Crystal Heart

A few rule remarks about what’s going on here:

1. Success with a Persuasion attempt is not the same as ‘making them behave in the way I prefer’, but it does mean they listen. After they listen, they interpret whatever you said within the current context. And, because the story should always be propelled forward (and to reward a player for using a cinematic action during combat), it’s also a good opportunity to give a few more clues.
2. What Guy suggests in panel 4 is technically a Test: He wants to roll Shooting not as an attack, but in order to startle the foe. Nadav decides to go with ‘I’ll give him -1’ in an attempt to speed things up (okay, so actually, it’s because we just didn’t want to get into a whole Test thing here). Success in a Test can make the opponent Distracted – so they get -2 on their rolls for a turn – but the Test itself is a second roll, to be made after the Agility roll that’s already being made here (the opposed Agility roll to act before the foe). So Nadav suggests a single roll with a -1 modifier, instead of having two chances to fail and a -2 modifier. Between the panels, Guy probably says ‘but it’s also two chances to succeed with a raise, and my Shooting is pretty good, and he doesn’t have a Wild Die’ and Nadav says ‘Okay, roll for it anyway’, and so an attempt to make things quicker only resulted in more discussion, so the lesson here is – if a player really enjoys a specific part of the game (e.g. mechanics), maybe don’t try to rush past it.
3. We don’t show the ‘barbarian’s’ attack, but you can assume Muna is fine. She’s fine.
4. We don’t list Raf’s action on panel 6 – we started skipping skill rolls, except when we feel it’s important – but you can guess it’s also a Persuasion attempt, and it succeeds enough to make the ‘barbarian’ say some more clues.

Living in Syn is now available!

Living in Syn is a companion to the Crystal Heart roleplaying game, presenting several new systems and suggestions for both players and GMs:

• Further Training presents new possibilities for character creation, including powerful roles, and a set of training montage tables to help create crazy-awesome backstories.
• Exploring Crystals suggests new Setting Rules for handling Crystals, including a variant rule that requires an Agent to sync-up with their Crystal before they can use it fully.
• Synfull is a big chapter, with lots of alternative systems for Requisition, such as switching to more abstract Supplies levels which can become anything you need. It also suggests new things to buy, such as special services and consumable power-ups.
• Game Mastering Syn provides a thorough list of suggestions and concepts for groups who want to put more emphasis on playing a part of a bigger organization in general, and Syn in particular.
• More Tales has some more Savage Tales we didn’t have room for in the core book.
• The Appendices present eight ready-to-use Novice Agents, created by some of the backers of the Crystal Heart Kickstarter, as well as five new trainers to be used as supervisors or mentors.

Living in Syn is 41-pages long, includes lots of new art by Aviv, and is available only as a PDF, through DrivethruRPG.

Play in the world of Crystal Heart!