Gates of Krystalia: The Anime RPG Ditching Dice for a D52

Top Notch International is back with Gates of Krystalia: Lumina, the latest expansion to their card-based anime RPG that swaps dice for, what we like to call, a D52. More commonly known as a standard deck of playing cards (cue tenuous ‘The D52s’ jokes...).

Co-created by Alberto Dianin and Andrea Ruggeri, the system maps card suits to character stats, with an interesting simultaneous combat system, rather than turn-by-turn - nobody gets to sit back and check their phone while the ‘berserker’ works through their action economy. The "Deux" (or GM), oversees a multiverse of eleven interconnected worlds drawing from isekai and shonen anime traditions.

Roam

The original Gates of Krystalia was funded in September 2024, pulling in over £30,000 from 750 backers, and the current Lumina campaign has already cleared £100,000 against a £3,000 goal with nearly a month still on the clock! Kingdom-building mechanics, a psychological system tracking trauma and corruption, and combo-driven combat give it more depth than the anime aesthetics might initially suggest.

Love Shack

An optional 'harem' romance system - a genre staple in isekai, we're told - lets players court multiple allies for mechanical bonuses. In other systems, these would just be familiars or pets that buff your stats; here they're romantic interests, which feels a bit like a waifu collection mechanic with extra steps. As optional wish fulfilment goes, it's arguably no more troublesome than the intimacy mechanics in Baldur's Gate 3, but it's not quite our cup of tea. We're probably just old.

The Lumina Kickstarter is running until early March. We've had a look at the free demo and the production quality is superb - clean layout, gorgeous artwork, and rules that are easy to pick up. You can grab it at gatesofkrystalia.com and deal yourself in before committing.

Images courtesy of Top Notch International.