Starglow
Sparklepunk Glitchcore Action
Starglow Online is a tabletop roleplaying game about virtual reality magical girls. It is a game of sparklepunk, glitchcore action, using a variation of the Illuminated by LUMEN engine.
Virtual Reality Magical Girls
The setting of Starglow is the video game Starglow Online, a full-dive virtual reality game (meaning the players lose contact with the outside world and control their actions as if moving their own bodies, rather than by using a controller). Themed around the Magical Girl genre, this setting combines elements of touchstone media like Sword Art Online and .hack//SIGN with Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Sparklepunk
Sparklepunk is an aesthetic concept that drives how players should portray their characters and the world of Starglow. A Sparkle aesthetic features bright, happy, unblemished colors and images, pristine and perfect to a point that they nearly shine, seeming to glitter like stars. However, the Sparkle element of the aesthetic is tempered by the -punk suffix. When referring to an aesthetic, adding punk adds a subversive element, as if the aesthetic is aware of itself and can seek to be distinct from other adherents to that aesthetic. Sparklepunk takes the above sparkle aesthetic but embraces individuals making it their own, choosing for themselves which parts appeal to them and which can be changed.
Glitchcore
The Glitchcore aesthetic is about embracing a pixel-y or digital aesthetic, perhaps with retro undertones or broken, tech-inspired inconsistencies of visuals. It adds a distinctly technological aspect to the aesthetic of the game, embracing being a video game, while using glitch effects to cover up the points where that seems hard to believe or visualize.
Illuminated by LUMEN
LUMEN is a game engine created by Spencer Campbell of Gila RPGs for their games LIGHT and NOVA. Designed to be fast and simple to work with while giving players a power-fantasy experience, where success is easy and players are encouraged to narrate their actions as grandly as possible, LUMEN is also inherently video game-y, being inspired by looters like Destiny, Borderlands, and Diablo. These elements made LUMEN a natural fit for Starglow.
Cost: $7 (PDF), $20 (Softcover)
References and Downloads
I’ve prepared character sheets for use in play, both in color and in grayscale in case that’s better for your printer.