Practical Sigils

Some stories fold the impossible into the ordinary. This one leaves it there, quietly waiting to be noticed.

Practical Sigils is a system-agnostic tool for magical realism roleplaying. It treats magical realism not as a flavor or aesthetic, but as a narrative stance. The strange appears without warning. It isn't explained. No one panics. The world shifts slightly to make room, and then keeps going.

This book helps you tell stories where something uncanny belongs, even when no one can say why. Use it in any setting where the unexplainable feels honest, where symbols matter more than systems, and where people carry mystery without needing to break it open. The focus is on atmosphere, memory, and meaning.

This Book Contains

Narrative Framing Tools to help you understand what magical realism does in a story. It explores how the unexplained opens emotional truth, how events reveal character, and how the presence of wonder reshapes everyday choices. This framing gives weight to silence, symbolism, and timing.

Scene Tools Practical methods for portraying magical realism in play. These tools help you ground the moment in sensory detail, let events pass without explanation, and hold space for how characters respond. You can use them to mark quiet ruptures that no one tries to fix.

Character Archetypes Ten character ideas shaped by the presence of magical realism. These aren't chosen ones or spellcasters. They're people who see things others ignore, carry truths no one wants to name, or move through the story like they've already heard the ending. Use them as protagonists, strangers, or echoes.

Story Complications Narrative consequences don't disrupt but deepen. These entries explore what lingers after something impossible happens. Each one adds texture, reframes memory, or asks a question that doesn't need an answer.

Worldbuilding Prompts Questions to help you define what magical realism means in your setting. Who notices? What's remembered? Where does belief settle? These prompts shape a world that's already full of the uncanny, even if no one talks about it.

Adventure Hooks Ten quiet ruptures to begin or bend a story. These aremoments that already changed something. Use them to start a narrative, reframe a place, or call attention to a pattern no one wanted to see.

The magic isn't hidden. It's seen and left alone. The story moves anyway.