Powered By Sparkles

QUEER HEROES POWERED BY SPARKLES

The Sparkle Orc Saga (TSOS) and all of our lore is Powered By Sparkles our internal TTRPG system and operates in an original, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, queer-first world. The Powered By Sparkles system is an easy to use card based RPG without the crunch. We will be sharing more about this system here as it develops.

ORCS

Every being with a connection to a power source manifests one of 12 different Sparkles that relates to a skill.  As you increase the magnitude of your sparkle, you level up by acquiring new card based abilities.  The 12 skills fall under one of four domains Oddity, Resolve, Capability and Strength (ORCS). The total score of your ORCS is the sum of number of ability cards you hold under that domain. You use these scores when performing ability checks and taking actions. You track your progress using your ARCompass that shows you the shape of your Sparkle and other key information for your character.

Domains

  • Oddity 
    • Knowledge/Nerd: Spells
    • Awareness/Alchemist: Alterations
    • Eccentricity/Vidma: Harbringers
  • Resolve
    • Resilience/Zealot: Defenses
    • Discipline/Gladiator: Attacks
    • Spirit/Catalyst: Vibes
  • Capability
    • Lure/Shepherd: Shifts
    • Cunning/Hacker: Tricks
    • Talent/Prodigy: Inspirations
  • Strength
    • Velocity/Kozak: Movements
    • Power/Colossus: Amplifiers
    • Intensity/Berzerker: Bursts

Magnitudes

As you progress through adventures you will level up and increase the magnitude of your sparkle by selecting new abilities under whatever skill you choose.  This system is built to allow for multi-classing and fun optimization.  For example you can be the nerdiest nerd by putting all your energy into acquiring spells or you can take a more balanced approach and be a spell-sword fighter by splitting your energy between knowledge, discipline and power. 

Unpowered people exist across the spiral. Most beings you will meet start at a magnitude of 4. These first 4 skills are the result of your origin selection.  

ARCompass

Most adventurers are equipped with a symbiotic device called an ARCompass.  As you progress and increase your magnitude your arc will reflect your choices. This magitech provides you with:

  • Personal stats
  • A dimensional pocket that can contain weapons or supplies
  • High speed projectile force field
  • Readouts on other's skills and abilities
  • Warning of known hazards
  • Local communication with others who have ARC units
  • News and updates from across the spiral

Setting Your ARCompass

Your compass is how you track your characters stats and information. It is the equivalent of your character sheet. 

Selecting Your Cues

Your cues are the key words that help guide your role-play. These are your guiding lights to help you identify how your character will act and react to events in the world. You set your cues by answering binary questions:

  1. I feel Hope or I feel Gloom
  2. I do this for All or I do this for Only me
  3. I Defend from change or I Embrace change
  4. I seek Order or I seek Chaos
  5. I require Control of I require Freedom
  6. I keep it Secret or I make it Public

Choosing Your Power Source

How you answer these questions decides which of the 4 power sources you sync up with for your sparkle. Each source has a unique style of play and philosophical alignment attached to it similar to a sub-class in traditional roleplaying games. As your character grows and changes you may alter your answers to some of these questions and change the source of your sparkle thus changing your play style and power set. 

Discovering Your Sparkle

Your sparkle is your connection to a primary energy source that allows you to do amazing things. As you progress the magnitude of your sparkle will increase giving you new quirks and skills. 

Your sparkle falls under one of 12 classes each with it's own unique skills and abilities that set you apart from the general population. You can grow your sparkle across any of the 12 classes as you progress however you cannot change your primary sparkle once it's selected. 

Background Origins

The Spiral is populated by many sentient peoples.  The Powered By Sparkles system included 12 different backgrounds that you can mix and match giving your character special abilities and unique appearances.

  • Hoblin: Hairy and long armed cousins to orcs and goblins. Often the keepers of arcane knowledge.
  • Orc: Versatile and strong Orcs can be found across the spiral. The realm of Oko has been considered the home realm of the orcs for the last thousand years.
  • Gobby: Tiny and clever the goblins are known for being expert crafters.
  • Tuph: Fragments of a great sentient mountain destroyed millennia ago. Tuph's are silicon based lifeforms. Tuphs often take on the physical chartachaeristics of the stones and rocks where they live.
  • Mek: Little is known of the mek, for they are rarely seen outside the far reaches of the cosmic realm. They are relative newcomers to Spiral showing ups few hundred years after the Elven transformation wave.
  • Synth: The evolved form of the elven people. Synths are beings of pure energy and do not often concern themselves with the trials and tribulations of the flesh. There are some that miss the physical world and venture back from the stars, operating helmet like podships that project hard light bodies that allow them to interact with other peoples safely.
  • Harfoot: Short and endlessly adaptive the harfoot are known for being the masters of hospitality and the life of the party. With thick soles and hairy hands/feet the harfoots have settled across the spiral wherever there is good food, black soil and fresh air.
  • Goo: Ranging from mindless carnivores to super-colony hive minds, goos can be found throughout the Infinite Dungeon.  Unable to create brain cells most goo start out small and simple attracted by light and movement. As a goo feeds it re-purposes any brain matter it consumes to be distributed out across its form. Often mirroring its chosen prey in both shape and behaviour Goos can be very dangerous when encountered. Eventually if enough brain matter is consumed sentience is achieved and the Goo becomes enlightened. These intelligent people often become heroes and defenders of realms to make up for their carnivorous past.
  • Fairy: Tiny, winged and very dangerous. Often displaying insect like features such as wings claws and mandibles fairy folk tend to avoid other peoples preferring to live in the deep woods of the Wild.
  • Kobold: These small dragon like beings populate much of the Fel.
  • Troll: Each troll is a sentient collective of plants, lichen and other organics that have formed a single being. Trolls often take on the appearance of local flora.  Incredible regeneration abilities and nearly impossible to kill so long as a part of it remains.  
  • Primal: Beast people who have one or more trails based on a primordial beast. 

Sign up for more information on the system and release here.