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GenCon is fast approaching and I am vibrating with excitement for the chance to drop the most complete and refined version of Magic Assholes (to date) on people in a couple weeks.

Along with preparing a new one-shot adventure and improving on another that I ran at GenCon several years ago, I've overhauled the character sheet and managed to squeeze almost all of the rules and character creation info into a double-sided quick ref sheet, so I can on-board a three 6-person tables as quickly as possible during the con.

Squeezing this much information into 2 sheets was not easy. Fortunately, I've been getting some practice making things like this from running a monthly RPG Club for my library. These short rules summaries have been helpful for teaching new systems, but I also find that going through a RPG book with the intent to write and condense as many of the rules as you think you need to play onto as few sheets as possible, really helps you cement most of that ruleset in my head. I recommend trying it.

Even though I wasn't aiming to every rule on one sheet, I did manage to get all of the most important stuff on there. I can, and will, say a lot more about all of these rules, but this is practically the whole game. You could take the character sheet and the overview pages, grab some decks of cards, and make a whole crew of characters then start playing today, if you wanted. You might need some ideas for how to handle ships and NPCs, but this is the most important stuff.

Full text after the break if you want to read in non-image format.

Any feedback or comments or questions are welcome. And if you do try running this game for your friends, TELL ME! I wanna hear about your space adventures.

MAGIC ASSHOLES in SPACE

What Is It?

A card-based, rules lite-ish Space Fantasy RPG where you can make nearly any kind of character you want to play, with a simple point system, and then collaboratively build out a whole universe to cause trouble in.

Every player will have their own deck of playing cards, 54 count (including Jokers) instead of dice. Instead of rolling, players Flip a number of cards from their decks.

How Do I Play?

CORE MECHANIC - Skill Flips - To resolve actions, combat, and more, you add the Ranks of an Attribute, a Skill, and any applicable Talents (Magic and Traits) and Gear. Then Flip and Reveal up to that many cards off the top of your deck of cards. Any Face Cards (K, Q, J) or Aces are Successes. Your Successes are compared against a Difficulty Level (set by the GM) or against an enemy’s Opposing Flip. Meet or beat that number and you successfully do the thing! More Successes means better outcomes, more damage, etc.

TRAITS - These modify your Flips by turning number cards and suits into Successes under specific circumstances.

JOKERS - When drawn, these add unintended consequences and twists to whatever your character was attempting to do. Does not mean that you failed… unless you got 0 Successes.

FATIGUE - When you draw your last card while resolving any action, you take 1 Fatigue Damage and must resolve things with the cards you have already revealed. Afterwards, you shuffle your entire deck and gain 1 Luck Point. Manage your cards carefully.

HOLD & FOLD - At any point during a Skill Flip you can choose to HOLD, and stop flipping cards, resolving with what you have revealed, or FOLD and declare the action a failure, no matter what you have revealed, describe how and why it goes wrong, and take 1 Luck Point.

LUCK POINTS - A meta-currency for bending the odds in your character’s favor.

Gain 1 LP when you draw your last card and have to reshuffle your deck, the GM reshuffle their deck, you Fold on a Skill Flip, or when a Trait applies to and negatively impacts a Flip.

{1 LP} - Flip 2 additional cards ✧ {1 LP} - Activate Lucky Number ✧ {3 LP} - Negate 1 Joker ✧

All other players at the table may spend Luck Points to aid another character at any time

COMBAT - Battles are played out narratively, instead of using grids and minis, but resolved with many Opposed Skill Flips. Using Zipper Initiative where the players go, then the enemies, and back, each side choosing who gets to act until every character has acted once, each character taking one action per turn. Typically any attacks will be met with an opposed defensive action from the target. Both sides make their Flips and then compare Successes. If the Attacker wins, the difference between their flips becomes the damage dealt, otherwise the Defender negates the attack. (4 Successes to Attack vs 2 to Defend = 2 damage)

You are allowed to take one action that requires a Skill flip per turn, but also allowed to perform a number of small, unchallenging actions, like talking, grabbing an item, moving unopposed.

All Damage is Damage - Hurt feelings reduce HP the same as a punch to the face. If the Flip is Successful against an appropriate defense attempt, they take damage. What happens to a character when they hit 0 HP or lower is decided by what kind of damage took them out.

All Things Can Be Combat - Any conflict where two sides are trying to best each other can be handled like combat, like a dance battle or a debate. The rules are the same, but the Skills used change, and a temporary alternate HP pool may be used with two appropriate Attributes.

CARD ETIQUETTE - Shuffle your cards at the start of the game and have another player cut your deck at least once. After that, do not shuffle or rearrange your cards until you have emptied your deck or the GM says you can. Don’t go looking through your discard pile either.

EXPERIENCE - The XP Tracks in the corner of the Attributes, Skills, and Talents sections are there to track character growth. You fill the stars as you earn XP. Once full, you gain +1 Rank to a Stat in that section, and then clear the Track.

Character Creation

(1 point = 1 Rank – All Character Creation Points are tied to their sections and must be spent at creation)

NAME - What is your character’s name? Or perhaps an alias or title. This is often the hardest part.

Examples: Rusty Patina, Churt, Plinky Pete Bonsai, Black Hole Betty, Silica Gel

CONCEPT - Sum up your character in a few words. Easiest way is “Descriptor + Species + Occupation”

Examples: Hardened Alien Bounty Hunter, Stoic Muppet Wizard, Disheveled Human Detective

SPECIES & HOMEWORLD - Any species you want to play and where they’re from is part of the setting now

Examples: Humans, Robots, Skeletons, Holograms, Goblins, Clowns, Aliens, Gnomes

MOTIVATIONS - What spurs your character into action? What do they want? What do they love most?

ATTRIBUTES - The innate and trained physical, mental, internal, and social abilities a character possesses.

{13 Pts} - All except LUCK start at Rank 1, which doesn’t count against your total Pts.

BODY - Strength, Toughness ✧ FINESSE - Dexterity, Reflexes ✧ MIND - Intellect, Reasoning

WITS - Cunning, Insight ✧ SPIRIT - Will, Essence ✧ HEART - Empathy, Connection

STYLE - Charisma, Coolness ✧ LUCK - Fortune, Fate

HIT POINTS - { HP = BODY + SPIRIT } - How much damage, and stress your character can endure.

LUCKY NUMBER - Select a number between 1 and 3 digits long. (Aces count as 1, 10 counts as 0)

When matching num. Cards are revealed during one of your Flips, spend 1 LP and gain Successes equal to the number of digits in your Lucky Number. – Ex: Lucky Number 456, 3 digits, 3 successes

SKILLS - The various learned and practiced competencies your character has gained throughout their life and career as some kind of space-faring troublemaker they happen to be.

{25 Pts} - All Skills start at Rank 0. The bottom slots are for Write-Ins. If the Skills don’t cover the kind of expertise you want your character to have, discuss a Write-In with the GM.

TALENTS - An umbrella category for any noteworthy features and abilities your character has.

{6 Pts - Magic and Traits} - You can forgo either one entirely, if you wanted. But not both.

MAGIC - Arcane Control, Sufficiently Advanced Technology™, Ancient Martial Arts, and/or other Natural Alien Powers. What it is, where it comes from, and how it works is up to you to decide.

Each type of Magic is associated with one Card Suit (♥ ♦ ♣ ♠) of your choosing. When using it as part of a Flip, the rules change so only cards of that Suit count as Successes.

Any Faces or Aces from other suits do not count, but Traits still do, if they apply in some way. Count a matching Suit with an applicable Trait on it as 2 Successes.

Examples: Atomic Karate, Psionics, Gravity Control, Toon Physiology, Conjuration

TRAITS - Your character’s most noteworthy positive and negative abilities or qualities.

Turning parts of Concept into a set of Traits is the easiest way to come up with ideas. Species and Profession have a large influence on your character’s actions, for instance.

You gain one card per Trait that applies to an action. If the Trait is positive, its matching number counts as Successes. If negative, its number remove Successes, but you gain 1 Luck Point

Examples: Enormous, Party Machine, Senile, Master Swordsman, Obscenely Strong, Vampire

INVENTORY -- Weapons, armor, tools, Augments, stuff, and anything your character has on or in them.

{7 points Gear and Wealth} - Starting equipment. Acquire stuff and increase your wealth as you play.

GEAR - Stuff of any kind good enough to improve your odds of Success. Note what it is under the name column, and what it does in the description column.

WEALTH - An abstract representation of cash and resources. Gets added to purchase-related Flips. Successful Flips don’t change your Wealth, failed ones reduce Wealth Ranks.

MISC ITEMS - Miscellanea and less important things your character has on them that don’t grant a bonus. May still be useful, though.

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