Top Magic System Template Picks for Fantasy Authors & Game Designers

If you’ve ever been writing a fantasy scene and suddenly wondered, “Can this character actually do that?”—you’ve stepped straight into the territory of magic systems.

A magic system is simply the set of rules that explains how magic works in your world: what’s possible, what isn’t, and what it costs when someone pushes the limits.

The catch? You need to build that system from the ground up. That’s where magic system templates can help.

You can use them to shape the logic behind your magic, whether you want something soft and mysterious or structured and rule-based—along with checklists to keep things consistent from chapter to chapter or campaign to campaign. You’ll also see examples that illustrate how each magical ability is tied to real story stakes.

By the end, you’ll have a clear, usable reference that lets you write scenes with confidence—and keeps your readers (or players) thinking, “Yep, that tracks.”

So, whether you’re looking to build a new magic system or solve conflict within the story, one of these templates has got what you need!

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Top 13 Magic System Templates at a Glance

Here’s a summary table for all the ClickUp and community magic system planning templates: 

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What are Magic System Templates?

A magic system template is a structured framework that helps writers, RPG designers, and fantasy creators define and organize how magic functions in their world. It outlines the system’s source of power, rules, limitations, costs, and how different people access or control it.

In fantasy writing, this template acts as a blueprint for logical consistency. 

It ensures that magic users, from wizards and witches to elemental casters, operate under clear boundaries so the reader understands what’s possible and what isn’t.

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What Makes a Good Magic System Template?

A well-designed magic system template typically includes sections to describe spells, abilities, energy sources, and the consequences of breaking established rules.

It also aligns with Sanderson’s Laws of Magic, helping you connect your story, characters, and plot through predictable cause and effect.

The ideal magic system template should include:

• Clear sections for source, rules, limits, and costs of using magic
• Prompts to define spells, abilities, and energy sources with logical outcomes
• A framework to balance soft and hard magic systems for better storytelling control
• Space to record consequences and exceptions so powers stay consistent
• Links to your world-building template, connecting magic users, society, and plot

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Top 13 Free Magic System Templates

Worldbuilding gets messy fast.

This looks like first drafts in Docs, scene cards in a board, spell rules in a spreadsheet, and feedback from colleagues in email. That’s Work Sprawl in action, and it quietly kills momentum. 

ClickUp pulls everything into one Converged AI Workspace, so your chapters, lore, magic-system rules, and tasks live together.

Plus, you get AI to summarize notes, surface context, and turn ideas into action. 

With ClickUp, you can focus on designing powers, limits, and consequences—not chasing them across tabs. Now, let’s pick the right templates to make your magic system clear, consistent, and fun to write. ✨

1. ClickUp Book Planning Template

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Drafts, lore notes, character cards, and a growing magic system doc don’t belong in scattered spreadsheets. The ClickUp Book Planning Template keeps chapters, settings, characters, and world lore organized in one place.

You can even store your Magic System Template inside ClickUp Docs to map rules, limits, and costs, and show how different people access magic, whether hard or soft magic, right beside your story drafts.

The template includes clear statuses (prewriting, editing, revision, and publishing), Custom Fields for characters and plots, and multiple views, such as chapters, priorities, and the writing process. It helps you break large goals into smaller tasks, track progress, and share updates easily.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Organize chapters, scenes, characters, settings, and lore in one workspace that scales with your draft
• Store a structured Magic System Template (sources, rules, limitations, consequences, and access magic) right beside the manuscript
• Switch views to manage research, timelines, and priorities without losing the creative thread
• Collaborate with editors or co-authors, and keep feedback tied to the exact page, scene, or rule

💡 Pro Tip: Creating a consistent magic system takes detail, iteration, and structure—and that’s where ClickUp Brain steps in. Use it to generate new sections for your system (like rules, costs, or sources of power), summarize lore, or suggest balance tweaks across templates. 

You can even automate recurring sections using AI Fields and keep ideas synced across Docs, Lists, and Boards. With ClickUp Brain learning your workspace context, every refinement becomes faster and smarter—so you can focus on storytelling, not setup.

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2. ClickUp Story Outline Template

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Great stories follow a clear structure. The ClickUp Story Outline Template helps you plan plots, shape characters, and track key story beats with clarity. You can outline acts, scenes, and turning points while noting how magic rules, limits, or spells influence each event.

The template includes simple statuses like “Idea,” “Drafting,” “Editing,” and “Complete,” along with fields for chapters and stages. Everything stays neat and visible, from character arcs to world-building details. 

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Map acts and scenes in one easy view
• Connect characters, plotlines, and magic users smoothly
• Keep magic logic consistent across chapters
• Track progress clearly from idea to completion

3. ClickUp Storyboard Template

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Every fantasy begins with a vision—a single scene that lights the spark. The ClickUp Storyboard Template helps you capture that vision. Then you can easily turn it into a clear sequence of moments that shape your world.

Picture mapping the first time your magic users channel power. Each frame can show the elements, emotions, and energy moving through the caster’s body. You can drop sketches, screenshots, or notes to plan how spells look and evolve.

The ready-to-use whiteboard makes it easy to start and even easier to share. You can plan transitions, adjust pacing, and collaborate with co-writers or artists in real time.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Visualize magic, characters, and scenes in one view
• Keep tone and motion consistent across every frame
• Plan key moments with drag-and-drop ease
• Collaborate with others to refine the look and feel of your story

4. ClickUp Story Planning Template

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Planning a story means juggling characters, settings, scenes, and magic rules. The ClickUp Story Planning Template puts it all in one tidy place. Describe people and places, break scenes into steps, and keep plot threads aligned with your magic system. 

This template is beginner-friendly and fast to set up. You get a ready-to-use folder with two core views, List and Doc, so you can outline beats and keep deeper notes side by side. 

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Store character and setting descriptions next to scene breakdowns
• Tie magic users, spells, and abilities directly to plot beats
• Switch between quick lists and rich docs without changing tools
• Use granular statuses to see progress at a glance

5. ClickUp Game Design Document Template

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Building a game needs a single source of truth. The ClickUp Game Design Document Template gives you one place to define mechanics, rules, levels, characters, and the magic system that powers them. 

You can set goals, outline core loops, and list assets so teams move in step from pitch to launch. Use task lists to break features into tickets. Add notes on abilities, spells, energy costs, and limitations so player access to magic stays balanced, and the system can’t break your story.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Document game vision, core mechanics, UI, audio, and lore in one hub
• Tie magic rules to quests, encounters, and balance notes
• Spot design gaps early with clear milestones and ownership
• Share updates fast so teams see what’s done and what’s next
• Track progress with views like List, Gantt, Workload, and Calendar

6. ClickUp Vision Board Template

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The ClickUp Vision Board Template lets you collect and visualize your ideas in one inspiring space. Whether you’re defining the structure of magical orders, the nature of power sources, or visual motifs like sigils and elements, this template helps you see your world come to life.

You can pin images, sketches, and notes to create visual connections between spells, abilities, and their emotional or social impact. The “Vision Board” and “Priority” views keep your ideas focused, while the “Start Here” view gives you a clear path forward. 

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Visualize magical hierarchies, symbols, and energy flows
• Connect creative goals to concrete story elements
• Stay inspired with visuals that evolve with your draft
• Prioritize and track ideas as your magic system develops

7. ClickUp Mood Board Template

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The ClickUp Mood Board Template provides a focused space to collect the look and feel of your world before you begin locking in scenes, spells, or character designs. 

Use it to map out magical hierarchies, cultures, and environments: one section for artifacts, another for spell effects, and another for locations or factions. Because it’s built on ClickUp Whiteboards, you can drag and resize elements, cluster them into groups, and add quick notes or comments so every visual has context.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Collect images, screenshots, and sketches for spells, artifacts, characters, and locations in one collaborative space
• Organize visuals into flexible sections (e.g., elements, factions, cultures, or power sources) so each cluster tells a clear story
• Add notes, labels, and comments next to each asset to capture rules, mood, or lore while ideas are fresh
• Share the board with co-authors, artists, or playtesters so everyone can react, suggest changes, and align on tone asynchronously
• Link key visuals to ClickUp tasks for concept art, chapters, encounters, or marketing assets, keeping execution tied to the aesthetic

💡 Pro Tip: Lock your vibe on the Mood Board, then open ClickUp Whiteboard to map schools, sources, costs, and limits on an infinite canvas. 

Here’s how you can use it for magic world-building:

• Drop sticky notes, shapes, and connectors to show cause→effect. One click converts any sticky into a task (assignee, due date), so balance tweaks ship
• Embed docs for your magic system template and link tasks for scenes that rely on each rule
• Chat in-line with pinned comments to keep context
• Ask ClickUp Brain to summarize clusters, spot loopholes, and run “what breaks if X?” checks
• Reuse stamps/blocks (Name · Cost · Risk · Counter) for consistency, then present the mode of your system to co-authors or playtesters

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8. ClickUp Brainstorming Template

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The ClickUp Brainstorming Template helps you capture, organize, and refine idea sparks into complete stories for your magic system or game design. Jot down rules, spells, energy sources, or creative twists—all in one shared space.

Use lists to group ideas, tag the best ones, and move them through stages like To Do, In Progress, and Complete. Whether you’re writing a fantasy novel, planning a campaign, or designing magic mechanics, this template keeps every idea visible and easy to expand.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Collect and refine creative ideas in one view
• Structure brainstorming around rules, powers, or world concepts
• Collaborate easily with notes, tags, and comments
• Turn the best ideas into actionable next steps

9. ClickUp Content Writing Template

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Writing compelling lore takes time and focus. The ClickUp Content Writing Template keeps fantasy authors and RPG teams on track as you draft spell codices, system rules, bestiaries, and in-world articles tied to your magic. Plan releases, assign deadlines, and manage revisions in one place. 

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Organize topics, outlines, and revisions in one document
• Track progress with statuses and deadlines across your content pipeline
• Collaborate in real time for edits and approvals
• Reuse structure for world-building logs or lore documentation
• List, Calendar, and Gantt views keep every entry moving from draft to published

10. ClickUp Kanban Board Template

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Track your magic system in the form of a creative production. The ClickUp Kanban Board Template lets you sort spells, abilities, and lore tasks into clear stages—Concept, Defined, Refined, In Progress, Review, and Done. 

Move cards as the rules, limits, and consequences solidify. This way, you can break big ideas and chunks into small steps.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Visualize progress for spells, powers, and system docs at a glance
• Use statuses (Open, In Progress, Review, Blocked, Closed) to keep work flowing
• Add fields for element, school, cost, or access magic notes
• Spot blockers early and keep communication tight across writers and designers

11. ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Fantasy Writing Template

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The ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Fantasy Writing Template gives you ready-made prompts to spark openings, twists, characters, and world details. Generate hooks, quests, and the scene beats in minutes. 

Capture the best lines, then refine them to fit your magic system, from soft magic mysteries to clearly defined rules and limits.

You can draft, edit, and save everything in one place, so inspiration moves straight into your workflow.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Prompt packs for openings, characters, twists, and world-building
• Fast capture of spells, abilities, and plot ideas without losing context
• Lists and views to sort ideas by chapter, POV, or magic users
• Clean handoff from brainstorming to drafting and revision
• Use the nested Doc to store 10 genre prompts plus a larger prompt bank

12. Magic System Template by Scribd

Bring logic to your magic with the Magic System Template by Scribd. This guided framework helps you define your world’s magical laws—how it works, who wields it, and what it costs. Perfect for authors and game designers, it transforms vague ideas into structured systems that feel real and purposeful.

You’ll explore origins, rules, sources, users, mechanics, and social consequences. This ensures your story’s magic strengthens gradually. Whether you’re crafting elemental sorcery, divine power, or artifact-based magic, this checklist keeps everything consistent and coherent.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Clarifies how magic operates and what governs it
• Balances power, limits, and consequences
• Encourages deeper worldbuilding and realism
• Ideal for outlining unique spell systems or RPG lore

13. Google Docs Magic System Template

The Google Docs Magic System Template is a go-to tool for writers and game masters who want a structured way to map out their world’s magic. It walks you through every key element, from defining who can use magic to clarifying its origins, rules, and consequences.

Based on community-shared templates like “Magic System Template 1.1,” it’s perfect for anyone who wants flexibility. Each section, like Energy Source, Casting Aids, Drawbacks, and Societal Perception, keeps your magic consistent and believable across your story or campaign.

🌻 Here’s why you’ll like this template:

• Free, editable, and beginner-friendly
• Covers everything from power mechanics to world impact
• Helps maintain consistency and balance throughout your story
• Easy to copy, fill, and reference inside Google Drive

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Build Worlds That Work Like Magic With ClickUp

Great stories are built, refined, and organized like the best systems of magic.

We’ve walked through the best templates to shape your world’s logic, lore, and laws of power. But if you want one space where your ideas, drafts, and designs all live together, ClickUp is the true spellbook.

With ClickUp, you can plan your chapters, organize your worlds, visualize storyboards, and even co-create with AI.

Whether you lean toward a soft magic system that leaves room for wonder or design a unique magic system with clearly costed magical abilities, aim for equal value trades—power for price, so your world feels fair when elemental magic meets the mundane. 

In writing fantasy, let consequences touch the soul and the body alike—healing that literally exhausts a caster and rules that blur in the gray area—so every spell choice carries weight.

Sign up for ClickUp today and start conjuring worlds that run as smoothly as your imagination. ✨

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