The first sentence of the first panel of our first page says, “They say that a person’s heart is made from their dreams and desires”; the second panel shows a stone-like thing where a heart should be.

Many readers realised that this should be taken literally, but many others didn’t – nor did Lily, apparently. I’ve been thinking about having an explanation page like this one since the start of Chapter 1, because it’s an important and unusual fact about the world which should be known to the readers (and players), and it explains how come a Crystal can feasibly act as a heart (hearts are basically stone-like anyway), but it wasn’t actually story-relevant until now. There was no reason to stop the story just to clarify some exposition.

Now that it’s story-relevant, we can do the clarifying bit. Making sure we’re all on the same page is quite important in RPGs, of course – and especially when in-world “normal” differs from real world “normal”.

News – We’re taking a week off!

No new page next week, as some of us require a short vacation. To Prague, specifically.

Aviv now has a print shop! Buy her prints here.

C Wilson, who long-time readers might know from the fabled patron songs of days of old, is venturing into the world of Crystal Heart in his actual play podcast, Lost & Forgotten Worlds. Give it a listen! Using the playtest rules (he’s participating) he created a cool new island and a cool new adventure.

(A reminder: The Wandering Gamer Network are currently into their third Crystal Heart Adventure, Time and Perspective)