What Makes a Great Magic System?

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

Well, that's something I've heard said often but I don't really think it reflects the way mechanics help the players immerse themselves in what the character is doing and having a feel of how the world works.

'One mechanic fits all' games feel flavourless to me....

But this is getting way off the point of magic systems. Well, fairly off the point.

Not at all, if having different mechanics for different types of magic makes playing a given system really satisfying. Having different mechanics does lead to a sort of cosmological issue for the GM: are there different types of magic, or just one type that is misunderstood (yet somehow succesfully utilized) by some/most/all practitioners? It could be cool whether the answer is yea or nay. That probably is subject for an separate thread.