So is this restricted to Hogwarts, too?

Do you get bonus for which house you're in?
Like plus to potions for slytherin for example
or charms for hufflepuff.

>>15964230

Well, go on then.

>>15964360
Slytherin are ambitious
Gryffindor are brave
Hufflepuff are loyal
Raveclaw are clever.

The only one that screams "BETTER AT CLASS X" is Ravenclaw.
You could make that a thing though. Ravenclaw gets more out of studying.
Slytherin gets higher grades regardless of "effort".
Gryffindor excel at some non-class activities.
Hufflepuff are bros.

This is a d10, dice-pool game. What does that mean? Well, ickle firstie, if you've played New World of Darkness, you've got the right idea. But the stats and skill have changed. Because I arbitrarily demanded it. 10 points from Ravenclaw for asking retarded questions.

STATS. As of right now, every character has 8 stats. These stats are bound into HOUSES (pairs of A Physical stat and A Mental Stat). For the default generic game, the Houses Are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. If you set your game NOT in Hogwarts, mix stats into new pairs for your Houses.

>>15964519
Whoops, wrong trip.

GRYFFINDOR
Effort: Effort is a Physical Stat that emphasizes strength. But more than that, it's pushing oneself. Lifting heavy stones from your friends, jumping gaps while pursued by Blasting Skrewts, or climbing the outside of Azkaban in a Thunder Storm.
Charisma: Charisma is a Mental stat that is unique of the 4, in that it relies on minds that are not your own. When a Gryffindor is faced with a mental puzzle and resorts to Charisma, he turns to the Head Boy/Girl, and explains how one of his friends has the perfect answer for this problem.

HUFFLEPUFF:
Tenacity: This Physical stat represents the enduring spirit of the character. A Gryffindor lifts the big rock, a Hufflepuff lifts them all, eventually. Tenacity is the Stat generally used to determine when a Wizard is eliminated.
Perception: "Find a penny layin' heads up, and all day long you'll have good luck." It's good to have a wary eye on the world, and those with good Perception have it easy in that regard. This stat lets you know when you're walking into a trap, and lets you find the holly you need to survive it.

RAVENCLAW
Grace: This stat is for those who keep a sense of elan and finesse with their actions. Grace gives you the right place to stand, the right grip to hold, and the wind never seems to muss your hair. Frequently used to evade attacks.
Intellect: This stat is your book smarts, and know-how. A Perceptive student might read the name of an important witch on a tapestry. You read it two years ago, and can list when and how she died.

SLYTHERIN
Unction- Subtly different than Grace, unction is a measure of one's slipperiness and smoothness. this is the stat to slip unnoticed into a rival's common room, or escape Devil's Snare without fire.
Deviousness: This stat is lateral thinking, and the application of "leverage". This is getting an invitation to the Slug Club because your mother has SUCH a funny story about when she was a student here...

>>15964519

I agree that nWoD is the best direction to start out this game in. Harry Potter has always seemed more of a rich storytelling venue than it is a "roll 72d10+31" sort of system.

May we have the stats?

>>15964556

never mind the last sentence.

>>15964556
>nwod

>NOT a "roll 72d10+31" sort of system.

>>15964500

I'm planning on implementing this with a "Prestige" system, like in Werewolf The Forsaken. Those are almost directly the correct names, except Gryffindors are "Valiant".

SKILLS.

Skills work on a 1-7 scale, representing one's general proficiency in the subject matter.

Further there are MAGICAL and "Muggle" Skills

There are three designations of MAGICAL skills:
POWER: Progression in these skills mainly teach you the basics of spell blocks. For instance, Charms 1 teaches Windgardium Leviosa, the Levitate Spell. This allows you to create/ access spells that move objects.

KNOWLEDGE: These Skills are generally used solely for increasing the odds of a successful roll in their field (IE, History of Magic, or MUSIC) Some of them open up new spell options.

ITEM: These SKills permit you access to "items" to use in your adventures. Need a get-away from a prank? Use your Care of Magical Creatures skill to "Borrow" a Hippogriff. Need to learn a rival's secrets? Potions will get you Polyjuice Potion or Veritaserum.

>>15964535

Opt to change "Deviousness" to "Cunning" or something of the like. Deviousness sounds odd.

Also, how easy is it going to be for a character to excel in an attribute other than one of their house attributes? I'd hate to have the characters of every house by marginally different from each other.

>>15964597
Magical Skills are pretty easily found: They're the classes the students take.
Here's my preliminary division of skills.

Knowledge
Arithmancy, History of Magic, Muggle Studies

Power
Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Divination*, Transfiguration

Item
Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Potions.


I haven't fit them all in, most extra-curriculars are knowledge skills.

>>15964606

Your House is going to be determined by the highest combination of points, with weight given to player input. ("I know my guy is built like a Gryffindor, but I want him to be Ambitious enough to be picked for Slytherin)

Cunning is fine, I kept deviousness from an early draft where Cunning was the Slytherin prestige rather than Ambition.

GOALS FOR THIS THREAD:

Muggle Skills, what do we put in?
If possible, I don't want to go over 30 total skills, and we currently have 19 Magical Skills from Core Classes, Elective Classes, and Extra-Curriculars.

Ideas for other HOUSES and Schools.

ASSORTED OTHER.

Few things I had forgotten: 1) Divination is marked with an asterisk because it does not, as with most power skills, give you more spell options. Instead, it allows you re-rolls throughout a session, and other probability altering events.
2) I have a list of game "Themes" I propose for Head Boys/Girls, which I will post forthwith.
3) Spell "blocks" function like the requirements for Devotions from Vamp Masquerade/Requiem. So we'll need to eventually figure out what spells need what.

>>15964722

As of right now, the game is placed Post-Canon. This prevents us from running into Harry and the gang, and trying to up stage them, or get in their way. (Not that you can't play this way, just that, at least to start, this is not something the game covers.)
The 4 main styles of games, therefore, are:
"Wacky Wizards"- This is best for a one-shot, or introductory game. IN this, the main threat on reality (Voldemort) is done, and you're the first generation without that fear. Very slice-of-life, teenage antics with magic.

"As Below, So Above"-Voldemort is gone, but no one said evil was. In this, the world is trying to heal from the events of the books, and is currently a political snakepit. Your actions in school echo through wizarding society. Your dad's promotion is jeopardized by a rival at the ministry? Make sure the rival's son fails his next test, or kick his ass at quidditch. Your dad's sure to win now!

"Clouds are Coming"- The World has lost voldemort. But it also lost Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Dumbledore, Snape, and others. The Wizarding World won that war, but now the shadows are gathering, and with no singular leader, they're even harder to face. Hogwarts is as dangerous now as it was for Harry, and you aren't The Boy Who Lived.

"Night Fall" - History always repeats itself. In this style, A new threat, potentially equal to or (should the Headmaster decide) even STRONGER than Voldemort is arising. The world is tired after one battle. Will the forces of Light surive this next wave of darkness? You, and a few of your schoolmates, might be the only thing between the world and total domination.

>>15964749

Oh, there's a really quick and easy thing to discuss: I've been using Head Boy as the DM equivalent term. Do you think Headmaster/Mistress is better?

>>15964722

There's a small issue with your attributes in that Hogwarts is the only school to use houses. So if you want more than one wizarding academy, that won't work.

As for muggle skills, why? I thought this game was about wizards.

>>15964766

Yes.

>>15964767
Because even Wizards sometimes find the ability to sprint, drive cars, etc handy.

>>15964749
Don't know about these game styles. Some of them sound pretty similar to each other. Just let the DM decide the atmosphere they want to run it.

>>15964833

Really? Sprinting and operating a motor vehicle had better be a given or else what the fuck your characters are useless.

I will however echo that sentiment about the game styles. That seems like something better suited to a wargame than an RPG.

>>15964767

IS IT?

I'll admit, I'm not very well versed in Potter-lore.

None of the other schools use houses? That does put a damper on things. UNTIL I HANDWAVE THAT THEY DO.

Seriously though, then you just un-pair the stats, and use them straight. As to the Muggle skills question, >>15964833 has the idea I was going for.
Magical skills may give you Flying, but Athletics isn't on the list.
Or Having actual skill in say, Etiquette, instead of relying on Grace.

This thread. It intrigues me. How may I participate?

Muggle skill ideas:
lockpicking: I knew how to do this (at a basic level) in grade school from mucking about
Technology: If you wind up in the muggle world at some point, you know how to use a computer, a car, a gun, a lightswitch, and how to blend in, other things I can't bother to mention, etc without a trace of magic whatsoever

>>15964858

It's not a one or the other thing. Muggle skills could easily just be called "Basic skills" or some such.

As to the styles, they aren't things set in stone, they're more ignition points for Headmasters. Like how the DMG suggests campaigns. It's mainly included to show the game can feature a variety of levels of grimmness.

>>15964904
Put out some ideas. Argue with people!

>>15964885

Since it's very well known that Hogwarts was founded by those four wizards, I would avoid using their names if you make an executive decision to have schools for other houses. Also, remember that if you want to attend Durmstrang you can't be muggle born. (If you want more restriction for flavour, Beauxbatons was suggested to be a girls only school in the movies).

Ah well, not the first time a homebrew has contradicted canon.

One thing this system is going to need is a Perils of <s>the Warp</s> Magic table. You can't not have this.

>>15964988

Considering how magic works in HP, the only way this could work is if you had a very diluted "Perils of the Warp" system. Miscasts are usually depicted as ineffective, unsuccesful, comical and harmless effects, or backfires.

It's not very fair to have students have their soul ripped apart because they failed to cast Lumos. Most spells should be able to be cast with extremely low risk unless it's a very difficult spell or their efforts are sabotaged by an outside source.

Now Potions, THAT shit is risky. Every other potion described in the book was said to have disastrous results if you screwed up. Try to cast the difficult Patronus charm and fail? No worries it will just fizzle out and do nothing, try again! Try to brew Liquid Luck and get anything other than perfection? Hoo boy.

>>15965067
>"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire." Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

Question: Because this is considered after the events of the Deathly Hallows, has it been long enough for Neville Longbottom to become the Herbology Professor? I would just love him instead of Sprout.

general technology use should definitely be one of the muggle skills. Another idea is to have muggle counterparts to skills that don't necessarily need magic. I think though, that the main advantage of muggle skills would be not being detectable to magic. IIRC, magic in the books could be detected via magic and they somehow manage to track the main characters in the seventh book at one point due to their use of magic.

So having skills in say hunting or something would let you build a snare that had to be detected via vision and would take more time to set up than a magically triggered booby trap

>>15965067
That's pretty much what I was thinking. There's a lot of harmful effects but nothing quite fatal.

How are spell proficiencies going to be handled? Personally, I'd like to see something other than a simple binary "Yes/No, you can/can't cast this spell" system.

>>15965067
>>15965135

Two thoughts:
1) I was thinking that we could have our perils thing be dependent on how someone is casting a spell with a wand being low risk, a broken wand being medium risk, and no wand being High risk.

2) could be another thing in favor of muggle skills, no perils check. sure it takes a bit more time and is less effective but the chances of you turning yourself into a newt are non-existant

>>15964634
I think players should be allowed to use Dark Arts, illegal and evil as they may be.

>>15965220

Add "another person's wand" as low-medium risk as well, since it was sometimes described as unreliable to use someone else's wand. There are exceptions, great wizards were shown using other wands without problems, and Malfoy's wand was described as "flexible" and easy to change allegiances(that whore).

>>15965436

Not without extreme risks. The punishment for using dark magic is suspension at best, a trip to Azkaban at worst.

As far as Muggle-based skills...

While I agree that basic physical feats (jumping, running, punching, etc...) would obviously be known to muggle and wizard alike (at the level appropriate to the character of course), remember that the Wizarding world is pretty much anti-tech and that many mundane "muggle" skills (driving, carpentry, mechanics, culinary etc...) are only practiced by Wizards via very magic-centric variations (flying cars, building shit via a wand wave, wtf is electricity/telecom/mechanics?)

Maybe there are "basic" skills (such as physical feats - wizard and muggle alike would understand physical strength/prowess/dexterity)

"Muggle Skills" (thinking like basic human skills from the WoD sheet, for example). Low level means you only understand them from a "wizardly" position ("What a preposterous automobile... it doesn't even fly/but why actually STRUM the guitar when I can just make it strum itself?") and can only use the skill with OBVIOUS magical influence.

...and then your proper "Wizard" skills...

>>15965501
Isn't Severus Sempra Dark Magic? Or do you only count the three unforgivable curses? I WANNA HAVE 7 RANKS IN BLOWING SHIT UP!

>>15965543

Not sure what the fuck "Severus Sempra" is supposed to be but with some google I'm assuming what you mean is Sectumsempra which is a curse that inflicts wounds that resemble cuts from a sword. Since it was only used once in Hogwarts, by Harry against Malfoy, I would think it was a special case because it was an unknown custom spell, Harry didn't know what he was casting, Harry casted it in self defense, and all the teachers love him anyway.

Like I said, some Dark Magic, like Sectumsempra would probably only bag you a suspension depending on the situation. But really, anything worse is just asking for expulsion or Azkaban.

>>15965632
Yea my bad. I was too lazy to verify if I got the name right and figured there weren't many spells ending in "sempra."

>>15965632

Well then I would agree that we should provide rules for this, however, heavily outline the consequences for using such spells and make them incredibly difficult to learn the secrets of.

Also, this would allow the rules to be interpreted for a "Death Eaters", or a "Post-Hogwarts" style campaign.

>>15965541
But that would be way too many skills, in my opinion. An option would be to have a base, generic pool of "Universal Skills" that work closer to your Attributes that both Muggles and Wizards have.

>>15964634

Arithmancy has always been that skill that I've wondered: "When the hell is anyone going to use that?" What applications have you thought of for it?

>>15965895

I'm thinking it'll form the basis of some advanced spells. High-powered constructive spells, the Harry Potter Version of Haste and Slow, and it should be a big part of powerful rituals.

It's the Calculus of Magic: It doesn't have a wide array of uses, but where it is useful, it's integral.

>>15964722

Suggestions for Muggle skills:
Technology Use
Pilot (Ground Vehicle, Train, etc.) [could be refined into Tech Use]
Natural Biological Studies
Knowledge of Muggle Studies (Basic School subjects)
Wilderness Survival
Stealth
Empathy
Charm
Might
Resources (Wealth)
Contacts
Endurance
Intimidation

What are some thoughts?

>>15966082

Logic. In game, a high Logic score could be used to have hints to puzzles, riddles, and other stumpers that wizards just try to magic their way an answer.

"This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

Hermione during Snape challenge that guards the Philosopher's Stone.

>>15966205

I'm not entirely sure, isn't that the point of Intellect?

>>15966320
I could be a side skill, like Luck is in Fallout (sorry for the bad example, it's the only thing I could think of).

>>15966320
>isn't that the point of Intellect?
Werd

>>15966082
I think Pilot should become Vehicle/Transportation or something to that effect.

When I think of technology I think more of Computers and Cell Phones, and less of Cars and the like.

I think Empathy, Charm, and Intimidate should all be grouped into one skill, like Personality.

Or they could be grouped in pairs, instead of all of them being separate (because sometimes you can have a Intimidating Empathetic person, Charming Intimidating person, etc).

For example:

Big Softy- Charm and Intimidate
Heart of Gold- Empathy and Charm
White Night- Charm and Empathy

Looking at it, these kind of seem like feats.

Also, sorry for the bad names, I just kinda went with whatever was on the top of my head.

>>15966403
They also could just be taken out all together, since that could be decided entirely by the character's actual personality, unless they're there just for the sake of skill checks.

>>15966403
>>15966428

Well seeing as the point of this RPG seems to be heavier set on , I would have to disagree with grouping them all into one skill. However, I think that "Intimidation" and "Charm" can be refined into "Persuasion" since the ultimate goal of both skills is to convince someone to perform X task. Your character would simply use whatever method of persuasion that he preferred/ fit his personality.

Although I do like the "Pick 2 of 3" approach. It certainly adds character, especially with the titles you've given them. If we do the "2 of 3" approach, I think that we might want to expand the pool of Personlity skills.

I'm fine with either approach, but the only thing that we should be concerned with is the complexity of the game towards it's target audience. I have no problem with complexity, but seeing as this game will most likely be run by /tg/ers to their gaming groups or a group of laymen HP fans that find this "roleplaying gaem" interesting. Just some thoughts.

Muggle Tech might need to be broken up into several skills. I mean, Ron was pretty thrilled to talk to Harry using 'the phellytone'. And I'm pretty sure he was holding the receiver the wrong way round at first.

Actually, I'm wondering whether it makes sense to have Muggle-born wizards even roll for most of those. Yes, Mudbloods should roll if they're doing research on a computer. But frankly, a wizard would be nigh-incapable of doing the same thing. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure a Wizard would have to roll just to figure out what an iPhone IS. I mean, it looks just like everything else Muggles keep in their pockets.

Considering the game will be taking place during school, and there's not a lot of muggle stuff happening at school, it might be a moot point. It's not like there's any phones, cars, handguns, televisions, computers, ect. on campus.

Perhaps the most elegant solution would be to make 'muggle skills' just basic skills, and if the player takes the Muggle-Born background they don't have to roll to dial 999, start a car, or play an MP3.

For the system, do not use skills but use fucking subjects instead.

>ctrl-f flipendo
>no results
Are you people even trying

>>15965895
>>15966050
As soon as I heard of Arithmancy would be a stat buffing thing, similar to Divination. Divination allows modifiers/rerolls after you do something, plus it would have a small amount of future seeing/farseeing spells and rituals. By comparison Arithmancy would give you bonuses before doing something. Plus, it would also allow you to cast Arithmancy-only rituals and spells.

Arithmancy is everywhere in Harry Potter. Voldemort creates 7 horcruxes because 7 is the most magically powerful number. Certain potions take 6 clockwise turns and 1 counterclockwise turn to make them perfect. Certain spells take 3 waves (of different lengths). Sure, these are all things you can learn individually by being great at charms/potions/dark arts, but having the Arithmancy background on it makes you even better at those spells.

cont.

>>15966989
Another option would be to have arithmancy to be a researched modifier on spells, similar to metamagic in DnD.

You can use arithmancy 'slots' (or however you determine number of powers) to allow you to modify aspects of spells. Buff or shorten length of time on a spell you're casting. Improve the effect of a spell.
Turn spells from single to multi-target. Allow you to cast the spell using other mediums (eg, use a spell you know from charms as an ancient rune instead, requiring skill checks in both). etc.

Morning bump

I know there's an emphasis on this for playing students at a school. Frankly, I think a game where the players are the teachers would be just as fun, considering the varied backgrounds of the Hogwarts teachers. A campaign would be a school year, with notable students cropping up and troubled students getting in their way.

Post-graduate courses would also be neat. The group is on safari in Australia trying to figure out how a recently introduced magial beast is impacting the native magical fauna.

As far as students go, playing as first-years on through would be pretty neat, but there's a definite need for creating characters a few years in (if only to replace a student that is killed/ex-spelled). Being a Prefect would be a useful boon, even though I'm sure it'd be rather rewarding to earn it.

Incidentally, I think those serious about working on this should at least give WoD:Innocents a read-through, if only for insights on how horrific events can affect children, as well as children's various coping mechanisms.

>>15966989
>Certain potions take 6 clockwise turns and 1 counterclockwise turn to make them perfect.
I thought that had less to do with magical numbers and more to do with the counterclockwise turn mixing the potion better.

Spellcasting system suggestion:
There are various spell components - stuff like light, water, mind, spirit, etc. I realize this sort of component breakdown isn't canon, but I'd like to see players able to create their own spells. Spells have various difficulty levels. Wizards get general spellcasting levels (For the sake of simplicity, let's go with 7 levels - one for each year at school). Through feats or skill proficiencies or whatever, they might alter their ability to attempt things with certain components (Eg: Neville obviously made everything except Herbology his dump stat). Wizards should be able to cast spells of their level on a fairly consistent basis, lower level spells with little/no chance of failure, barring extenuating circumstances, and higher level spells with generous luck.

Beyond having a standard spellbook with common spells, I think spells should be up to GM fiat. Got knowledge of Potions and Fire? Then you can make magical napalm or something.

Speaking of which, players should get time slots for off-screen stuff, such as quidditch practice, schoolwork, spell research/experimentation/investigation, etc. This way, players who are trying to make their own spell need to put some effort into it. Perhaps even a side-quest in an attempt to obtain access to a book restricted to advanced students or something.

>>15969607

These are all good ideas for if/when we do move beyond the "just school children" mold.

I want to maintain that emphasis in the beginning so we don't get derailed into arguments about how Aurors work, or discussions on why the kids don't just use guns, etc. I'm all for expanding the system/world later, but right now, I want to get a functional game out, and then we can refine it.

>>15969686

You and I are already thinking in similar terms.

My system uses the class skills as the components, versus your elements.

So, someone who's learned Protego (Charms...4,5?) and say, Expelliarmus, could talk to the Headmaster about creating a Disarming Shield (Expelliprotego), where by holding the shield up with concentration and effort, the shield reflects spells and returns fire.

Again, if you've read VtR or VtM, think of Spells like devotions, but "cheaper". Several spells will be unlocked solely by progression in Power Skills, while making a custom spell will take research, and typically higher levels of the right schools.

>>15969686

Liking the Timeslots. Might be good for it to be an optional rule for people wanting that extra layer of realism/customization. Kids have classes all morning, study time in the afternoons, scant free time in the evenings, and then of course there's all that sneaking around late at night for those tomes/ingredients/forbiddendefenseagainstdarkartsclasseswithyoungrevolutionaries. It works for players (who want to curry favor with a teacher to get that bonus to investigating that spell), and for the Storyteller/GM/Headmaster who wants to have the Bully NPC humiliate the muggle-born when CombatmonsterPC is at Quidditch Practice.

>>15969686
I just recently started playing the burning wheel system, and found that very interesting, so maybe we could implement something that like that style? I like the idea that the players are free to Be able to explore hogwarts or attend classess or whatever.

But first, I think we need to get the nuts and bolts of the system down. Headboy, can we get a summary of ideas that you think might work for the core system?

Honestly? I think the best way to do it would be lifting Exalted's charm system.

Just don't make completely broken spells that fuck everything over. The ST System works fine when you're doing mostly-mortal or (relatively) lower powered games. Most Harry Potters spells would fall into Essence 2 or MAYBE 3 power levels.

Exalted combat doesn't really break until Essence 4 anyway unless you're being a minmaxing jerk.

>>15970616
That is, low level spells (such as lumos) work as prerequisites for more powerful versions of the spell or other spells dealing with a similar thing.

I'm also in favour of making two sets of skills. Your School Skills (such as Potions or Arithmancy) and your Life Skills (running, jumping, driving). Just give players enough points to have decent scores in both of them. Allocate 25 to each or something (depending on how many there are).

>>15970616
Fuck no. The charms system is so clunky and overbearing with it's prerequisites and motes and builds that it's the most worthless part of Exalted.

"Perfect attack!"
"Perfect defense!"
"Because you used the woprd Perfect, I can undercut both of your charms with my corruption aspect because that's how my infernal charms work."
"Hi, I just melted reality out from under you by punching you so hard you became a stone."

Yeah, that's quick and easy!

I'd just like to note that Snape was the best character in the series. And that Rowling can suck my cock for the lame way of killing him.

>>15970616
If were talking alternate systems, I would rather run evil hat's system. Its under an OGL too. It's more focused on character development and is fairly easy to play, as well as unique. It's fairly simple, which would give us space to have crazy detailed spell effects, and the ability to place manuevers on enemies would augment nicely. However, I like the nwod system we have at the moment too.

>>15970683
Have some skills bleed over in other skills.

Someone who can drive anything on wheels will have less trouble flying a broomstick than a total inexperienced kid.

>It's like a bike! Without wheels!

And for example, someone with a big skill in potions might be an excellent chemist or know many things about pharmaceuticals and the likes.

>How I paid for all my magical reagents? I run an XTC lab man.

>>15970704
It should be noted that noone gives a fuck.

>>15970749
Hrmmm... so that some muggle skills influence wizard skills? Makes sense, but then couldn't you simply test that muggle skill seperately to try and gain a bonus to your wizard skill? I see what you're going at by not making muggle skills worthless and I agree with it.

>>15970616
The game breaks well before E4. Hell, it breaks before charms. Five mortals with sledgehammers break the game.

Exalted needs a Third Edition.

In any case, this isn't a very productive system for a Harry Potter game. Harry Potter magic is much more free-form, cheap, and packaged. Even a young witch or wizard without a wand is going to be reflexively casting spells to protect themselves, and some exceptional cases (Voldemort) could even learn to control it.

I'd suggest a system more like the one used in new Mage. There are set spells, which are quick and easy (relatively speaking), and then there's improvised magic, which can go wrong very quickly but is the only way to innovate new magic technology.

It shouldn't have the raw kick that Mage magic does, but it should be a lot more grab-bag. Everybody has at least a basic amount of competence in quite a number of things.

>>15970694
Way too miss the entire point of what I said. "Just don't make utterly broken shit."

"Well, let's just cite the most broken parts of it as how its' bad!"

How is a magic system of branching paths building on each other a bad thing? The problem isn't with the format, it's with the specific charms. "You need to have charms 3 and Lumos to cast Super Lumos, but if you have Super Lumos and Something Else you can cast Reverse Lumos and absorb light".

>>15970887
So, have you never played Exalted, or do you just like hating it?

Damn. I really want to play a slytherin kid now. Maybe I'll see about setting up an online campaign if this system gets fleshed out.

>>15970704
I feel like Snape's just an Itachi wannabe.

Incomplete/Unnecessarily Huge List Of Skills:
Muggling: Everything a muggle learns how to do before coming to Hogwarts. Includes dialing telephones, riding bicycles, tying shoelaces (most Wizards seem to wear slippers), programming a VCR, using a video game console, or turning down the television (Wizards rely on printed media quite a bit, remember). Muggle-born start with this maxed. Any 'muggle' skills known by student cannot be higher than this skill. May also be used to understand what a given Muggle device does. A failed roll may indicate that your Slytherin has just shit himself because he can't tell that the Ravenclaw first-year's water pistol doesn't shoot bullets.
Muggle Skills:
Computers: What it says.
Personal Electronics: Phones, MP3 players, video cameras, and knowing whether a given device is currently in use.
Vehicles:Cars, personal watercraft, seriously not something most players will need inside the school so maybe it's useless at this juncture.
Also, maybe it would behoove a character to have a regular skill, but just pre/suf/fix it with a Magic or Mundane tag.
Magical Cooking?
Magical Cleaning? (Seriously, Wands do everything)
Tracking (Mundane)
Wilderness Survival (Mundane)
AnygivenSkill (Mundane)
Reading Comprehension: This one goes both ways; Muggles need to use it to figure out Wizarding tomes, Wizards need it to figure out a muggles magazines.
(Muggle/Wizard)Culture: Muggle-Born use this to check if they know about a given piece of Wizard culture, Wizards use it to figure out Muggle folkways.

The thing about the Wizarding World is that even those VERY obsessed with Muggle culture and tech (Mr. Weasley, for instance) know very little about it whatsoever.

Just a few more cents: I like Epic Magical Failure tables, maybe have a few for different kinds of spells. Best results are benign puffs of smoke and sparks, worst are things like the caster vomitting slugs and nearly terminal cases of dandruff.

>>15971320
Because that's not how magic worked in the series. You needed practice and study, but you didn't have "chains" of spells. Hell, even novies could create new spells from scratch. Even the most powerful wizards in the world had no clue about how some things worked - things they used every day, such as wands. Even people who STUDIED wands didn't know all there was to know. Harry bypassed tons of magical theory to learn the Patronus charm, something he shouldn't have been learning for another two years at least.

Exalted Charms are designed for4 brokenness, because that's the basis of Solar power. If you want to have a "learn this before you learn this" system, GURPS does it a hell of a lot better and a hell of a lot more deadly - a three die fireball will kill almost any normal person on average, and you have to learn 5 other spells before you learn it.

>>15973024
Man's got a point. And all the wizards need to cast a spell is the command word and have a vague idea of the wand motion (which seems less and less important as the series goes on). I'm pretty sure after a certain DAtDA class in Goblet Of Fire, a portion of those in attendance went out and killed something with Avada Cadavra, just to see if it worked. There's next to no casting time (measured in syllables!), and there's no spells-per-day, or even hour limit. A kid could literally sit there all day, killing each ant in an anthill individually, and with the same amount of effort kill an office building full of muggles. Not once in the seven stories does anyone say 'Oh, my brain hurts from all this spellcasting', or 'I'm so tired I couldn't even cast a Lumos.', or even 'All this wand-waving is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome.'

But then again, it's magic, don't have to explain shit.

>>15972979
>(Muggle/Wizard)Culture: Muggle-Born use this to check if they know about a given piece of Wizard culture, Wizards use it to figure out Muggle folkways.
>Implying that every muggle knows everything about muggle culture and that every wizard knows everything about wizard culture
Obviously both muggles and wizards should be able to take this and it should be split up into two skills, one for wizard culture and one for muggle culture. Muggleborns should get a bonus in one and purebloods in the other and halfbloods get half of the bonus to both of them.

>>15973024
So it can be a purely mechanical abstraction? What is a +3 power bonus in non-mechanical terms?

2 cents worth: never really explored in the series, but how would non-magical combat work? i know we've seen fistfights and encountered swords in the series, but one of the things that always bothered me was: we know the muggle and wizard heads of state are in contact with each other. Why didn't anyone ever go "oh hey can we get some SAS snipers here with supersonic bullets so that death eaters will die before they even knew it was coming?"

>>15973389
>Implying that Death Eaters aren't protected by magic charms 24/7 that protect against mundane attacks

>>15973389
I'm pretty sure that the Wizards had people in the Muggle government, but I'm not sure it worked both ways. And they might not have been powerful people, just people with access to information.

>>15973331
Don't confuse "mechanics" with "systems".

In Amber Diceless, the magic mechanics are completely irrelevant, because they're GM decision. The systems, however, are very specific and precise. You can do certain things with Pattern, certain things with Logrus, Shapeshifting, and Trump. They have a set manner in which they overlap and interact. The mechanical bonuses of knowing more about Trump than average people is that you no longer need a specific magically created painting - you can sketch a simple one, and use it just fine; you could hold a card and let it's power fill you for defense at a lower understanding, but a higher understanding means you don't need the card, just the awareness of how Trump feels.

There isn't a "mechanical representation" of how it works - just a systemic description.

Hrm... I for one, am in the mood to get shit done. Let's look at... this post.>>15964722

All right. See this? >3) Spell "blocks" function like the requirements for Devotions from Vamp Masquerade/Requiem. So we'll need to eventually figure out what spells need what.

We've got magic figured out. As a for instance, Lumos requires * Charms (The skill, not Exalted's system). Ron's Slugvomit Curse probably needs ** Charms, ** Transfiguration to cast. He botched the roll, broke his wand, and cast it on himself in this case. Expelliarmus? ** Charms, * Arithmancy, * DAtDA. Becoming an Animagi probably requires ***** Transfiguration, *** Arithmancy (There's probably a big ritual involved), and *** Charms at least.

This means that you can learn a spell, provided you understand the different mechanics behind it. You don't need to learn Lumos to learn Flipendo.

I'm going to suggest 'soft' prerequisites for spells, meaning. Meaning your instructors won't teach you to summon a Patronus until you've learned to also cast X, Y, and Z, but you could learn it through independent study or from another source (or in special circumstances). 'Hard' prerequisite spells would be be cases where you have to learn Lumos before you can learn Super Lumos, because one is a weaker version of the other. Similarly, Flipendo and Expelliarmus are likely linked.

I'm also all for a mechanic whereby a spell that is used frequently becomes easier to cast, decreasing the difficulty. Perhaps this could be an effect of getting an outstanding success, or spending a lot of time practicing with a given spell.

So it's canon that there are more than just 3 schools. The Tri-Wizard schools of Western Europe are flavored by the myths and legends of their continent. Rowling has said that there's an American school, and Bill Weasley had a pen-pal who went to a school in Brazil.

Now, I think that Wizards from different areas might end up using different methods of casting spells. For instance, I'm sure there's a Far East method which use brushes instead of wands, and these brushes (which have special cores, bristles, ect) apply magical calligraphy to slips of paper which are then applied/thrown/worn for various effects. Not something we need to hash out just this minute. But it's a thought.

Different schools, such as an American school, would for the purposes of this game have a similar structure. IE: A great big building with lots of corridors, hidden passages, staircases (the American school has Elevators), and lots o ghosts and animated pictures.

America's school is probably a lot like most larger college campuses, there's dorms, separate buildings for different classes, and a huge Quad. The American school is considered altogether too 'liberal' by the European system; they actually have telephones on campus. (Granted, they're used by the staff to commute to work) They also admit a wider variety of nonhumans than any other school.

In the Far East, the magic school is a massive temple structure atop a mountain with a variety of garden courtyards where the teaching takes place, as well as a large central courtyard where the entire school turns out for morning exercises. There are lots of little old men who shuffle about sweeping and keeping the place clean. Do NOT under any circumstances underestimate them.

>>15974869
Great explanation.
Sorry I'm not as involved as last night, I'm gaming tonight at my place.

>>15970507
My core idea is to just lift the resolution mechanic from nWoD, but without doing some research, I don't know how magic will work in it.

>>15975234
I like your ideas here.

DM should be called the Headmaster.

I think an Australian school would be on the shore somewhere. There's a large population of mer-folk that attend. They also have the largest number of sea-monster attacks, which occasionally get blamed on the mer-folk and causes lots of tension from time to time.

Of course, the Brazil school might work better for that. Unless theirs is also on a Feathered Serpent reservation in a jungle somewhere.

Maybe Australia's center of magical learning is inside Ayers Rock. It's just a huge damn honeycomb of caves inside, and the structure changes according to astrological signs and portents. They might have a subtle form of magic based upon Aborigine dreamtime myths.

India could use it's own school. Maybe they put more emphasis on Defense Against The Dark Arts and less on Transmutation, owing to an ancient Rakshasa threat. Shapechangers of all kinds are mistrusted as a result of this, and Animagi are lucky if they aren't killed on sight. In their first year, they learn a spell that allows them to see another's true form, and by their final year they can flawlessly cast a spell that reverts creatures to their true form. There's a mandatory service in the magical military. just a year. There was formerly a caste system, but it fell apart (coinciding with its muggle counterpart) when they discovered that being totally pureblooded is what causes Squibs.

One of my friends has been working on one, if OP is interested I could upload it.

>>15974869
I'm just confused why everything needs Arithmancy.

Like the soft prerequisites thing, not big on hard requirements before attempting to cast a spell though. Players should be able to attempt a spell they've seen/read instructions for, with their chances for success depending on how closely the player's skills match the requirements.

I like the idea behind more frequently cast spells becoming easier to cast, but it's going to be a bitch to keep track of a bunch of spells for each player. I was thinking that would just get abstracted away by the player's growth in "requirements" (Never played V:tM) - spells that have been singled out for practice should be the exception, not the norm.

>>15976020
I think it's just that all the examples use Arithmancy because it's a really magic sounding word.

>>15975234
Only one American school? There really needs to be at least a Shaman commune or something as well.

>>15976020
Well, one thing is that optional requirements must be hard.

Everyone's going to get Charms, DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, History of Magic, Astrology, and Broomstick riding as mandatory. You don't pass em, you don't graduate. This means that if you want to specialize spells, any requirements based on those subjects basically don't count. The restrictions will be coming from only those things that everybody doesn't take. Any spell that *don't* require electives are "everybody gets this spell for free eventually."

These are the electives: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Apparition (sorta, it's a one-shot class). There aren't that many ways to slice up the rest of the spells so players can specialize. Arithmancy (or any elective) ought to make up at least a quarter of the non "everybody gets free" spells.

Could someone tell me what's going on in this thread? I'm interested but I have no idea what system you're all talking about or building from.

It occurs to me that we should really add an extra spell category similar to one of the major ones: Dark Arts.

Obviously it wouldn't be taught at Hogwarts, but it should be a prerequisite for certain spells. I guess only badguys would have access to this, or for evil PC games. There are a lot of spells (used by antagonists) that will require at least some dark arts to use. As a sample assuming we're using 7 stars as maximum ability, maybe Morsmorde (the dark mark) needs ** in DA, Crucio (torture) requires **** in DA, Imperio (mind control) takes ***** in DA, and Avada kedavra (kill) takes ******* in DA. This would be in addition to their other requirements.

It would also help explain why people's characters can't just start firing out green deathbolts during combat instead of 'those spells aren't allowed'. We could just say, truthfully, that the characters haven't met the requirements yet.


TLDR: Add Dark Arts to the 'Power' category, and swap Divination from 'Power' to 'Knowledge'

>>15976380
You don't need hard requirements for specialization. Spellcasting shouldn't be a binary deal - one who specializes in one category is more likely to succeed than somebody who doesn't, which is good enough.

Furthermore, magic should only be one aspect of the game. It's fine to have some characters who are better at magic but lacking in logic or bravery or mundane knowledge, etc.

>>15976504
This suggestion is now under consideration, and moving Divination doesn't really matter which category is.

I'd love to talk more, but between work in the morning, and having just finished a game, I've only got like, half an hour.

>>15975837
These are also good ideas for other schools.

>>15976432
We're devising a Harry Potter RPG, running in general on the nWoD system, cobbled with various other systems, mostly splats from other WoD lines.

>>15975864
Feel free, if your friend isn't adverse to us stealing your stuff.

>>15975614
Already done.

>>15973262
This guy reminds me, I've seen some ideas for character generation/ Differences between Muggleborns Purebloods and half breeds.

As an option, what about the character lifepath burner from burning wheel? Thoughts?

>>15976203
There could be a Western school for the US and Canada in America, and a native one in Canada.

Or the native one could be a "school" spread over the continent, with teachers visiting different tribes to give classes to all young witches and wizards there.

OP: what made you decide to make your own system instead of using something like the Witch Girls rule set?