Magic: the Gathering RPG

A homebrew produced by the collective efforts of the /tg/ community, aiming to put the characteristic elements of the Magic: the Gathering card game and universe into a pen-and-paper RPG format. We hope to provide a system that allows the players to experience the universe as a planeswalker of their own creation or to explore a new world as a powerful mage of their own devising.

As a work-in-progress, expect the contents of this page to change fairly frequently until the game nears a more finalized form.

The System

Character Stats

Magic is a fairly complicated game and, as the name implies, has a heavy emphasis on magic. Therefore it needs a stat system to encompass all the many shapes and forms of magic use while also allowing for direct combat as well. This system looks to balance these in as simple a manner as possible while also giving a thorough amount of customization.

Color Identity This is the color or combination of colors your character identifies him or herself as. It is determined by your background. At character creation you may choose up to three key events in your life prior to the awakening of your spark (or sometimes after) that are a core part of the character's psyche and history. It can be affected by things such as race, birth place, childhood events, where they have traveled, occupation, major event in their adult life, where and how they learned to perform magic, or even an event that caused them to ascend to the state of planeswalker. Regardless, the character's color identity is not permanent, and is able to change as players gain new sources or release old ones.

Power This is the character's physical offensive power. It can be augmented by race, natural and manufactured weapons, enchantments, or other magics but this is the base value.

Toughness This is the character's physical defensive power. It can be augmented by race, natural and manufactured armors, enchantments, or other magics but this is the base value.

Life This is the character's Life total. When this value reaches zero the character is dead. The standard base value is 20 although the base value can be altered by some effects. Many spells drain or restore Life with their effects.

Mastery This is how much Mana a character can call upon in a single round from their Mana Pool. A character can not cast a spell without first drawing forth enough Mana.

Channeling This is how much Mana a character can restore to their Mana Pool in a single round. A character cannot draw the same Mana again from their Mana pool until it has been restored

Speed This is the character's priority in spell casting as well as in turn order. A speed value equal to the opponent is needed to respond to a cast spell or action. This also describes movement.

Focus This is how many permanent effects a character can maintain at any one time. Summoned creatures, conjured artifacts, and enchantments all count as permanent effects.

Memory This is how many spells a character can have prepared for use at any given time. A used spell can be prepared again after a short rest, but a spell can only be changed after an extended rest. If an effect causes a character's Memory to decrease they must forget one of their prepared spells until their next short rest.

Mana Pool This pool is filled with the Mana described by the character's Color Identity. It limits how powerful of a spell a character can cast as well as how much they can use before they must wait for it to be restored. A character may store one Mana of each color for each time that color appears in the character's color identity. An Artifact Identity provides 1 colorless Mana or 2 colorless Mana for use on artifacts only.

Spells Known This is the list of all spells the character knows. Spells held in Memory must be drawn from here.

Combat Mechanics (WIP)

This aspect is still being heavily debated but will likely progress in a turn-based order according to speed with each character being able to cast spells, move, and/or attack. As for how many of these they can do and how much of each, this has not yet been determined (Perhaps one action per point of speed?).

The Fluff

The Colors

The Colors of Magic are a core part of its unique design. Each color has it's own associations and functions. Here is a review of the role each plays in the Magic: the Gathering card game.

• White is the color of order, equality, righteousness, healing, law, community, peace, absolutism/totalitarianism, and light, although not necessarily "good". White's strengths are a roster of small creatures that are strong collectively; protecting those creatures with enchantments; gaining life; preventing damage to creatures or players; imposing restrictions on players; reducing the capabilities of opposing creatures, and powerful spells that "equalize" the playing field by destroying all cards of a given type. White creatures are known for their "Protection" from various other colors or even types of card, rendering them nearly impervious to harm from those things. Numerous white creatures also have "First Strike", "Lifelink", and "Vigilance". White's weaknesses include a focus on creatures, its unwillingness to simply kill creatures outright (instead hobbling them with restrictions that can be undone), and the fact that many of its most powerful spells affect all players equally—including the casting player.

• Blue is the color of intellect, reason, illusion, logic, knowledge, manipulation, and trickery, as well as the classical elements of air and water. Blue's cards are best at letting a player draw additional cards; permanently taking control of an opponent's cards; returning cards to their owner's hand; and countering spells, causing them to be discarded and the mana used to pay them wasted. Blue's creatures tend to be weaker than creatures of other colors, but commonly have abilities and traits which make them difficult to damage or block, particularly "Flying" and to a lesser extent "Shroud". Blue's weaknesses include having trouble permanently dealing with spells that have already been played, the reactive nature of most of its spells, and a small (and expensive) roster of creatures.

• Black is the color of power, ambition, greed, death, corruption, selfishness, and amorality; it is not necessarily evil, though many of its cards refer directly and indirectly to this concept. Black cards are best at destroying creatures, forcing players to discard cards from their hand, making players lose life, and returning creatures from the dead. Furthermore, because Black seeks to win at all costs, it has limited access to many abilities or effects that are normally available only to one of the other colors; but these abilities often require large sacrifices of life totals, creatures, cards in hand, cards in library, and other difficult-to-replace resources. Black is known for having creatures with the ability "Intimidate", making them difficult to block. Lesser black abilities include "Deathtouch" and "Regeneration". Black's main weaknesses are an almost complete inability to deal with enchantments and artifacts, its tendency to hurt itself almost as badly as it hurts the opponent, and difficulties in removing other Black creatures.

• Red is the color of freedom, chaos, passion, creativity, impulse, fury, warfare, lightning, the classical element of fire, and the non-living geological aspects of the classical element earth. Red's strengths include destroying opposing lands and artifacts, sacrificing permanent resources for temporary but great power, and playing spells that deal "direct damage" to creatures or players, usually via applications of fire. Red has a wide array of creatures, but with the exception of extremely powerful dragons, most are fast and weak, or with low toughness, rendering them easier to destroy. Some of Red's cards can turn against or hurt their owner in return for being more powerful for their cost. Red also shares the trickery theme with Blue and can temporarily steal opponents' creatures or divert spells, although generally not permanently. Many of Red's most famous creatures have the "Haste" trait, which lets them attack and use many abilities earlier. The ability to raise a creature's power temporarily is also common among Red's creatures. Red's weaknesses include its inability to destroy enchantments, the self-destructive nature of many of its spells, and the way in which it trades early-game speed at the cost of late-game staying power. Red also has the vast majority of cards that involve random chance.

• Green is the color of life, instinct, nature, reality, evolution, ecology and interdependence. Green has a large number of creatures, which tend to be the largest in the game for their cost. Many of its spells make them stronger temporarily. It can also destroy "unnatural" artifacts and enchantments, increase a player's life total, get extra lands or other mana sources into play, and produce the other four colors of mana. Green creatures often have "Trample", an ability which lets them deal attack damage to an opponent if blocked by a weaker creature. Green's weaknesses include its difficulty destroying creatures directly; a distinct shortage of flying creatures (though some of its creatures have "Reach", making them able to block flying creatures); and a lack of strategic options other than its signature large creatures.

In addition to being used to describe the personality and the abilities of the character, Color Identity also grants bonuses to particular stats:

• White gives a bonus to Focus. White is the color of protection, valor, and restoration and sustains many effects at once.
• Blue gives a bonus to Memory. Blue is the color of intelligence, logic, and knowledge and knows many great secrets.
• Black gives a bonus to Mastery. Black is the color of greed, ambition, and power and draws forth strength at any price.
• Red gives a bonus to Speed. Red is the color of impulse, reaction, and aggression and gets in and out of trouble quickly.
• Green gives a bonus to Channeling. Green is the color of growth, nature, and sustenance and provides an endless flow of life.

Character Races

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There are many races in the Magic multiverse and they come from a multitude of different planes. Some races are more likely to be associated with certain colors than others and are indicated with the shorthand letter for that color after their name. Be sure to check with your group before choosing some of the more exotic species.

In addition to species, players may want to add a template to make their character's origin more interesting or change their color identity, or they may choose to use one of the many odd and unusual styles of spell casting found within the countless planes. (Bonuses and penalties are tentative. May be removed later. Will put in a table format when I get around to it.)

Species

Name	Subraces	Color Affinity	Bonuses
Angel	-	W	Flying
Anurid	-	U/G	+1/+1
Ape	-	R/G	+1/+1
Birdfolk	Aven	W/U	Flying
Catfolk	Panther Tiger Leonin	G R W	+1 Speed +2/+0 +1 Speed
Centaur	-	R/G	Trample
Cephalid	-	U	-1/-1, +2 Memory
Construct	Golem	A	+5 Life
Demon	-	B	Flying OR Intimidate
Djinn	Djinn Efreet	U/B R	Flying +1/-1, +1 Speed
Dragon	-	W/U/B/R/G	Flying
Dryad	-	G	+1 Channeling
Dwarf	-	R/A	+1/+1
Elemental	Flamekin Maro	B/R G	+1 Channeling +1 Channeling
Elf	Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Skyshroud	W/B/G G	+1 Mastery +1 Memory
Faerie	-	U/B	Flying, -1/-1, +1 Channeling
Giant	Giant Cyclops	W/R R	+2/+2, -1 Channeling +2/+2, -1 Memory
Gnome	-	G	+1 Speed
Goblin	Akki Boggart Kyren Mogg	R B/R/G R R	+1 Channeling -1 Focus, +2 Speed +1 Speed +1 Speed
Gorgon	-	B/G	+1 Mastery
Homarid	-	U	+1 Channeling
Human	Human Metathran	W/U/B/R/G W/U	1 Colorless Mana +2 Colorless Mana for Artifacts Only
Illusion	-	U	+1 Speed
Imp	-	B	Flying, -1/-1, +1 Speed
Kithkin	-	W/U/R	+1 Focus
Kobold	-	R	-2/+0, +2 Channeling
Loxodon	-	W/G	Trample
Merfolk	Merrow Otarian Rootwater Saprazzan Vodallian Zendikaran	W/U/B U U U U U	+1 Memory +1 Channeling +1 Memory +1 Channeling +1 Channeling +1 Speed
Minotaur	-	R/W	Trample
Myr	-	A	-1/-1, +1 Speed, +1 Focus
Nantuko	-	G/B	-
Nezumi	-	B	+1 Speed
Orochi	-	G	+1 Speed
Satyr	-	G/R	+1 Focus
Shapeshifter	Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Lupil	U U/B	Changeling, +1 Speed Changeling, +1 Memory
Sliver	-	W/U/B/R/G	+1 Focus
Sphinx	-	U/W	Flying, -2 Focus, +2 Memory
Soratami	-	U	+1 Mastery
Treefolk	-	G	-2/+2, +1 Channeling
Troll	-	G	Regenerate
Vedalken	-	U	+1 Memory, +1 Focus, -1 Channeling
Viashino	-	R	+2/+0, +1 Speed, -1 Memory

Templates

Name	Color Affinity	Bonuses
Bloodfire	Changed to R	+1 Mastery, -1 Channeling
Elemental	As original plus R	+1 Channeling, -1 Focus
Horror	As original plus B	+1 Mastery, -1 Speed
Illusion	Changed to U	+1 Speed, -1 Channeling
Mirran	As original plus A	+2 colorless mana for artifacts only, -1 Mastery
Mutant	As original plus G	+1/+1, -1
Nim	Changed to B	+1 Mastery, -1 Memory
Phyrexian	Changed to B/A	+2/-2, -5 Life, +1 Mastery, +1 Memory, -1 Channeling
Shapeshifter	Changed to U	Changeling
Spirit	As original plus W	Flying, -1 Memory
Vampire	Changed to B	+1 Memory, -1 Focus
Zombie	Changed to B	+1 Channeling, -1 Speed

Unique Magic Styles (WIP)

Name	Color Affinity	Bonuses
Dementia Mage	Changed to B	+1 Focus, -1 Memory

Planes

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Magic has dozens and dozens of planes that have been described over the years. Though many players will want to create their own planes, many will also want to visit some of the more iconic places. Many of these planes can also be used as hub world or home worlds for the players to establish themselves in and for them to return to over and over as a haven from their exploration of the more dangerous planes. (Descriptions to be added later.)

Natural Planes

• Alara
• Arkhos
• Azoria
• Bolas' Meditation Realm
• Dominaria
• Equilor
• Gastal
• Innistrad
• Iquatana
• Ir
• Kaldheim
• Kamigawa
• Lorwyn/Shadowmoor
• Mercadia
• Moag
• Muraganda
• Ravnica
• Rabiah
• Segovia
• Shandalar
• Ulgrotha
• Valla
• Wildfire
• Zendikar

Artificial Planes

• Mirrodin
• Phyrexia
• Rath
• Serra's Realm

The Planeswalkers

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Planeswalkers are as old as the Magic: the Gathering game itself. In times of old they were nearly omnipotent god-like beings capable of travelling through the multi-verse at will. Now their powers are diminished to that of powerful mages, but they still possess the awesome ability to travel between the countless worlds. The typical interpretation is that the card game represents a battle between two powerful planeswalkers representing the players.

In your game, you may choose to have one or all of your players take the role of a planeswalker. In this case, they function as any other character but with one added Spell that does not require a Memory slot. This spell is called Planeshift.

Planeshifting

Planeshifting can be performed once per week and allows the Planewalker to travel to the Æther, the world between worlds, or the Blind Eternities. Through this realm all planes are connected and a planeswalker's spark, the common name given to their unique talent, protects them from the horrifying energies of this realm. Even without knowing where they are going, planeswalkers can still find their way to worlds they have never seen before. With practice, they may even be able to return to a specific plane or bring others along with them. Planeswalking takes considerable time and concentration and cannot be achieved instantaneously. Another concern for the typical planeswalker is that the process consumes a large amount of their Mana, often leaving them defenseless upon arrival at their destination.

When planeshifting out of battle there is always the chance that a planeswalker might accidentally bring their foe along with them. If they are fighting another planeswalker then the residual magic trail they leave behind can also lead a foe right to them.

Each of the following five stats affects planeshifting in some way.

• Channeling: Channeling effects how much Mana Planeshifting consumes. Planeshifting costs Mana equal to [your maximum Mana+1-Channeling].
• Focus: To carry another person with you on your journey takes a great deal of Focus. You can bring one person or permanent effect with you for every Focus you have in excess of 1. Once Focus is above 5 you have a 50% chance to avoid bringing enemies when shifting out of battle. Once Focus reaches 10 you never bring an enemy and can choose not to leave a trail.
• Mastery: Planeswalking is a tiring experience for the mind and body, but with higher Mastery you can travel again sooner. You can use Planeshift once per [8-Mastery] days. At 10 Mastery you no longer have to wait between Planeshifting.
• Speed: With higher Speed you can activate a Planeshift more quickly. Planeshifting takes a number of rounds equal to [10-Speed]. At 10 speed this process is instantaneous.
• Memory: An excellent Memory for detail can help you find your way back to a particular spot. At Memory 1-2 you have a 50% chance to arrive on the desired plane. At Memory 3-4 you have a 70% chance to arrive on the desired plane and a 50% chance to arrive on the desired continent. At Memory 5-6 you have a 70% chance to arrive on the desired continent and a 50% chance to arrive in the desired region. At Memory 7-8 you have a 90% chance to arrive in the desired region and a 70% chance to arrive in the desired city. At Memory 9-10 you have a 90% chance to arrive in the desired city and a 70% chance to arrive in the desired building.

The Spells

The way the system has been designed, most printed cards in the Magic: the Gathering TCG should easily translate directly to usable spells. Summoned creatures function as servants of the summoner and targeted spells have the same effect. Spells that reference the hand are the exception. Draw a card will instead allow you to add a spell from your known list to those in Memory, though you must be sure to forget any spells in excess of you maximum at the end of the round. Spells that cause discarding instead reduce a character's memory but that much for the round. Spells that effect the library are rare, but are the one of the cases where the cards do not translate perfectly, only being useful in certain situations. In this case, they would remove the spell from your known spell list until the end of the day, making you unable to add them to your memory through draw effects. Effects that target the graveyard will not function (though this may later be changed to be able to target any spell currently used and in the 'graveyard'.) Anything 'removed from the game' will be unable to be used for the rest of the day.

Though it is not necessary, it is encouraged for players to have the cards that represent their spells and permanents so that they can look at and be aware of their options during their turn to speed up play.

External Links

• First Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15289984/