Magic 

Character Creation 

Draw a humanoid creature card, or click this 

TCRPG  link: ​Random Creature​. This is your Character 

Card. This gives you your ​Creature Types ​and 
your ​Colors.​ It also might give you a little 
This is a tabletop roleplaying game that can be  inspiration for your background. Ignore the 
played exclusively with Magic the Gathering  card text for now. Keep this card handy.   
cards. You will play a character, and your game 
For each colored symbol in its mana cost, get a 
statistics will be determined by a random 
land of that type. Then take Wastes until you 
creature card. In play, you will use a deck of 
have four lands. 
basic lands to decide your outcome. You will 
need:  You begin with 10 HP, 1 Power, and 1 
Toughness. 
● A Fate Deck. This is the randomizer. It 
consists of 2 basic lands of each type  You begin knowing three spells. Choose three 
and a single Waste.  random common instants or sorceries in your 
● A bunch of random MTG cards. It may  colors, of CMC 3 or less: 
be helpful if they’re sorted by color, as 
White​, ​Blue​, ​Black​, ​Red​, ​Green 
you may want all the parts of a 
dungeon or settlement to be     
thematically linked. 
● A pile of humanoid creature cards. 
These are how you create characters, 
and make for better NPCs than oozes 
do. 
● Counters, or notecards 

Note you can use scryfall’s random card 

function to replicate a pile of random cards. 
Enter your criteria, and then replace the 
“search” in the url with “random”. I’ve 
provided several such links here. 

   
Example Character 

The random character card I drew was: 

Look at the spells someone can cast or has 

already cast today. Then, permanently delete 
one. You can also make corpses and destroyed 

  objects disappear without a trace.  

So I start with one Swamp, four Wastes, and 

am a Human Warlock.  

I now draw three common black spells. Later 

on, we’ll discuss how your GM will convert a 
magic card into an RPG spell, but I’ll do it here 
for the example. 

A very simple spell. Deals 1 damage to any 

character, and then regain 1 life. 

From the spells, my character feels like a 

vampiric assassin. Gets in, kills a target, 
deletes the evidence. Feeds on people's minds 
  and bodies. From the character card, they also 
seem to like creepy beasts. Makes sense, 
Destroy a corpse or permanently delete a spell  another mouth to destroy evidence with!   
from someone’s mind and regain 3 life. 
 Creature Types.​ Your class gives an additional 
Play  card to any draw that it would reasonably 
apply to. Your race does not usually give any 
When you attempt something difficult, you 
bonuses. 
will draw from the Fate deck. This deck 
contains two basic lands of each type and one 
Wastes. The GM will determine what type of  A Scene 
land you need to draw to succeed.  
Keep your lands, spells and character card in 
● Plains: Commanding, organization,  front of you. At the start of a scene, all your 
helping others. Fighting as a soldier.  cards untap. 
● Islands: Thinking, planning, being 
Turn order is determined by the number of 
rational. Swimming, sailing, flying. 
Mountains  
● Swamps: Subterfuge, lying, dealing 
with the underbelly.   On your turn you may do two actions: 
● Mountains: Destruction, art, emotion. 
Fighting as a warrior.  ● Move 

● Forests: Tracking, animals, plants.   ● Cast a spell 

● Wastes: Weird stuff  ● Activate an ability 

● Attack 
If you draw the land, you succeed. If you draw  ● Interact with Something 
an allied land, you partially succeed. 
Otherwise, you fail. Note that the Waste is not  Cast a Spell. ​Tap your lands to pay for a spell’s 

allied to any color.  cost. Then, put that spell into your graveyard. 
When you sleep for the night, you regain all 
If possible, the GM should tailor the outcome  your spells. 
to the type of land drawn. 
Activate an Ability. ​Use an activated ability 
you have access to. Pay any of those ability’s 
costs. If they require tapping, tap your 
character card. 

Interact. ​Many interactions, such as opening 

doors, are free. But if you draw from the Fate 
deck, it takes an action. 

Attack.​ You and your target each draw a 

  random card. Add your power to its CMC. Each 
Extra Draws. ​For each land you control of the  of you deals damage to the other equal to that 
target type, you may draw one additional card  total, reduced by their toughness.   
from the Fate deck. Take the best card.  
 equal to that monster’s CMC. Plus you get to 

Spells  keep any treasure you find. 

Buying and Selling. ​Artifacts can be sold for 

Instant​ and ​Sorcery ​cards are spells that 
their CMC worth of treasure tokens. You can 
people can cast. You need to cast these spells 
buy artifacts and spells in towns with those 
with your lands, just as in the card game. 
treasure tokens. The cost is equal to the CMC. 

Artifacts  Burning for Mana. ​In an emergency, you can 

also sacrifice treasure tokens for mana, just as 
Artifact ​cards can be treasure you may find in  the normal effect. 
chests, or in the possession of others. You may 
only use an Artifact if you could cast it with 
Progression 
your Wastes. Colored lands do not count, 
unless the artifact is colored.  You need a number of experience points to 
level up equal to the number of lands you 
Some artifacts are clearly too large to carry on 
control. When you get a treasure or a rescued 
your person. These 
NPC back to safety, gain XP equal to its 
converted mana cost. 
Creatures and NPCs 
When you level up, choose two. You cannot 
Creature​ cards are NPCs and creatures. If they  choose the same option more than once: 
want to cast spells, they have Mana equal to 
their mana cost.  ● Get a Wastes land 
● +2 HP 
● +1 Power 
Locales  ● +1 Toughness 

Land ​and ​Enchantment ​cards describe a  Mentoring. ​If you aid an NPC, they can teach 
location. The ​Lands​ describe the physical  you a new skill. If they are a spellcaster, they 
place, and any ​Enchantments​ are magical  can change one of your Wastes to a land of 
effects that pervade the place. Everyone there  their color.  
is subject to them. 
They can also teach you any abilities they 
have. You must be able to cast their card to 
Treasure 
learn their abilities.  
Treasure tokens represent wealth. When you 
   
complete a quest, your party gets treasure 
tokens in addition to any other rewards. If the 
quest was to rescue people, you get tokens 
equal to the total CMC of the rescued 
characters. If it was to kill a giant monster, it’s 
 ● Create Tokens. Can be magic constructs 

Card Interpretation  or real things teleported to you.  

● Counters. Counters modify qualities 
This will require some creativity on a GM’s  until the end of the day. 
part. The golden rule is: Adjudicate based on  ● Creatures you control. Allied creatures 
Art and Logic. What follows is some guidelines  in this scene. 
for the most common effects you’ll see.  ● Return an Instant or Sorcery to Hand. 
Put a spell you’ve cast back in front of 

Common Card Text  you. 

● Milling. Forgetting important things.  
● Damage. Deals that much damage.  ● Lands. If you gain or lose lands 
● Loss or Gain of Life. Raises or lowers  (searching for one, sacrificing one), 
HP that much (Not above maximum  that lasts until the end of the day. Then 
life)  you return to your normal number. 
● Controller. Either the target, or  Lands can also refer to the location 
whoever controls the target (like their  around you, if that makes more sense. 
boss), whichever makes more sense. 
Zones 
● Enter the battlefield. Happens when 
they show up in the scene.  ● Hand. Your nearby base of operations, 
● Drawing a card. Gain a piece of useful  or nearest equivalent. Lacking that, the 
information or gain a useful item  last real bed you slept in. 
(depending on flavor)  ● Battlefield. In the scene 
● Tutoring for a card. Get an answer to a  ● Graveyard. Both the dead and spells 
question of your choice or an item of  you’ve already cast today.  
your choice (depending on flavor)  ● Library. Your homeland. 
● Discarding a card. The target loses a  ● Exile. Lost in some pocket dimension 
piece of information or a useful item.  somewhere. 
● Scry. Receive a vision of a place, in the 
past, present or future. Scry 1 only 
Evergreen Keywords 
visual, 2 includes sound, 3 allows you 
to move around.  ● Deathtouch. Poisons anyone they 
● When… Attacks. When it engages in  damage. Unless they find an antidote or 
combat on its turn.  gain life through magic, they will die in 
● When… Blocks. When it is attacked.  24 hours. 
● Upkeep. Beginning of the scene  ● Defender. Can’t move from what 
● End Step. End of the scene  they’re defending. 
● Beginning of Combat. Start of a battle  ● First Strike. Does damage before the 
● Extra Turn. Either travel back in time to  other party. 
the start of this scene, or slow down  ● Double Strike. Does both First Strike 
time enough to act twice.  and regular damage. 
 ● Flash. Will surprise or ambush you. 
● Flying. Can fly. They still take damage  Examples 
when they attack ground targets. 
● Haste. Can move significantly faster  Dragonscale Boon - 3G 
than any creature without haste.  Instant 
● Hexproof. Can’t be targeted with spells.  Put 2 +1/+1 counters on target creature and 
● Indestructible. Can’t die.  untap it. 
● Lifelink. If they survive dealing 
Simple. Untap their character card. Put the two 
damage, they gain that much HP back. 
counters on it. These counters are removed at 
● Menace. Can’t be willingly fought 
the end of the day. 
alone. Too scary. 
● Reach. Has some way to attack far away  Mox Ruby - 0 
or up high targets.   Artifact 
● Trample. When they kill someone, they  Tap: Add [R] 
can immediately attack again. 
● Vigilance. Cannot be surprised or  Another simple one. This is essentially an extra 

ambushed.  red land.  

Treetop Scout - G 
Extra Rules  Creature - Elf Scout 
This cannot be blocked except by creatures 
All removal effects only work on targets of  with flying. 
converted mana cost X+2, where X is the CMC  1/1 
of the spell or source of the effect.  
This elf scampers in the trees. Unless you fight 
All, each and other such effects refer to each  them out of the forest, or with bows and wings, 
thing in the scene.  they’re beyond your reach. 

All player characters are creatures for the  Bramble Creeper - 4G 
purpose of spells. They have converted mana  Creature - Elemental 
cost equal to the number of lands they control.  When this attacks, it gets +5/+0 until end of 

The Golden Rule. ​If the Game Master can’t  turn. 

figure out what a card should do, discard it and  0/3 

draw another.  This is a creature, probably a monster. When 

you attack it, it’s a harmless bramble with 0 
  attack. But when it strikes out, it’s a deadly foe 
with 5 attack. 

   

 
 
Lich - BBBB  Coalition Relic - 3 
Enchantment  Artifact 
As Lich enters the battlefield, you lose life  Tap: Add one mana of any color. 
equal to your life total.  Tap: Put a charge counter on Coalition Relic. 
You don’t lose the game for having 0 or less  At the beginning of your precombat main 
life.  phase, remove all charge counters from 
If you would gain life, draw that many cards  Coalition Relic. Add one mana of any color for 
instead.  each charge counter removed this way. 
Whenever you’re dealt damage, sacrifice that 
This relic can boost the amount of mana you 
many nontoken permanents. If you can’t, you 
have. This can be tapped once a scene for 
lose the game. 
mana, or it can be tapped during a scene to 
When Lich is put into a graveyard from the 
charge it. Then, during your first turn of the 
battlefield, you lose the game. 
next scene, remove that charge and add a 
This one’s a doozy. This describes being a lich.  mana. 
A character needs to have four swamps and 
Confusion in the Ranks - 3RR 
undergo a dark ritual to become a lich. 
Enchantment 
Once they do, they have 0 life permanently. If  Whenever an artifact, creature, or 
they would gain life, they instead gain  enchantment enters the battlefield, its 
knowledge. If they would lose life, they instead  controller chooses target permanent another 
sacrifice artifacts, auras on them, their own  player controls that shares a card type with it. 
lands, and even their own lackeys. As long as  Exchange control of those permanents. 
they have something to fuel the fire, they can’t 
This enchantment turns a battlefield into 
die. 
chaos. Whenever a person enters this area, 
Animal Sanctuary  they trade allegiances with one person already 
Land  there. In addition, all of their possessions swap 
Tap: Add [C]  with possessions already on the field. 
2, Tap: Put a +1/+1 counter on target Bird, Cat, 
 
Dog, Goat, Ox, or Snake. 
 
This locale is a sanctuary for many beloved 
animals. Anyone who is there can use some   
mana to strengthen one of those animals. 
Remember, all counters wear off at the end of   

the day. This ability can only be used once per   

day. 
 
 
 
 
Spelltwine - 5U  Harvest Wurm - 1G 
Sorcery  Creature - Wurm 
Exile target instant or sorcery card from your  When Harvest Wurm enters the battlefield, 
graveyard and target instant or sorcery card  sacrifice it unless you return a basic land card 
from an opponent’s graveyard. Copy those  from your graveyard to your hand. 
cards. Cast the copies if able without paying  2/2 
their mana costs. Exile Spelltwine. 
This one is complicated. I don’t think this 
This powerful spell can only be cast once, and  should interact with your mana, it should 
then it is erased from your mind. You recast  instead interact with physical places.  
any spell you’ve already cast today. In 
This magical creature appears, heals a 
addition, you can choose a foe in this scene, 
wounded place, and then moves on. When it 
and cast any spell that they’ve cast today.  
has nowhere else to heal, it dies.  
Sunscape Apprentice - W 
Ruinous Gremlin - R 
Creature — Human Wizard 
Creature - Gremlin 
G, Tap: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of 
2R, Sacrifice Ruinous Gremlin: Destroy target 
turn. 
artifact. 
U, Tap: Put target creature you control on top 
1/1 
of its owner’s library. 
1/1  This bastardly little creature eats important 
things. It goes about its day eating wheels and 
This wizard has mastered skills from her allied 
hinges. You can pay a little bit of mana to 
schools of magic. In a scene, this character can 
direct it towards a specific thing you want 
bolster an ally, or can send someone back to 
destroyed, but you’ll probably never see it 
their homeland. This is handy for travel or for 
again. 
getting someone out of danger in an 
emergency. They need to tap their character  Unstable Frontier 
card to do either of these things.  Land 
Tap: Add C. 
   
Tap: Target land you control becomes the basic 
land type of your choice until end of turn. 

The art shows an enormous island sliding 

through a molten landscape. This location is 
ever shifting. You might arrive in a coastal 
forest, but soon find the whole landscape 
pushing itself up into the sky as a giant 
mountain.  

Once per day here, you may use its second 

ability on one of your lands for the scene 
 A Settlement. ​Draw 10 cards. If it is a town, 
Designing an Adventure  discard any with CMC 4 or up. If it is a city, 
discard any with CMC 6 or up. If it is a 
Using Magic cards as a base for the game 
metropolis, keep all 10.  
allows improvisation on the fly. You may want 
to only draw cards of one or two colors, to give  ● Creature cards are important 
a cohesive feel to an area.  inhabitants. They may teach you if you 
complete quests for them. 
An Adventure Locale. ​Draw X land cards. X is 
● Instant, Sorcery, Aura, and small 
larger the larger the locale is. Five is a good 
Artifacts are things you might be able 
baseline for a small dungeon. These are the 
to buy or earn in town. 
map nodes. Rooms in the dungeon, landmarks 
● Lands, Enchantments, and large 
in the forest, etc. 
Artifacts make up the city itself. 
For the rest of the cards, choose a difficulty. 
Character Quests. ​Each player’s character 
Discard any cards that have greater CMC than 
card probably has a lot of extra text on it that 
the difficulty. A starting adventure should 
they’re not using. This is where the personal 
have a difficulty of around 3. You can include 
quest comes in.  
one or two cards of higher CMC as bosses. 
The difficulty of the quest is equal to the CMC 
Draw 3 times X cards. These are the hostile 
of the character card. Once they complete it, 
cards. For each Enchantment, choose if it 
they get the abilities from their card. They also 
affects the whole map, or only a subset of the 
increase their power and toughness to match 
areas. Place any large Artifacts as landmarks.  
their character card (And then re-add any 
Distribute the Creatures around the map.  bonuses they got from leveling up)   
Equip Auras and small Artifacts to them. 
Choose a few spellcasters, and give them any 
Instants or Sorceries.  

Next, draw X cards. These are the treasure. 

Instants and Sorceries are spellbooks, Artifacts 
are in chests, Enchantments are attached to 
totems, and Creatures are prisoners. 

 
 Thalia, Heretic Cathar - 2W 
More Example Player Characters  Legendary Creature - Human Soldier 
First strike 
Merrow Reejerey - 2U 
Creatures and nonbasic lands your opponents 
Creature - Merfolk Soldier 
control enter the battlefield tapped. 
Other Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1. 
Whenever you cast a Merfolk spell, you may tap  Momentary Blink - 1W 
or untap target permanent.  Instant 
Exile target creature you control, then return it 
Toils of Night and Day - 2U 
to the battlefield under its owner’s control. 
Instant - Arcane 
Flashback 3U 
You may tap or untap target permanent, then 
you may tap or untap another target  Throw an ally out of existence for a moment, 
permanent.  saving them from danger. It can be cast a 
second time in a day for blue mana, but then 
An extremely versatile spell. You can target 
needs to be relearned. 
artifacts, lands, and character cards. Exhaust or 
exhaust people and mana.  Divine Light - W 
Sorcery 
Compelling Argument - 1U 
Prevent all damage that would be dealt this 
Sorcery 
turn to creatures you control. 
Target player mills 5 cards 
Cycling - U  Prevent all damage that would be dealt to your 
allies (but not you) until the end of the scene.  
A target forgets a number of important details. 
Also, if you need to, you can spend U to learn  Leap of Faith - 2W 
new information instead.  Instant 
Target creature gains flying until end of turn. 
Ghostform - 1U 
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to that 
Sorcery 
creature this turn. 
Up to two target creatures can’t be blocked this 
turn.  Give a character immunity to damage until 
your next turn. On their turn, they can leap an 
Up to two characters become ethereal until the 
incredible distance and with incredible 
end of the scene. They can walk through walls, 
precision.  
and cannot be attacked. They can still take 
damage while attacking someone, however.  This famous soldier protects allies with an 
array of spells. Their character quest will be 
This soldier has a bag of tricks to get the job 
religious in nature. 
done. Their character quest will certainly 
involve merfolk society.