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  Magical g Burst 
  a game of desperate magical girls 
  Third Draft ©2011 by Ewen Cluney 
   
  Thanks to: Judgment, planefag, and Anonymous from /tg/, Kurt, Torbadomy and the other Taiwanese fans, and all the 
  playtesters 
  Playtesters: Joshua Gervais, Joe Iglesias, Jonathan Davis, #BecomeTheMeguca (Giantree, Bardy, Charm, Mami-san, Na-
  nao-kun, Firespitter, Kesh), Aaron Smith, Dave Empey, Grant Chen 
   
  Intro Comic ............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 
  Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 
  A Magical World .................................................................................................................................................................... 6 
  Creating Your Magical Girl .................................................................................................................................................... 8 
  Playing the Game .................................................................................................................................................................. 12 
  The Game Master's Job ......................................................................................................................................................... 30 
  Appendix 1: Random Tables................................................................................................................................................. 40 
  Appendix 2: Addendum ........................................................................................................................................................ 47 
  Epilogue Comic .................................................................................................................................................................... 50 
  Back Cover ............................................................................................................................................................................ 50 
   
  
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  Intro Comic 
  Page 1 
  Panel 1 
  Yuna looks down at Pyonkichi. Yuna is a cute, girly 14-year-old with her hair in pigtails, wearing an anime-ish school uniform. Pyon-
  kichi is a rabbit-like tsukaima/mascot critter with antennas that point backwards from the top of his head. 
  Caption: When Pyonkichi came to me, it was a dream came true. 
  Panel 2 
  Yuna holds a magical pendant in her hands, and looks excited. 
  Caption: I could be a magical girl, just like in my favorite anime. 
  Panel 3 
  Yuna, in magical girl garb (a cute dress with lace and little angel wings), holds up a magic wand and smiles. 
  Caption: I could protect the people I love. 
  Panel 4 
  Yuna holds an Oblivion Seed in her hand. 
  Caption: And if I get 13 Oblivion Seeds I can make a wish. Before I wasn’t sure what to wish for... 
  Page 2 
  Panel 1 
  Yuna is at home, hugging her crying little sister and trying to look brave. 
  Caption: But one day my dad just disappeared. 
  Caption: Mom had to find a job. It’s... been hard. 
  Panel 2 
  Yuna is helping a confused Makoto up. Yuna is in her school uniform, while Makoto is in casual clothes (khaki shorts, a T-shirt, and 
  sneakers). Makoto is boyish, with short hair and sharp eyes. 
  Caption: I found a partner in Makoto. She was a magical girl like me, but she had amnesia, and no family we could find. 
  Panel 3 
  Makoto and Yuna are both in magical girl form. Makoto’s magical girl outfit is also more boyish, with shorts, a stylized tunic, and 
  gloves and boots. She’s wielding a large sword and is shielding Yuna. 
  Caption: She fights bravely and protects me. 
  Panel 4 
  Makoto is doubled over and clutching at a wound in her side. Yuna is scared for her. 
  Caption: ...Even when it costs her. 
  Panel 5 
  Yuna is launching a magical blast. 
  Caption: But there are things she can’t protect me from. 
  Page 3 
  
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  Panel 1 
  Yuna’s magical blast pierces a youma, an amorphous black shadow with glowing red circular eyes. 
  Panel 2 
  Yuna is reaching for the Oblivion Seed, a diamond-shaped gem (kind of like the Jewel Seeds from Lyrical Nanoha) with magical writ-
  ing on it. 
  Makoto: Good work, Yuna. 
  Panel 3 
  Yuna freezes in place and looks horrified as a voice comes from the fading fragments of the youma. 
  Voice: Yuna? Is that you? 
  Page 4 
  Panel 1 
  A horrified Yuna clutches her head. 
  Voice: It’s dark... I can’t feel anything... Please, help m... 
  Panel 2 
  Yuna freezes in place on her knees. The youma is completely gone. 
  Yuna: (whimpering) Natsumi...? 
  Panel 3 
  Makoto has whirled around on Pyonkichi. 
  Makoto: (yelling) What the hell was that?! 
  Panel 4 
  Makoto is angrily clutching Pyonkichi in her hands. Pyonkichi regards her with a fixed smile. 
  Makoto: Natsumi is dead! We all saw! 
  Pyonkichi: You humans always get so upset over these things, even when they’re undeniably necessary. 
  Panel 5 
  Yuna is still on her knees, sobbing and glowing with magical power. 
  Yuna: Natsumi... I’m sorry... 
  Pages 5-6 
  Panel 1 
  Makoto desperately reaches for Yuna. Yuna is glowing even brighter. 
  Makoto: Yuna! You’ve got to calm down! 
  Panel 2 (two-page spread) 
  An explosion of pure white light consumes several city blocks. (Not unlike that iconic scene from Akira.) 
  Magical g Burst 
  
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  Introduction 
  “They’re giving 14-year-old girls magical powers so they can fight and kill monsters. What did you think would hap-
  pen?” 
  The city contains a hidden danger that mortal eyes cannot see. The youma, creatures born of dark magic and humanity’s 
  dark, entropic desires, prowl the shadows of the city and the souls of men. Their victims are devoured, ripped from reality 
  itself and never seen again. However, the city is not without defenders. There are creatures born of brighter magic and 
  purer emotion, the tsukaima, who recruit humans with magical potential to fight the youma. Males have too little magical 
  power, and adults have even less, so girls must become mahou shoujo, or magical girls, to defend the city and the people 
  they love. It is a dangerous task, but it is not without rewards. Each fully grown youma yields an Oblivion Seed, and a 
  magical girl who gathers thirteen seeds will be granted a wish. 
  Magical Burst is a dark magical girl RPG. It is not dark in the sense of things being decrepit and shadowy—if anything 
  the city is outwardly a little too shiny and perfect—but rather in terms of the human cost of the power of magic and the 
  fight against the youma. In this game each player takes on the role of a magical girl, a young girl (age 10 to 16) who has 
  made a contract with a tsukaima to gain the magic power necessary to fight the youma. Magical girls are not necessarily 
  good people, and the tsukaima do not have their best interests in mind. 
  This is a dark, screwed-up game that can involve some violent and disturbing imagery, starring little girls no less. Please 
  play responsibly. If the game is making you feel uncomfortable, speak up and figure out a way to fix it, even if you have 
  to stop playing. When I watch Madoka Magica, I have to break it up with some Hidamari Sketch now and then to not go 
  nuts. However, while the game is designed to be pretty bleak, the story can have a happy ending. 
  Rough Draft 
  This is a work in progress. Lots of people have already been playing it even though I haven’t been nearly ready to myself, 
  and that’s kind of awesome. I can’t promise the game will all work right, or that the text will be clear. All I can be sure of 
  is that I’ve enjoyed working on this project and I intend to bring it to fruition if I can. If you have any comments, expe-
  riences, or ideas to share, please do! 
  
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  Things You'll Need 
  Like most RPGs, you will need a few things besides this book. In particular, you’ll need: 
  • 
  Some six-sided dice (at least two, though a dozen or so is best) 
  • 
  Pencils 
  • 
  Paper (preferably but not necessarily the character sheets, which you can photocopy from the back of the book or 
  download from our website). 
  • 
  One person to be the Game Master and some others (preferably a small number like 2 or 3, though you can have 
  more if you really want) to be players. 
  There are a couple of optional things that can be really handy too: 
  • 
  Combat Cards are handy but not absolutely necessary to have. Basically each player gets a set of three cards la-
  beled Heart, Fury, and Magic. The official character sheet has cards you can cut out, and the website has a PDF of 
  just cards. 
  • 
  Tokens for Overcharge. You could use poker chips or glass beads (though it’d be easiest if you had three different 
  colors), or print out the PDF from the website. 
  Dice Notation 
  “I once heard that a human scientist said, ‘God does not play dice with the universe.’ He was more wrong than you can 
  possibly imagine.” 
  Throughout this book we’ll be using certain kinds of notation as shorthand to refer to how you should roll dice. 
  #d6:  When there is a number followed by d6, it means that you roll that many six-sided dice and add them together. For 
  example, if it says 2d6, you roll two dice, and if you were to get a 3 and a 5 the result would be 8. You will also see 
  this notation followed by modifiers, such as 2d6+7; simply get the die roll result like usual, and apply the modifier 
  listed. For 2d6+7 roll two dice, then add up the two dice and the +7. 
  d66: This is a special type of die roll used to get results from a table. Take two six-sided dice, designate one as the tens 
  digit and the other as the ones digit, and roll them. Putting the two digits together will give you one of 36 results 
  numbered 11 to 66. For example, if the tens digit die comes up as a 4 and the ones digit die comes up as a 2, your 
  result is 42. In normal gameplay this is only used for the mutation table, but there are several optional tables in the 
  appendix. 
  
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  A Magical World 
  The City 
  “The people in this city don’t care about each other. Human beings have a hardwired limit on how many other people 
  they can care about—a defense mechanism—and it’s a lot less than two million.” 
  Magical Burst takes place in a large, clean, modern city. There are skyscrapers, trains, shops, schools, homes, and so on. 
  On the surface it is a safe place, though it is not necessarily a happy one. 
  Tsukaima 
  “Yeah, there’s something... off about Pyonkichi. But what choice do we have?” 
  The tsukaima (“familiars”) are cute little magical creatures who can grant girls with sufficient potential the power of a 
  magical girl. Some look closer to normal animals than others, but they never quite look natural. A tsukaima’s fur is always 
  a little too clean and soft, they come in pure, vivid colors, and they often have some kind of arcane marking on them. And 
  that’s on top of them being sentient and capable of human speech. 
  As creatures of magic, tsukaima don’t quite think the way people do. Some are better than others at covering it up, but 
  their values and understanding of the world are always a little off from how humans see things. 
  The Power of Magic 
  “Of course she freaked out. Humans are weak that way.” 
  Magic is a power that falls outside the realm of normal reality. It can be beautiful and glorious at times, but there is some-
  thing unnatural about it that people find disturbing. Religious people claim to believe in magic and miracles, but the fact 
  of the matter is that people react very poorly to disruptions in the natural flow of the world they’ve become accustomed to 
  since birth. 
  Magical Girls 
  “You have the potential. I can give you the power to fight them. I can make you into a magical girl.” 
  Magical girls are humans who can wield the power of magic. The tsukaima have not made it clear why they only recruit 
  girls. Perhaps they are the only humans who have the necessary magical potential, or perhaps giving magical power to 
  others has dangerous consequences. Regardless, a girl who is to become a magical girl must make a pact with a tsukaima. 
  A magical girl receives a pendant that she can use to “transform” into her magical girl form. This transformation outward-
  ly consists of a spontaneous change into a fanciful costume, but it unlocks magical potential. Magical girls’ powers tend to 
  be concentrated around a particular element or theme, though they can potentially put that elemental power to very crea-
  tive uses. 
  Putting this kind of power in the hands of adolescent girls has consequences. They can abuse their newfound power, they 
  can be astonishingly cruel to one another, and some will do just about anything to get their hands on another Oblivion 
  Seed. 
  It’s not clear how many magical girls there are in the world. They never appear in the news, and most people would dis-
  miss them as mere fiction. However, there are others besides you and your friends. Sometimes you see things on the news 
  that you’re sure must be the work of other magical girls somewhere, but no one ever seems to suspect. 
  
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  Nightmares and Youma 
  “We have to kill it. Otherwise it’ll just keep eating people. That’s how this works.” 
  Normal people cannot perceive the youma or their influence, but they can certainly feel it. An active youma generates a 
  distortion in the tapestry of the world called a Nightmare. For ordinary people this manifests as simply a vague feeling of 
  dread. For magical girls and any others attuned to magic, a Nightmare appears as an increasingly surreal region of dis-
  torted reality. On the edges of the Nightmare things will seem a little off here and there, but at its heart, where the youma 
  resides, it is a maddening jumble of objects and images. 
  It’s not totally clear what youma even are, but they are unquestionably dangerous. They can take on countless different 
  forms, from warped humanoids to masses of abstract shapes. Some believe that they derive their forms from the dreams 
  and thoughts of the people around them. 
  Youma sap energy from unsuspecting humans, stealing memories, emotions, and life force itself. Victims who are only 
  lightly touched by youma become tired and listless for a time, while those who suffer a more extensive attack can be 
  turned into suicidal zombies or ripped them from reality entirely. When a youma recognizes an actual threat, it will lash 
  out and try to destroy that threat immediately. 
  Normal people can’t even properly perceive youma, much less hope to beat one. Only magic can harm them. Some magi-
  cal girls have found that they can fight youma using normal weapons, but this is actually because their own magic imbues 
  those weapons with the necessary power. 
  When a magical girl kills a youma, its Nightmare collapses, leaving behind only an Oblivion Seed, or possibly two or 
  even three for a particularly powerful youma. These appear as diamond-shaped gems with some kind of magical writing 
  on them. Magical girls can store them inside of their weapons. It is said that a magical girl who accumulates 13 Oblivion 
  Seeds is granted one wish. 
  
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  Creating Your Magical Girl 
  Each player takes on the role of a magical girl who has recently made a contract with a tsukaima to gain the power neces-
  sary to fight the youma. 
  Creating a magical girl requires a certain amount of creativity, but if you’re stumped or you just want to quickly make a 
  character for a one-shot you can find tables for rolling dice to determine most of the elements required here in Appendix 1 
  (p. 40). 
  What kind of girl are you? 
  Your magical girl used to be a more or less ordinary girl, but we need to know a little more about her than that. What do 
  people see when they look at you? Are you cute and silly, calculating and elegant, or hopelessly plain? 
  What convinced you to make a contract? 
  What is it that made you decide to make a contract with a tsukaima? Was the lure of becoming a magical girl irresistible? 
  Or is there something you want to wish for so badly you’ll take any risk for it? Or do you just want the chance to fight and 
  kill things? 
  What is your wish? 
  Should you manage to collect 13 Oblivion Seeds, you will be granted one wish. What is your wish? If you could have an-
  ything, absolutely anything at all, simply come true by magic, what would it be? 
  Magical Element 
  Select which element your magical girl wields. Her special attacks will be colored by this, and she can sometimes do 
  works of magic around it. Your element probably says something about what kind of person your magical girl is. You can 
  choose just about anything as your magical element; here are some ideas. 
  • 
  One of the classical elements (earth, air, fire, water) 
  • 
  One of the Chinese elements (earth, fire, metal, water, wood) 
  • 
  A “video game” element (ice, lightning, light, shadow, magnetism, gravity, sound, etc.) 
  • 
  An emotion (love, hate, fear, etc.) 
  • 
  Some other object, force, or theme, such as radiation, chains, blood, cakes, etc. 
  Magical Power 
  You also get one magical power. This is a special ability you can use in addition to being able to fight youma, something 
  that violates the normal laws of reality. This can be in the range of useful “super powers” like flight or invisibility, or 
  something more unique like magically having a train or bus show up whenever you need it or the ability to summon hun-
  dreds of cute little birds. Magical powers don’t have to be all that spectacular if you don’t want; having a magical girl who 
  can simply conjure up cakes from thin air is perfectly fine. 
  
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  Magical Effects 
  Your element and your magical power each provide you with one special effect you can use to your advantage in battle. 
  You can select from the list below, or with the GM's permission you can come up with something new. 
  1. Double Action: Once per scene you can take two points of Overcharge (to any one attribute) to act twice on your 
  turn. 
  2. Healing Touch: Take one point of Overcharge (to any attribute) to restore 1d6+2 points of Resolve to yourself or 
  another magical girl. Can only be used twice per battle or other scene. 
  3. Magic Boost: Get one free Overcharge die per battle in one particular attribute. 
  4. Magic Shield: At any time you can take a point of Overcharge (to any attribute) to add +3 to your defensive 
  attribute or that of another magical girl against one attack. You cannot use this multiple times against a single at-
  tack. 
  5. Magic Strike: When rolling damage, you can take an additional point of Overcharged on the attribute you used 
  for the attack to inflict an additional 1d6 damage. You can only do this once per attack, and not on attacks against 
  multiple targets. 
  6. Regeneration: At the start of each turn you take you regain one point of Resolve, to a maximum of 13. 
  7. Swift Action: Your attack attribute is effectively 2 points higher for determining turn order at the start of a round 
  of combat. 
  Magical Weapon 
  When you utilize your magical power, it manifests in the form of some kind of weapon you can use to do battle. Some 
  magical girls simply wield a magic wand or staff and launch magical spells at foes, but many use a more direct form of 
  attack such as a sword or gun. 
  Costume 
  Magical girls must “transform” to use their full powers, though they can transform in the blink of an eye. What color is it? 
  What kind of style is it? What motifs does it feature? Most magical girl costumes are fanciful dresses of some kind, but 
  you’re limited only by your imagination. 
  Normal Attributes 
  Normal attributes represent your magical girl’s abilities when it comes to dealing with non-magical matters. There are 
  four of these: Aggro, Cool, Social, and Sharp. Aggro is your ability to summon up aggression and violence, Cool is your 
  ability to stay calm, Social is your ability to socialize and deal with people, and Sharp is your ability to figure things out. 
  Arrange values of 3, 5, 6, and 7 among the four normal attributes. 
  Magical Attributes 
  Magical girls’ powers are governed by three attributes: Magic, Heart, and Fury. Magic is of course pure magical power, 
  Heart is your capacity for love and affection, and Fury is your ability to summon up anger and violence. 
  Divide the total of 18 points among three attributes. The values must be between 3 and 9, and no two can have the same 
  value. Keep in mind that many enemies are strong against one attribute and weak against another. 
  Base Resolve 
  This is your capacity for damage in magical battles. Your Base Resolve starts at 18. 
  
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  Finishing Attack 
  Each magical girl also gets a special magical attack that is particularly powerful. To create your finishing attack, first se-
  lect which attribute it uses (normally your highest), then select one of the attack types below, and finally give it a name. 
  1. Barrage Attack: Your attack generates a barrage of small shots of some kind. This lets you attack every enemy 
  in the immediate area with a normal attack, or attack one target twice. 
  2. Binding Attack: Your attack somehow holds a target in place. If it hits, the target must remain in one place, use 
  its lowest attribute for defense, and cannot attack until it can spend a turn to make a Support challenge (succeed 
  on a 15+) to get free. 
  3. Debilitating Attack: Your attack makes the target weaker for a time. If it hits, the target rolls one fewer dice for 
  all challenges until the end of your next turn. 
  4. Piercing Attack: Your attack can pierce through enemies, ignoring any special defenses they might have. This at-
  tack does an additional +1d6 damage, and ignores any special protection. 
  5. Powerful Attack: Your attack is especially potent, and inflicts an additional 1d6+6 damage. 
  6. Precise Attack: Your attack is very accurate, allowing it to hit enemies that might normally be able to evade your 
  attacks. +3 to your attack roll, and +1d6 to damage. 
  You can only use your finishing attack once per episode, and you take an extra point of Overcharge on its corresponding 
  attribute when you do. 
  Relationships 
  Relationships are your emotional and social bonds to people around you. For magical girl maintaining relationships with 
  normal people can be very difficult, but it's necessary in order to maintain some semblance of humanity and sanity. 
  You can try to keep track of relationships simply by writing words down, but the easiest thing is to have the group make a 
  relationship map. If you’re playing face to face you can draw the map on a piece of paper, and if you’re playing online 
  you can use the Drawing format in Google Documents or similar tools to have everyone draw on a shared space. 
  First draw a circle for each magical girl and write her name in it. From there, everyone playing (including the GM) takes 
  turns adding to the map. On your turn you can create a new human character and draw a line from that character to your 
  magical girl, or draw a line from your magical girl to another magical girl. The GM can add new human characters also, 
  and can draw lines between them or from them to magical girls. Go around the table 3 times adding new relationships. 
  Players should note down a new relationship each time a line reaches his or her magical girl. For each relationship, select 
  one of the three attributes (Magic, Heart, or Fury) to represent the nature of your connection. Heart relationships come 
  from proper human feelings, Magic relationships come from common involvement in the world of the magical, and Fury 
  relationships represent rivalries or camaraderie that arise from battle. You should also write a brief note about the nature 
  of your relationship, whether you are lovers, rivals, friends, relatives, classmates, etc. 
  The GM could introduce non-player magical girl characters at this stage, but doesn’t have to reveal them as such. Also, 
  you cannot form a relationship with a tsukaima; they simply don't have the emotional capacity. 
  • 
  When two magical girls have a relationship, their attribute selections are likely to match, but they don’t have to. 
  • 
  If you want to involve a fairly homogenous and cohesive group of people (say, the tennis club or a gang of kids 
  from the neighborhood), you can represent them as a single “character” for the purposes of relationships. 
  • 
  All relationships (as things you write down on your character sheet) are ultimately positive on some level, some-
  thing your magical girl would miss if it was gone. Fury relationships are a little tricky, but if you have a relation-
  ship with someone it means you get something positive out of it. If you want your magical girl to be an outright 
  enemy with someone, don’t have a relationship with them. 
  
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  Crisis 
  At the start of the game, something has just happened to your magical girl that she cannot ignore. This is her crisis, and 
  you get to decide what it is. The Game Master will take it and run with it, so try to make it good. 
  Experienced Magical Girls (Optional) 
  If you want to make a more experienced magical girl, give your character two Advances (see p. XX) and 1d6–1 Oblivion 
  Seeds. However, take a random Change related to your highest attribute. 
  
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  Playing the Game 
  Principles 
  Work together. The characters you control might not be working together, but you as the players should be. 
  Keep it vivid. When magical power comes into play, go all-out. Whatever elements your magical girl has, play them up 
  spectacularly. If you miss an attack with your spear, describe how it splinters the concrete. If you use your finishing attack, 
  go whole hog. 
  Keep it weird. If you wanted something ordinary you wouldn’t be playing “a game of desperate magical girls.” 
  Episodes 
  One session of playing Magical Burst is called an episode, and is roughly analogous to an episode of an anime in scope. 
  An episode is made up of a number of scenes. Everyone who participates in the game will have the opportunity to set up 
  some scenes, though the Game Master will handle some of the most important ones. 
  A “standard” Magical Burst episode is arranged around finding and eliminating a youma, and thus consists of an introduc-
  tion, the investigation, the climax/battle, and the aftermath. Needless to say you can find other ways to arrange your epi-
  sodes. Each of those four parts can have multiple scenes in them (though the climactic battle is usually one scene) 
  Introduction 
  During the Introduction, each magical girl gets a short scene to establish what’s going on with her at the start of the epi-
  sode. The GM can toss something at them (probably based on the magical girls’ Crises if it’s the first episode), or the 
  player can help come up with something. 
  Main Phase 
  The main phase is where the magical girls get to do what they can to figure out what’s going on and pursue their goals. 
  During this phase, the players take turns picking things for their magical girls to try to do. 
  Climax 
  The climax is when the magical girls confront the episode’s main threat. The archetypical Climax is a confrontation with a 
  youma. 
  Aftermath 
  This is the denouement after the big battle, where the immediate consequences of the events of the climax come into play. 
  Framing Scenes and Role-Playing 
  Everyone participating in the game gets to frame scenes. When it’s your turn to frame a scene, decide where and when it 
  takes place, who’s there, and what the general situation is. You don’t have to come up with all of this yourself, and the 
  other people participating can and should throw out ideas. 
  
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  Transforming 
  “I... guess you can say magic words if you really want. The important thing is to call on the magic inside your heart.” 
  Magical girls have two forms: normal and magical girl. In their normal form they are more or less normal girls, the only 
  unusual thing being that they have a special pendant that can never be stolen, lost, or even discarded. When a magical girl 
  transforms she may experience an elaborate “transformation sequence” of her costume forming around her body, but to 
  the outside world the transformation is virtually instantaneous. If, for example, a youma launches an attack at a magical 
  girl in her normal form, she can transform in time to react to even the fastest of attacks. Transforming is necessary be-
  cause a magical girl cannot access any of her magical abilities otherwise. 
  If you are at 0 Resolve you lose access to your magical girl form and all your magical powers until you use the Revive 
  move and get at least 1 point of Resolve. 
  Challenges 
  When a character tried to do something where success is in doubt, it’s time to bust out the dice and see what happens. 
  Normal Challenges 
  For a mundane challenge, the player rolls 2d6 and adds it to an appropriate Normal Attribute. The total is your Result, 
  which will be compared to something else to determine what happens. 
  Magical Challenges 
  For a magical challenge, you use one of the three Magical Attributes. 
  Roll 2d6 and add the roll to your attribute to get your Result. Unlike with normal challenges, if a die comes up a 6, you 
  roll another die (1d6) and add it to your total, and you keep rolling more dice and adding them as long as you keep rolling 
  6s. However, for each time you roll a 6 you also take a point of Overcharge on the attribute you’re using. 
  For magical challenges, you have the option of voluntarily taking Overcharge to get extra dice. Each point of Overcharge 
  you take gets you one extra die, though you can only take up to three this way on a single Challenge. You can do this be-
  fore or after you roll, though if you’re facing a magical opponent they can do the same (take turns). 
  Remember that you don’t get extra dice on a 6 if you’re using a normal attribute, or when you roll dice for damage 
  (though you do get a flat +2 to damage for every point of Overcharge incurred for an attack). 
  Any time you get 6 or more Overcharge points on an attribute, you have to do Fallout (see p. XX) to get rid of it as soon 
  as possible. 
  Opposed and Unopposed Challenges 
  An “opposed” challenge is when the rules call for two characters to make rolls against each other. For example, you might 
  make an Aggro vs. Cool challenge, meaning you make an Aggro challenge and the other person makes a Cool challenge, 
  and whoever gets the higher Result wins. Break ties first by whoever has the higher base attribute, then by rolling an extra 
  die. 
  In an unopposed challenge you’re just making a challenge and seeing if you got a high enough Result. Moves that use an 
  unopposed challenge will list off what effect you get from a given result. If the move doesn’t list anything that happens 
  for the Result you got, then nothing happens, at least not from the move itself. 
  
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  Moves 
  A “move” is a thing where you engage the rules and usually roll dice to figure out what happens. 
  Some moves are meant for normal attributes, some are for magical attributes, and a few are for both. Your magical 
  attributes are Magic, Heart, and Fury, but you have to assign these three to Attack, Defense, and Support at certain times, 
  and moves are based on which of those you use. Youma are immune to moves that use Normal Attributes though. 
  Disrupt or Help 
  If you disrupt, make a Aggro or Sharp vs. Cool challenge, or a Support vs. Support challenge. If you win, you force the 
  target to use a different attribute of your choice for an action. If it’s a battle, you force them to use a particular attribute of 
  your choice for Attack, Defense, or Support until the end of your next turn. 
  If you help, give someone a +1 bonus, or +2 if you have a relationship with them. Only one person can help on an action. 
  Stay Calm 
  Make a Cool challenge. On an 11 or less the GM makes you take 2 of the effects below. On a 12-14 the GM makes you 
  take one of the effects below. On a 15+ you’re fine. 
  • 
  Take 1 point of Overcharge (can be taken twice) 
  • 
  Lose 1d6 Resolve 
  • 
  Get away from the threat, if you can 
  • 
  Do something humiliating 
  • 
  If you have a relationship with whoever caused you to have to use this move, make them put a point of Strain on 
  that relationship (can be taken twice) 
  Locate Someone or Something 
  When you search for someone or something in the city, make a Sharp challenge. On a 15+ you find a lead. On a 12-14 
  you find a lead, but the GM picks one of the options below.  
  • 
  Whoever or whatever you’re searching for suspects you’re looking for them. 
  • 
  The clue you find is misleading. 
  • 
  Someone you care about gets concerned about what you’re going. 
  How many leads you need will depend on what you’re looking for. For normal people it’s one or two, for a person or 
  youma in hiding three, and for a youma or magical girl making an exceptional effort to hide themselves can take four or 
  more. 
  Read a Person 
  To read a person, make a Sharp challenge. On a 12-14 ask 1, and on a 15+ ask 3. 
  • 
  Are you telling the truth? 
  • 
  What are you feeling? 
  • 
  What do you want to do right now? 
  • 
  How could I get you to X? 
  • 
  How do you feel about magic? 
  
  g 15 g 
   
  Read an Enemy 
  To read a magical foe, make a Support challenge. On a 14-16 choose one, and on a 17+ choose two. You can read other 
  magical girls this way, but only while they’re transformed. 
  • 
  Learn their Resistance and Vulnerability 
  • 
  Get a +1 to attacks and challenges against the target for one scene 
  • 
  Get +1 to defenses and –1 to damage taken from the target’s attacks for one scene 
  • 
  Learn one of their special abilities 
  • 
  Learn their main motivation 
  Dominate 
  Make an Aggro challenge. On a 12-14 pick one, and on a 15-17 pick two. 
  • 
  Take an object from them. 
  • 
  Get +1 on your next challenge against them. 
  • 
  You injure them (–1 to their next non-magical challenge) 
  • 
  They tell you what they think you want to hear. 
  • 
  They back down. 
  On an 18+ pick one of the options below, or three of the options above. 
  • 
  They won’t do anything against you for the rest of the scene. 
  • 
  If it’s a normal person, you can kill them. 
  Bond 
  If you have a positive social interaction with someone, make a Social roll. On a 12-14 add one charge. On a 15+ add 2 
  charges. If you don’t miss, you can change the relationship’s attribute if you wish. 
  Run Away 
  Make a Sharp challenge. On a 12-14 you leave something behind or something follows you, and on a 15+ you get clean 
  away. 
  Sorcery 
  You try to use your magical element or magical power to do something unnatural. Describe what you’re trying to achieve 
  with it, and make a Support challenge. On a 14-16 pick one, and on a 17+ you get both. 
  • 
  You get the effect you want. 
  • 
  The effect is subtle. 
  Using Magic for Non-Magical Things 
  Depending on your magical element and magical power, you can potentially use magic to help you with what would oth-
  erwise be non-magical things. You can do these kinds of things without being transformed, but if you incur any Over-
  charge in the roll you’ll be forced to transform on the spot. You need to be able to explain how your magical abilities let 
  you actually accomplish something. Scaring or hurting someone with magic is easy, but you’d need your element or mag-
  ical power to fit well for it to help with other things. Magical attributes are going to be a bit higher, and magical Results 
  can get a lot higher through Overcharge. 
  
  g 16 g 
   
  Battles 
  When magical girls fight youma, or sometimes one another, you'll use the battle rules to resolve how it turns out. Battles 
  are divided into rounds, during which each participant gets to act once. If the participants in a battle wish to keep fighting 
  after a round ends, start a new round and continue. 
  Initiative 
  At the start of each round, each participating character selects one attribute to use for attacking, another to use for defend-
  ing. (You cannot use the same attribute for both.) Whatever attribute is left over is your “support” attribute. 
  Characters act in order of their attacking attribute ranks, from highest to lowest. Break ties by comparing their defensive 
  attributes, and break any further ties by comparing unused attributes or rolling dice. 
  Reckless Action: If you feel you need to act before someone else, you can increase your effective rank by taking a penal-
  ty to your defensive attribute of the same amount. 
  Combat Cards: If you are using combat cards, players can arrange their cards at the start of each round. Place the Attack 
  cards of all participating characters in a line to clearly show the order in which characters are acting. 
  Combat Moves 
  Attack 
  This is an attack on an enemy, intended to cause harm. Make an Attack challenge. If you’re the target of an attack, you 
  can make a Defense challenge, or use a passive defense (use a Result of Defense+4 without rolling). If the attacker wins 
  the challenge, the defender loses 1d6 Resolve, plus half the attacker’s Attack attribute (round down), plus 2 for each point 
  of Overcharge incurred during the attack roll. 
  • 
  Attacking Multiple Targets: Sometimes you’ll want to attack more than one target at once. To do this, make an 
  attack like usual. However, for each target after the first your Result and damage are reduced by -2 (to a minimum 
  of 1), and you take a penalty of -1 to your defense attribute until the start of your next turn. 
  • 
  Finishing Attacks: Each magical girl has a Finishing Attack that she can use once an episode. Using it always 
  puts one extra point of Overcharge on the associated attribute, but otherwise it works like a normal attack. 
  • 
  Team Attack: Two or more magical girls can act together to deliver a more effective attack. One must Hold (see 
  below) so that they act at the same time, they must have a relationship, and they both have to be attacking with the 
  same attribute. A team attack gets a bonus of +2 to the result and damage on both attacks. 
  Clash 
  If you have not yet acted during the current round and someone attacks you, you can do a Clash. Make an Attack vs. At-
  tack challenge. Whoever wins causes damage to the loser like an Attack. The loser’s attack doesn’t work at all. This effec-
  tively uses your turn before you’ve taken it. 
  You can also clash when someone else is being attacked. If you succeed in doing so, you can remove a point of Strain 
  from your relationship with the original target. If you fail, you can choose whether you or the original target takes damage 
  from the attack. 
  Cover 
  If someone has been attacked but hasn’t yet had a chance to defend themselves, you can put yourself in harm’s way to 
  save them. To protect someone else, make a Support challenge. On a 14-16 you take the damage instead of them. On a 
  17+ you take half the damage. If you don’t miss, they can remove a point of Strain from your relationship with them if 
  they want. 
  
  g 17 g 
   
  Revive 
  If you’ve lost all your Resolve, you can make a Support challenge to Revive on your next turn. On a 13 or less you take 2 
  Overcharge and go to 1d6 Resolve. On a 14-16 you take 1 Overcharge and go to 1d6+3 Resolve, and on a 17+ you take 1 
  Overcharge and go to 1d6+6 Resolve. 
  Hold 
  Sometimes you'll want to act to later than your turn would normally take place. When your turn comes up, simply declare 
  hold. You can decide to take your turn at any point after that after someone else has completed their turn. If you're holding, 
  you can't interrupt someone's turn once they've started deciding what they want to do. If you hold your turn all the way to 
  the end of the round, you have to use your turn or lose it. 
  Other Moves 
  A maneuver is a use of magic intended to help you or one of your allies gain an advantage, or otherwise affect the course 
  of the battle. On your turn you can use any of the regular Moves. You can also Stay Calm without using up your action for 
  the turn. 
  Normal People in Battles 
  Ordinary people who get caught up in a magical battle are kind of screwed. They always go last (roll dice or play rock-
  paper-scissors to break ties if there are more than one), and since they effectively don’t have any Resolve, any attack will 
  kill them. The good news is that youma will normally deal with magical threats first. 
  Effects of Damage 
  A youma whose Resolve is totally depleted is destroyed and leaves behind one or more Oblivion Seeds. If there are mul-
  tiple magical girls present they will have to decide who gets it. 
  A magical girl who loses all of her Resolve is forced out of her magical girl form until she uses the Revive move or oth-
  erwise regains at least one point of Resolve. If a youma (or another magical girl) successfully attacks her in this state she 
  will die. Time to make a new character. Also, unless another magical girl specifically retrieves the body, a dead magical 
  girl will completely disappear when a defeated youma’s Nightmare collapses. 
  Relationships in Play 
  “I know things are strange, I know it's hard, but please... don't leave me. You're the only one who helps me feel human 
  anymore.” 
  Relationships are an important part of gameplay, albeit in a subtle and pernicious kind of way. 
  Relationship Damage 
  Having something like a normal life while being a magical girl is a challenge to say the least. Your relationships will often 
  be tested by all the strange things around you. 
  Each time something happens that damages your connection to someone, you must mark off a point of Strain on the rela-
  tionship. Relationships aren't strained by casual carelessness, but rather by more substantial shocks. Each time a normal 
  person you have a relationship with experiences some kind of magical effect because of you, the relationship takes a point 
  of Strain. Non-magical things that can cause Strain include obvious betrayal, acts of violence, and other particularly inap-
  propriate behavior. 
  Relationships between magical girls take Strain whenever one of the magical girls in the relationship feels it should. The 
  relationship also takes a point of Strain automatically anytime the magical girls fight each other. 
  A relationship that takes three points of Strain is broken. This means it no longer functions as a relationship until you re-
  move that third point of Strain (see Relationship Scenes below). When a relationship is broken (other than by you sacrific-
  ing it), you lose 1d6-3 (to a minimum of 0) points of Resolve. 
  
  g 18 g 
   
  Sacrificing Relationships 
  Sometimes succeeding is more important than maintaining a relationship. Magical girls can choose to put Strain on a rela-
  tionship, or even outright break one, in order to get ahead. This is a little different from normal relationship Strain; it 
  represents a magical girl burning away her ability to relate to someone. 
  • 
  If you’ve made a roll for a Challenge and you need a better result, you can put a point of Strain on a relationship 
  that has the same attribute to add +1 to your Result (and add +1 to the damage if it’s an attack). 
  • 
  If you need more Resolve, you can put a point of Strain on a relationship to regain 1d6 Resolve. However, you 
  have to already have at least 1 point of Resolve to do this. If you’ve lost all your Resolve, you’ll have to use the 
  Revive move instead. 
  Relationship Charges 
  If you successfully use the Bond move, you’ll get a charge or two on a relationship with that person. You can do the fol-
  lowing things with charges: 
  • 
  Remove Strain: You can use one charge to remove one point of Strain. 
  • 
  Form a New Relationship: If you’re dealing with someone new to you, you can form a new relationship with 
  them. Your relationship with a person you don’t already have a relationship with effectively has 3 points of Strain 
  on it, and you’ll have to spend charges to remove them. 
  • 
  Extra Charges: A relationship can hold one extra charge. You can sacrifice these as per taking Strain without ac-
  tually harming your relationship. 
  Fallout 
  “Is this going to keep happening every time I use magic? I’m not sure I can handle this…” 
  In order to get rid of Overcharge, magical girls will have to suffer fallout. Fallout is the unwanted consequences of using 
  magic and fighting youma. You can voluntarily take fallout during free scenes, but if you take 6 or more points of Over-
  charge in any one attribute you must resolve your fallout either right away, or right after the current battle ends. 
  Overcharge 
  Fallout 
  1 
  None; you can remove 1 Overcharge at the end of a scene. 
  2+ 
  Distortion 
  4+ 
  Flare 
  6+ 
  Change 
  8+ 
  Burst 
  The effects of fallout depend on the attribute the Overcharge points were attached to and the number of points you’re re-
  moving. You always have to take a type of fallout worth at least the same number of points as you have to get rid of; you 
  can’t take multiple instances of a less troublesome type of fallout. 
  Distortion (Up to 3 Overcharge) 
  Low-level Fallout causes a magical girl or reality around her to become distorted 
  Magic: Reality Distortions 
  The excess magic you’ve accumulated leaks out into the world, making things around you become strange and unsettling. 
  A distortion that removes up to 2 point of Overcharge causes something unusual but plausible to happen. The weather 
  changes very abruptly, all the cats in the area converge in one spot, objects keep falling in unlikely ways, birds’ magnetic 
  sense is thrown off in the area, etc. 
  A distortion that removes 3 points of Overcharge causes something impossible to happen, but something that people can 
  dismiss as imagined. Falling objects can hover or change direction, a door doesn’t quite deliver you to the right place, un-
  natural weather, an animal starts walking through walls, a person flickers in an out of existence for a little while, etc. 
  
  g 19 g 
   
  Heart: Tainted Affection 
  The stress of what you’ve experienced makes you latch onto people around you in a way that’s a bit unsettling. Choose 
  someone you have a Relationship with and do one of the following. If you do not have any remaining relationships, roll 
  for a Flare (see below) Fallout instead. 
  You can remove up to 2 Overcharge points with a moderate display of intimacy to someone, such as a lingering hug, 
  blurting out personal stuff about yourself, abruptly inviting someone on a date, etc. 
  You can remove up to 3 Overcharge points with a more extreme display of intimacy to someone, such as kissing someone 
  out of nowhere. 
  Fury: Outburst 
  You have a sudden, violent outburst that you can’t really explain. The more points you’re removing, the more harm it 
  does to people around you. 
  You can remove up to 2 Overcharge points by doing some property damage or having a minor violent outburst against 
  someone. 
  You can remove up to 3 Overcharge points by having a major violent outburst that substantially hurts someone you have a 
  relationship with. If you do not have any remaining relationships, roll for a Flare (see below) Fallout instead. 
  Flare (Up to 5 Overcharge) 
  A “Flare” is a more powerful instance of Fallout. Each time a magical girl gets a Flare result, roll a die on the table below. 
  Roll 
  Magic 
  Heart 
  Fury 
  1 
  Severe Distortion 
  Breakdown 
  Angry Aura 
  2-3 
  Elemental Flare 
  Infatuation 
  Rampage 
  4-5 
  Temporary Change (Self) 
  6 
  Temporary Change (Other) 
  Severe Distortion (Magic 1) 
  Your magical power creates a severe distortion in the fabric of reality. Something unmistakably magical is happening, and 
  people nearby cannot dismiss it as being their imagination at all. 
  Elemental Flare (Magic 2-3) 
  The power of your magical element goes out of control in a dramatic way. What happens will heavily depend on what 
  exactly your element is, but for a physical element this will typically make large manifestations of that element, or cause 
  nearby instances of that substance or force to go totally out of control. If your element is stone it could conjure a giant, 
  hideous obelisk, or make the sidewalks ripple and dance. If your element is fire it might turn small fires into conflagra-
  tions or make fire magically rain down from the sky. 
  Breakdown (Heart 1) 
  When the emotional strain of everything you’ve been through becomes too much, you could have a breakdown and stop 
  being able to properly function. 
  You can remove up to 4 points with a moderate breakdown. For the next scene or two you can barely contain yourself and 
  keep bursting into tears or having panic attacks. While this is in effect you take a –2 penalty to any challenges. 
  You can remove up to 5 points with a major breakdown. For the next scene you’re all but catatonic unless your own safety 
  is very directly threatened, and for one or two scenes after that you’ll be weepy or have panic attacks. While this is in ef-
  fect you take a –3 penalty to any challenges. 
  
  g 20 g 
   
  Infatuation (Heart 2-3) 
  Your use of magic based on forming bonds with others causes you form an unnatural attachment to someone. You fall in 
  love with another character you have a relationship with, and you fall hard, forming a troubling obsession. You must do 
  whatever you can to be near them at all times, and try to both protect them and become intimate with them. This lasts until 
  the end of the episode or until you have another Infatuation fallout come up. 
  If you don’t have any relationships, you lose 1d6 Resolve and have a Breakdown Fallout (see above) instead. 
  Angry Aura (Fury 1) 
  The accumulated rage-tainted magical energy in you exerts its influence on people and other beings in the area. A slight 
  spark—or nothing at all—makes people and perhaps animals become consumed by anger and aggression. A brawl can 
  break out, and a brawl can lead to a riot. People are going to get hurt. 
  Rampage (Fury 2-3) 
  The power of the rage you’ve channeled goes completely out of control, temporarily turning you into a crazed berserker. 
  For a full scene, you attack anyone and anything that gets in your way. You cannot use your Heart attribute, but you get a 
  +2 bonus to your Results for Challenges made in battle. You can damage property, hurt people, fight youma, etc, but you 
  must do violence as much as you possibly can for an entire scene. 
  Temporary Change (Any 4-6) 
  A Flare can produce a temporary Change; see below for more details on how Changes work. A temporary Change lasts 
  for one scene, or an hour or two of in-game time, though they don’t necessarily have to take effect right away. If you get a 
  change to yourself, you’ll have to live with the change for a little while. 
  A change that affects someone else will afflict someone you have a relationship with. This should be someone with whom 
  you have a relationship of the same attribute as the Overcharge that caused the Fallout, but it can be of any attribute if you 
  don’t have a relationship that matches. If you don’t have any relationships, you take a permanent Change to yourself in-
  stead. 
  If a Change that specifies something based off of a magical girl trait gets put on a normal person, that part of it is based on 
  the magical girl that the Fallout originated from. 
  Change (Up to 7 Overcharge) 
  “Sorry, but this kind of thing happens sometimes. I’m sure you’ll learn to live with it. So to speak.” 
  A “Change” is a permanent detrimental effect of magic warping someone’s body or mind. When Fallout calls for a 
  Change, make a d66 roll on the Change table that matches the attribute of the Overcharge. If a new Change conflicts with 
  an old one, the new one supersedes the old one. Some Changes are always in effect, or have a very specific trigger. Those 
  that activate periodically or randomly will kick in either now and then whenever the GM feels like it, or the GM can roll a 
  die for every scene and a Change them trigger on a 6. Unless stated otherwise, your current form has no bearing on 
  whether a Change will be in effect. Changes are permanent, though a wish could remove them. 
  
  g 21 g 
   
  Burst (8+ Overcharge) 
  A “burst” is an excessively powerful form of Fallout, and seldom seen unless something has gone very wrong. 
  Magic: Magical Burst 
  The excess magical power you’ve accumulated turns into an explosion of raw power that annihilates anything and anyone 
  nearby, excepting beings of considerable magical power. Everyone within the area of effect loses 2 Resolve per point of 
  Overcharge, and normal people are disintegrated without a trace. The size of the area affected depends on how many 
  Overcharge points went into the Magical Burst, as follows: 
  Overcharge 
  Area Affected 
  8 
  Size of a house 
  9 
  Size of a larger building 
  10 
  Size of a skyscraper 
  11 
  A city block 
  12 
  Several city blocks 
  It is possible for someone to use magic to escape unscathed by making a Magic-based challenge and getting a result equal 
  to at least twice the number of Overcharge points that went into the Magical Burst. 
  If you have a Magical Burst from and you do not have any Relationships at all, you will transform into a youma. Your 
  magical girl becomes a monster under the control of the Game Master. 
  Heart: Heartspawn 
  The intense magical power within you, although derived from warm human emotions, becomes intensely twisted, and 
  breaks off into a new being. This forms a youma with a Power Level equal to half the number of Overcharge points in-
  volved in the Fallout (rounded down). It is formed from your feelings towards someone you have a relationship with (it 
  must be a Heart type relationship if you have one), and will stalk and try to kill them. 
  If you do not have any relationships when you get this kind of Fallout, your loneliness combined with the excessive magi-
  cal power will turn you into a youma made of hate and resentment. Your magical girl becomes a monster under the con-
  trol of the Game Master. 
  Fury: Rage Storm 
  Your intense, rage-tainted magical energy explodes into a psychic maelstrom of hate and fury that fills the air with a bale-
  ful red glow. Everyone in the area (use the same table as Magical Burst to get the size of the area) will be overcome with 
  violent urges. Magical girls can make a Heart or Magic challenge against a difficulty equal to two times the number of 
  Overcharge points that went into this Fallout in order to resists its affects, but otherwise everyone (except tsukaima) must 
  attack someone at random every turn for 1d3+1 turns. 
  Change Tables 
  Magic Changes 
  11. Discolored Skin 
  Your body takes on a strange color. When you’re transformed this coloration is extremely obvious, but when you’re not 
  transformed it’s more of a subtle tint to your skin color. 
  12. Molting 
  Every now and then you have to shed your skin. It looks like you’re pulling off a rubbery body suit, and each time you 
  molt you look just a little different. If you put off molting you start feeling progressively more uncomfortable, until it be-
  comes totally unbearable. 
  13. Third Eye 
  A third eye opens up in your forehead. It’s not too hard to hide if you’re careful, but… it’s a third eye in your forehead. 
  
  g 22 g 
   
  14. Baldness 
  The hair on your head simply falls out and won’t grow back. Consider buying a good wig. 
  15. Candy Scent 
  Your body always smells of sweet candy. It’s almost always detectable to anyone in the same room as you, and it can be 
  overpowering close up. 
  16. Rococo Style 
  You have a sort of magical aura of garish ornateness. Your belongings subtly alter themselves to become elaborate and 
  lacy, your packed lunch seems to become all sweets, and so on. 
  21. Moé Girl 
  You become unnaturally attractive in a way that appeals to otaku. Your proportions are a little too perfect, your skin looks 
  photoshopped, your eyes become just a little too large, and your hair looks like a quality cosplay wig. 
  22. Catgirl 
  You have the pointed ears and long tail of a housecat. The ears give you a bit better hearing, but are more than anything a 
  burden. It’s possible to hide them, but doing so is difficult and uncomfortable. 
  23. Theme Music 
  Cute, peppy music just sort of forms in the air around you at times. 
  24. Wings 
  You sprout a pair of wings, large enough to be conspicuous but not large enough to fly. They will be extremely difficult to 
  conceal. You could cut them off, but it would be astonishingly painful, and leave bloody stumps on your back. 
  25. Doll Joints 
  Your body has joints like a well-made doll. Although you are still made of flesh and blood, you must wear clothes that 
  cover most of your body if you want to hide the doll joints. Also, your limbs are removable, and could even be swapped 
  with those of someone else who has this mutation. 
  26. Magical Boy 
  You become a boy. Nothing else about you particularly changes, and you can still transform and use magic (you’re still 
  male when transformed though). If a male who is not a magical girl is affected by this mutation, they are turned into a girl 
  instead. 
  31. Pallor 
  Your skin becomes unnervingly pale, and your eyes become sunken, like you’re very sick. 
  32. Glowing 
  Your skin occasionally starts to glow. 
  33. Magic Voice 
  Your voice has magical power that cuts in and out at random. Every now and then people are magically compelled to car-
  ry out something you say in the most literal manner they can manage, but you have no control over what or when. 
  34. EM Phenomenon 
  Your body emits electromagnetic waves that disrupt electronics. Cell phones and other things that require radio signals 
  stop working within a city block of you, and you can no longer use cell phones, computers, etc. yourself. 
  35. Magical Reflection 
  Your reflection in any given surface has a mind of its own. 
  
  g 23 g 
   
  36. Elemental Flux 
  Your magical element is unstable. Every now and then you wind up having a different magical element from normal; roll 
  on the random element table on p. XX. 
  41. Technicolor Yawn 
  You periodically feel sick to your stomach and throw up a strange rainbow-colored substance. Sometimes it forms into 
  cute little creatures that scurry off to never be seen again. 
  42. Heterochromia 
  One of your eyes is red, and the other is blue (or some other combination). Both are vivid, unnatural colors. 
  43. Maddening Costume Pattern 
  Your costume is covered by a strange pattern. People who look at it get headaches in short order, and if someone were to 
  stare at it for a long time they might go crazy. 
  44. Youma Allergy 
  You can no longer ignore youma, because being in the same general area as one causes debilitating headaches and nausea. 
  45. Magical Diet 
  You can no longer handle normal food, instead gaining sustenance from magical energy. Eating food always gives you 
  food poisoning type symptoms. 
  46. Always Transformed 
  You lose the ability to revert to your normal form. No matter what you do, you will always appear in your outlandish cos-
  tume. If someone other than a magical girl gets this mutation, their clothes always distort into something outlandish. 
  51. Nightmare Vision 
  You experience the entire world as one colossal Nightmare. Everything is distorted and surreal, and while it usually man-
  ages to follow the proper shape of reality, sometimes it’s dangerously off. 
  52. Zombie 
  Your body seems to have died, yet keeps moving because of some kind of magic. You can’t eat or sleep anymore, and 
  your body gradually starts to decay. 
  53. Tsukaima Form 
  When not transformed, you look like a tsukaima, a fanciful furry creature capable of human speech. Your magical girl 
  form is still human, but of course you can only maintain it for a short time. 
  54. Unstuck in Space 
  Some dimensional distortion has loosened your position in the space-time continuum. As a result you sometimes teleport 
  short distances at random. The burning void you experience while between places is terrifying too. 
  55. Speaking in Tongues 
  Every now and then you start spewing what sounds like gibberish. You don’t know where it comes from yourself, but 
  youma seem to understand you. 
  56. Petrification 
  Every now and then you turn to stone over the course of a few minutes. You’ll turn back after a few hours, and while 
  you’re in stone form youma will ignore you. 
  61. Forehead Gem 
  There is a colorful gem planted in your forehead. 
  62. Hollow Eye 
  One of your eyes is missing, and there’s a hole in your eye socket that goes out the back of your head. 
  
  g 24 g 
   
  63. Floating 
  Your magical power periodically causes you to hover. You might find yourself literally walking on air without realizing it, 
  or wake up floating above your bed. 
  64. Evil Eye 
  One of your eyes comes to contain dark magic. Sometimes someone you look at will suddenly fall ill. 
  65. Strange Element 
  Your Magical Element is suddenly changed to something bizarre. Roll 1d6 on the table below to determine what it be-
  comes. 
  1 
  Blood 
  Your attacks all call up red blood in some form, such that when you do battle the air is full of that 
  coppery smell. 
  2 
  Radiation 
  Your element becomes radiation. Your attacks tend to be either invisible or create mushroom 
  clouds, and instances of cancer go up around you. 
  3 
  Sickness 
  Your magic is now based entirely on disease, and you spread sickness whenever you use your 
  powers. 
  4 
  Color 
  Your magic now revolves around color. You’ll have to be clever to make it useful. 
  5 
  Sugar 
  Your magical element is now sugar, generating cakes, candy, or just cane sugar (or corn syrup). 
  6 
  Nothingness 
  Your power is to call forth nothingness. It’s deeply unsettling. 
  66. Mutation Flux 
  You have the misfortune to greet each new day with a new mutation. Roll on the Magic Change table every time you start 
  a new day. Re-roll if you get this result or another Change you already have. 
  Heart Changes 
  11. Vivid Eyes 
  Your eyes take on an unnaturally vibrant hue. 
  12. Weak Aura 
  Your aura has become destabilized, making your “presence” periodically slip away. When this happens, people simply 
  lose the ability to perceive you, even your best friends, unless you do something really extreme to catch their attention, 
  and even then you’ll quickly slip out of their perception. 
  13. Acute Anxiety 
  Every now and then you are overcome with anxiety. The whole world seems to be closing in around you, mak-
  ing it hard to breathe. 
  14. Gender Phobia 
  You develop an intense fear of the opposite sex. 
  15. Hug Reaction 
  A certain trigger, such as a word you heard around the time this Change took effect, causes you to hug whoever 
  made the trigger. 
  16. Kissing Tic 
  Every now and then you impulsively kiss someone full on the mouth. 
  21. Kitty Talk 
  You can’t help but litter your speech with mewing sounds, plus the occasional purr or hiss. 
  
  g 25 g 
   
  22. Mascot Suit 
  Instead of a magical girl costume, every time you transform you find yourself in a big furry mascot suit that looks like a 
  tsukaima you know. 
  23. Crybaby 
  Whatever your personality might be normally, sometimes you just uncontrollably break into tears with little to 
  no provocation. 
  24. Miniaturization 
  You periodically shrink down to the size of a small doll and revert back at random. While shrunk you become hard to 
  catch, but dealing with the world in general is a challenge. Your magic is unaffected. 
  25. Crystal Rash 
  Translucent crystals start growing out of your skin. They can easily break off. 
  26. Clone Form 
  You are transformed to look like someone you have a relationship with. 
  31. Amnesia 
  You can’t remember any of what happened before you became a magical girl. 
  32. New Identity 
  You become convinced that you’re someone else. You can keep your existing Relationships (they still care about you, and 
  you’ll feel an instinctual connection), though if you alienate people you may put Strain on a relationship. 
  33. Always Smiling 
  Regardless of what you’re actually feeling, you find yourself smiling constantly. 
  34. Euphoria 
  Every now and then your nervous system just malfunctions, making the pleasure centers of your brain go crazy. 
  35. Babble 
  Sometimes you feel overcome with strange words and start babbling as though speaking in tongues. 
  36. Never Alone 
  You can’t stand to be alone for any length of time or for any reason. 
  41. Adult Self 
  You are transformed into an adult version of yourself, of age 17+2d6. 
  42. Random Girl 
  You look like some other random girl. No one knows who you are. 
  43. Rainbows 
  Wherever you go, light tends to somehow form a prismatic effect, such that you always seem to be surrounded by rain-
  bows. 
  44. Memory Leech 
  Something about you makes people around you periodically forget small things. 
  45. Imaginary Friend 
  You have an imaginary friend who is perfect and loving and always wants what she thinks is best for you. You 
  might understand she’s not real on some  level, but you take her very seriously all the same. 
  
  g 26 g 
   
  46. Your Things 
  You periodically have an uncontrollable need to take an item that belongs to someone you have a relationship 
  with. If you succeed in taking such an item, you will hoard it and try to keep it close. 
  51. Through the Looking Glass 
  Every now and then your reflection will reach through a mirror and pull you in, depositing you next to a mirror in a ran-
  dom part of the city. 
  52. Windows of the Soul 
  Your eyes occasionally open impossibly wide and intangible, translucent spirits spill out of them. 
  53. Relationship Delusion 
  You become completely convinced that you have a deeper and more significant connection with someone then 
  you actually do in real life. 
  54. Fickle Infatuation 
  You randomly acquire a profound love for someone around you, which abruptly vanishes after a while. 
  55. Baby Doll 
  You become convinced that an inanimate object is a baby that you must take care of. 
  56. Heartless 
  There is a circular hole in the middle of your chest where your heart should be. This doesn’t actually inconvenience you 
  per se, but it looks horrifying. 
  61. Elasticity 
  Your body acquires an odd elasticity, such that your limbs can be stretched out up to around 10 feet. You can’t really use 
  this to your advantage much, but it’ll be a freaky sight if someone tries to pull you by your hand.  
  62. Binary Fission 
  Your regular and magical selves split apart into two separate girls. Your magical self is like a sort of robot that you can 
  mentally command as long as you’re within 100 meters or so. If someone other than a magical girl gets this mutation they 
  will have a perfectly identical clone instead. 
  63. Prismatic Hair 
  Your hair is made of transparent strands that display countless different colors when they catch the light. 
  64. Pheromones 
  You generate a scent that, while not overtly noticeable to most people, makes the opposite sex interested in you. 
  65. Constant Cold 
  You always have cold symptoms; they never go away. 
  66. Happy Place 
  Every now and then you escape into a happy delusion, and stop engaging the real world. 
  
  g 27 g 
   
  Fury Changes 
  11. Bloody Eyes 
  Your eyes take on a creepy blood-red color. 
  12. Blood Smell 
  Your body smells of fresh blood. It is a coppery, unnerving smell. 
  13. Canine Animosity 
  Dogs just seem to find you unsettling. Dogs near you freak out and bark, whine, and howl. Even a dog you’ve known all 
  your life would bark its head off around you. 
  14. Screaming 
  Every now and then you start screaming involuntarily. 
  15. Aura of Death 
  You acquire an invisible aura of death. Smaller creatures around you and larger creatures that are particularly sickly (in-
  cluding people) will tend to die off unexpectedly. The more a given weak organism is around you, the more likely it is to 
  die. 
  16. Elemental Hair 
  Your hair takes on an aspect of whatever your element is. Fire hair becomes reddish-orange and sometimes flicks around 
  on its own, that kind of thing. 
  21. Elemental Resonance 
  Instances of your magical element have a way of behaving abnormally when you’re around. If your element is water, the 
  water in the school’s pool might take on a life of its own for example. 
  22. Exhaustion 
  Although it doesn’t hinder you during battle, you occasionally find yourself completely overcome by fatigue for 
  no apparent reason. 
  23. Kleptomania 
  You periodically feel the need to steal things, regardless of whether there’s any benefit to doing so. 
  24. Agony 
  Every now and then your nervous system just malfunctions, subjecting you to abject agony. 
  25. Scarred 
  You acquire a rather nasty-looking scar somewhere on your body. It’s not unnatural per se, but people will 
  wonder what a girl like you could’ve done to get such a thing. 
  26. Windmill Syndrome 
  You become convinced that a certain class of objects is your enemy. You will periodically attempt to attack 
  such items, and expect others to thank you for doing so. 
  31. Night Terrors 
  Most nights you are troubled by terrible nightmares that have you waking up crying or screaming. 
  32. Self Harm 
  Every now and then you have an overpowering need to her yourself in painful, disturbing, but nonlethal ways. 
  
  g 28 g 
   
  33. Exertion Impulse 
  You sometimes get a weird impulse to intensely exercise your body. You can run, do sit-ups, climb, etc., as 
  long as you move your body. 
  34. Fast-Growing Hair 
  Your hair grows unnaturally fast, such that you would need a haircut every few days just to have it be remotely managea-
  ble. 
  35. Evil Twin 
  You spawn a precise copy of yourself. She is not a magical girl, but she knows everything you do about magic at the time 
  this Change takes effect. She also hates you, and will try to screw up your life however she can. 
  36. Property Damage 
  You acquire a tendency to casually damage inanimate objects at times. 
  41. Weather Phenomenon 
  The weather sometimes changes unexpectedly to reflect your mood, up to and including very dangerous forms of weather 
  when you’re particularly upset. 
  42. Manic Depressive 
  You occasionally have periods of either intense energy or deep depression. Your manic phase can be happy, sad, 
  or angry, but it’s always intense. 
  43. Pyromania 
  Every now and then you have an irresistible need to set fire to something just to watch it burn. 
  44. Portal 
  A magical portal periodically opens up in some part of your body, such as your forehead or belly. Strange things come out, 
  technicolor spirits or sometimes tsukaima or youma. 
  45. Fleshy Costume 
  Your costume looks like a living creature made of flesh. It’s really damn creepy. 
  46. Cold-Blooded 
  You become cold-blooded. Your skin feels unnaturally cold at time, and you become very sluggish when it’s cold. 
  51. Magic Fever 
  You periodically break out in an unnaturally intense fever. It makes your head fuzzy like an ordinary fever, but otherwise 
  doesn’t harm you. On the other hand to other people you’re hot enough to be painful to touch. 
  52. Murder Spasms 
  Every now and then you feel an overpowering need to murder a random stranger. You won’t go after anyone 
  you have a relationship with, but needless to say your behavior is shocking. 
  53. Maw 
  Somewhere on your body is a large mouth with many sharp teeth. You can conceal it with normal clothing, but it gets 
  hungry and restless sometimes. 
  54. No Arm 
  One of your arms isn’t there, but your hand still is. There is a sort of phantom image where your arm should be, and your 
  hand floats at the end of it and works normally. 
  
  g 29 g 
   
  55. Violence Trigger 
  Some trigger, such as a word uttered around the time you acquired this change, causes you to violently lash out 
  and strike whoever repeats it. 
  56. Distorted Shadow 
  Your shadow takes on strange shapes, and sometimes moves on its own. 
  61. Heavy Metal Costume 
  Your costume becomes an over the top heavy metal getup, with lots of skulls and spikes. 
  62. Camera Eyes 
  It's subtle, but your eyes are in fact cameras. They make a very faint motor sound when changing focus to look at things at 
  different distances; other people won't notice unless they're very close to you, but you can always hear very clearly. Also, 
  to you the world takes on a surreal quality, as though you're watching a TV show rather than living through events. 
  63. Shifting Tattoos 
  You have a number of tattoos on your arms and torso that seem to shift and change. 
  64. Bionic Limbs 
  Your arms and legs are apparently artificial on the inside, because when you exert yourself they make a motor whining 
  noise. 
  65. Bad Place 
  Every now and then you slip into a terrible nightmare in your own head, and stop properly engaging the real world. 
  66. Bully 
  You are periodically overcome with a need to intimidate and bully someone weaker than yourself. 
  Experience and Growth 
  Magical girls who survive enough battles will become better at what they do. That isn’t to say that the rest of their lives 
  will become easier, but they can at least become more proficient at fighting youma. At the end of each session the GM 
  awards Experience Points (XP) to each magical girl as follows: 
  • 
  1 XP simply for participating in the game 
  • 
  1 XP for each youma they defeated or helped defeat (minions don’t count) 
  • 
  1 XP if the magical girl formed at least one new relationship 
  • 
  1 XP if the magical girl got closer to her wish (other than by getting Oblivion Seeds) 
  • 
  Each player gets to award 1 XP to one other player however they wish 
  For 5 XP you can buy an Advance. Pick an Advance from those below, but you can only take a given Advance once. If 
  you take all of the available Advances, you can start over. 
  • 
  +1 to a Magical Attribute 
  • 
  +1 to a different Magical Attribute 
  • 
  +1 to a Normal Attribute 
  • 
  +1 to a different Normal Attribute 
  • 
  +4 to Base Resolve 
  • 
  Gain a new Magical Effect or Finishing Attack 
  
  g 30 g 
   
   
  The Game Master's Job 
  “I used to think that there was someone up there looking out for me, but ever since I became a magical girl, it feels like 
  either no one cares, or whoever’s up there wants us to be miserable.” 
  In Magical Burst the GM’s job is basically to keep the magical girls’ lives difficult and shocking. This is not a setting 
  where magic is a known quantity, yet it is not the kind of magical girl story where magic is always conveniently unnoticed 
  by normal people. The unpredictable side-effects of magic have a way of leaking out into a world that is unprepared for 
  and uncomprehending of them. This is important. Magic violates the natural order of the world, creates a wrongness that 
  naturally repulses people. 
  This isn’t really a game where you as the GM should come to the table with lots of plans. The game is meant to let you 
  put in some stuff to shake the magical girls up, and then play out how they deal with it and whatever fallout and other 
  problems come from it. 
  Keep it vivid. Magical girls come from a world of bright, clashing colors. Their enemies—and sometimes their allies—
  are surreal creatures of nightmare. 
  Keep it weird. 
  Use the moves aggressively. 
  Ask questions. Put the players on the spot about their magical girls, and ferret out details, thoughts, and decisions. 
  Use magical girls’ answers. 
  The Series 
  Before you get too far you need to figure out some basic things about what you’re going to do with the game. 
  Setting 
  Apart from the basic details of magical girls, tsukaima, and youma, I’ve been pretty vague about the setting. Although the 
  source material for Magical Burst is Japanese, and the game purposely uses some Japanese terminology, it doesn’t neces-
  sarily take place in Japan. The “default” setting is more or less contemporary, though a little bit surreal and detached. You 
  might have somewhere more specific and grounded in mind, whether your hometown, a famous city, or a particular point 
  in human history. 
  You may want to pick out or devise a handful of Secrets (see p. XX), which will be shocking things about the setting and 
  the nature of magic. 
  Important Characters 
  Magical Burst works best with a small, familiar cast of characters. With the players’ magical girls, the characters they in-
  troduce in the relationship chart, the tsukaima, and the youma they will face, you’ll have most if not all of the characters 
  that the game will need. 
  Episodes 
  Don’t plan too much for an episode. For a basic episode, come up with a youma and figure out a couple things to mess 
  with the magical girls. 
  
  g 31 g 
   
  Tsukaima 
  “It’s only natural that there are others like me. However, this is my territory, so you’re unlikely to see any of them unless 
  something has gone wrong.”  
  The tsukaima is probably the most important of the character you get to portray as the GM. They know more than anyone 
  else about magical girls and youma, and they have the power to turn a girl into a magical girl on short notice. 
  If you’re not going to be playing long, or you just don’t have any ideas, go ahead and use one of the sample tsukaima be-
  low. 
  Tsukaima are in the game more for plot purposes, so their game stats are rather vague. 
  Tsukaima Creation Tables 
  Here are some random tables you can roll on to help brainstorm a tsukaima. Make a d66 roll once on each column, and 
  roll a second time on one or more columns if you think your tsukaima isn’t weird enough. 
  Roll 
  Base Appearance Odd Physical Trait 
  Personality 
  11-12 
  Cat 
  Gem in Forehead 
  Calculating 
  13-14 
  Rabbit 
  Unblinking Round Eyes 
  Affectionate 
  15-16 
  Dog 
  Metal Antennas 
  Vengeful 
  21-22 
  Fox 
  Fluffy Wings 
  Cheerful 
  23-24 
  Turtle 
  Halo 
  Prideful 
  25-26 
  Piglet 
  Very Long Ears 
  Fastidious 
  31-32 
  Bird 
  Extra Limbs 
  Lazy 
  33-34 
  Lion Cub 
  Chameleon 
  Always Calm 
  35-36 
  Ball of Fluff 
  Translucent 
  Gluttonous 
  41-42 
  Ferret 
  Boneless 
  Sinister 
  43-44 
  Wolf 
  Chains/Manacles 
  Jealous 
  45-46 
  Lizard 
  Gaps in Body 
  Gregarious 
  51-52 
  Robot 
  Extra Eye(s) 
  Hedonistic 
  53-54 
  Dragon 
  No Mouth 
  Depressed 
  55-56 
  Doll 
  Covered in Shifting Runes 
  Argumentative 
  61-62 
  Frog 
  Exudes Iridescent Mist 
  Friendly 
  63-64 
  Polyhedron 
  Metallic Skin 
  Secretive 
  65-66 
  Girl 
  Clockwork 
  Poetic 
  Tsukaima Attributes 
  A typical tsukaima has values of around 6 for all of the Normal Attributes. See “Attacking a Tsukaima” for ideas on how 
  to handle a tsukaima in combat. 
  
  g 32 g 
   
  Tsukaima Special Abilities 
  “I suppose I could try to erase her memory. But it would be easier to just kill her.” 
  There are all kinds of special abilities that tsukaima could have. The only one they all definitely have is the ability to make 
  a pact with a girl and turn her into a magical girl. 
  • 
  Erase Memories: A tsukaima could have the ability to erase people’s memories, to better hide magic from the 
  world. Although this ability is very effective, since tsukaima don’t quite understand how humans think they’re 
  likely to cause some collateral damage to the subject’s mind. 
  • 
  Induce Change: Some tsukaima have worked out how to cause magical girls (or other people?) to undergo 
  Changes, either specific ones or at random. 
  • 
  Inflict Pain: Some tsukaima have the ability to inflict terrible, debilitating pain on magical girls. 
  • 
  Invisibility: Tsukaima are often good at concealing themselves, including turning outright invisible, or at least 
  invisible to people without magical power. 
  • 
  Teleport: Some tsukaima don’t even relate to physical space the way people do, and can teleport from one loca-
  tion to another instantly. 
  Example Tsukaima 
  Blue 
  This tsukaima appears to be artificial, a small, yellow-green spherical robot lined with runes that gradually change. He’s 
  short-tempered, and often berates his magical girls at length for their failures, however slight. 
  Buubuu 
  This tsukaima looks like a cute little piglet with cherub wings. He has a definite fondness for human food, especially 
  sweets, and often demands treats before he’ll actually do his job. 
  George 
  George is a small dragon, about 3 feet long, with a flat face and two round, unblinking eyes. He likes to collect shiny ob-
  jects, especially valuable ones, and has no qualms about stealing such things. 
  Ma-chan 
  This very unusual tsukaima looks like a teenage girl, albeit with a halo and a third eye in her forehead. She wears a one-
  piece white dress, and always seems to want physical contact. She’s constantly trying to hold hands with, hug, or put her 
  head in the lap of the magical girls she associates with. 
  Nekota 
  Nekota looks like a white cat with fur so unnaturally white that it’s sometimes hard to distinguish his features, and oval-
  shaped eyes like black gems. He’s very picky about who he recruits to become magical girls, and frequently tries to take 
  over the mentorship of other magical girls he things are particularly capable. 
  Pyonkichi 
  Pyonkichi is a rabbit-like tsukaima with odd little antennas on his head that glow when he uses his magic. He takes foster-
  ing new magical girls very seriously, and takes pride in their accomplishments. 
  Selene 
  A slender, feminine, fox-like creature with a third eye in her forehead. She likes to seek out unusual candidates, but oth-
  erwise prefers to take it easy. 
  
  g 33 g 
   
  Attacking a Tsukaima 
  “Are you sure you want to do that?” 
  Especially if there are some nasty Secrets revealed, magical girls may wish to do violence to a tsukaima. I can think of a 
  few ways to handle this (though you could doubtless come up with others): 
  1. When threatened, a tsukaima can transform into a horrifying monster. Treat it as a youma of whatever power level 
  you think is appropriate. 
  2. It is essentially impossible to kill a tsukaima, at least permanently. Maybe they regenerate in short order, or may-
  be they can become insubstantial, teleport, turn invisible, or otherwise use magical trickery to evade attackers. Or 
  they might just turn out to have been mentally projecting into the magical girls’ minds, and were never physically 
  present to be threatened in the first place. 
  3. Killing a tsukaima is incredibly easy. The problem is that the consequences of doing so are far worse than anyone 
  could have imagined. 
  Normal People 
  Ordinary people are largely insignificant to the rules of the game, but they’re vital to what goes on in it. They help anchor 
  the magical girls to normal reality, but they’re also who the magical girls have to conceal the magical side of their lives 
  from. 
  In game terms, normal people have no Magical Attributes or other magical traits, though they still have Normal Attributes 
  of course. An average person has around 20 points among the four attributes, but an exceptional person can have 25 or 
  more points total. 
  
  g 34 g 
   
  Youma 
  1. Appearance and Behavior 
  You should have some idea what your youma will look like and how it acts. Some youma are mindless monsters that lash 
  out at random, but they can be terrifyingly cunning, and some of them have human intelligence and then some. 
  Youma Appearance Tables 
  d66 
   
  d66 
   
  d66 
   
  11 
  Child 
  31 
  Worm 
  51 
  Witch 
  12 
  Snake 
  32 
  Car 
  52 
  Artist 
  13 
  Bat 
  33 
  Spider 
  53 
  Clothes 
  14 
  Flower 
  34 
  Camera 
  54 
  Robot 
  15 
  Musician 
  35 
  Butterfly 
  55 
  Dancer 
  16 
  Dancer 
  36 
  Motorcycle 
  56 
  Warrior 
  21 
  Girl 
  41 
  Lion 
  61 
  Amorphous 
  22 
  Cat 
  42 
  Sphere 
  62 
  Insect 
  23 
  Dog 
  43 
  Rabbit 
  63 
  Tree 
  24 
  Man 
  44 
  Mouse 
  64 
  Painting 
  25 
  Woman 
  45 
  Die 
  65 
  Sound 
  26 
  Camera 
  46 
  Robed Figure 
  66 
  Magical Girl 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  d66 
   
  d66 
   
  d66 
   
  11 
  Giant 
  31 
  Flaming 
  51 
  Checkered 
  12 
  Polka-Dotted 
  32 
  Ice 
  52 
  Slime 
  13 
  Winged 
  33 
  Lightning 
  53 
  Suit 
  14 
  Goblin 
  34 
  Lycanthrope 
  54 
  Shackled 
  15 
  Naga 
  35 
  Centauroid 
  55 
  Lacy 
  16 
  Venus Flytrap 
  36 
  Spines 
  56 
  Shadow 
  21 
  Gelatinous 
  41 
  Cotton Candy 
  61 
  Luminous 
  22 
  Demonic 
  42 
  Clockwork 
  62 
  Plush 
  23 
  Doll 
  43 
  Faceless 
  63 
  Burning 
  24 
  Tentacles 
  44 
  Eye 
  64 
  Elongated 
  25 
  Tiny 
  45 
  Wall 
  65 
  Spines 
  26 
  Harlequin 
  46 
  Gemstone 
  66 
  Runes 
  2. Power Level and Magical Girls 
  Select a general Power Level (PL) for your youma, from 1 to 5, where 3 is average, and 5 is a major threat. Also deter-
  mine the number of magical girls it’s meant to face (MG). If you’re going to have multiple youma in one battle, their total 
  MG numbers should be about the same as the number of magical girls. The PL and MG numbers will determine several 
  other factors about the youma, as you’ll see. 
  
  g 35 g 
   
  3. Traits 
  Next, determine your youma’s base numerical traits from the Power Level you’ve selected. 
  • 
  Attributes: These are the same three attributes that magical girls have (Magic, Heart, Fury). The table gives three 
  values; assign these among the three attributes however you wish. 
  • 
  Base Damage: Where magical girls’ attacks cause 1d6 damage plus half an attribute, youma’s attacks use what-
  ever amount is listed under Base Damage plus half an attribute. 
  • 
  Resolve: This is the youma’s base resolve (or damage capacity). When its resolve gets reduced to 0, it is de-
  stroyed and (usually) leaves behind one or more Oblivion Seeds. 
  • 
  Power Points: As creatures of dark magic, youma do not have to worry about Overcharge per se. Instead they 
  have a certain number of Power Points, which they can spend to get the kinds of effects magical girls get from 
  taking Overcharge points (including getting extra dice for Challenges). A youma cannot spend more Power Points 
  in one turn than half its Power Level (rounded up) plus one 
  • 
  Oblivion Seeds: This is the suggested number of Oblivion Seeds a youma will yield upon being defeated. 
  Power Level 
  Attributes 
  Base Damage 
  Resolve 
  Power Points 
  PP/Round 
  Oblivion Seeds 
  1 
  2, 3, 4 
  1d3*
  MG x 6 
   
  0 
  — 
  1? 
  2 
  3, 4, 5 
  1d6 
  MG x 8 
  2 
  2 
  1 
  3 
  4, 6, 8 
  1d6 
  MG x 10 
  5 
  3 
  1 
  4 
  5, 8, 10 
  1d6+1 
  MG x 11 
  8 
  3 
  2 
  5 
  8, 10, 13 
  1d6+2 
  MG x 12 
  10 
  4 
  3 
  (+1) 
  +1, +1, +1 
  +1 
  +MG 
  +3 
  +½ 
  3+  
  Nightmare Size 
  Each youma can generate a Nightmare, an area of shadowy, distorted reality in which their magic has powerfully detri-
  mental effects on humans. You can determine the rough size of a youma’s Nightmare as follows 
  Power Level 
  Nightmare Size 
  1 
  1d6 x 10 meters 
  2 
  2d6 x 10 meters 
  3 
  3d6 x 10 meters 
  4 
  4d6 x 10 meters 
  5 
  1d6 x 100 meters 
  4. Strengths and Weaknesses 
  Not all kinds of magic work equally well on a given youma. When creating a youma, select one attribute it's strong against, 
  and another it's weak against. If you prefer, you can roll twice on the table below; if you roll the same attribute twice, ei-
  ther declare that the youma has no particular resistances or vulnerabilities, or just roll again 
  until you get two different ones. 
  If a youma is strong against a given attribute, any damage it takes from an attack based on that 
  attribute is reduced by 3 points, while damage from an attack based on an attribute it’s weak 
  against is increased by 3 points. 
  Tsukaima have a good knowledge of youma physiology and combat tactics, and can usually tell when a magical girl's at-
  tack is being rendered more or less effective by a youma's strength or weakness. Whether or not they choose to actually 
  tell the magical girls about this is another matter though. 
                                                        
  * Roll 1d6, divide by 2, round up (or you can get one of the six-sided dice numbered 1-3 twice they sell at hobby stores). 
  Roll (1d6) 
  Attribute 
  1-2 
  Magic 
  3-4 
  Heart 
  5-6 
  Fury 
  
  g 36 g 
   
  5. Boss Abilities 
  These are basically special abilities that youma get specifically to make them able to handle themselves against multiple 
  opponents. Since a typical Climax Phase battle is going to be against most or all of the players’ magical girls, the main 
  youma foe will certainly need them. A youma can have a number of boss abilities equal to its MG number minus one. A 
  youma can take some of these abilities multiple times to make them more potent. 
  • 
  Backlash: The youma is made in such a way that it naturally creates a backlash when attacked. A magical girl 
  that attacks it always takes 2 damage. 
  • 
  Burst Attack: The youma is adept at attacking multiple targets at once. It can make normal attacks against up to 
  3 targets simultaneously by spending 1 Power Point, or against every target in the immediate area by spending 3 
  Power Points. 
  • 
  Dual Action: Youma with an MG number of 3 or more can take this, though it counts as two Boss Abilities. The 
  youma can act twice per round. Its first action is on its Attack attribute number, and the second action goes on an 
  initiative number 2 points lower than that. 
  • 
  Extra Action: The youma can spend 2 Power Points to take an additional action on its turn. A youma with an 
  MG number of 3 or higher can take this ability a second time to reduce the PP cost to 1, and a youma with an MG 
  number of 5+ can take it a third time to always be able to take two actions per round. 
  • 
  Special Clash: When attacked, the youma can spend 3 Power Points to Clash without using up its turn and re-
  gardless of whether or not it’s already acted this round. A youma with an MG number of 3 or higher can take this 
  ability a second time to reduce the PP cost to 2, and a youma with an MG number of 5+ can take it a third time to 
  reduce the PP cost to 1. 
  6. Special Abilities 
  Youma can have a number of special abilities that make them that much more dangerous. Select a number of special abili-
  ties equal to half the youma’s PL (rounded up). 
  • 
  Ambush Tactics: Some of the craftier youma can set ambushes in one way or another, including by possessing a 
  human. The youma always goes first in battle, and if it attacks on its first turn the attack gets +3 to the result and 
  +1d6 to damage. 
  • 
  Binding Attack: The youma can deliver an attack that holds targets in place by spending 2 Power Points. If it hits, 
  the target must remain in one place, use its lowest attribute for defense, and cannot attack until it performs a ma-
  neuver action (difficulty 15) to get free. 
  • 
  Block: The youma can bring some kind of barrier or other defense to bear to protect itself from attacks. It can re-
  duce the damage from a single attack by 4 per Power Point it spends. 
  • 
  Debilitating Attack: The youma can spend 1 Power Point to make an attack makes the target weaker for a time. 
  If it hits, the target rolls one fewer dice for all challenges until the end of your next turn. 
  • 
  Elemental Resistance: Some youma are resistant to particular elements. Reduce damage taken from one particu-
  lar element by 3 (to a minimum of 0). This is cumulative with a youma’s attribute resistance. 
  • 
  Overcharge Radiation: This youma radiates unstable magic. At the end of a scene in spent near this youma, each 
  magical girl takes 1d6 Overcharge points on the attribute that is the youma’s highest. 
  • 
  Minions: The youma has a number of small youma creatures that help it by hampering foes. The number of mi-
  nions is equal to the youma’s Power Level plus 2. Minions act on an initiative count of 1d6 each, and always at-
  tack. A minion’s attack is based on an attack attribute equal to the main youma’s PL plus 3, and does 1d3 damage, 
  plus half the main youma’s PL. When magical girls attack a minion, any attack with a result equal to the main 
  youma’s PL plus 3will destroy the minion, regardless of how much damage it might do. 
  • 
  Mind Leech: The youma can attack a victim’s mind instead of their body. It makes a Support vs. Support chal-
  lenge, and if it wins the victim has to place a total of (Support ÷ 2) points of Strain among all their relationships. 
  
  g 37 g 
   
  • 
  Minion Creation: The youma can generate minions while still doing battle. It can spend 1 Power Point to create 
  a number of minions equal to half its Power Level (rounded up). 
  • 
  Possession: The youma can take on an insubstantial form and reside in a human’s mind. That makes it harder to 
  find (it takes one extra lead for locate someone or something to find it). While the youma is possessing someone, 
  all of its attributes and the damage it inflicts are reduced by 3. It takes an extra 1d6 damage from any attack it suf-
  fers, but the victim will be killed if it takes any magical damage before it leaves. 
  • 
  Stealthy: The youma is particularly good at hiding. Anyone using the locate someone or something move to try to 
  find it will have to get at least 4 leads to find it. 
  Other Magical Girls 
  “Get the hell out of my way. This one’s mine.” 
  It’s up to you to decide how much you want other magical girls to come into the game. They can play most any role you 
  wish; the only constant is that they are in the same basic situation as the players’ magical girls. 
  In game terms you can either treat other magical girls as an youma, or create a more detailed profile as per a player’s mag-
  ical girl. However, if you find yourself putting too much time and effort into a non-player magical girl, it might be time to 
  let someone else be the GM and just play that character. 
  
  g 38 g 
   
  Secrets 
  “The whole world is random and cruel, and your so-called happiness is an illusion. Why did you think magic would be 
  different from the fundamental nature of the universe?” 
  The tsukaima do not tell the magical girls everything. They can be deceitful, and there is much they have not yet revealed. 
  As the Game Master, you get to devise and dole out horrifying secrets about magic and the world. Below are some possi-
  ble secrets. Feel free to use them or make up your own. 
  If a secret is particularly shocking, you can have the magical girls try to use the Stay Sane move. 
  Roll 
  Secret 
  11-12 
  Some magical girls are actually youma that have become fully sentient. Some of them don’t even know what 
  they really are. 
  13-14 
  Magical girls’ magical weapons actually house their souls, and their bodies are replaced with artificial ones that 
  can be more easily repaired through magic. 
  15-16 
  Tsukaima are forbidden to grant magical power to men, because there is some intrinsic difference that inevitably 
  leads them to become youma. Whatever trait this is, a very small portion of girls have it too. 
  21-22 
  Youma are actually the souls of the dead, and by defeating them you are consigning them to oblivion. 
  23-24 
  Magical girls’ dreams are actually the source of the youma. Without magical girls there would simply be no 
  youma at all. 
  25-26 
  The tsukaima come from the Magical Kingdom, and their true goal is to invade the mundane world. 
  31-32 
  The wishes the tsukaima promise are a sham. Or at least, no magical girl has ever survived long enough to claim 
  one. 
  33-34 
  A weapon from a dead magical girl is worth 12 Oblivion Seeds. 
  35-36 
  When you become a magical girl, your tsukaima has made you part of a story, and that story will control your 
  life. 
  41-42 
  Men who make contracts with tsukaima become girls, even when not transformed, and the change makes them 
  lose most of their memories. Only the wish they had in mind is sure to remain. 
  43-44 
  There is another faction of girls with magical powers, the majo (witches), who believe that they must extermi-
  nate the tsukaima at all costs, for the good of all. 
  45-46 
  All youma are actually fallen magical girls who have become consumed by magic and darkness. 
  51-52 
  The tsukaima come from the Dream City, which will supplant the city you live in once they collect enough Obli-
  vion Seeds. 
  53-54 
  The city and everyone who lives there, everyone you love, are fakes except for the magical girls. No one knows 
  what lies beyond the confines of the city.  
  55-56 
  The youma actually only target people with real evil in their hearts, and magical girls are in fact the unknowing 
  dupes of forces that wish to maintain a certain level of evil and suffering in the world. 
  61-62 
  The tsukaima are servants of a being that might be called God, but that being utterly despises mankind. If hu-
  manity is to have a future at all, magical girls will have to band together and fight God himself. 
  63-64 
  Human beings are creatures of flesh and blood and nothing more. When they die, their biological processes 
  simply stop, and they come to a very permanent end. Even magic cannot change this fundamental fact. 
  65-66 
  Your tsukaima has revealed some shocking, horrible things, but the fact of the matter is that he’s still got your 
  best interests in mind. Things really are that bad. 
   
  
  g 39 g 
   
  Other Stuff 
  Granting Wishes 
  I don’t have any rules for granting wishes. Assuming that it turns out that the offer of a wish was not a sham, it’s up to 
  you to decide what happens when a magical girl finally makes her wish. The outcome should be something fitting with 
  what’s already gone on in the game, and by the time a magical girl manages to get the 13 Oblivion Seeds you should have 
  a very good idea of what she’s like inside. You might opt for an “evil genie” kind of approach, but that’s hardly necessary. 
  The sincere wish of an adolescent girl, granted just as she envisions it, can easily bring misery or outright tragedy, no mat-
  ter how well-intentioned. 
  Hope in the Darkness 
  “We’ve been through so much, but along the way, mixed in with the terror and grief, have been moments of love and 
  beauty, more than I ever thought was even possible. So I’m going to choose to believe that we can get through this and 
  come out the other side.” 
  Magical Burst is a dark game, but it doesn’t have to be hopeless. Whatever horrors and trials they face, perhaps the magi-
  cal girls can still find a way to make things right, to build a better future. It won’t be easy or without cost, but it can hap-
  pen. 
  
  g 40 g 
   
   
  Appendix 1: Random Tables 
  “Oh, I’m not worried. There will always be more girls who want to become magical girls. Always.” 
  This section has a set of tables you can roll on to generate just about everything you need to make a magical girl. You can 
  use these to help fill in a few things when you’re stumped, or to make a whole character when you’re in a hurry and want 
  a pick-up game. 
  Random Attributes 
  If you want, you can have magical girls' attributes be determined randomly rather than by assigning points. For normal 
  attributes roll 2d6 and divide by two (round down). For magical attributes roll 4d6 and divide by two (round down). 
  Human Name 
  If you want to give your magical girl a suitable Japanese name, you can select or make a d66 roll on the tables below. As 
  you may have guessed, these are rather fanciful names culled from magical girl anime and the like. 
  d66 
  Family Name 
  d66 
  Family Name 
  d66 
  Family Name 
  11 
  Aikawa 
  31 
  Hino 
  51 
  Misugi 
  12 
  Aino 
  32 
  Hozumi 
  52 
  Mizuno 
  13 
  Aizawa 
  33 
  Hyuuga 
  53 
  Momomiya 
  14 
  Akatsusumi 
  34 
  Iwakura 
  54 
  Nagisa 
  15 
  Amano 
  35 
  Kagurazaka 
  55 
  Nonohara 
  16 
  Aoyama 
  36 
  Kanzaki 
  56 
  Onigawara 
  21 
  Arisugawa 
  41 
  Kasuga 
  61 
  Sawanoguchi 
  22 
  Fujiwara 
  42 
  Kawai 
  62 
  Shinohara 
  23 
  Goutokuji 
  43 
  Kousaka 
  63 
  Shirayuki 
  24 
  Hanazono 
  44 
  Kinomoto 
  64 
  Takamine 
  25 
  Haneoka 
  45 
  Matsubara 
  65 
  Tsukino 
  26 
  Hiiragi 
  46 
  Midorikawa 
  66 
  Watanabe 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  d66 
  Given Name 
  d66 
  Given Name 
  d66 
  Given Name 
  11 
  Ami 
  31 
  Miaka 
  51 
  Sasami 
  12 
  Eri 
  32 
  Michiru 
  52 
  Setsuna 
  13 
  Haruka 
  33 
  Minako 
  53 
  Sumire 
  14 
  Hikaru 
  34 
  Misao 
  54 
  Tsukasa 
  15 
  Hotaru 
  35 
  Mitsuki 
  55 
  Umi 
  16 
  Fuu 
  36 
  Momo 
  56 
  Usagi 
  21 
  Honoka 
  41 
  Nagisa 
  61 
  Yoshiko 
  22 
  Ichigo 
  42 
  Nanami 
  62 
  Yui 
  23 
  Komugi 
  43 
  Rei 
  63 
  Yuko 
  24 
  Makoto 
  44 
  Rina 
  64 
  Yuna 
  25 
  Mami 
  45 
  Ririka 
  65 
  Yuri 
  26 
  Mao 
  46 
  Sakura 
  66 
  Zakuro 
   
  
  g 41 g 
   
   
  Girl Type 
  This table contains answers to the question “What kind of girl are you?” 
  d66 
  Type 
  d66 
  Type 
  d66 
  Type 
  11 
  Airhead 
  31 
  Yamato Nadeshiko 
  51 
  Blazing Heroine 
  12 
  Tomboy 
  32 
  Athletic Star 
  52 
  Gossip 
  13 
  Bookworm 
  33 
  Broken Doll 
  53 
  Goody-Goody 
  14 
  Heroine 
  34 
  Driven Warrior 
  54 
  Puppy 
  15 
  Rich Girl 
  35 
  Holy Avenger 
  55 
  Big Sister 
  16 
  Neglected 
  36 
  Driven Artist 
  56 
  Spooky Girl 
  21 
  Bright and Cheerful 
  41 
  Poor Worker 
  61 
  Insecure 
  22 
  Perfect and Popular 
  42 
  Space Cadet 
  62 
  Pop Idol 
  23 
  Sickly Victim 
  43 
  Arrogant Queen 
  63 
  Left Out 
  24 
  Bully 
  44 
  Little Prankster 
  64 
  Damsel 
  25 
  Lovestruck 
  45 
  Innocent 
  65 
  Future Housewife 
  26 
  Goddess 
  46 
  Fujoshi/Fangirl 
  66 
  Non-Hero 
  Magical Girl Roots 
  This table contains answers to the question “What convinced you to make a contract?” 
  Roll 
   
  Roll 
   
  11 
  I want to avenge my friend who was killed by a youma. 
  41 
  If I make a wish I can fix everything that’s gone wrong. 
  12 
  I want to be the heroine who saves everyone. 
  42 
  I realized I’m tired of feeling helpless. 
  13 
  I have nothing else worthwhile to do. 
  43 
  I want my mom to love me. 
  14 
  I’m going to fight so my friend doesn’t have to. 
  44 
  I want to be a magical girl just like in my favorite anime. 
  15 
  I lost everything I care about, so why not? 
  45 
  I was bored. Whatever. 
  16 
  I can’t let my friend fight alone! 
  46 
  Living a normal life just never made any sense to me. 
  21 
  Someone I care about was nearly killed. I can’t let that 
  happen again. 
  51 
  Maybe the other magical girls will be my friends. I don’t 
  have any friends right now. 
  22 
  I don’t remember why I became a magical girl, but I 
  know exactly what I’m going to wish for. 
  52 
  If I get a wish, I can have everything I ever wanted and live 
  the good life. 
  23 
  I want to be just like the girl I look up to! 
  53 
  I’m tired of being the victim. I want to fight back! 
  24 
  I’d rather go down fighting. 
  54 
  I thought it’d be fun. 
  25 
  Using magic for real is a dream come true! 
  55 
  Maybe it’ll inspire me to finally write again. 
  26 
  If I have that kind of power, no one will bother me ever 
  again. 
  56 
  No one’s going to take advantage of me ever again. 
  31 
  I’m the best at everything. Magic should be no exception. 
  61 
  Those fools need me. They could get killed otherwise. 
  32 
  I need to prove to everyone that I’m not a weakling. 
  62 
  I can fight for love and justice! 
  33 
  I’ve seen what youma can do. We have a duty to stop 
  them. 
  63 
  If there’s no justice in the world, I’m going to become jus-
  tice. 
  34 
  She became a magical girl, and now someone’s going to 
  have to look out for her. 
  64 
  God has commanded me to fight evil. 
  35 
  With this power I can build a better world. 
  65 
  I want to live up to my mother’s legacy. 
  36 
  I don’t see any other way to prove I’m innocent. 
  66 
  I thought I could fix all the problems in the world. I 
  thought I could make it so hope makes sense. 
   
  
  g 42 g 
   
  Wishes 
  This table contains answers to the question “What is your wish?” 
  Roll 
   
  Roll 
   
  11 
  I wish I were rich and famous. 
  41 
  I wish I could be just like the girl I look up to. 
  12 
  I wish the girl who keeps bullying me were dead. 
  42 
  I wish to become immortal. 
  13 
  I wish I were beautiful. 
  43 
  I wish the fighting would end. 
  14 
  I wish he would fall in love with me. 
  44 
  I wish time would stand still for just a little while. 
  15 
  I wish for world peace! 
  45 
  I wish my friend was alive again. 
  16 
  I wish to have my family back. 
  46 
  I wish I was strong enough to stand up to him. 
  21 
  I wish I had my memory back. 
  51 
  I with the whole world were mine. 
  22 
  I wish I could forget about that day. 
  52 
  I wish my mom would find a husband who doesn’t hit. 
  23 
  I wish my friend were well again. 
  53 
  I wish I could be my old self again. 
  24 
  I wish for my father to be successful. 
  54 
  I wish to be 100% healthy. 
  25 
  I wish I could be popular. 
  55 
  I wish to end world hunger. 
  26 
  I wish my friend could smile again. 
  56 
  I wish the pain would just go away. 
  31 
  I wish my perfect imaginary lover was real. 
  61 
  I wish I could go back in time and fix everything. 
  32 
  I wish the ones who killed my parents would die in pain. 
  62 
  I wish magic had never been real. 
  33 
  I wish that bitch would get what’s coming to her. 
  63 
  I wish all the youma in the world would disappear forever. 
  34 
  I wish for... a big cake I can share with all my friends! 
  64 
  I wish for the angels to take me up to heaven. 
  35 
  I wish I could end everyone’s suffering. 
  65 
  I wish for demons to drag her down to hell. 
  36 
  I wish everyone I killed were alive again. 
  66 
  I wish for the world to end. 
  Magical Girl Name 
  In the Magical Burst setting the tsukaima don’t particularly care what a magical girl calls herself. In anime there is a 
  common formula of “Magical Girl” followed by the character’s first name. If you’d like to get a little more creative with 
  your magical girl name, you can roll or choose from the tables below to assemble one. 
  d66 
  Part 1 
  Part 2 
  Part 3 
  11-12 
  Magical 
  Angel 
  Lovely 
  13-14 
  Lovely 
  Knight 
  Pretty 
  15-16 
  Mystic 
  Star 
  Magical 
  21-22 
  Magic 
  Moon 
  Fancy 
  23-24 
  Pretty 
  Blossom 
  Lyrical 
  25-26 
  Solar 
  Fraulein 
  Little 
  31-32 
  Lunar 
  Cure 
  Cutie 
  33-34 
  Cutie 
  Fairy 
  Eternal 
  35-36 
  Fancy 
  Girl 
  Sweet 
  41-42 
  Miracle 
  Witch 
  Miracle 
  43-44 
  Nurse 
  Princess 
  Pastel 
  45-46 
  Sailor 
  Doll 
  Wonderful 
  51-52 
  Sugar 
  Strawberry 
  Elegant 
  53-54 
  Wedding 
  Idol 
  Precious 
  55-56 
  Creamy 
  Star 
  Beautiful 
  61-62 
  Super 
  Peach 
  Rainbow 
  63-64 
  Saint 
  Rune 
  Shining 
  65-66 
  Cosmic 
  Melody 
  Heartful 
  
  g 43 g 
   
  Magical Weapon 
   
  d66 
  Weapon 
   
  d66 
  Weapon 
  1 – Magical 
  11 
  Magic Wand 
  4 – Melee 
  41 
  Sword 
  12 
  Magic Staff 
  42 
  Spear 
  13 
  Mystic Orb 
  43 
  Mace 
  14 
  Tome 
  44 
  Nunchucks 
  15 
  Bell 
  45 
  Axe 
  16 
  Holy Symbol 
  46 
  Pole Arm 
  2 – Military 
  21 
  Flintlock 
  5 – Domestic 
  51 
  Frying Pan 
  22 
  Revolver 
  52 
  Tennis Racket 
  23 
  Shotgun 
  53 
  Kitchen Knife 
  24 
  Sniper Rifle 
  54 
  Baseball Bat 
  25 
  Assault Rifle 
  55 
  Mop 
  26 
  Rocket Launcher 
  56 
  Tea Ware 
  3 – Dangerous 
  31 
  Grenades 
  6 – Weird 
  61 
  Car 
  32 
  Garrote 
  62 
  Animal 
  33 
  Dagger 
  63 
  Ray Gun 
  34 
  Gauntlets 
  64 
  Cannon 
  35 
  Bow 
  65 
  Ribbon 
  36 
  Shuriken 
  66 
  Microphone 
  Magical Element 
  This table is divided up into six parts according to different themes. You can just make a d66 roll as usual, or pick one of 
  the six themes and roll 1d6 to get an element from those. 
   
  d66 
  Element 
   
  d66 
  Element 
  1 - Classical 
  Elements 
  11 
  Earth 
  4 - Emotions 
  41 
  Love 
  12 
  Air 
  42 
  Joy 
  13 
  Fire 
  43 
  Sadness 
  14 
  Water 
  44 
  Hate 
  15 
  Metal 
  45 
  Fear 
  16 
  Wood 
  46 
  Rage 
  2 – Other 
  Elements 
  21 
  Ice 
  5 - Intense 
  51 
  Blood 
  22 
  Lightning 
  52 
  Bone 
  23 
  Light 
  53 
  Vacuum 
  24 
  Shadow 
  54 
  Plasma 
  25 
  Gravity 
  55 
  Radiation 
  26 
  Magnetism 
  56 
  Nothingness 
  3 - Cute 
  31 
  Sugar 
  6 - Things 
  61 
  Chains 
  32 
  Rainbows 
  62 
  Glass 
  33 
  Feathers 
  63 
  Leaves 
  34 
  Stardust 
  64 
  Needles 
  35 
  Flowers 
  65 
  Plastic 
  36 
  Spirit 
  66 
  Paper 
   
  
  g 44 g 
   
   
  Magical Powers 
  Roll 
  Power 
  Description 
  11 
  Flight 
  You can fly, soaring through the air with no visible means of support. 
  12 
  Invisibility 
  Through some trick of the light, or perhaps by altering people’s perceptions, you can make yourself invisible. 
  13 
  Telekinesis 
  You can move objects within your line of sight through pure magical power. 
  14 
  Walk Through Walls 
  You possess the curious ability to pass through walls and other solid objects. 
  15 
  Time Jump 
  You can make jumps through time itself. This is potentially a very potent power, and you should discuss with the 
  GM what specifically it can do. 
  16 
  Force Field 
  You have the ability to general a nearly invisible wall of force that can serves as a barrier. 
  21 
  Summon Cake 
  You have the curious power to summon forth cakes and other sweets. Mostly they’re just tasty (if a little unheal-
  thy), but maybe you can find something useful to do with this power. 
  22 
  Wardrobe Change 
  This whimsical magical power lets you change your clothes to pretty much anything you can imagine. 
  23 
  Magical Pet 
  You can conjure up a magical pet, similar to a tsukaima. It’s not sentient, but it does what you want. 
  24 
  Color Change 
  It will take some creativity to make this power useful, but you can change the colors of things. 
  25 
  Critters 
  Cute, furry creatures (that aren’t magical) are at your beck and call with this magic. 
  26 
  Red Thread 
  You can see red threads, invisible to most people, which represent bonds of love. You can also change them. 
  31 
  Transit Timing 
  Your magic lets you bend reality just a little bit to have buses, trains, and taxis show up at just the right time. 
  32 
  Doors 
  For you, doors don’t always lead to what’s on the other side of the door frame. You can use magic to make a door 
  take you to somewhere else, maybe any other door in the world. 
  33 
  Resourceful Purse 
  You have a purse (or other container), and by reaching into it you can retrieve just about any object imaginable. 
  Objects you create will fade away after a while though. 
  34 
  Analysis 
  By magically analyzing things you can discover secrets, and locate weaknesses. 
  35 
  Weave of Fate 
  You start to see the world in terms of a great tapestry, and you can pluck at certain threads to alter what would 
  otherwise be “coincidences” to your advantage. 
  36 
  Shadow Pluck 
  For you, each person’s shadow contains objects derived from the substance of their soul. You can draw out all 
  manner of amazing and impossible tools from people’s shadows. 
  41 
  Animal Form 
  It’s quite easy for you to take on the form of an animal. 
  42 
  Brew Potions 
  You can make potions that affect people who drink them with different kinds of magical effects. 
  43 
  Divination 
  The art of divination will let you glimpse portents of the future and find answers to questions. 
  44 
  Astral Projection 
  You can send your soul into a spiritual realm where you can invisibly look at the world and influence things with 
  magic. 
  45 
  Curse 
  You can place curses on people and other things. Talk to the GM about what exactly your curses do. 
  46 
  True Writing 
  When you write words of magical power, those words can exert influence over what they’re written on.  
  51 
  Weather Control 
  This power lets you command the weather, summoning most any natural weather effect. 
  52 
  Copy Form 
  You can precisely copy the appearance of any being, human or otherwise, you’re familiar with. 
  53 
  Talk to Anything 
  With your magic, you can speak to anything, including animals and inanimate objects. 
  54 
  Healer 
  Your magical power lets you heal others (and yourself?), repairing wounds and other damage, and perhaps curing 
  diseases. 
  55 
  Dream Walker 
  You posses the power to enter the world of dreams. There are dangers, but you can find many secrets and influence 
  dreamers. 
  56 
  Illusions 
  You can conjure up illusions to deceive and befuddle your foes’ senses. 
  61 
  Summon Bugs 
  Though you might prefer not to have it, you possess the ability to call up insects. 
  62 
  Eat Anything 
  Given enough time, you can eat anything. You can bite through, chew, and digest pretty much anything. 
  63 
  Nightmare 
  You have the rare and perhaps unfortunate ability to create regions of Nightmare, much like a youma. 
  64 
  Blood Warping 
  You can exert power over the blood that flows through living beings, and for that matter over blood already spilled. 
  65 
  Magic Saliva 
  Your saliva can serve as a conduit for magical power to control things. If you lick or spit on someone or something, 
  you can exert influence over them. 
  66 
  Portals 
  You can create small portals between two points, just large enough for a person to step through. 
  
  g 45 g 
   
  Magical Girl Costume 
  There aren’t any hard and fast rules for how to design a magical girl costume; they tend to consist of a fanciful dress of 
  some kind with some unusual elements added. If you need a little help, you can roll for a few elements on the table below 
  for some ideas. 
  d66 
  Costume Element 
  d66 
  Costume Element 
  d66 
  Costume Element 
  11 
  Sailor Suit 
  31 
  Runes 
  51 
  Ballet 
  12 
  Cat 
  32 
  Kanji 
  52 
  Circuits 
  13 
  Bunny 
  33 
  Hexagram 
  53 
  Maid 
  14 
  Gems 
  34 
  Nurse 
  54 
  Flower 
  15 
  Butterflies 
  35 
  Ribbons 
  55 
  Witch 
  16 
  Star 
  36 
  Pentagram 
  56 
  School Swimsuit 
  21 
  Heart 
  41 
  Midriff 
  61 
  Jumpsuit 
  22 
  Armor 
  42 
  Cross 
  62 
  Albino 
  23 
  Gold 
  43 
  Angel Wings 
  63 
  Eyepatch 
  24 
  Silver 
  44 
  Kimono 
  64 
  Hero Scarf 
  25 
  Wedding Dress 
  45 
  Miko 
  65 
  Bandages 
  26 
  Rainbow 
  46 
  Gothic Lolita 
  66 
  Omega 
   
  
  g 46 g 
   
  Crisis 
  Roll 
   
  Roll 
   
  11 
  One of my parents just vanished, and now the family is in 
  trouble 
  41 
  I’m hopelessly attracted to someone I probably shouldn’t 
  be. 
  12 
  My best friend stabbed me, and I have no idea why. 
  42 
  I’m stranded in the wrong time. 
  13 
  A youma ate my best friend. 
  43 
  The police are after me for some reason. 
  14 
  My house just exploded, and somehow I survived. 
  44 
  I keep seeing this massive black obelisk in the middle of 
  the city. No one else can see it. 
  15 
  I was arrested by government agents and taken some-
  where. 
  45 
  One day I started going about my usual routine, but every-
  one was convinced that I had died the day before. 
  16 
  A youma has been stalking me. And it reminds me of one 
  of my friends. 
  46 
  A rival magical girl showed up and took one of my friends 
  hostage. 
  21 
  I woke up with a murder weapon in my hand and a dead 
  body in front of me. 
  51 
  One day I ran into someone who was convinced they knew 
  me, and it turns out there seems to be a whole other life I 
  don’t know about, and I don’t know which is real anymore. 
  22 
  I fell through a portal, and now I’m stranded in a differ-
  ent part of the world. 
  52 
  Someone framed me for a terrible crime. 
  23 
  I learned a terrible secret about how magic works, and I 
  think I have to keep anyone else from becoming a magi-
  cal girl. 
  53 
  A powerful youma has started killing off everyone I care 
  about. 
  24 
  A rival magical girl showed up and said if I take any of 
  her prey she’ll kill me. 
  54 
  I woke up with no memory, and everyone around me has 
  been really worried. 
  25 
  Someone close to me found out that I’m a magical girl. 
  55 
  There’s something wrong with me. I feel sick, and I’m sure 
  I’m going to die soon unless I can make a wish. 
  26 
  I found out there’s a clone of me. She doesn’t seem to 
  want to do anything bad, and she’s as scared as I am.  
  56 
  Someone killed my tsukaima and left a warning written in 
  his blood. 
  31 
  I woke up with no memory, and no sign of anyone who 
  knows me. 
  61 
  I found something that suggests my whole life is fake, and I 
  keep on finding things like that. 
  32 
  I was caught up in a military strike against a youma. 
  62 
  I found evidence that I died 10 years ago. 
  33 
  I had a bad magical mutation manifest in the middle of 
  school where everyone could see. 
  63 
  My best friend committed suicide, and people think I’m 
  responsible somehow. 
  34 
  Every night I dream of an all-powerful youma that will 
  cause the end of the world. 
  64 
  The person I love completely and utterly rejected me. 
  35 
  I’ve been transformed, so that I don’t look like who I 
  really am. 
  65 
  My parents died, and now I have to live with my horrible 
  uncle. 
  36 
  My power went out of control and killed someone. 
  66 
  I remember the end of the world, as clear as if it had just 
  happened to me a moment ago. I have to try to stop it. 
  
  g 47 g 
   
   
  Appendix 2: Addendum 
  Design Notes 
  I’ve wanted to make a dark magical girl RPG forever, as the genre is one that practically begs to be satirized and sub-
  verted. Magical Burst is thus partly a descendent of the Magical World campaign setting I created way back when, but 
  more focused on a personal level. It was the anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica (which I highly recommend) that 
  got me to start on this version, though it’s also informed by my own ideas, a touch of Superflat sensibilities, and entirely 
  too much exposure to the unadulterated version of the genre. 
  RPGs that influenced the actual game that resulted include Don’t Rest Your Head, Maid RPG, Sorcerer, My Life With 
  Master, Shinobigami, Apocalypse World, Smallville, and Blowback. Because I’ve always got to inject anime into god-
  damn everything. The combat system drew some ideas from what I’m working on for Slime Story, which in turn took a 
  bunch of ideas from D&D4e and Meikyuu Kingdom. 
  Inspirations 
  Magical Girl Anime/Manga: Black Rock Shooter, Card Captor Sakura, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Magical Girl Pret-
  ty Sammy, My-HiME, Planet Guardian, Princess Tutu, Puella Magi Madoka Magica (and the Kazumi Magica spinoff 
  manga), Pretty Cure, Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew 
  Other Anime/Manga: Alien Nine, Bakemonogatari, Elfen Lied, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Key the Metal Idol, Pure 
  Trance, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Shadow Star 
  Other Neat Stuff: Dark City, Little Boy (by Takashi Murakmi), Magical Girl Hunters, Sailor Nothing 
  
  g 48 g 
   
  Potential Magical Girls 
  The rules of this game assume that all of the players are going to be playing as magical girls, but in Puella Magi Madoka 
  Magica several characters are potential magical girls who have not yet made a contract with the tsukaima. Although it 
  leaves you with less things to do in the game, playing a potential magical girl in Magical Burst is certainly possible. Po-
  tential magical girls have the misfortune to be able to perceive youma and their Nightmares perfectly well, but lack the 
  ability to actually do anything about them. 
  Character Creation 
  In game terms of potential magical girl basically just has Relationships and Normal Attributes. You can and should fill in 
  most of the questions and such from the magical girl creation section in order to develop your character better, but without 
  magic a character’s options are rather limited. 
  Potential Magical Girls in Play 
  Relationships 
  Potential magical girls may be shocked by experiencing magical phenomena, but those relationships aren’t damaged by 
  such things. Relationships with a potential magical girl do not take Strain from such things. 
  Battles 
  Potential magical girls are effectively normal people for the purposes of battle, which means they’re in serious trouble 
  when one breaks out. 
  Experience Points 
  Potential magical girls get double the normal amount of XP, though they can’t spend them (plus they’re not going to be 
  getting XP from defeating youma of course). If you become a magical girl partway through an episode, you get XP as per 
  a magical girl at the end of that episode. 
  Becoming a Magical Girl 
  Of course, most tsukaima will be happy to make a contract and let you become a magical girl at any time. If you want to 
  make a newborn magical girl's debut especially dramatic, you can give them a few extra free dice on whatever their first 
  use of magic turns out to be. Regardless, they can spend any accumulated XP right away. 
  
  g 49 g 
   
  Seeds of Grief 
  Suppose you want to have Magical Burst play more like Madoka Magica? Much of this game is probably fine as-is, but 
  there are a few things that definitely need modifications. This necessarily has some spoilers by the way. 
  • 
  A magical girl gets a wish granted as soon as she accepts her contract. Change the “What is your wish?” question 
  to “What was your wish?” followed by “What was your wish’s outcome?” Your Magical Power should be in 
  some way based on what you wished for too. 
  • 
  Magical girls’ souls are placed inside a Soul Gem that remotely controls an artificial body that’s durable enough 
  to handle magical combat. A magical girl will be incapacitated if her body and Soul Gem get more than 20 or 30 
  meters apart. 
  • 
  If you roll a 6 on a die when you do Sorcery, the effect gets a little weird. If you roll two or more 6s for Sorcery, 
  the effect gets a lot weird. 
  • 
  Instead of Overcharge, magical girls accumulate Corruption. They get a point of Corruption anywhere where they 
  would get a point of Overcharge in standard Magical Burst, plus one point of Corruption any time they make a 
  roll for magic. 
  • 
  If a magical girl accumulates 100 points of Corruption, her Soul Gem breaks and she becomes a youma (witch). 
  In an alternate world, a magical girl who accumulates 100 Corruption instead has Madoka come for her, and she 
  peacefully disappears. 
  • 
  Oblivion Seeds become Grief Seeds. They don’t grant wishes, but a Grief Seed can remove up to 2d6+8 points of 
  Corruption. Unspent points worth of Corruption recovery remain in the Grief Seed, and can be used by other mag-
  ical girls. 
  Not Just Magical Girls 
  Not everyone is into magical girl anime, especially in terms of self identifying with such a character in playing a role-
  playing game. Although I've devoted a lot of text to the flavor of magical girl anime, that doesn't necessarily have to be 
  with this game is about. The simplest way to change that is to simply have it be about some other kind of people who use 
  unstable special powers to fight monsters that no one else can stand up to. You could simply remove the gender restriction 
  and leave everything else the same, or have the characters be students of magic, or using some kind of psychic powers, or 
  something else. The further you go away from Technicolor magical girls the more likely you are to have to rework some 
  aspects of the game, especially when it comes to stuff like the magical Change tables. 
  Meguca Borscht: Playing Meguca is Suffering 
  “i become meguca?” 
  “Shut up. Just shut up.” 
  Background Music 
  Magical Burst is heavily inspired by Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and since its soundtrack is by composer Yuki Kajiura, 
  her overall musical style is ideal if you want background music for the game. Personally I would also add some E Nomine 
  and some obscure Nine Inch Nails tracks, but use whatever you think is fitting. 
  
  g 50 g 
   
   
  Epilogue Comic 
  Makoto’s sword has impaled Pyonkichi, whose lifeless body is spilling some kind of black fluff. Makoto is standing over 
  Pyonkichi, but looking back at a fearful Yuna with an expression that is exhilarated and hopeful. 
  Makoto: Yuna, I know who I am. 
  Makoto: And I think I know how we can fix all of this. 
  Back Cover 
  “All you have to do is make a contract with me.” 
  Magical girls get to wield magic powers, to fight to protect the people they care about. You’ve seen it in your favorite 
  anime shows again and again, and when a real mascot critter came to you it seemed like a great idea. But somehow those 
  shows never mention the cost. They don’t talk about how keeping a secret eats you up inside. About how some magical 
  girls get killed fighting monsters. About how magic can have consequences. 
  Magical Burst is a role-playing game about a different kind of magical girls. 
  Art Specs 
  This is a list of possible pieces of artwork for the final version of the game. 
  • 
  Portraits of the sample tsukaima and youma. 
  • 
  View of a Nightmare 
  • 
  Yuna on top of a building with an abstract cityscape behind her 
  • 
  Makoto holds her sword in one hand and thoughtfully looks at an Oblivion Seed 
  • 
  Comic of Yuna rolling dice 
  • 
  Two magical girls facing off 
  • 
  Mutation: Technicolor Yawn 
  • 
  Relationships: Magical girl and a normal friend 
  • 
  Fallout: A magical girl kisses another girl out of the blue 
  • 
  Transformation Sequence 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Deduped  Shit/Magical Girl & Magical Team/Magical-Burst - a game of desperate magical girls [3rd Draft] [2011].pdf