Power Systems; How To Make Magic

A power system (or magic system) as defined by Gamasutra's "The Craft of Game Systems: General Guidelines" by Daniel Achterman, is a set of rules that regulate the magical effects that can be produced in a specific fictional setting. While often overlooked in high fantasy or soft science fiction settings, a power system can be a strong element of world building and helps you as an author in many ways. While we tend to think of rules as being anathema to creativity, often times establishing limits prior to the creation of our world can be a great benefit to the author by keeping them focused, keeping their story balanced and believable, and filling out the nuances of a world. A power system, after all, when present within a story will likely be integral for establishing the setting's personality and making it more unique for your readers. We will be going over an easy set of guidelines to use in the development of a well thought out power system, as well as addressing examples of a highly specific power system and of a versatile system; so I will note here that this guide contains minor spoilers for the web novel Worm by Wildbow and the Manga/Anime classic Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba.



like with most things involved in writing out new works of fiction, the creation of a power system is something that requires forethought, planning, revision, and perhaps some peer review. However, again like most things involved in writing, presented below is not an static list of questions that should be answered and never touched again. As you answer questions further down the line these answers may provide new insight and perspective into the previously asked questions, and thus you should consider reading back through your other answers upon arriving at a new question, and after answering each question. Refine your ideas until you have something cohesive.

Once you feel you have one of the questions answered to a point that you find satisfactory, address the others, rinse and repeat. Take your time, make your masterpiece.



The cornerstone of your power system is the theme, which can cover a variety of different qualities, and just with building something you need a strong foundation to create a stable structure. A theme for your power system is the core basis and mood of your power set. Is your power set exclusively limited to body enhancement? Is there a particular mental state, element, or trigger for your powers? Is the power tied to a conceptual thing like Life or Goodness? While this is simple, this will be from hence all powers flow. Trust your characters and your readers both not to have the theme explained to them, this part is for you. Don't be afraid to modify or change your theme as you go.




Just like with your world as a whole, an origin myth is important for understanding your power system. While this doesn't need to be common knowledge to your characters or the reader at first, it can be a helpful part of story development to one day uncover the origins of magic and come to a greater understanding of the power system as a whole. That being said, an origin is important as it helps you, the author, to better understand your own magic. For instance, if characters attain magic from divine powers they may have to work to maintain the favor of their divinity, while if the powers are in some way biological, perhaps different blood types can have different manifestations of the same power. Understanding where things begin can be a strong way to help yourself understand how they should behave within your universe.




Welcome to our first major chapter, and a rather integral chapter to understand. As I mentioned in our introduction "What is a Power System" we tend to think of limitations and consequences within our fiction as something that stifles creativity. The less we establish, after all, the more we are allowed to get away with. While this principal is true... well, it's true. We will talk briefly about one example before getting into our main example of this section.

In the year 1977, a movie took to the silver screen and packed cinemas, filling the heads and hearts of a new generation of nerds with a sense of wonder, destiny, and longingness for the cold black expanse. Star Wars will forever go down in history as a pop culture turning point. No longer were Science Fiction movies niche watches for intelectuals and nerds, but could be representative of the heroes journey. It was full of characters we resonated with, each of us seeing a bit of us in clearly the most empathetic of characters - Chewbacca. However, one thing Star Wars is guilty of is its Power System, The Force. While a cornerstone of many of our child hoods, The Force represents a rather abstract and limitless power system, which can guide a character's decisions, divert projectiles at a ninety-degree angle, lift objects without limit ("Size Matters Not") and shoot lightning from character's hands. We find out as the setting continues to grow and expand that there seems to be absolutely no limits to what the force can do... and that's why we have powers like the thought bomb (wipe out nearly all life on the planet?) and about seven different types of immortality. While Star Wars itself does not suffer from this abstraction of powersets, inherently, this is largely because the force players a minor role through most of the series. It is supportive, working in the background or (usually) in minor ways (fucking thought bombs.)

In the mid winter of the year 2003 Japanese Manga author Tsugumi Ohba releases his official Manga, Death Note. Death Note shifts the landscape of manga and anime from this point forward, offering a dark and gritty civil war between the twin but contradictory ideas two men hold about justice, as well as the supernatural book given to one of them by the god of death, the titular Death Note. This artifact, the power system for this series, is core and integral to the narrative at every level, and acts as an absolute power. The power of the death note is, in premise, simple. On the opening page of the notebook, the main protagonist Light Yagami reads the chilling opening words; "The human who's name is written in this notebook... shall die." And yep, that's a brutal power. But rather specific, and it gets more specific from there.

You see, prior to ever writing a single page of Death Note, Ohba-sensei begins work on a 70 page manifesto detailing to a T the specifics of the functionality of the Death Note. The Document, which can be read here read almost like an edgy scene kid's legal contract with the dark lord Satan himself, and are so detailed that they express exactly what happens to normal people, and the user of the notebook when they die. some of the more specific rules are;

- "The person can shorten their own lifespan using the death note"

- "Even the original owners of the death notes, the death gods, do not know everything about the death notes."

- "It is a prerequisite of the death gods who's death notes are owned by a human to make sure the human uses it."

some wacky stuff that could have easily been overlooked, but offered a great insight into the functionality, for the characters and the readers. We understand the limitations and consequences of the absolute power of death, and therefor feel the impact of its use. For instance; "The human who uses this death note shall neither go to heaven nor hell upon death." Yikes.

However, many of these rules also restrict the author.

- "Even after the individual's name, the time of death, and death condition on the Death Note were filled out, the time and condition of death can be altered as many times as you want, as long as it is changed within 6 minutes and 40 seconds from the time it was filled in. But, of course, this is only possible before the victim dies."

- "The conditions for death will not be realized unless it is physically possible for that human or it is reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human."

- "One page taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of the page, contains the full effects of the note."

- "The human who becomes the owner of the Death Note can, in exchange of half his/her remaining life, get the eyeballs of the god of death which will enable him/her to see a human's name and remaining life span when looking through them."

And these rules help us fundamentally understand the type of challenges the protagonist will face in using this otherwise absolute power, and helps us look forward to creative uses. Further, these are rules for the author as I mentioned. By establishing all of the specifics the author now has a set of boundaries to work within. He's stated his own personal limits, and now must work upon the quality of his writing by staying within these bounds. They are a promise to your reader, and a challenge to yourself. And by confronting these challenges, by staying within these bounds, you begin to think critically of the mechanics of your world. This is among the most integral of key points, and this should be the most heavily scrutinized. The biggest piece of advice we should all take from this is to find the perfect balance between a reasonable challenge to yourself and a copout towards your readers.

So what can't your power system do? This isn't a question meant to frustrate you, it's to get you thinking. Is there some element to this universe that disables your power system? Is it common? Can your power system resurrect the dead? Should it? defining what your power set can do is far easier than off the bat explaining what your power set can do, and limits you far less in the end.




If I were to ask you what it takes to be able to lift heavier objects with ease, you would reply to me "Start by lifting smaller objects." or, perhaps, "Get a large crane." Both are entirely valid answers, and just like our physical capabilities, we must consider how the users of our Powers gain their abilities, and how - or if - these powers can grow. The initial question of "how does someone gain their power" Is an integral part of its theme. If the power system is common, then are they born with it? Is it given to them at a certain age? This works to fundamentally establish the world's relationship as a whole to this power, and thus your character's and reader's relationship with said power systems. Then, consider; How does someone get more powerful in this power? Can they? If you train for days and nights can you emite more light from your hands? Or are you restricted to a set power that requires them to approach situations from new and creative situations using a limited capability in versatile ways? Think back to the limits and consequences of your power for both of these.




A power system does not need to be some overly specific and highly limited set of hard-defined spells with which everyone has access to. In the world of Worm, a novel by Web-novel author Wildbow, humans receive powers when encountering immense psychological distress, unlocking unique and varied powers. From the main character, who controls insects and other simplistic creatures within a ten meter radius. Join her as she fights an indestructible woman who can move at mach 5, a shape-shifting mega-AI with the power to 3d print other's powers on a whim with multiple bodies, and LITERAL GOD HIMSELF on even footing.

Wildbow's novels, regardless of the specific story, are case studies in how to create power systems, and I highly recommend you support the author in any way you see fit.

For this breakdown, we will be focusing on addressing the above sections with the help of our main character, lovingly known as Skitter.

The underlying themes of the power system of Worm are quite simple, A specific individualized power bred from emotional trauma, which while containing its own unique hard limits, becomes stronger as the power's owner becomes more instinctively capable of understanding these limits. Skitter's powers, as I mentioned above, are to control insects within a 10 meter radius. This radius does fluctuate, based on her mood - how trapped she is feeling, which ties into the origin of her powers - but is otherwise not limited to numbers within this radius. A strong emphasis on the Power System's themes is that the secondary powers all powers come with that allow them to function properly for their owner are the true powers. Skitter can, in a sea of billions of insects, register individual, specific teams of insects of various types to track their locations, set them to work on complex tasks like weaving a rope or flying in set formations, and tactically move her army of billions with the precision of a surgeon. At the same time. And you're seeing where this is going; Her secondary power is that her brain is a meticulous super computer, ever focusing on the minute details and being observant of every facet of the situation, a powerful secondary power that at times outshines and shows perfect compatibility with her main power. This power, however, comes at a cost. Skitter was the subject of bullying, culminating in a day in which she was locked in a locker for hours on end. Not just any locker, a locker filled with used tampons, bags of shit, and other disgusting things. This feeling of being trapped at the hands of bullies forced her to reach out to the numbers around her within the darkness, the bugs, the beetles. The price she pays for this, as all powerful people in this setting do, is that as she becomes more instinctively masterful of her power - it becoming like a second limb - the more her mind clings to that moment, forming a psychosis, an intense want for freedom and an intense loathing for anyone she perceives as bullies. The themes, limits, and consequences of the powers are hard set and established through the events of the story. While never experienced by Skitter, however, it is possible for these limits to be changed or broken by suffering yet another psychologically damaging event, which modifies the person's powers to a greater degree, further forcing their psychosis to suffer. The themes of freedom, danger, and an alien universe of unnatural powers culminates in the discovery of their origin, multi-dimensional space whales. I'm not kidding.

Worm is about people with powers, and if its power system was less detailed and established than it was - the government has classifications for powers and exact methods for dealing with these different power sets (I get chills whenever I read the words "Protocol; Stranger") as the world is reshaped with these powers in mind. Understanding your power sets as an author helps you understand your power system's effect on your world, and helps you to immerse your reader, write your powers more cleanly, and provide a more enjoyable experience over all.




While no one expects you to write seventy pages of rules, or to write an in-depth world-shaking power set, it should be well remembered by all authors that more detail in all regards is a good thing, both for you and for your readers. A power system, being something unique to your story, helps you to answer many world building questions and plot questions that otherwise might be ignored if you are simply going with the vague and esoteric. Don't be afraid to limit yourself, or your characters, as it encourages you as the author to hone your writing and grow more skilled. Your readers will enjoy a much more carefully crafted and personalized experience that only you, and your power set, can bring to the table.

I encourage you to post your own power sets, based on this guide, below, and sculpt those sculptures.