I’ve always had an odd relationship with “hard” magic systems, that is systems that seem to be… well systematic, stuff you could analyze and explain almost like a hard science.

On the one hand, as a creator it’s really fun to think of different rules and how those rules interact or how they can be worked around and manipulated.

On the other hand, as a consumer of media I never liked overly explained magic systems because they cease to feel magical. I like the feeling of unknowability about magic as a concept, like we’re chimps setting off a nuclear explosion. We see it, we feel its effects, but nothing on earth could make us understand how or why it is what it is because it involves forces far beyond our ken.