The way the arcane ascension series does it, I think, is a good balance. On the surface, the magic just works in its limited scope. Under the hood, the intricacies go deep and allows you to essentially rewrite the magic or reality itself.
Part of the plot is the main character figuring out these underlying mechanisms and the fragility of their entire civilization
The way it's written makes me think of jrpgs. Magic use requires the mana to cast it so you have a natural limiting factor. The main character is able to read the underlying code and reprogram it at a certain point
Good magic stories need just as many rules to be good. Otherwise the story is just problem/magic = no more problem.
The way the arcane ascension series does it, I think, is a good balance. On the surface, the magic just works in its limited scope. Under the hood, the intricacies go deep and allows you to essentially rewrite the magic or reality itself.
Part of the plot is the main character figuring out these underlying mechanisms and the fragility of their entire civilization
The way it's written makes me think of jrpgs. Magic use requires the mana to cast it so you have a natural limiting factor. The main character is able to read the underlying code and reprogram it at a certain point
Had to go to your user profile to see the image:
But you forget one major part of fantasy worldbuilding:
"I had to create multiple races, 6 languages, and 4,000 years of backstory before I could start writing." 😉