Version 1.8

You're not a planeswalker. Not yet. You're just one of the myriads of people that lived through the crises they prevented - or caused. But when they left your world, your world didn't end. You found that you had a spark inside you, and that meant it was up to you to handle what came next.

SPARKS uses Magic: The Gathering cards and their existing mechanics instead of dice.

Creation Checklist

To create a character in MtG: the RPG, follow these simple steps.

• Select a Character
• Select a Bonus Ability
• Choose Equipment and/or Spells

Character Card

Your character card represents your character. It determines how much damage your character deals with non-spell attacks, how much damage it can take, and which spells it can use (based on its color identity).

Your GM will have selected specific sets of cards for you to choose from, usually a block or two or three expansions. From these, choose a card that is:

Make note of the colors that make up the cost of your card. This is known as your Color Identity. Your Color Identity will affect the cards you can choose in the next steps. Both Spells and Equipment must either be colorless or of a color contained in your Colour Identity.

Bonus Ability

Every character gains one bonus ability. The ability may be upgraded using experience. The first upgrade must be purchased before the second.

Rage

Discard a card to gain a bonus to your next damage equal to the cost of the card.

• 1 XP: You now gain bonus damage equal to 1.5x the cost of the card, rounded up.
• 2 XP: You now gain bonus damage equal to twice the cost of the card.

Savant

Choose one additional sorcery or instant spell when you choose your spells.

• 1 XP: Choose a second additional sorcery or instant spell.
• 2 XP: Choose a third additional sorcery or instant spell.

Prayer

Choose one additional enchantment spell when you choose your spells.

• 1 XP: Choose a second additional enchantment spell.
• 2 XP: Choose a third additional enchantment spell.

Evasion

Discard a card to negate an attack on you.

• 1 XP: You can now negate an attack on an adjacent creature.
• 2 XP: You can move into or out of melee with an enemy as part of evasion.

Wilder

Choose one Common non-humanoid creature card with a cost of 3 or less to be your pet. You start with your pet on the battlefield. It follows all other rules normally, including discarding rules.

• 1 XP: Your pet may now cost up to 4.
• 2 XP: Your pet may now be Uncommon.

Support Cards

Next, choose six support cards. Starting Support Cards must be Common, Non-Heroic, and cost 3 or less.

Spells

Spells use the normal game rules where possible. Changes and limitations are listed below.

• Artifact: Artifacts may be used as long as the art or flavour text shows it to be small enough to be carried or worn by a character.
• Creature: Summoned creatures use your actions to obey commands (e.g. attacking).
• Enchantments: Enchant Land cards do not attach to any specific land. You gain it's benefit as stated on the card.
• Equipment: Cards with the Equipment subtype work as normal. Equipement that isn't equipped stays in play. However, at the end of the encounter, Equipment is returned to your hand.

Spell & Creature Abilities

Some abilities and keywords will work differently than in a regular game of magic.

• Cascade: Replace 'top of your library', with 'bottom of your discard'.
• Destroy/Exile/Bounce: Only summoned creatures (including tokens and pets) may be destroyed/exiled/bounced. Characters (whether PC or NPC) may not.
• Hexproof/Shroud: Usable once per encounter (per card) in response to being targeted by a spell. The spell is cancelled; the card used loses Hexproof/Shroud until the next encounter.
• Land Search: These spells do not cost to play. Immediately gain mana equal to the amount and type of lands that the spell would allow you to search for.
• Mana Acceleration: Cards that would add additional mana when a land is tapped give you that additional mana on each turn that you do not Attack.
• Tapping: Tapping always lasts until the end of the target's next turn. Tapped creatures cannot attack or cast spells.

Experience

Each encounter you move through will grant experience. The DM will assign the XP given, based on these guidelines.

• Normal Encounter: 1 XP
• Hard Encounter: 2 XP
• Minor plot point resolved: 1 XP
• Major plot point resolved: 1 XP

Advancement

Experience may be spent to upgrade your spells and equipment and to improve your character.

Improve Spells/Equipment

1 XP: Replace a Spell or Equipment. The replacement must have a cost equal to or less than the original card's cost, must have the same rarity or lower, and must be the same color.

2 XP: Gain an additional Spell or Equipment. The additional card must follow the same rules as a starting Spell or Equipment.

3 XP: Replace a Spell or Equipment. Choose one of the following options for the new card:

• One grade rarer (with a max rarity of Rare).
• One additional colour.
• Change a color in its Color Identity.
• Cost is one greater.

Upgrade your Character

2 XP: Replace your character with another creature of the same race, class, colour, and cost that is equal or less.

3 XP: Replace your character with another creature of the same race. Choose one of the following options for the new card:

• One grade rarer (with a max rarity of Rare).
• One additional colour.
• Change a color in its Color Identity.
• Cost is one greater.

Skill Checks

The skill check is the basic mechanic of MtG: the RPG. To make a skill check:

• Determine your motivation
• Determine the cost
• Pay the cost.

Out of Combat

Some spells may have out-of-combat applications. If this is the case, it is up to the player and DM to decide how best to handle them. Generally, out-of-combat spells last until the end of the encounter in which they're used.

All spells cost mana, but mana isn't tracked out of combat. This means that out-of-combat spells can usually be cast, but there may be instances where there is no mana available. If this is the case, spells cannot be cast.

Motivation

Each motivation is aligned with a color.

Color	Core Motivations	Shared Motivations	Opposed Colors
Red	Chaos Passion	Freedom Independence	White  Blue
Green	Harmony Preservation	Community Freedom	Blue  Black
White	Order Protection	Community Structure	Red  Black
Blue	Knowledge Logic	Structure Ambition	Red  Green
Black	Corruption Seflishness	Ambition Independence	Green  White

Goal vs. Motivation

Say you want to dismantle a machine. That's your goal. But what is your motivation?

• I want to learn more about it.
• The machine is damaging the forest.
• There's an elemental trapped inside.

Cost

When you know the motivation, find the cost of the skill.

Check	Cost
Average	1
Hard	2
Extreme	3
Motivation opposes your color	+1
Motivation matches color	-1

Payment

When you've found the cost of the attempt, discard enough cards to pay for it. If you can't, or don't want to, the check is unsuccessful.

Card Type	Payment
Discard a Common card	1
Discard an Uncommon card	2
Discard a Rare card	3
Card's color is aligned with check	x2

Discarding & Recovering Cards

Skill checks (along with other cards and rules) may tell you to discard a card. When you discard card, it becomes unusable until you get it back.

• For Common or Uncommon cards, you get them back at the end of the encounter that you discarded it.
• For Rare cards, you get them back at the end of the next encounter.

If a card would let you draw a card, you can recover one card from your discard.

Combat

Combat is cyclical. Each creature in combat takes a turn to take actions. When each creature has declared an action, they are resolved in order of initiative.

Initaitive

Characters with First Strike or Double Strike go first. After that, characters with the highest initiative go first. Use the following modifiers to determine initiative:

Modifier	Initiative
Color Identity Matches Terrain	+1
Discard a Card	+Cost
Haste	+3

Ties in Initiative

Initiative ties go to the PCs. If two PCs tie, they may determine their turn order.

Surprise

Characters and creatures not aware of others do not act in the first round of combat.

Health

PCs begin with a shared Health of 20. A normal NPC group has a shared Health pool of 10, while a hard group has a Health pool of 15.

The PC's Health total resets at the beginning of each day.

Mana

Each character starts with a mana pool equal to either 3 or its cost, whichever is higher. This mana is in any combination of colors found in the character's color identity.

Characters gain mana at the rate of 2 per turn, at the end of their turn.

• The first mana matches any color in the character's color identity.
• The second mana other matches that of the terrain.

A character who does not attack or cast a spell on their turn may give one mana to another character.

Actions

Each character may either use it's creature attack or cast one Spell each round. Instants are not subject to this limit. Each character can also Move each round and take a reasonable number of minor actions.

Running or casting a spell while yelling a warning would be acceptable; doing that while also picking a lock and catching a falling kitten would probably be too much.

Extra Actions

If an effect gives a character the ability to cast additional spells, that effect overrides the normal limits.

Combat Changes

As mentioned earlier, casting a spell or attacking with a creature uses the same rules as the regular game, where possible. Changes are listed below.

• Blocking Creatures: An opposing creature may choose to block a creature attack. When an attack is blocked, damage is dealt to the creature instead of the team's health.
• Damage: If damage dealt to a PC is greater or equal to the his toughness, the PC is tapped until either a life gain spell is played or an effect improves the blocker's toughness.
• Unblocked Damage: When damage is dealt and not blocked, it reduces the team's shared health. If the team's health falls to 0, the team is incapacitated.

Movement & Positioning

Targets are either in Melee or at Ranged with the characters. It requires an action to move from one to the other, or to move from one group of enemies to another.

• Ranged: May be targeted with spells or ranged weapons. If a creature has art showing a ranged weapon, this counts as a ranged weapon. Equipment that does not require the creature to attack is also a ranged weapon.
• Melee: May be targeted with all creature abilities and spells, including creature attacks.

Card Selection

When creating a world, you should limit the pool of available cards. There's so much variance in power level among the various card sets, it is almost impossible not to break the system when you allow everything. To solve this, the suggestion is to designate the card set(s) that best represent the world you have in mind. One block (2 or 3 expansions) is usually sufficient. You could add in a Core set as well.

Monster-Only Cards

These card types are generally suitable only as monsters. However, some settings or stories may vary.

Building Encounters

Standard Encounter: A group of creatures with cost from 1/2 to 3/4 that of the players' characters is usually enough to provide a challenge. Add one spell per each common Humanoid creature, 2 for each Uncommon, or 3 for each Rare.

Hard Encounter: For larger, or more important battles, the group of creatures should have a cost equal to that of the players. One of the creatures is designated the leader, and given extra toughness equal to the number of players. The leader is also given two extra spells, if it is able to use them.