Steven and the Crystal GMs
is a Campaign Comic which uses Steven Universe as its basis and Adventure Time characters as the players.
The story starts with Betty, the Game Master, inviting a few friends over for a game night, and dusting off an old setting they played years earlier. Marceline, Bonnie, and Phoebe are initially exicted to get back to Beach City and the story of the Crystal Gems, until Betty reveals her true intentions: She's babysitting a young boy named Finn, who found her notes, and is dying to try out the game. Though initially hesitant (especially Bonnie), Finn's creativity and enthusiasm wins over the other players, and together, they embark on a new adventure in the world of the Crystal Gems.
The current cast members are:
- Bonnie, playing the role of Pearl
- Phoebe, playing the role of Garnet
- Marceline, playing the role of Amethyst
- Finn, playing the role of Steven
- Betty, playing the role of the Game Master, and also played Rose Quartz in the game's previous incarnation
- Simon, Betty's significant other, playing the role of Greg (and for a time, Bismuth)
- Jake, one of Marceline's students, playing the role of Connie and Peridot
- Bella, the person who helped create the setting, playing the role of Lapis Lazuli.
- Tom, an old friend of Phoebe's and representative of Mary Weers, playing the role of Jasper.
This comic provides examples of:
- Acrofatic: Given the source material, Steven has this trope as a trait. Finn has cursed it on at least one occasion.
- Adaptational Badass: In-Universe, Betty took the liberty to upgrade the original Crystal Gems, so they could better protect Steven.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the show, Lapis Lazuli is simply a victim of the war trapped in a mirror by Homeworld because she was believed to be a Crystal Gem. In the comic, Lapis was trapped in the mirror by Bismuth because she was going to drown the earth. She's bluffing.
- Artistic License – Law: The author is well aware that a company stealing the rights to a group's homebrewed campaign is silly and involves a lot more than is being presented in the comic.
- Audience Surrogate: In-universe. Finn knows just as much as Steven does.
- Fictional Counterpart: The personalities of the players map pretty well to those of the Gems, especially in how they approach tabletop roleplay and combat.
- Gender-Blender Name: Connie's player is a girl named Jake.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Amusingly discussed during the "Bubble Buddies" campaign.Marcie: "Kids can't die in games, don't you play Skyrim?"
- Keet: Much like Steven, Finn is very energetic child.
- Love Triangle: Bonnie mentions Pearl's "complex dynamic" with Rose and Greg as being fun to play.
- Mythology Gag: Several of the group's past games were, in real life, shows produced/aired on Cartoon Network.
- Munchkin: Phoebe outright refers to herself as one at the beginning, as a Doylist explanation on why Garnet is so powerful.
- The Reveal: In-Universe, Phoebe wants to keep it a secret that Garnet is a Fusion from Finn until she can reveal it. Finn already figured it out on his own.
- Related in the Adaptation: Pearl, in the comic, is responsible for creating Amethyst.
- Shout-Out: According to the opening dialogue, this group of girls has had adventures in Third Earth, the land of Ooo, and Galaluna. And it doesn't stop there.
- When Finn meets Jamie for the first time, he asks if he's "an alien with a device to turn someone into dozens of alien species."
- Most of the players' real names are taken from Adventure Time.
- Unsound Effect: The comic has these now and then for certain player actions, in the color(s) of the player(s) involved. These include but are not limited to:
- "Roll" (player rolls their dice)
- "Note Pass", self-explanatory and dual-colored. "Note" is in the color of the passer, and "Pass" is in that of the recipient.
- Comic #822 has Betty (the DM)'s "Face-Making Noise!" while playing out Yellow Diamond's Comical Angry Face.
- Wife Husbandry: Pearl tried to make her own Quartz when she couldn't have Rose, and that is how Amethyst was made.
- Wham Line: "I think I'll use my birth stone. Peridot."
- This next one is a variant, because it's not what is being said, but who's saying it.
Simon: "...For the record, I acknowledge I was kind of a jerkwad as Bismuth."
