# New DM: need adventure ideas for kids in Wizarding school



## blargney

I'm starting up a brand new game, going behind the screen for the first time in my life!  My two players will be my girlfriend and her sister, neither of whom have ever played any RPGs before.

My initial campaign concept is a wizarding school, based strongly on Hogwart's from Harry Potter.  The reason for this is twofold - with the game restricted to a single area, I can make a very vivid and well-populated beginning to the game.  Secondly, given that my players are two complete novices, I can actually teach the players the game mechanics while their characters are learning their trade in school.

The initial scope is to take the characters from apprentice 12 year-old human wizards up to graduation, when they will be 17 year-old 5th level wizards, ready for their adventuring careers.  It is set in an as-yet-unspecified world that will probably end up being a stripped-down version of Faerun.

The part where I need help is in coming up with mini-adventures, puzzles, traps, and riddles that will challenge their mental abilities without being too physically demanding.  For the first year, both characters will probably only have 2-4 hit points, but at least 10-11 Intelligence.  I want the players to get used to the idea of using their heads to solve problems before they put their PCs in danger.

I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas! 
-blarg!


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## blargney

*Additional information*

I'm going to set them up with a bunch of different classes:

- Enchantment, Illusion, Transmutation, Divination (all separately)
- Defence Against Dark Arts (Necromancy, Evil Monsters, Summoning, Protection Spells)
- Care of Magical Creatures and Plants
- History and Theology
- Magic Theory, Spells and Scribing
- Physical Education
- Potions and Alchemy
- Home Economics for Wizards: Crafts, Fine Arts, and Bargaining
- Astronomy and the Planes of Existence
- one or two others I can't remember offhand

There will be various spells, skills, and feats to learn in each of the classes, with some slight overlap between them.  I'm going to set up a rough system so that the more hours they spend studying a subject, the more likely they will end up learning it to a point where it becomes useful.  I think I'm going to use Wild Magic rules for spells that haven't been fully learned yet, and assign the odd bonus rank to skills that they study a lot.  (They are starting with _really_ low abilities that will improve each year, so this should balance out any skill points lost due to low Intelligence.)  I will also give them the Brew Potion feat for free at third level, since they will have already spent three years learning how to make the d*mn things! ;>

There will be a village not too far from the school, with several shops and services useful to a school full of mages.  There will be a familiar shoppe, a minor wondrous item store, a magical candy store (like under-powered potions with funny side-effects), and, of course, a tavern.

The school itself will consist of one central tower interlinked with four surrounding towers by all sorts of arches high up in the air.  (I want the climactic scene of the first year to occur up on one of these arches.)  There is a lake to the south, a forest full of beasties to the east, and a sports field to the west.  I still have to come up with the rules for the school game, I'm thinking of yoinking some of Sagiro's rope-tossing game from his story hour.

Inside the towers is a chaotic extradimensional space that re-arranges itself semi-randomly, growing according to need, and doesn't resemble the tower structures in the least.  The corridors will turn around corners onto arches, basement rooms will be next door to rooms on the top floor, etc!

As far as plots and plans go, so far there will be some house rivalries, bullies, a plague of ghoulish animals, regularly scheduled games of whatever-the-game-is-called, a professor who has been replaced by a doppelganger, and a couple of orcs that invade the library by accident.  (I'm also thinking half-heartedly of having some first year with a certain scar on his forehead get his head caved in by a troll... *wink*)

It actually helps me sort things out somewhat just to be writing these things down!
-blargblarg


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## Byrons_Ghost

I don't have any specific plot suggestions, but you should try and find the PDF (not sure if it's been released yet) for The Principalities of Glantri (Gazetteer 3 for Basic D&D). The setting was a country run by wizards, and it gave details on a wizardry school and a ton of story suggestions. There's even specific rules for child spellcasters botching things and turning the target into a teddy bear or something. While a lot of the book (House politics and the like) would be beyond the scope of what you want to do, I think you'd still find a lot of good material.


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## blargney

Byrons_Ghost said:
			
		

> *The setting was a country run by wizards, and it gave details on a wizardry school and a ton of story suggestions.*




Excellent suggestion!  Thank you!

I've been doing research since you posted yesterday, and I've come up with tons of information and ideas!  While I haven't been able to find the PDF for Glantri, I have found quite a lot of fan pages devoted to Mystara, and I've also looked into lots of DMing tools.

I've got some ideas that are starting to gel, more input will be hugely appreciated!!!
-blarg


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## Esiminar

> While I haven't been able to find the PDF for Glantri




Look HERE


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## blargney

Esiminar said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Look HERE *




OIC... I hadn't quite realized that it takes the winsplit application and a password that you pay for through the website.  Guess I ought to spend the time to read instructions sometimes, eh? 

Thank you very much!
-blarg


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## wolff96

Well, I think it will be quite the campaign.

A couple of quick thoughts and ideas...

Since your characters are so new, make sure they are both playing generalist wizards -- with the option of specializing later in their school career. (It's against the rules, but the rules assume you receive your training BEFORE the campaign starts. )

I would also either "wave" the familiar fee or have their parents (possibly the school in case of orphans) pay for the familiars. Every student at Hogwart's had a familiar from day one.

As for adventure ideas...  Hmm.

1) Lost/Stolen book. One of the members of their house has misplaced a library book. For every day or two that it's late, the house will take demerits. So in between classes, your players need to help the friend look for it. Whether it was actually misplaced or a rival of the house took it is up to you.

Gives a good reason to investigate things, look around the school, and shouldn't have any combat. 

2) Spells gone wrong. Your magical school (like Hogwart's) is warded against the students hurting themselves too much, I'm sure. But a spell has gone awry and now there is a creature haunting their house. 

I would use a severely limited form of the Ghost Template on a 1HD creature -- Corrupting Touch (lower the 1d4 to 1d2 or even 1), Frightful Moan (DC 12), and Mage Hand (instead of Telekinesis). This makes the spirit much weaker. 

I would start this off by having "someone" wreck the common room of their house. Books are scattered, lamps tipped over, etc. Some research (and talking to other house members) proves that no one in the house could be at fault. Maybe have them find some type of evidence (Ectoplasm? Hackneyed, but it could work. Or perhaps a message scrawled on the wall) that leads them to the school library for research.

Once they do research at the library (or talk to teachers, whatever they do to get information), they learn that sometimes a certain type of spell can go wrong. Talking (again) to the people in their house, perhaps they can find someone who cast this spell and didn't even realize it was done incorrectly.

If they have the original caster of the spell and cast some other spell (again, from the library -- get research embedded in their heads, since that's what a wizard is all about), they can force the spirit to manifest. Then they can either defeat it or find some way to unsummon it. (Or possibly even find some way to appease the spirit and get rid of it.)

3) A collection quest.

There are two ways to look at this one. Either a teacher needs some ingredients for a spell (and doesn't want to be bothered) or there is a house scavenger hunt. I would recommend the teacher, personally... or it could even be punishment for something else the students did (Detention-style).

Again, this leads them all over the school. Some items might be guarded by fractional CR creatures -- a Tiny Monstrous Spider with a lowered Strength and Dexterity guarding a needed bit of spiderweb would be a decent opponent -- but most are simply difficult to find. Some, like a specific kind of flower, they will need to look up in the library. When they do, they find out it only blooms at night on one side of the castle... so they couldn't find it without knowing where it will be.

----------------------

These are just off the top of my head.

One thing I'm sure you will note in my ideas are the constant reoccurence of the library. If nothing else, you want them to identify wizardry with studying. The more information you have, the better your chance of success.

Sounds like a fun campaign, by the way.  Let us know how it goes.


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## blargney

*Wicked!!!*

Those are some AWESOME ideas, wolff96!  They're so good that I've got to go and eat while I ponder them!

I'll be back with some more ideas in an hour! 
-blarg


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## Byrons_Ghost

Here's some stuff I did in the Glantri campaign I just finished up (can you tell that's my favorite setting?  ). Not all of it may apply, but you never know what'll be useful:

1. While shopping, the party saw a bedraggled wizard getting ejected from the magic store by a flesh golem. Upon speaking with him, the found that he was a salesman for a new magic company that sells rip-offs and cheap junk. Feeling sorry for him, the arcane trickster foolishly accepted a business card. Now she constantly gets mailings from them, and other salesman come by the house. Returning from the last adventure after a week's absence, the mailbox and door slot were both stuffed with brochures. Eventually, it was my plan to have illusions or mephits start showing up with commercial jingles or special deliveries at inopportune times, ie when she's in class, when she's with her boyfriend, when she's sneaking up to get the jump on the bad guy, etc. I didn't have any cure worked out, but I imagine a remove curse or break enchantment should probably do it.

2. The arcane archer finally enrolled in school when she realized that fighters couldn't get anywhere in a magocracy. This was when the party first arrived in town. While everyone else toured around and saw the sights, she spent the entire day filling out applications and running back and forth between buildings on opposite sides of campus. Before she could get application A filed, she needed Intent form B, which required Permission slip C, etc. For some reason, it was always gnomes that were handing these things out. After all that, she had to go through Aptitude Testing, which was little things like identifying spell effects, casting cantrips (ray of frost to chill the professor's drink), that sort of thing.

3. When a new young lady arrived at school midterm, everyone got suspicious when the headmaster suddenly started treating her as a favorite pupil- she got all the best class times, materials, etc. The party suspected some sort of evil enchantment and spent days following the two of them around, trying to get into quarters to look for clues, etc. Actually, the girl was there on a scholarship and the headmaster was just a little sweet on her, so he was helping her out some. But it was fun watching them run around and get into things.

That's about all I can think of right now. Good luck with the work.


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## blargney

wolff96 said:
			
		

> *Since your characters are so new, make sure they are both playing generalist wizards -- with the option of specializing later in their school career.*




Good call!  I'll let them specialize in fourth and fifth year if they want.  I'm pretty sure that one will want to be an Evoker



> *I would also either "wave" the familiar fee or have their parents (possibly the school in case of orphans) pay for the familiars. Every student at Hogwart's had a familiar from day one.*




I already have a mini-hook planned out where they go to the pet shoppe and buy a familiar.  The owner has taken a clipping from each animal, and records the name of the wizard who buys it.  Think scrying.. ;>

(Incidentally, Harry had to buy Hedwig, Hermione had to buy Crookshanks, and the show-off rats in the same store cost money.  Familiarz ain't free.)



> *1) Lost/Stolen book. One of the members of their house has misplaced a library book. For every day or two that it's late, the house will take demerits. So in between classes, your players need to help the friend look for it. Whether it was actually misplaced or a rival of the house took it is up to you.
> 
> Gives a good reason to investigate things, look around the school, and shouldn't have any combat.*




Simply beautiful!  I am going to have a rakshasa posing as a teacher, but he's actually spying on the school.  One of his goals is to find out why magic use is so easy in the school.  Wizards can cast as many spells a day as an equivalent-level sorceror, but only inside the towers.  This is sort of necessary to allow the students to cast spells in their courses...

The book in question will be a text on the history of the school, and some hypotheses on its magical properties.  He saw it in a student's bookbag and pickpocketed it, not realizing that it was a library book.  They'll find it in his office/possession later on, and he'll simply say it was left behind in his class.  Case closed! (for now..)



> *2) Spells gone wrong. Your magical school (like Hogwart's) is warded against the students hurting themselves too much, I'm sure. But a spell has gone awry and now there is a creature haunting their house. *




This is great!  A student in a rival house was practicing, and cast Disrupt Undead on a student's familiar.  Normally nothing would happen, but he botched it and it turned into a half-ghost.  It's actually still alive, but trapped on the Ethereal Plane, and has some ghost-like abilities.  It returns to the place it thinks of as home (the common room), and scares all the other familiars away with its Frightful Moan.  There's an adventure in Traps & Treachery where the PCs have to capture some escaped animals.)  It then wrecks the room with Telekinesis and hides in the Ethereal Plane.

I'll plant a couple of animally clues in the wreckage, then the master will ask where his weasel is in a few days.  When they manage to make the ghost manifest by getting its master to call to it, they'll see it appear as a ghost.  When they conduct some research, they'll find out that it sounds like a result of a Disrupt Undead gone wrong.  Further research will find out that if they cast Disrupt Undead on it again, it will break the barrier that prevents its body from coming back.




> *3) A collection quest.
> 
> There are two ways to look at this one. Either a teacher needs some ingredients for a spell (and doesn't want to be bothered) or there is a house scavenger hunt. I would recommend the teacher, personally... or it could even be punishment for something else the students did (Detention-style).
> 
> Again, this leads them all over the school. Some items might be guarded by fractional CR creatures -- a Tiny Monstrous Spider with a lowered Strength and Dexterity guarding a needed bit of spiderweb would be a decent opponent -- but most are simply difficult to find. Some, like a specific kind of flower, they will need to look up in the library. When they do, they find out it only blooms at night on one side of the castle... so they couldn't find it without knowing where it will be.*




*yoinks*
I'm stealing that word-for-word.  Detention-style is best, I was looking for some good punishments! >;>




> *One thing I'm sure you will note in my ideas are the constant reoccurence of the library. If nothing else, you want them to identify wizardry with studying. The more information you have, the better your chance of success. *




I was thinking exactly the same thing!  Thank you very much for these excellent ideas! 

-blargh, you got me!


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## blargney

Byrons_Ghost said:
			
		

> *Here's some stuff I did in the Glantri campaign I just finished up (can you tell that's my favorite setting?  )*




I can see why!  There's a lot of intrigue and adventure opportunities in them-thar' hills.



> *1. While shopping, the party saw a bedraggled wizard getting ejected from the magic store by a flesh golem. [...] I didn't have any cure worked out, but I imagine a remove curse or break enchantment should probably do it.*




I actually have something very similar in mind!  I have an _old_ Dungeon magazine with a wizard that curses someone in the party.  I think your curse might make for more comic relief than what was suggested there!  (That's a good thing )  I'll probably run this as a hook to get the party to visit some ruins where they'll pick up the blessed crossbow bolt to kill the rakshasa.



> *2. While everyone else toured around and saw the sights, she spent the entire day filling out applications and running back and forth between buildings on opposite sides of campus. Before she could get application A filed, she needed Intent form B, which required Permission slip C, etc.*




This could be a fairly funny way to get them familiar with the general tower layout!  I'll have to figure out how to play up the comedic side of it...



> *After all that, she had to go through Aptitude Testing, which was little things like identifying spell effects, casting cantrips (ray of frost to chill the professor's drink), that sort of thing.*




This could be a good start for making up the final exams!  Thank you!



> *3. When a new young lady arrived at school midterm, everyone got suspicious when the headmaster suddenly started treating her as a favorite pupil- she got all the best class times, materials, etc. The party suspected some sort of evil enchantment and spent days following the two of them around[...]*




I'm SO pulling this on them in second or third year.  What a great way to introduce a new NPC!

That was an excellent bunch of suggestions!  Thank you, Byrons_Ghost!
-blargneigh

ps -   It's funny that you were the first person to reply to my post.. my oldest friend's name is Byron!


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## Byrons_Ghost

Glad you liked it- sounds like you'll have a cool campaign. Mentioning Dragon magazine reminded me that the idea for the annoying magical mail-order company came from this article:

http://dnd.starflung.com/bargitem.html 

I've never gotten anyone to buy anything, though. Ah well. My favorite is definately the book "Social Advancement Through the Selective use of Charm and Disintegrate Spells".


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## blargney

Byrons_Ghost said:
			
		

> *I've never gotten anyone to buy anything, though. Ah well. My favorite is definately the book "Social Advancement Through the Selective use of Charm and Disintegrate Spells". *




AWESOME.

I'm so going to sell them this stuff!  The Social Advancement is truly mindbogglingly funny.  That's the kind of joke we could use to kill Germans. *wink*

I haven't heard the name "Bargle" in a *really* long time.  Like since the very first time I played D&D...

-blargle

ps - I'm coming up with one of the games that the students play - it's like a cross between Quidditch, log-balancing, and a tug-of-war (using Mage Hand).  I'll post a first version soon.


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## wolff96

Inter-school competitions would work also.

Set up a series of challenges that can be accomplished by low-level magic... if you have the right spells memorized.

For first years, you could have something like putting a ball through a high hoop (accomplished by a flying or climbing familiar or mage hand), a drink that needs cooled (prestidigitation or ray of frost, and thanks to Byrons_Ghost for the idea), and a well-controlled minor incorporeal undead (disrupt undead, magic missile, or even a physical hit after a magic weapon spell).

Just a few more ideas.


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## blargney

wolff96 said:
			
		

> *Inter-school competitions would work also.  Set up a series of challenges that can be accomplished by low-level magic... if you have the right spells memorized.*




Sweet.  I'll do this every year - I wanted to give them a way to measure their progress, and this fits the bill beautifully!

I'll include challenges of all types - obstacle courses with traps, scavenger hunts requiring research, puzzles and riddles, competitive games, a monster sparring ladder, and a duelling tourney.  I really like the idea of making them realize the value of _Magic Weapon_ against creatures with DR...

More contest/test ideas: fire-walking, maybe a marksmanship contest, obstacle courses with _invisible_ obstacles (I have a fun mental image of everyone running headlong into an invisible wall!), team challenges where co-ordination and timing is essential, like flipping several levers in a specific order, another to retrieve a guarded object with harmless traps all around where the team loses points for every member that is caught.

Off the top of my head, I'll need a few clerics on hand with _cure_ spells pre-cast to minimize the death rate, spectators from all over (adventure hooks galore, especially with the pet shoppe I mentioned above!), a trophy for the winning school, and some nifty prizes to give to the winners of individual competitions.  I was thinking a bard-crafted Wand of Cure Light Wounds would be a really good prize for a wizard!  (I know it's not on the wizard spell list, but if it's made by an arcane caster, it's close enough for me!)  Other prizes could be some masterwork miscellaneous items that could be enchanted later on.

This is fun! 
-blarg


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## wolff96

In conjunction with the pet shop...

The current WotC "Random Encounter" article is on a unique petshop where all the animals are actually permanently polymorphed creatures (with a newly researched spell that converts their minds to that of the creature's new form).

It might be an interesting idea for your local pet store (or the campaign equivalent of Diagon Alley).

You can find it here:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/re/re20030113x


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## blargney

wolff96 said:
			
		

> *The current WotC "Random Encounter" article is on a unique petshop where all the animals are actually permanently polymorphed creatures.*




Way ahead of you on that one, but please keep the excellent ideas coming   (It's in the second post I wrote in this thread...)

I really can't believe how much background information we're generating here...  I'm already starting to have a hard time keeping track of all the adventure ideas, places, people, their plans, their relationships, the calendar of events, consequences of the heroes' actions/inactions, the list goes on!

So here's the question: how do you keep massive amounts of campaign information organised and easily accessed?
-blarg


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## Silver Moon

As for a wizarding schook, check out my thread on this Plots & Places message board titled "Kingdoms of the Elves".  My last five posts concern a city called Ravensgate, which is home of a rather elaborate and somewhat secretive wizard school.  I've included quite a bit of detail about the school, as well as the cirriculum for each of the four undergraduate classes.


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## blargney

Thank you Silver Moon!  That'll be my homework for the night
-blarg

ps - Preparation is SUCH a timesink.


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## wolff96

blargney said:
			
		

> *So here's the question: how do you keep massive amounts of campaign information organised and easily accessed?*




I keep a notebook.

Moreover, I keep it right next to my bed -- some of the best ideas I've ever had pop into my skull during the middle of the night. If you don't write them down, you'll forget them by morning.

Just a few notes are usually adequate for an adventure idea.

For interpersonal relationships, I make a diagram. Each person's name in one bubble. Lines between the bubbles are relationships, plots, and motivations.

For place description, I usually jot all my notes down on 4x6 notecards so I can whip them out when needed. I also use the same system for enemies and frequently used creatures.

It means I kill a lot of trees, but the ability to lay my hands on anything I need is vital to my game.

---------------------------------------------

By the way, another idea I had recently was the loss of a familiar. Not death, but actual loss. Whether it was an accident or just a creature scampering off, the quest for a missing familiar could lead them into the edge of the woods...  just enough for them to see some of the dangers lurking within.

If you run it right, you'll be able to instill fear of the woods, make them realize how important it is to be careful with your familiar, and even get them into trouble (for further adventures) because such new students are seen near the Forbidden Woods. It's a triple threat!


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## blargney

wolff96 said:
			
		

> *I keep a notebook.  For interpersonal relationships, I make a diagram.  For place description, 4x6 notecards.  The same system for enemies and frequently used creatures.*




Absolute gold, wolff96!  Those are exactly all of the issues that were beginning to concern me




> *By the way, another idea I had recently was the loss of a familiar.  If you run it right, you'll be able to instill fear of the woods, make them realize how important it is to be careful with your familiar, and even get them into trouble (for further adventures) because such new students are seen near the Forbidden Woods. It's a triple threat!   *




I like this one!!  When the ghost ferret scares off the familiars, the PCs' own familiars will bolt through a window to the woods!  If they play it right, maybe they can get a ranger to Speak with Animals to find out who zapped the ferret!

*draws a line on his relationships diagram*
-blarg


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## rln

Check this thread for another guy that does sort of the same...


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## blargney

rln said:
			
		

> *Check this thread for another guy that does sort of the same... *




Wow, that was a great link!  Thank you!

I'm definitely taking that clique/gang idea.  I was trying to come up with Houses, and it just wasn't working in my head.  This is simply much better.  I can add who I want to whatever clique I want, less fuss, less muss, more dynamic.  There will be an official buddy system, randomly chosen to put compatible people together.  *wink*

I also want to use the item-card idea.  There's more preparation work to be done, but it also gives me more options for describing items, etc.  When they _identify_ items, they'll be able to write the properties on the flip-side of the card.

Similarly, I want to make the players transcribe their spells into their spellbooks, text and all.  I will give them little booklets for this, and strongly encourage them to add their own verbal components, audio/visual effects, etc.  Ideally, they should write their spells in a shorthand that is difficult for other people to read!!  They'll then keep track of the number of hours they've spent researching, practising, and studying each spell.  This will be used for wild magic effects.  Once they've used a spell successfully in an appropriate situation, they will _know_ a spell well enough not to have to study it anymore.  (This is like Wulf's Lazy Days skill system, which I'll also be using for zeroth level.)

I have been scouring the Net for games to play, and the best one I've come up with so far is called Mastery.  It fits well in a medieval fantasy world!

I have a *lot* of NPC development to do now.  I bought a stack of 4x6 cards and alphabetically indexed separators to keep them organized.  I'm intending to base the Rakshasa villain that I'm using on the Kzin from Larry Niven's Known Space series.  Using cliques I can manage the relationships web fairly easily.  Still, I'm teetering on the brink of buying NPC Essentials...

-blarg


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## (contact)

First off, I have nothing really directly userful to add-- I just wanted to say, Blargney, this is a great idea.  Especially for new players.  In fact, I think this game will work well _because_ they're new.  What a memorable first campaign!

As a new DM, just be sure that all the hard work and preperation you put in doesn't become too "precious".  Sometimes the riddle/quest/NPC that you've decided is "just the best" will bore your PCs to death, and a lot of new DMs will force their players to go the direction he had plotted for them before-hand, whether they like it or not!  

The school environment gives them enough structure to be fairly innocuous with their wanderings, but Harry Potter and crew are always breaking the rules!  Let them surprise you, it's really more fun . . .

And second, I wanted to pop in to say thanks to Esiminar for the link to the ESD page-- I finally, *finally*, have a copy of the freaking Glantri book!


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## Byrons_Ghost

Feels good, doesn't it?  Did you get both editions, or just the first?


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## Esiminar

> And second, I wanted to pop in to say thanks to Esiminar for the link to the ESD page



Glad to be of help.


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## blargney

Thanks for the praise and the constructive criticism, (contact)!  I'll try not to get too attached to my plans.  It'll be hard while they're lonely for lack of backup plans!

-blarg


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## blargney

I've lately read Sepulchrave's story hour, and he really makes me want to have a mostly monotheistic human culture.  CleverName's story hour is also an excellent example of this setup.

I like the fact that it engenders cultural conflict between proponents of different pantheons.  Religious wars within a single polytheist pantheon don't make nearly as much sense to me as actual inter-religion conflicts.

I'd ideally like to have a religious sytem that takes the best monotheistic elements of Oronthonism with the slew of rich pantheons and cultural heroes/demi-gods from Palaestra.  Since I'm currently in Quebec, organized monotheism (*cough* catholicism) can be used to spectacular effect on people that have lived here for generations!

I've been scouring the Internet and Dungeon magazines for DMing tips and adventure ideas... I think I'm starting to get a general idea of how to do this.  I'm still trying to figure out how to *start* the game though.  Once I've done that, the rest ought to flow fairly easily, I think!

Could someone please give me an example of a good campaign opening, and how you would execute it as a DM?  I'd like it to happen as the PCs are on the way to the Academy for the first time, and they witness an event of some import.  The event should ideally leave some questions running around in their minds...

-blarg


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## Psychotic Jim

Quite a lot of great-looking campaign idea material in this thread.  The clique idea is particulaly good.  How about you base a main clique off of each of the stereotypcial personality of the  tradiitional wizard schools.  The necromancers could be goths, while your evokers could be the paint-ball playing, aggressive, in-your-face jock stereotype.  Illusionists could be your elitist drama club or offbeat artist type.  Transmuters could be your overly analytical, geeky, scientist types, ect.  And you could also have subcliques in each school- like in the Necromantic school you could have your classic Poe type vs. the new, more punkish, leather-wearing type of goth stereotype.  There would be a department for each magic school, and the faculty of each would constantly try to vie for power, primarily financial but also social and political, by gaining the favor of the admininistration and the public.  Quite a few war stories or opportunity for intrigue exist there.

Another idea is that in a literature class or something the characters fall asleep while supposed to be reading a book, and the characters get sucked into the book and get to muck around with the events inside it.  When I ran a GURPS IOU game back in high school the characters were reading _Great Expectations_  in an English literature class taught by a nasal-voiced, prissy lizard woman.  They all ended up falling asleep and somehow being sucked into the book and screwed-up all of the story.  They talked Joe into murdering his abusive wife, convinced Pip to start doing crack, burned Miss Havisham, and a host of other ghoulish things.  When they figured out how to escape this weird world by finding a GURPS IOU book and reading it, they escaped and went back to the literature class.  When they got back, they found that Great Expectations had rewritten itself mentioning their exploits and the book consequently got banned, much to the joy of the characters.  Everyone in the group thought it was quite funny because none of us particularly liked that book. Your group could do something similar, whether deffending a book you all like or wrecking a book you all dislike.

You might want to pick up Discworld accessory for GURPS and some of the Discworld novels for ideas on how to run a miagical, humorous university game.  In the Discworld humorous fantasy book series, there is a strange university for wizards called Unseen Univesity in Ankh-Morpork that you could mine ideas from.  Like how they have a librarian who got transformed into an orangutang in a magical accident but wants to stay that way because he doesn't have to wear pants and can scratch humself in public.  Or plot ideas like how a girl might have to struggle (or even sue) the unviserity to get admitteed as a wizard or a boy to become a witch in domains dominated by the opposite gender.  GURPS IOU is another good resource if you like lots of humor, being a whole world-book dealing with a univeristy that happens to lie on an interdimensional ley-line nexus.  Not D&D accessories, but they might be helpful.


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## Byrons_Ghost

Don't know if you've seen this product or not, but I bought it last week and I love it. It's heavy on the abjuration magic, of course, but there's a lot of other good stuff too. Other schools are supposed to follow. They've got different houses, a demerit system, the whole shebang. There's some especially good stuff on working in various races of spellcasters. You thought non- spellcasting dwarves were cranky....

St. John's College of Abjuration 

Man, as much as I pimp other people's products around here I should start applying for royalties.

As for the religion, I'd just pick a few mythological gods you like and assume that they oppose each other for whatever reason. Mainly you'd just have to change the metaphysics around- there's a limited amount of worshippers in the world, maybe a god's power depends on how many he has? I seem to remember something in either basic D&D or planescape where gods who lost their worshippers could effectively "die".

You mention that you want to start out the story with an event of import- what will be important in your campaign? The foreshadowing sort of depends on what you eventually plan on doing....


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## Darklone

Uhm... I just was wondering what would happen if you had a CHAOS mage in that school...


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## blargney

I go away for a couple of days, and the thread turns red!



			
				Psychotic Jim said:
			
		

> *How about you base a main clique off of each of the stereotypcial personality of the  tradiitional wizard schools.*




I've been trying to come up with a good kernel for the cliques, and this is perfect.  I'm going to make sure that there is at least one person in each group that could get along with the PCs.  I don't want them to feel like a given school is closed to them just because the groupies are all unappealing!



> *There would be a department for each magic school, and the faculty of each would constantly try to vie for power, primarily financial but also social and political, by gaining the favor of the admininistration and the public.*




So far, I've been thinking of it as a large school, but not huge.  I wonder if there mightn't be an advantage to having hordes of unmet students and teachers instead... with enough numbers, the law of averages tends to take care of things on its own.  That way I could have actual departments of teachers, whereas I was originally thinking more like Hogwarts - a single teacher IS each department.  I really like the idea of faculties vying for student and political popularity, all while reporting to a board of mysterious directors.  It's a great way of breathing life into the school.




> *Another idea is that in a literature class or something the characters fall asleep while supposed to be reading a book, and the characters get sucked into the book and get to muck around with the events inside it.*




There's some good potential here.  It could be a relatively innocuous way to introduce them to the how-and-why of social and political manipulation, especially if they fall into some old-school medieval romance.  I need a story that's suitable for a fantasy medieval setting, and then I'm plunking this baby stright in there!




> *In the Discworld humorous fantasy book series, there is a strange university for wizards called Unseen Univesity in Ankh-Morpork that you could mine ideas from.*




*two hours of Googling later*
I _have_ to read that series!!  It looks awesome!  I'm making the trip to the bookstore on Wednesday




> *Or plot ideas like how a girl might have to struggle (or even sue) the unviserity to get admitteed as a wizard or a boy to become a witch in domains dominated by the opposite gender.*




I think they're both going to play boys.. but if one of them ends up playing a girl, I might just do that.  Since both of my players are girls who study science, I'd have to figure out a way of doing this that isn't too depressingly similar to reality...




> *GURPS IOU is another good resource if you like lots of humor, being a whole world-book dealing with a univeristy that happens to lie on an interdimensional ley-line nexus.  Not D&D accessories, but they might be helpful. *




That sounds like fun!  I'll see if I can dig it up in my local gaming store...

Thanks for the input, everything is going into my little blue notebook. 
-blargOU


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## blargney

Byrons_Ghost said:
			
		

> St. John's College of Abjuration




If it were in Canadian money, I'd probably take a stab at it.  As it is, I'm still hesitating to buy NPC Essentials.  Thanks for the link, though - I'll bookmark it in case I end up needing it!




> As for the religion, I'd just pick a few mythological gods you like and assume that they oppose each other for whatever reason.




There is an appealing simplicity to that arrangement.  It would probably cut down on my paperwork as a DM, at the very least.

On the other hand, the reason that I want to have completely different religious systems is to foster believable opposition.  Historically, people who lived in polytheistic cultures didn't believe that a single god out of the whole pantheon was the only true god.  They would invoke the god who had the purview of whatever task they were undertaking.  There is no conflict - the gods are there to answer (or not) the prayers of the people who called them.

Now, if I have a group of fanatical monotheists who run into a group of nature-revering polytheists, or even a different group of fanatical monotheists, I can legitimately have the parties claim that they have The One True Religion, and all sorts of silly human bigotries can ensue.  Nobody is as arrogant as someone who believes they are the sole owner of The Truth.

On the _other_ other hand, the priests of different polytheist gods would sometimes do funny things to each other.  They'd steal a tripod, go after their women, or kill an animal sacred to the other god - it's actually a lot like frat houses, when you get right down to it. 




> You mention that you want to start out the story with an event of import- what will be important in your campaign? The foreshadowing sort of depends on what you eventually plan on doing....




That sounds like sound advice to me!  I've just come up with a new antagonist: the Mad Hermit.  I stole him out of The Keep on the Borderlands, converted him to a druid, gave him a whole bunch of animal companions, and gave him a couple of reasons to be ticked off.

The wizard from the Pet Shoppe in the village is capturing animals in the forest and polymorphing them into pets.  The hermit thinks that it is the school that is attacking his forest, despite years of peaceful coexistence.

Secondly, and much more importantly, there is a secret group of necromancers in the school that is creating undead.  They are taking animals from the forest as well: some for killing and animating, some for experimentation, and some for feeding their creations.  They aren't high enough level to create greater undead, so they will acquire a ghoul and study it in an attempt to create more controlled versions.  Unbeknownst to them, the ghoul will kill a spider and spawn it as a ghoul.  It escapes to the forest, and kills and spawns other animals, growing somewhat as it does so.  At the end of the school year, the ghoul animals will attempt to overrun the school.

So here's the opening scene I've come up with.  As the PCs are on the way to school for the first time, they are on a well-travelled trail that skirts the forest near the school.  With them are other students, some hired guards, and a couple of adult wizards coming from the same direction.  The group makes a lot of noise as they travel, but eventually someone hears a rumbling noise.  That is getting louder.

And then the stampede hits.  


-blarg


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## Byrons_Ghost

Ah, I remember the Mad Hermit. Back when NPCs and monsters were the same thing, and didn't really need any reason to attack the PCs...

Well, the stampede sounds like a good opening. Once the dust clears, you could give the kids a glimpse of the Hermit retreating into the woods- maybe with some sort of old school robe or something to connect the two. Then they'd have incentive to poke around the school, find out who the weird guy with all the animals is.

There's always the old "Sorcerer's Stone" routine as well- the wagon train is transporting something that the Hermit (or someone else) wants. Perhaps and item that the necromancers are going to use to step up their studies, and the Hermit assumes that it's going to strengthen the school's "war" against him.


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## blargney

Byrons_Ghost said:
			
		

> Ah, I remember the Mad Hermit. Back when NPCs and monsters were the same thing, and didn't really need any reason to attack the PCs...



*lol*




> Once the dust clears, you could give the kids a glimpse of the Hermit retreating into the woods- maybe with some sort of old school robe or something to connect the two.



I was thinking of keeping his coordination of the stampede a secret.  I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'm going to have several other animal-related events, so they'll have ample opportunity to notice a pattern.  If they ask the right questions, they'll get the right answers.

The two events I've come up with so far are:
- A monstrous spider kept in a cage by a teacher will escape.
- A pen that the students often walk by contains a articularly vicious dog.  One day the gate will be left ajar.

If I pull these off properly, they should have a fun effect on the PCs.

Thanks for the input, Byrons_Ghost!  Keep it coming! 
-blarg

ps - Can anyone tell me what a Chaos Mage is?


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## Olgar Shiverstone

Let me put in another pimp for St. John's College of Abjuration.

Good story ideas, neat mechanics, and a good Wizard Academy setting (with adventure ideas).

It will be an incredible campaign setting when Malladin's Gate finally gets all the Academy Handbooks released.


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## Wicht

A Nilbog that suddenly takes to hanging around a school of magic might make for an interesting time.

Don't forget to add a hospital wing to the school with a high level cleric that can heal just about anything.


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## blargney

Olgar Shiverstone said:
			
		

> *Good story ideas, neat mechanics, and a good Wizard Academy setting (with adventure ideas).*




Could you give me a brief synopsis of what's in the book?  Stuff like how many adventures & what level they are, maybe number of feats, spells, story ideas etc...

I just haven't seen any reviews that _say_ anything, y'know?  Would you say that it is specifically applicable to the campaign that I have detailed here?

-blarg


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## blargney

Wicht said:
			
		

> *A Nilbog that suddenly takes to hanging around a school of magic might make for an interesting time.
> 
> Don't forget to add a hospital wing to the school with a high level cleric that can heal just about anything. *




Umm.. what's a Nilbog?  I can see that it's goblin backwards, but even Google is coming up mystified!

I've got plans for having a hospital wing, but I'm having a really hard time determining what level to make the clerics.  Their healing capacities are a fairly important issue.  I'm currently leaning towards a level 7-10 head medic with a couple of level 4-6 assistants.  I assume by default that clerics of the god of magic makes the most sense, but that's just because I haven't thought of anything that oozes cleverness! ;>

On a similar note, I'm thinking of rule zeroing _Raise dead_ out of existence.  I want _Resurrection_ to be a really high-level deal.

The level scale in this world is as follows:
Level 0-1:  Children
Level 2:  Young apprentices
Level 3:  Normal adult
Level 4:  Competently trained
Level 5:  Well-trained  (This is the highest level of education)
Level 6-7:  Well-trained with significant experience
Level 8-9:  A leader in the area
Level 10-11:  Amongst the best in the country
Level 12-13:  The best in the country.
Level 14+:  Legendary

The monsters in the MM are the equivalent of Level 1 for their race.  So the average member of any race that advances by character class will have 1-2 levels of some class.  Even kobolds and goblins.  Other monsters will have an extra HD or two added, depending on the creature.  City guards will be 4th level warriors.  Clergy will be 3rd or 4th level adepts and experts.  The headmaster of the school will be level 12 or 13, while the other teachers are 7-11.

Low-level magic spells are quite common, while high-level spells are seen very rarely.  Magic items are quite simply rare.  This is due to economic issues:  The crafting cost in gp is the same as in the DMG, but the rarity of money is shifted so that gold in this world is worth as much as platinum in the DMG!

As far as maps go, I'm using the petrified worm maps-of-the-week from WotC for a rival school.  The tree-dwelling maps will be a village of wood elves within the region of the school.  I'm using the Poisson maps for the coastal town nearest the school.  I want to have the school on an island, but I haven't yet found an island map that particularly appeals to me.

That's about it for now,
-blarg!

ps - I've been browsing *hard* for adventures, mini-encounters, maps, or anything else that inspires me.  I've noticed that the adventures that appeal to me the most seem to be made for a broad a span of PC levels.  The more, the better.  I think it's because the adventures that are made for Level-X-and-only-level-X tend to be based on the special ability of a single monster.  The adventure EL then becomes the monster's EL by definition.  I'd rather have an interesting situation brought about by interpersonal tension than one that's incurred because there's some bad-guy-with-a-specific-CR's butt to kick.  *shrug*


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## Wicht

A Nilbog is a goblin with a strange magical condition that causes people to act strange and backwards to how they normally act.  Its a pretty wierd concept but with a little work can be humorous.  Willie Walsh had an adventure in Dungeon way back when that used one (Pearlman's Curiousity Issue #32).  Birds flew backwards, worms chased chickens, Grocers gave you money for taking their goods, that sort of thing.  Nilbogs of course affect spellcasters and can't be hurt through direct attacks (it makes them stronger to take damage).  They are described in Tome of Horrors for 3e.


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## blargney

Wicht said:
			
		

> *A Nilbog is a goblin with a strange magical condition that causes people to act strange and backwards to how they normally act.*




This sounds like a mind-affecting compulsion, as opposed to a time-reversal effect.  I'm having a really hard time figuring out how it would interact with spells and spellcasters...  Could you give me a hand coming up with the mechanics for this wee beastie?  I don't have any experience statting monsters up yet, and I wouldn't want to disrupt the game experience by ineptitude.

Maybe someone summons the Nilbog from a chaotic plane?  I'll have to apply some brain juice to this one!  There's definitely a fun story in there - thanks Wicht! 
-blarg


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## Wicht

_From Tome of Horrors (2002)_
*Nilbog:* CR 2; small humanoid (goblin) HD 1d8; hp 4; Init +1; Spd 30 ft; AC 14 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +2 studded leather); Melee +1 (1d8-1 morningstar); Ranged +3 (1d6-1 javelin); SA Spatial-temporal Reversal; SQ Damage Reversal, Darkvision 60 ft; AL NE; SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0; Str 8, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8.
_*Skills and Feats*_: Hide +6, Listen +3, Move Silently +4, Spot +3; Alertness.
*SA Spatio-Temporal Reversal:* Any creature that comes within 20 feet of a Nilbog is affected by this ability.  It causes the creature to act in a way it would not normally act; for example an affected creature may decide to suddenly decide to unload all his possessions into an empty chest or trunk and leave without his belongings.  The DM must adjudge the exact circumstances and how it affects those within range.  Creatures affected may make a will save (DC 10) to avoid the effects.  A new save must be made each time the creature comes within 20 feet of the Nilbog.  
*SQ Damage Reversal:* When struck by any attack that would deal it damage, the Nilbog actually gains hitpoints equal to the damage dealt.  It can gain more than its maximum, but never more than twice its normal hitpoints.  The Nilbog can only be damaged through the use of curative magic (_cure light wounds_ and healing potions)
*Favored Class:* rogue




> _From Pearlman's Curiosity by Willie Walsh (1991)_
> *Pearlman knew something was up when strange things began happening a couple of days away from his destination, Grinley Crossing...he noticed the butterflies, of course, and the birds that were being chased by them.  There was also the thrush that took a deep breath and sang a song backward before looking nervously around and walking with an air of forced nonchalance back to its nest.
> 
> Whan Pearlman rounded the next bend, a large bundle was lying in the middle of the road.  Well, not "lying," exactly.  "Struggling" is a better description, because the object was a goblin, bound and gagged with lots of rope and rags of dirty cloth.  The mage swiftly rushed it and stabbed it twice with a piece of celery.
> 
> When he had taken a few paces and bitten his dagger, Pearlman decided things had gone slightly awry.*






> _Excerpts From Pearlman's Curiosity by Willie Walsh (1991)_
> *As far as is known, nilbogism affects only goblins, though the variety of effects suggests that other, unrecorded creatures might possibly be carriers of the phenomenon.  This isn't to suggest that Nilbogism is a disease; rather it is a magical compulsion that occurs when powerful magic is used too often in one place (such as multiple wishes) and the basic fabric of reality is strained.
> ...
> Whatever the individual nuances of a particular case of nilbogism, the phenomenon always follows a basic pattern.  Any creature coming within 100 feet of a nilbog is susceptible to acting in a manner contrary to that being's desired intentions.  Notable exceptions are creatures with feline blood, from humble house cats to fabulous griffins, all of which seem unaffected by the aura.
> ...
> Whether incidental or purposeful, niblogism places persons in real danger of accidental death after a period of 36 hours, as recurring incidents of self-mismanagement increase the odds of death or serious injury.
> ...
> Luckily Nilbogism operates only in its 100 foot radiuys sphere of influence, centered on the Nilbog itself...No known substance can block a nilbog's aura, so miners underground could be affected by a Nilbog on the surface, if within range.
> ...
> Because of the nilbog's affinity for magic, spells cast within its aura have a special modifier applied to them.  Spells that are normally reversible function in opposition to the intention of the spellcaster, unless cast by a device.  A priest wishing to cast cure light wounds on a companion will instead cause light wounds.
> ...Area effect spells, such as fireball are 25% likely to be cast but fizzle out without doing anything; 25% likely to act as close opposites of their type (a fireball might be replaced with ice storm); 25% likely to act as if cast by the Nilbog or a target in the nilbog's aura, at the same level of ability as the caster (the fireball is reflected and explodes in the midst of the adventurers instead of in front of the nilbog; and 25% likely to stick inthe memory of the spell-caster (the spell refuses to be cast for the duration of the caster's stay in the nilbog's range)...
> 
> Devices that story spells or are themselves magical in some way are 50% likely to function normally and 50% likely to do the opposite of what they were designed to do.... this applies to cursed items as well... *


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## blargney

Wicht said:
			
		

> Any creature coming within 100 feet of a nilbog is susceptible to acting in a manner contrary to that being's desired intentions. Notable exceptions are creatures with feline blood, from humble house cats to fabulous griffins, all of which seem unaffected by the aura.




Ch-CHING!!!

This guy.. with the rakshasa... perfect.

Thank you veryveryvery much, Wicht!  This suggestion kicks ass! 
-blarg


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