His setting doesn't even have a magic system!

Magic systems are not necessarily about making a science out of magic, they are about putting some consistency and limitations and they actually open up the door for more creativity than a lack of them would allow, even real world magical beliefs had rules

Would you want to play a setting in which just about everyone can just cast the end of the world just because?, you will probably say yes just for the sake of beng contrarian but you get my point

His magic feels more like superpowers. They have a very mechanical feel and the way he does his exposition takes out most of the mysteriousness and "feel" that magic usually has. On the plus side,it allows him to do a lot of cool stuff without it feeling contrived or breaking expectations, but I can definitely see why some people don't consider it very magical.

Magic is stupid.
It makes everything else useless

This meme of non-systematic magic has origins in sci-fi. IRL magic has always been heavily systematised.

Im not talking specifically about his magic system, his way of doing it is admiteddly really boring but that doesnt means that the opposite extreme is better

You can only get so far with senseless magic without making the whole thing pointless, why not just abra-kadabra the whole plot into conclusion?

>His magic feels like superpowers
Ababsolutely up to the whim of the author with no real underlying logic?

Because after dealing with years of X-men, I've grown to realize that's bullshit a complaint.

Superpowers are hardly consistent.

This, even african mongrel bone collectors had a complex system behind the workings of their voodoo bullshit

>You can only get so far with senseless magic without making the whole thing pointless, why not just abra-kadabra the whole plot into conclusion?

well, on the other hand you have stuff like lord of the rings where the exact details of how magic works are pretty vague, we're just filled in on the stuff that's relevant to the plot (like how the ring works). we can safely assume that elrond couldn't just teleport the ring to mount doom because he doesn't.

Playing a real-world campaign?

>you have stuff like lord of the rings where the exact details of how magic works are pretty vague

Its not actually that vague, Elrond cant teleport the ring to mount doom because it was forged by Sauron who is a literal god and the ring is effectively one of his avatars in artifact form

You're correct, but what matters here is the presentation. There should always be a system behind the magic but you don't necessarily have to explain it. If you describe to the reader the voodoo practitioner's magic and detail the workings and limitations and why such and such ingredients are needed, you will lose some of the mystery. Alternatively, if you vaguely describe the act and the weird incantations and ingredients, you'll keep the mystery of the magic, but using it to solve major plot points will feel like a deus ex machina (a point Sanderson likes to make and I agree with). So the claim is not that having a system diminishes the "feel" of magic, but how you present your system to the reader.
I'm impartial btw, I like his approach just as much as I like more mysterious systems.

>Would you want to play a setting in which just about everyone can just cast the end of the world just because?, you will probably say yes just for the sake of beng contrarian but you get my point
Magic can have limitations without being systematized.

Sorry if this is off topic but,

Is his writing really that bad? The only thing I've read by him was his completion of the wheel of time, but that had enough material that he really just has to add flesh to the notes, so it's not really an indication of his writing.

I ask because I had planned on picking up his stuff over the holidays. He's a fun guy to hang out/talk with, I figured I should actually read his work.

Mistborn was a fun read.

>wanting pseudoscientific magic

I disagree. I see a magic system as a collection of rules and laws that govern the workings of magic. Any limitations are thus necessarily part of the system since they describe a rule or law concerning the use of magic.

And how do you do it?
That works only if noons in your party can use magic.
The idea of magic being mysterious is because only a very small minority knows about it, but the mystery dissapear when there are a PC wizard

I wasn't really talking about rpg's but I agree that the moment you have a magicwielding pc you have to concede some mystery. That doesn't mean you have to get rid of all of it, a lot of aspects can still be kept in the dark (e.g the source of magic, long term consequences, etc.)

Stormlight's pretty good but I have shit taste so...

Their entertaining but I wouldn't write home anything about the plot. Worldbuilding's great to steal from though. Found Stormlight more entertaining than Mistborn, felt less like the characters were just running around as things happen.

>Their entertaining
Fuck, meant "they're"

Thanks for the feedback. I'll probably check them all out when i finish my current backlog. I like to borrow World building elements from other authors for my RPG settings. I'm stealing elements from Jim's codex alera for a nation I'm building right now actually.

Good.

>his setting magicka isnt based off fashy aryan white nordic master race paganist magic
*sips hanged man cum*
Christcucks