pale from no sunlight, and you could like eat uranium for massive amounts of energy. Kinda weird but just an idea off the top of my head. No pressure to use it, just something random

3. I think the setting would be pretty good, you could make it like very early 1900s right as industrialization is starting and people need energy more.

These are all just off the top of my head as I'm in a bit of a rush. if you dont like these, I can actually sit down and help you come up with other things.

[TheSurvivorofDeath]

I have some suggestions, if you don’t mind.

1: Make it universal. Everyone has the power to generate electricity based on the food they consume. Having it nutrition based keeps the true power in the hands of the rich, however, as the poor can’t buy as much food.

2: It could be illegal simply because the government doesn’t want its citizens to have free, unregulated electricity. The governments of the world would likely enslave people to generate power for cities or countries, as that’s the most efficient way to make electricity. It could also obviously allow for large burst of electricity that could cause damage to infrastructure and possible high death tolls. In general the basic ability to produce electricity is extremely wide-ranging and doesn’t actually need anything additional to improve it. It’s simply a matter of fitting it to the world to get the best result.

3. Setting it in the 18th century in North America would be great. If you have the power be ancient, which I think you should, industrialization would have started with electricity, making for a wonderful almost sci-fi setting. Colonial culture, Cold War government, modern or post modern technology/technological themes? Sounds pretty cool to me. 

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

I also have a two suggestions.

2. Make it dangerous. Maybe make it so that if the energy isn't released after a time, they start to electrocute others around them, or make it so that they can die if they use themselves up. Make the energy transfer disproportionate, like the energy generated is greater than the energy used; that opens you up to a few options, like explaining how or where (or who, you never know) their powers come from.

3. Not much here. Creative choice. But do make sure that these powers, if they are widely known of, integrate well into the worldbuilding.

Edited September 25, 2024 by SpiritOfWrath

[The H]

I have a slight suggestion if you want to keep it as close as possible to the Industrial Revolution style of setting:

1. You can make it so magic hasn't been discovered up until recently
   • I'm sure you could come up with a way of how that has happened, e.g, one hundred years prior to the story, there was a mutation of the human gene or something.

[Shardwatcher01 he/him]

this is all great, I hope this helps with your book

[AltonicKeys he/him]

These suggestions are all pretty great, thank you all! I'll definitely be putting some time aside to work on this now