[Amber] Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light

[Panjumanju]

I'm getting set to run an Amber campaign soon - or at least an Amber-like diceless RPG, based on the 80s cartoon and toyline "Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light". I'm posting it up here for criticism and in case anyone wanted to use the material for their own game of this oft neglected property.

There are only a few minor changes from the core rules of Amber Diceless, except that the powers, of course, are entirely original to the setting.

The biggest change I made is the addition of the rule "Right of Success". The winner of each auction must specify some sub-division of their Attribute, for instance the 1st place rank of "Arms & Armour" (which is Warfare) must specify the colour of their armour and the obscure melee weapon (read: not a sword) their character uses. The 2nd then gets to answer, and so on down the line. No two characters can pick the same colour for their armour or weapon. Most of the Attributes (each of them adapted for the setting) have one or two of these.

ATTRIBUTES
==========
Ranks in Attributes are measured according to:
Visionary (0)
Warrior (+10)
Peasant (+25)
Attributes are assumed to be at Visionary rank unless sold down.

The Attributes used in this game are the following:

Magic Spell (Psyche)
Inner Strength (Strength)
Animal Totem (Endurance)
Arms & Armour (Warfare without leadership)
Titles & Holdings (Leadership, lands owned and social status)

The assumption is a 100 point auction with 1st rank having 1st choice in each category for a 'fill in the blank' Right of Success.

Magic Spell
This Attribute is the measurement of the character's general strength of mind, sharpness of will, clarity of thought, mental power, as well as the power of the magic spell bestowed upon them as a Visionary.

This relates to the Amber Diceless Attribute of Psyche, but additionally determines the power of all magic used by the PC, with the exception of vehicles.

By Right of Success the PC does not identify their magic spell - that is chosen by the GM after the first session as an assessment of the character's personality, but the scale of this Attribute determines how powerful the spell is.
- Example of a low-rank: Leoric's Wisdom spell, which speaks in riddles too obscure to understand until after the fact.
- Example of a mid-rank: Cravex, whose magic spell of Fear is pretty hit-and-miss.
- Example of a high-rank: Arzon's Intelligence spell, which tells him all relevant information in detail, even offering information he didn't ask about.

Inner Strength
This Attribute governs two essential groups: all unarmed combat and other expressions of the body and secondly the focus of will towards a certain subject. This is an assessment of the PC's physical might, rigour, vigour, which need not express itself in physical might – it could merely be through subtle knowledge of martial arts. The application of this Attribute can be defensive as well as offensive – knowing when to take a half-step back and lessen the blow of a weapon, or knowing the best cover against laser-fire.

This Attribute is the same as the Amber Diceless version of Strength, but could instead be a more mystical representation of strength, expressed as the skill of a character's chosen field in something instead like speed, leadership or detective work – whatever subject the character chooses to devote their will towards.

By Right of Success the PC must choose one subject at which they excel. Examples include: Physical might, swiftness, scavenging, cowardice, or something otherwise character revealing.
- Example of a low-rank: Lexor, whose skill of 'boot-licking' isn't usually successful, suggesting Peasant rank, or Arzon, who does not appear to have any particular strength worth mentioning.
- Example of a mid-rank: Darkstorm, who cannot swim and is only a moderately good leader. (He uses his Magic Spell to intimidate leadership on the peasants under him rather than relying on this Attribute.) Other examples of a mid-range include: Reekon (Thief), Ectar (Detective), or Cravex (Scavenger).
- Example of a high-rank: Witterquick, with his blinding speed and dexterity. Other examples of a high range for this Attribute include: Cindarr and Cryotek (Physical Might), or Leoric for his leadership.

Animal Totem
This Attribute measures the PC's ability to suffer physical hardship, acting as health, physical condition and the 'battery' of energy for all other Attributes. This is the basic measure of energy for all physical acts done by the Visionary. How conscious they are after great injury, their ability to go without sleep or without food, and how long they can continue running is all determined by this Attribute as a measure of endurance. This Attribute is also the measure of how long the character can maintain their transformation into the hologram of their animal totem, and the power of such totem.

This is the same as the Amber Diceless sense of Endurance, but with the addition of determining the power of the PC's totem it takes on temporary offensive capabilities also.

By Right of Success the PC does not identify their animal totem - that is chosen by the GM after the first session of play as a representation of the character's personality, but the scale of this Attribute determines if, for instance, the totem of a snail is just a small shell on the ground (Peasant rank) a baseball-sized shell on the ground (Warrior rank), a sneaky rolling shell (Visionary rank), or - at 1st rank, a fire-breathing war-shell covered in spikes. The severity of these spikes scroll down according to 2nd, 3rd, and so-on rank.
- Example of a low-rank: Lexor, who turns into a small armadillo only to hide in the bushes.
- Example of a mid-rank: Witterquick, whose cheetah totem usually does its job well, but when he needs it he is more inclined to use the Magic Spell of Speed.
- Example of a high-rank: Darkstorm, who's mollusc is bigger than a lion and breathes fire. Another example is Cryotek, whose bear totem can easily take on several armed warriors.

Arms & Armour
This Attribute measures the PC's ability to wield their chosen weapon and the use of their armour. Every Visionary has armour, which is light, flexible, and not heavy at all. They are free to run or swim in such armour.

This Attribute is the same as Amber Diceless' Warfare, but without the qualities of leadership. The leadership qualities of Amber's Warfare Attribute are instead used under Titles & Holdings.

By Right of Success the PC chooses what the chosen weapon of their Visionary will be - with one notable exception: no swords. (The unwritten rule for the setting is: "No swords, no horses.") In addition, the PC must identify the colours of their armour. There are usually two. No other PC may choose the same weapon, nor the same colours of armour. Examples include: Sickle, Fork, Whip, Hatchet, Club. Armour is yellow with blue trim, or armour is all blood red, etc. PCs fighting using a weapon other than their chosen weapon do so at a disadvantage - which may still be greater than their opponent's comparable Attribute.
- Example of a low-rank: Mortdredd, who resists physical violence, or Lexor who hides under tables.
- Example of a mid-rank: Virulina, who seems more than willing to get into a scrap but is touch-and-go for results.
- Example of a high-rank: Cravex, who can fist-fight all of the Darkling Lords over dinner. (Fists are clearly not Cravex's weapon of choice - he has a handled-axe - but his rank is sufficiently high enough out in 1st to engage all the Darkling Lords over a disagreement at dinner.)

Titles & Holdings
This Attribute helps to establish the geography of the game by identifying the PC's terrain of influence. As an Attribute it measures social power and available aid during travel. On a smaller scale it may also affect combat on certain terrain, providing a 'home terrain advantage'. In addition this Attribute is a measure of command ability and determines NPC reactions to your character.

This Attribute takes the leadership qualities of the Attribute Warfare and adds to them the status of many of the auxiliary auctions listed in the Amber Diceless core rulebook, such that after character creation players can quickly know where their character stands socially in the universe.

By Right of Success the PC identifies both the kingdom from which they hail and the terrain of that Kingdom. For instance - coming from New Valarak and the terrain is Castle City, or coming from the Western Jungles and the terrain is Jungle. If fighting or otherwise attempting to resolve conflict within the chosen territory the PC gains a "home-advantage". This can apply even if it is not their territory directly but their terrain - knowing how to fight on ice is relevant to all ice, not just the ice of your homeland. In addition, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ranks of this Attribute are considered to have some ruling position within their home territory - King, Prince, President, or whatever else the PC and GM work out as relevant to the character's back-story.
- Example of a low-rank: Reekon, who wanders and has no real place in the world. (This suggests Peasant or Warrior rank.)
- Example of a mid-rank: Cindarr, who knows well the laws of the jungle but has no territory of his own.
- Example of a high-rank: In order: Arzon, Prince of Arzon would be 3rd among the Spectral Knights. Cryotek, King of Northalia is a good example of a 2nd rank. An example of 1st Rank would be Leoric, who is the King of New Valarak, the territory used as the principal setting for his faction.

At first to third rank the Visionary is the lord of a castle and in charge of the safety and prosperity of its denizens and the surrounding farmers, approximately 100 people. Farmlands are necessary to feed everyone, guards are necessary upon the walls (both mace-wielders and archers) and masons and other trades-people are necessary for the small kingdom to function. Without one of these groups, the kingdom will fall. Should any of the people of the castle discover that the Visionary has powers of Magic, they will almost certainly abandon (or usurp) the Visionary in favour of a more terrestrial monarch.
 
Making this an Attribute eliminates the need to have separate point-costs associated with having your own domain. This only works because Visionaries is a shared single-world, unlike Amber's multi-verse.

Reasoning behind the Attributes: I wanted to keep the Attributes as close to Amber Dicless as possible, because the Attributes as they are structured in Amber Diceless work very well. The farther you get away from the Amber Diceless Attributes as written the less it works. Titles & Holdings is a natural extension of the suggested 'other auctions' from the Amber Diceless rulebook in a way most appropriate to this setting. Certainly there are concessions made - Endurance as the measure of power for the totem is perhaps not the ideal, but it forces Endurance to both be the battery for all other powers and have some offensive capability.

//Panjumanju

[Panjumanju]

Aaaand of course since I'm not using the Amber rules standard, new powers are required to accommodate the new setting. I've drawn powers from the cartoon, toyline, and most notably the unreleased figures that never saw the light of Prysmos.

POWERS
========
Totem Transformation - 0pts
- - Monstrous Totem - 20pts
Magic Spell
- - Power Standard - 8pts
Power Shield - 20pts
Sun Imp - 10pts
Tool of Science - 25pts
Vehicle Magic
- - Air Blade - 15pts
- - Battle Axxer - 15pts
- - Capture Chariot - 30pts
- - Crossbow - 17pts
- - Dagger Assault - 40pts
- - Grappler - 15pts
- - Joust - 15pts
- - Lancer Cycle - 15pts
- - Sky Bucket - 20pts
- - Sky Claw - 20pts
Property
- - Hang-glider - 5pts
- - Sea Ship - 10pts
- - Land Ship - 15pts
Sorcery - 75pts
---

POWERS IN DETAIL
================
Powers and their selections therein once chosen cannot be undone.

TOTEM TRANSFORMATION (0pts)
All characters get the ability to transform into a hologram of a totem animal. This is what defines them as a Visionary. The selection of this animal is made by the wizard that grants the gift of magic to the characters, based on the character's actions in the game up until that point, and their chosen field of interest by the Right of Success of the Inner Strength Attribute. Without conflict a Visionary can maintain their totem form for upwards of half-an-hour running (flying, or swimming) but in combat it can only be maintained for a few seconds, upwards of a minute depending on their Inner Strength. Should the Visionary take injury in their hologram form, they will turn back into their natural form. Attempting to maintain the animal totem hologram form longer than the character is able is dangerous, but can be done dependant on the Animal Totem Attribute. Maintaining the form too long and the Visionary may lose their own personality, their mind instead taken over by the animal spirit.

Monstrous Totem - 20pts
Add one magical effect to the Visionary's transformation into their totem self. This effect can be by-touch upon a target subject, or it can be at-will upon the transforming visionary. The totemic self must be somehow monstrous and terrifying in its representation. The effect, as well as the totem itself, will be determined by the GM in alignment with the character's personality.

Effect................Example
Life-drain..........Vampire
Slowness..........Skeletal Ram
Intelligence.......Brain dolphin

Attribute used most often: Animal Totem.

Note: If an animal totem isn't scary enough for the peasants of Prysmos, already magic-phobic, a monstrous totem may cause peasants to die of fright or to take up arms.

MAGIC SPELL
Cast one spell of a predetermined type adhering to some inner quality of the Visionary. This is the primary power of the game. This spell 'strength', 'decay', 'protection', 'memory', is arrived at by the wizard that grants the gift of magic upon the Visionary. There must be an accompanying 4-verse rhyme whenever the Visionary wishes to activate the magic spell. Once spent, the spell can only be recharged when the Visionary returns to the magical shrine of the wizard from which they got the spell and the wizard offers for it to be recharged. Almost every character will have one of these two selections: power standard or power shield. This selection is mutually exclusive with other magic.

Power Standard - 8pts
A hologram representation of the magic spell is imposed upon the rigid rectangular banner of a standard held by the Visionary. The pole of the standard can easily attach to the back of the Visionary for mobility, or they can use it as a tool or make-shift weapon. The standard must be held while the rhyme is recited for the spell to be cast. Being imbued with a magic spell, the standard is nearly invulnerable to harm, even if the spell is spent.

Power Shield - 20pts
This is a more advanced version of a power standard. Since the object wherein the spell is imbued becomes almost invulnerable, the flat rectangular surface upon which rests the hologram of the magic spell can instead be a shield. The shield is used as its more mundane equivalent, as an asset in combat. The shield must always be wielded straight up, or the magic inside will become unbalanced. If the shield has suffered too much abuse - such as shielding the Visionary from a full artillery blast from some energy weapon - the magic spell upon it may be spent, may malfunction, or may give signs that it needs to be used immediately or be wasted.

Attribute used most often: Magic Spell, entirely.

Note: Another Visionary can activate the magic spell if they have the standard or shield and know the magic verse. This cannot be done by simply a peasant or a warrior.

SUN IMP - 10pts
The Sun Imps are six mischievous sprites who feature in the last of the thirteen episodes. Merklynn describes them as "nasty magical creatures who created so much havoc during the First Age of Magic that all of the forces in the old world joined to seal them into a tomb and then buried it". But later earthquakes have left this tomb exposed, prompting Merklynn to send the Visionaries to rebury it. However, Lexor tricks Cindarr into releasing the Imps. One Sun Imp is chosen for each selection of this power. Only one of each of these Sun Imps exist in the world, and they cannot be shared. They are each silly, unreliable creatures of mischief and ill-good. They would only travel with a Visionary because you get into lots of trouble, and that is where it would like to be - in the middle of trouble. A sun imp does not need to recharge its magic. The Sun Imps are:

Abraxas - The Wizard Imp, mischief magic.
Gorge - The Pig Imp, control pigs
Growl - The Cat Imp, uses sonic waves.
Knightmare - The Dream Imp, causes sleep.
Mysto - The Fish Imp, conjures ice and controls fish.
Shaggy - The Hair Imp, command & control of hair.

All sun imps are a monochrome golden colour. In addition, when separated from sunlight they transform into a mundane, vulnerable small strange shapes of rodent-insect-reptiles.

Abraxas
The Wizard Imp. Controls magic spells of mischief and reverses spells.
He took control of the Bearer of Knowledge when Arzon tried to consult him and, later, turned up at Iron Mountain. Merklynn tried to stop him with a spell, only to find that he could turn any magic used against him back on the caster. In the end, Merklynn outwitted Abraxas with a "Capture Thyself" spell, which, when reversed, caused the Sun Imp to be captured. Abraxas sometimes speaks in rhyme. In shadow transforms into: A small ugly golden pig-badger with a stump of a tail.

Gorge
The Pig Imp. Manipulates the ground into mud and causes pigs to stampede.
Using his trident he has the ability to turn ground to mud (a trick he used on Reekon, Lexor and Feryl) and using a small golden horn he can also cause pigs to stampede. His biggest weakness is his inability to see food without helping himself to it - the Visionaries later exploited this by tricking him into stuffing himself with cake until he became too fat to stand. Named Glutton in the original script. In shadow transforms into: A shell-less grey land-mollusc pulling itself on its mouth tentacles.

Growl
The Cat Imp. Sonic waves and the control of cats.
Growl prefers to be called "Thunder Jaw". Growl uses sonic waves to cause landslides and break windows. In addition, he can take control of all cats, including human-to-feline shape-shifters like Leoric and (possibly) Witterquick. He dislikes anything resembling a dog and was caught when Leoric lured him towards Cindarr, who used the dog-like Beast of Destruction to catch him. Named Fangar in the original script, and may have gotten the name Growl by accident in the recording. In shadow transforms into: A crawling grey slug-animal with two front arms.

Knightmare
The Dream Imp. Causes sleep and hypnosis.
Knightmare can send people to sleep by tapping them on the head with his sleep axe, and can also hypnotise people by waving his axe in front of their eyes. He used the latter power to take control of Mortdredd and make him give the contents of Darkstorm's treasury to the people living nearby. He was caught when Ectar (in his fox form) made him so dizzy that he knocked himself out. In shadow transforms into: An insect-like flat square of red with a leg at each corner and a tiny head impressed into its square body.

Mysto
The Fish Imp. Conjures ice and controls living and dead fish to fly.
Mysto can turn ground to ice and also has the ability to take control of fish. During the episode, he sent the contents of a fishmonger's barrow flying around New Valarak. Later, Galadria and Virulina used their Totem powers to pursue him round a sunken wreck, where they trapped him in a treasure chest. (Named Unctuous in the original script.) In shadow transforms into: A red hopping four-legged insect creature with a bird-face.

Shaggy
The Hair Imp. Command & control of hair.
Shaggy's favourite trick is causing people's hair to grow rapidly and tying them up with it. In addition, he can turn people into living marionettes, a trick he used to humiliate Darkstorm. However, he cannot use his powers if his hair is shaved off and the Visionaries later used this to trap him. In shadow transforms into: A brown-grey toad-like slug.

Attribute used most often: Titles & Holdings.

Note: Generally the GM controls the Sun Imp character, but if they have agreed to travel with the Visionary then they have generally agreed to follow their lead. That being said, their chief concern is still mischief.

TOOL OF SCIENCE - 25pts
The ability to revive and wield a single weapon or tool left over from the Age of Technology. This selection is not mutually exclusive with other selections of magic, but it is expensive. Only one item is granted for each selection of this power. Common choices include the Blasterbow or the Laser-rifle, ranged energy weapons. If the Visionary also has shield magic, the weapon (or other tool) can be coupled to form a Shieldgun (or Rocketshield, or whatever else) at the cost of 20 points rather than 25.

Attribute used most often: Arms & Armour, although Inner Strength may be used, depending on the tool.

Note: No other person, not Visionary nor peasant nor warrior, can use the tool of science other than the Visionary who is bonded to the thing.

VEHICLE MAGIC
The ability to revive and pilot a single vehicle left over from the Age of Technology. Another Visionary (but not peasant nor warrior) can use the vehicle or parts of the vehicle (like the gun turret, or flying pods) only if the Visionary bonded to it also occupies the Vehicle. A Visionary with Vehicle Magic can be bonded to more than one vehicle, but it will cost the additional points associated. So long as the Visionary with vehicle magic activates the vehicle, another Visionary can use it for a limited time. However, its driver must do the summoning of any of the vehicle's holograms. All magically re-animated vehicles have tireless stamina. In the course of battle a vehicle may be incapacitated or nearly destroyed, but it will heal entirely when a piece of it (a key? a hood ornament?) is recharged at the magical shrine of the wizard who bestowed the power. This power is mutually exclusive with other magic.

Air Blade - 15pts
Anti-fortification hang-glider.
Add extra aerial firepower to your armada. The sleekly-styled Air Blade can pierce enemy defenses with its curved blade-like wings! Features a stereographic hologram that provides 'moving-action', 3-D projection. Comes with detachable rear-mounted spear missiles for extra firepower.
 
Battle Axxer - 15pts
Anti-fortification hang-glider.
A highly destructive, one-man, flying attack vehicle, Battle Axxer boldly cuts across the darkened skies! The serrated, poseable wings slice through enemy defenses while 3-D holographic stereogram gives magical energy to those who pilot it! Positionable, wing-mounted pretend laser axes rip away enemy fortifications.
 
Capture Chariot - 30pts
Versatile assault vehicle.
This great vehicle can handle any situation! Comes with two exciting detachable pods that can allow Visionary pilots to fly and shoot fireballs! Comes with everything shown.
 
Crossbow - 17pts
One-man flyer, air vs. air.
Streaking across the sky, the Crossbow shoots down enemy battle crafts! Positionable side struts and winds can be arched back to shoot out an elusive scout drone. Horrifying, 3-D holographic creature seemingly blasts enemies with magical armor-piercing arrows. Comes with 2 poseable pretend laser blasters.
 
Dagger Assault - 40pts
Huge land-destroying attack cruiser.
This ultimate assault vehicle comes with detachable shuttle "Sky Rocket" and includes the terrifying "Magical Dungeon" that can steal the animal totem of capture enemies! Seats 5, including the "Sky Rocket" detachable flying pod. Internal prison "Magical Dungeon" houses additional 3.
 
Grappler - 15pts
One-man slow melee grabber vehicle.
This hard-edged, jagged vehicle gives your team action-grabbing attack power! Kid-activated, serrated claws snare enemy warriors, guiding them into a menacing, front-mounted buzzsaw! Windshield mounted hologram magically protects the driver by projecting 2 different images of a horrifying, clawed creature! Rear-mounted pretend laser cannons provides further protection from all angles.
 
Joust - 15pts
One-man underwater and land ranged grabber vehicle.
The heavily armoured Joust lunges into battle, bashing anything that crosses its path! Any driver is protected by its high-powered 'dual-image' holographic cycle/shield! Kid-activated, side-mounted claw seizes unsuspecting enemy warriors! Includes positionable spiked armour plates and rear-mounted laser gun.
 
Lancer Cycle - 15pts
One-man fast charger vehicle.
Mystical windshield creates a 3-D holographic apparent force field around the craft while the spring-loaded battle lance blasts through enemy obstacles! The Spectral Knight Ectar is famous for his use of this vehicle.
 
Sky Bucket - 20pts
Ranged assault vehicle, seats 2.
Sky Bucket is the ultimate in land assault weaponry! This armoured attack vehicle has triple the firepower and bi-level attack ability for hard driving assaults! Three 'dual-image' holograms shield it from enemy attacks! Sky Bucket features a nose-mounted, pulveriser cannon, a missile launcher with detachable missile, and an elevating rear gunner turret with 3 positionable pretend laser weapons!
 
Sky Claw - 20pts
Air vs .land. Seats 2.
Sky Claw's terrifying dual-image 3-D holograms inject fear into the hearts of the enemy! Battering ram springs out to reveal a pretend laser rifle! Expandable side pods expose make-believe photon cannons! Famously piloted by the Darkling Lord Mortdredd.
 
Attribute used most often: Inner Strength to drive the vehicle to any effect, Arms & Armour to use the vehicle offensively, and Magic Spell to make use of the vehicle's holograms. This makes Vehicle Magic a great choice for those without a competitively high Magic Spell Attribute.

Note: A Visionary must have either a Magic Spell to cast (a standard or a shield) or Vehicle Magic. If they have not chosen a Magic Spell, then they have chosen Vehicle Magic, just not chosen the specific vehicle nor spent the point on it, yet.

Further Note about Vehicles: I have created the vehicles with the item creation rules in the Amber Diceless corebook. The descriptions of them sound very silly because they are, as much as possible, taken verbatim from the toy catalogues in which they were featured.

PROPERTY
Prysmos is a wide world and it can be wise to invest in the more mundane aspects of life under its hard three-sunned sky.

Hang-glider - 5pts
A wood and canvas construction, it flies easily upon the updraft winds of the mostly barren Prysmos. Constant splits in the craggy rock on the unfertile land between farmlands produces ideal updraft winds for a hang-glider.
 
Sea Ship - 10pts
Of wooden construction, the coasts of Prysmos are sailed again as in the times of old. Ships are accustom to meeting some resistance and so are fashioned with cannons and grappling hooks.
 
Land Ship - 15pts
With land vehicles no longer in operation, some have put large wooden wheels upon sea ships for them to sail the land. These are otherwise identical to sea ships, and if immersed would operate the same.
 
SORCERY (75pts)
As already outlined in the Amber Diceless rulebook, except the wizard must choose an object to anchor their power, such as a spell book, a mystic orb, or magic potions. This is selection is mutually exclusive with other magic.

Attribute used most often: Magic Spell.

ALLIES
======
The following allies can also be purchased:

Peasant Ally – 1pt
Sometime in your journeys a peasant will aid you.

Warrior Ally – 2pts
Sometime in your journeys a warrior will aid you.

Spectral Knight Ally – 3pts
One of the members of the Spectral Knights is your ally.

Darkling Lord Ally – 4pts
One of the members of the Darkling Lords is your ally.

Wizard Ally – 10pts
A wizard in the world of Prysmos may act as your ally in a time of need, or this may be a front.

PLAYER CONTRIBUTIONS
=====================
To offset the point cost a player may take on additional duties, however they can only begin play with a maximum of 20 more points.

Diary (+10)
Campaign Log (+10)
Art (+10)
Poetry (+10)
Other.......(+10)

And that's pretty much it. I'm using the original Visionaries - the ones from the released toyline and cartoon as the patrons of the PCs. The unreleased figures are then the peers and contemporaries of the PCs.

The game begins in two months or so. Thoughts? Suggestions? Wonders?

May the light shine forever, as they say,

//Panjumanju

[Doughdee222]

Wow. Ummmm.... I dunno.

I grew up in the 80's but I completely missed the Visionaries show. I see on IMDb that it ran in 87 for 13 episodes, I was in college by then so it's understandable. I don't want to be too harsh but, do you really love it that much? Do you have enough friends that remember it and equally love it to make this game worthwhile? Is it a world that had lots of secrets and suspicion like Amber does?

The Attributes of your first post I get and seem reasonable. No problem there.

The Powers, I don't know enough about the show and how it ran to judge these. Most seem less like Powers than Creatures and Artifacts.
If magic is important in the world maybe you'd want to broaden the types out. For example have a separate point cost for each college: Air, Fire, Information, Light, etc. (Kinda like what GURPS had.) Or even allow a variable point amount on how "deep" and "powerful" they are in each college. ("Hmmmm... I see she's a Darkness mage, I wonder how strong she is in that discipline?")

[Warlord Kro]

Next do a campaign based on Crystar!

[Panjumanju]

I grew up in the 80's but I completely missed the Visionaries show. I see on IMDb that it ran in 87 for 13 episodes, I was in college by then so it's understandable. I don't want to be too harsh but, do you really love it that much?

Yes...it's also my avatar. And I only discovered it in my late 20's, it was unknown to me in my childhood, too.

Do you have enough friends that remember it and equally love it to make this game worthwhile?

Yes. I'm surprised, too, because it's a pretty strange show. Mostly I've gotten people into it my introducing them to it. The toyline was a failure because the manufacturing process on the holograms was too expensive. The cartoon was surprisingly good for the time, and only ended after 13 episodes because of Hasbro's losses resulting from 'Transformers: The Movie', which lead to them shutting down all their cartoon deals.

The Powers, I don't know enough about the show and how it ran to judge these. Most seem less like Powers than Creatures and Artifacts.

You really need to be more familiar with the setting. The Powers seem like Artifacts on purpose - there are no other Artifacts nor Creatures to build within the setting. It's a pretty depressing place.

Let me summarise "Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light."

On a distant world the three suns of Prysmos have aligned and The Age of Technology has ended. The laws of science no longer apply; new laws have come into being. (Literally, base scientific properties like combustion have stopped working.)

It has been several decades (at least) since society crumbled, leaving the husks of technological towers in the distance. Most of the planet is craggy barren rock, agriculturally useless. Around the few sections of arable land have grown kingdoms and a new class of warrior to defend them - knights, adored in armour that is a make-shift cast-off of material left over from the Age of Technology. One Knights' armour may ignorantly look like a scuba-suit, for instance. It's lighter and more flexible than metal because of the space-age material from which it's made.

Then, along comes a wizard, and starts a magical arms race. To the warriors that pass his test, he names them 'Visionaries' and grants them two things - 1, an animal totem into which they may transform, temporarily becoming an animal-like hologram (not a flesh and blood animal) and 2, a single magic spell of varying power. Some spells have very little use, some are very powerful, but all are based in rudimentary concepts - Strength, Speed, Protection, and all of them are manifest by terrible creature holograms jumping out of the Visionary's standards to enact the spell when their a b c b poem is recited. Both the totem and the spell are reflective of the personality of the Visionary.

The spell has only one use. If the Visionary wants another charge of the spell, they must return to the wizard and preform a task for him. Certainly a Visionary could choose not to recharge their power staff and instead just live out their life with a transformation totem, but, there are other complications you must deal with on the world of Prysmos.

1) Human barbarian hordes raid rival lands for resources to survive.
2) Monsters and mutations are coming up from the crags of the earth to attack humans.
3) If you won't go back to Iron Mountain and get your staff recharged, your enemies sure will. Each spell is sufficiently powerful to tip the balance of power, at least locally, on Prysmos.
4) Peasants in the land, specifically your own subjects, are afraid of all kinds of magic.
5) Most of the PCs are lords - Kings, Barons, whatever, of their own lands. They have to see that their peasants don't starve and that their kingdom is not taken over. Raids may even come from other PCs, whose kingdom does not fare as well and their people are starving.
6) Later in the TV show, there are more wizards in the world, recently escaped from Wizard's Jail where they were trapped throughout the Age of Science. Presumably each of these wizards will be setting up a magical location and gathering Visionaries of their own so that they may be, as the wizard of the show says "merely an instrument of my will."

As far as I'm concerned, this is all roleplaying gold. I've run a few Visionaries games before using other systems, but even though the characters "generally" got along in the show, their ideological conflicts were so clear that I'm sure that the setting will bring out the best of Amber-like flavour.

I hope you'll give the cartoon a chance if you happen upon an episode.

//Panjumanju

[RPGPundit]

hah! that's some awesome work!

[Panjumanju]

Next do a campaign based on Crystar!

Actually, I ran a campaign based on Micronauts (They came from inner space!) not too long ago - an amalgamation of the Mircoman toyline and the Marvel comics run.

Crystar was in a smiliar era...I may have to take a look at it in more detail.

//Panjumanju

[Warlord Kro]

Actually, I ran a campaign based on Micronauts (They came from inner space!) not too long ago - an amalgamation of the Mircoman toyline and the Marvel comics run.

Crystar was in a smiliar era...I may have to take a look at it in more detail.

//Panjumanju

My brother and I had the Marvel comics for Crystar, Micronauts, and Visionaries. All three were good, though Crystar and Visionaries both ended pretty early into their respective runs.

The Chaos Order duality and Royal family with powers focus of Crystar makes it similar in some ways to Amber. Don't know if it'd work, but it's not too far fetched.

[Panjumanju]

I've now run 3 weeks of weekly sessions of my "Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light" game using the Amber Dicless rules. At first I was a tad concerned there wouldn't be enough political scheming and divided loyalties, given the setting, but that fear was entirely unfounded. The game is going very well.

The point values of the powers turned out to work well, the auction was brisk, players immediately understood their characters, and the dynamic action of play actual is running along swimmingly.

I was forced however to introduce one or two blatantly Amber-ish elements into the setting that are not native concepts. For instance, I distributed to some PCs - in secret, such that players don't know other PCs have them - small crystal balls that act as trump decks. Visionaries is a setting rich with NCPs, but given that the action in Amber can be highly comparmentalised with people splitting the party in so many directions it requires a ballistics report, the crystal balls - like Amber's trump deck - are sometimes necessicary for tying PCs back together at key moments.

Thank you to everyone who offered their input.

//Panjumanju

[finarvyn]

Sounds like a fun game.

[tammytahreem]

jogos de vestir