One of the things I like most about placing a Syn Agent as a foe, is the fact that both you, and them, have a pretty good idea of how Crystals works and might even know which Crystals each of you currently slot. Having this information, or even just the ability to gain such information, is what gives these conflicts the feel of a shonen anime, where “that person has unique powers, I must understand them so I can face them with my own unique powers!” is the norm.

One of the main design points behind Crystal Heart is to avoid generic combat whenever possible, to make it hard for a GM to just place a few goblins in front of her adventures. We turned to shonen for inspiration because in design, like in most things in life, it’s best to see how your goals were already achieved somewhere else, and then adapt that solution to your specific situation. For years, I suspected that being lazy was the best approach; I just didn’t bother acting on it. THANK YOU I’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK

Wanna play Crystal Heart yerselves?