Interest Check: Magic the Gathering RPG

Disclaimer: I know that several MtG worlds have been ported over to 5e. I'm suggesting what I'm about to because of that.

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I want to run an RPG with actual magic cards. I know, I know, it's weird. It might not even work. The rules I've come up with might be really bad. But I want to try it. Here's the (very) basic pitch.

You're not a planeswalker. No, you're one of the myriads of people that they manipulated to their own ends. But when they left, that didn't mean that your story ended. It just meant that you had to start handling things yourself.

The questions I have are:
-- Would you be interested in running an RPG based on a MtG world with cards from that world?
-- If so, what world would it be?

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I haven't played Magic for years, so I'm not greatly familiar with the newer stuff, but thanks to standardized language, that stuff shouldn't be hard to adapt. Me knowing the lore would be different, maybe.

An interesting concept for sure. Not sure how that would work out. I'm guessing you need to deal out the cards and such. Not all of us have a supply handy.

Intrigued quite how much cards would be involved. Ngl I'm enjoying Ikoria, and am fond of Ravnica. May have too many games to play, but would definitely like to at least observe

I created a TTRPG using MtG cards back in college. The card types, casting costs, and mana types align very well with a few mechanical ideas. I wish I had kept all those rules I wrote.

Combat is already a kind of sub-game in most RPGs. When you 'roll initiative' a whole new set of mechanics are loaded in to deal with the situation.

Combat could literally be a multiplayer game of M:tG. Your character's spells are represented by a 'deck' that the player constructs in character creation, perhaps based on colors that also define your character's personality. The cards could start out as weak when you are at early levels (perhaps only commons, or limited by a budget for real-world prices). Maybe you earn new cards as you level up, get loot, or use in-world resources to acquire.

I missunderstood what you were asking soooo... disregard all that! I would probably be most interested in playing in Zendikar, the various shards of Alara, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor (interesting to see the plane shift from one to the other) ... actually I could see a great game in ANY of these settings.

GeneCortess: For this, no. We'll be using the card's mechanics, but you're not going to have a full deck. You'll start with 7 cards, and you'll treat them more like your character's powers than actual cards. The only thing you really have to track is if you've been forced to discard certain cards.

LightofMidnight: The cards do pretty much everything. Basically though:
- You'd be choosing one card (within certain limits) as your character.
- You'll be choosing cards as your character's abilities (at opposite extremes: Fighters get a bunch of equipment and only one spell; Mages get 7 spells, but no equipment)
- You can use cards out of combat as well, if they have application, or discard them to gain a skill bonus if they're not immediately useful. (There's no rolling for skill checks; you pay with cards. That means you'll be able to control when you succeed, but you boost yourself by discarding which means it's a choice between power later or success now.)

Sounds interesting to give it a try. I'm in for that.

Color me interested.

I've always wanted to make something like this work, so I'm definitely interested. Not sure I have the space on my dance card right now, but I'd like to at least observe if possible.

Probably won't be this week, but I'll get forums up with more details. I only have like two minutes at a time right now, not really conducive to setting things up. (Took me three separate instances to finish this post.)

Gene, GG, what worlds would you like to test this out in? if we end up with one I'm not familiar with I might have to read up, but it should be okay.

Personal preferences: Kamigawa, Mirrodin (the non-phyrexian one), or Ravnica.

My first thought would be Innistrad. It's both got its own flavor and is uniquely woven into the lore of the multiverse.

My second instinct would be Tarkir, because time paradox shennanigans? Also Tarkir has the best goblins.

Then maybe... Alara? A way to get the world-hopping multiversal aspect [fernandomartinez] in a controlled environment. [/fernandomartinez]

Any. I'm a blank on all...:).. just like to try this out for something different. I don't normally do a lot of custom, but I feel inspired to try.

Looks like I'm reading up on Alara this weekend.

Grixis! Grixis! Grixis!

No fans of Weatherlight Saga? Karn was cool. :)

Cards From Shards Block Organized by Types

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* All Artifacts [Equipment only] [Non-Equipment & Non-Creature only]
* Enchantments [Auras only]
* All Instants & Sorceries [Instants only] [Sorceries only]
* Creatures [Legendary Creatures Only]
* Planeswalkers
* Lands

Name me two other cool things from the Weatherlight saga. (No, Squee is not "cool".)

Aw, so mean. :( I like the classical story elements played out in MtG cards. Also, Grevin (I think that was bad guy's name) was classic bad guy. For a ccg, it was cool.

Absolutely Linus. Weatherlight marked a real shift in storytelling in M:tG. While previous sets alluded to an overarching story, Weatherlight connected to an actual story with developed characters. This might have been a response to Legend of the Five Rings CCG, I'm not sure, but it marked a shift that would remain with magic forever.