Editing User:Bill/Magic the Gathering

Magic has many of the necessary features of a role-playing game; an evocative setting (several of them actually), colorful history and characters, and a detailed and tactically sophisticated combat system. All it really needs to be a full blown RPG is a set of subsystems to handle other forms of problem solving.

I think this can be accomplished by adapting the existing mechanics as well. At the level of individual challenges, how one card interacts with another, MtG has nothing to do with chance. A power 4 will always inflict four damage, except in cases where this is modified by other cards. This is contrary to most RPG design, but I think it can work with the right group of players. I expect that it would shift the game to a more narrative style of play, where success is more a matter of resource manipulation than gambling.

==Setting==

MtG features a fairly diverse array of settings to choose from, or if one were willing to run a Planeswalker grade game, it would be possible to cross over from one setting to another. My preference would be to select one of the more recent sets, such as Ravnica or Kamigawa, and play in that setting. This would permit the group to encounter recurring characters more easily and feel out exactly how the rules should work. Regardless of which setting the group agreed on, the background of all but the ones featured in the MtG novels is only detailed in the flavor text featured on the cards. This leaves a lot of ground for me to fill in, so some long discussions on how the group perceives the core conflicts to be structured, what the race relations are like, who's in charge where, and other topics will be necessary.

==Characters==

Playing a MtG RPG that doesn't focus on spellcasters would seem to defeat the purpose. However, I think the races and roles presented in the cards are often interesting enough to make a player want to try them on. To support that I'd be willing to let each player choose whether to be an intermediate level spellcaster, stronger than a summonable spellcaster but not quite planeswalker material yet, or another creature.

Spellcasters would be based on any summonable creature with a magical effect that they may produce, such as clerics, shamen, pyromancers, or wizards, with a mana cost of three or less. The card will determine your character's race, base power, and base toughness. Your character may use any abilities present on the card at will. Additionally you may create a library of 15 cards including land that your character may draw on each encounter. All of these cards are available, there will be no draw. None of the fifteen cards may have a mana cost greater than three, and any cards indicating that they enter play tapped will take a round of combat before they may be used. Cards that influence your draw or your opponents', such as Braingeyser, will be arbitrated on a case by case basis; but will generally increase your ability to overcome mental challenges.

If you're not interested in playing a spellcaster, or working out a suitable strategy that you may employ in the course of fifteen cards, you may choose any summonable creature card other than spellcasters with a total mana cost of four or less to base your character off. My preference would be that the character be based on one of the common intelligent races, but we can handwave that if you'd prefer to play something like an ape or a bear. Just like spellcasters, the card will determine your race and role, base power and toughness, as well as any special abilities that your character will be able to use at will. In addition, just to level the playing field a little, non-spellcasters may choose any number of artifacts with a combined mana cost of three as personal equipment.

==Rules==

The magic and combat will obviously follow the standard rules associated with the card game. For other challenges, I will be making stuff up for as I go. The rules will necessarily be a work in progress for the duration of the campaign. One thing that I will immediately say, you don't need any cards. While I think it would be cool to have the cards for your character in front of you, especially if you've elected to be a spellcaster, it's unreasonable to ask folks that aren't into magic to buy them. If you haven't got any cards, please make detailed notes on the ones you would use from one of the many spoilers available on the Internet. I recommend Magic Deck Vortex.