# Campaign Set in a Magic School



## Gwaihir (Sep 19, 2017)

Hi 
Im considering my next campaign to be set in a magic school, 

My thought is that party would be graduates of said school because I'd rather not run a school boy/girl campaign.

I feel like there would be a large castle greyhawk like dungeon under the school that hasnt been discovered by the students until now and probably some planar stuff mixed in.

Has anyone run a Magic School based campaign?  Penny for your thoughts

G


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## Eltab (Sep 19, 2017)

You are going to have to decide if you do / don't want the Harry Potter vibe.  One of the book's plot is pretty much "'Don't go into the basement; dangerous things are in the basement.'  Therefore the kids dare each other and go down there anyways."  Do you want the students to go in first and need rescued -or- the students show up as reinforcements to the PCs -or- the students are trying to run a parallel expedition in competition -or- the students are taking advantage of the distraction the PCs represent to do something completely different?

What keeps the stuff in the basement from climbing out?  Do the instructors have times when they REALLY don't want to be interrupted?  (Because they are performing the ritual to strengthen the bonds and keep everything in.)

You could - probably should - have a smaller section the PCs can explore first; if your group isn't really interested, save the rest for later.  You've established that there are Secrets under the magic school; later on tie some other plot thread to it so the PCs have to return for help / advice / a MacGuffin.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Sep 19, 2017)

First, take off the blinders.  "Magic school" doesn't necessarily imply kids.  Depending on the writer, schools of magic have been structured like RW elementary/high school/college/post-grad setups, all-ages institutes dependent on talent & ability, adults only, and so forth.


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## Gwaihir (Sep 19, 2017)

Although at least some of the impetus for this idea  is that I have a very passionate Harry Potter fan at my table (She wanted to name her gnome wizard - Hermione Granger - I think she was kidding) I think id like to avoid the kids in class/english bording school vibe. My first thought was that the party would be graduates of the school that gets pulled into the adventure because all the current student/faculty have been wiped out by something. 

The Balrog of Morgoth perhaps.

G


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## Dannyalcatraz (Sep 19, 2017)

Hmmm...  given those additional kernels, here's what I'd do:

Make it more of a collegiate type setting, a la _The Magicians_.

Have them doing a "semester at sea" on a cruise ship that can cross dimensions.  (See Michael Moorcock's _Sailor on the Seas of Fate_.)  Use travel guides of famous cruise ship destinations to help plan adventures.

At some point, the ship encounters a hazard that claims the lives of most of the faculty and/or crew: interdimensional pirates, a kracken, whatever you like.

And now they're a little bit lost...

If you really want them to be grads, perhaps they were on the cruise for a continuing education class- I did something like that, going to Russia via my school after getting a Masters.  Or perhaps they were invited speakers, teacher's aides, visiting siblings still in the program or some such.


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## Sunseeker (Sep 19, 2017)

If you're concerned with youths being a problem, why not "magic college"?  That way it gets you away from the idea that the people here are primarily under-age and also gets you away from the idea that only young folks get trained here.  A magical "college" could train the young, the old and everyone in-between, further, the party could then become a mix of students and non-students alike.  Graduates, drop-outs and people who never attended, all being pulled in to the adventure for Strange Reasons!  If you'd like the party to be non-students but have a good reason to be at the school, they could be "summer intern" types, coming back to train one-on-one with a specific teacher in exchange for them providing free labor to the school (like receptionists, RA's and other kids on college campuses).  

_Personally_ I'd say the "boarding school" concept would be beneficial to keeping the campaign restricted to the college grounds.

If you're going for an "everyone has gone missing and the party has free reign of the campus" I'd _definitely_ contrive some kind of magical ward that locks them in once they arrive.  All the better if they only go there because Jimmy was all "Hey man lets check out my old stomping grounds, I bet there's some sweet magic stuff and we can score some hot magic college babes!" only to arrive to find the place desolate, deserted and with scattered signs of a struggle.  (which makes the whole thing rather dark ya know?)  Of course, new blood arriving triggers the "silent alarm" which locks them all on the campus, and of course, awakens whatever decimated the school population.  Depending on how recently this occurred you could have all sorts of fun additions, unchecked experiments gone wild, magical looters (who may or may not have a way out, but certainly don't want to get caught!), rogue magical sentinels and of course the BBEG.

IMO: you've got two solid options here:
A: the "college" vibe.  It's a functioning college and your party members are college students, why they weren't affected by the "Event" is an important question on the adventure.  (On this line, there should be a couple other people unaffected, just to help cast suspicion about).
B: the "scooby doo" vibe.  Your party are not _current_ members of the college, but when they pay it a visit, they get ensnared in the aftermath of the "Event".

I think, most importantly, will not actually be the campaign itself, but the layout of the school.  Magic "schools" have an abundance of traps, locks, hidden doors, secret rooms, moving hallways and shifting floorplans.  You're basically running a maze that to some degree, moves and changes.  Simple clues could be misplaced across the entire structure because the Mr Mustard did it with the Candlestick in the Ballroom...but the Ballroom sometimes enjoys the sunset and moves from the north east corner of the building to the south west and the Candlestick really dislikes the south west.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Sep 19, 2017)

Hmmm...  a community college with a class, room and teacher that can only be seen with "The Gift."


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## AnimeSniper (Sep 20, 2017)

Previous posters have all made good points and suggestion for the whole Magic Academy or Academia of Magic and Sorcery feel that can be achieved from the straight Harry Potter vibe or The Magicians College theme.   You could also allow for non-magic character classes to attend special classes with such How to Slay Monster-X with a physical example given at the end where the attendees fight said monster.

I know for one slightly similar scenario the magic users of our party had to attend a certification exam of their Magic School and of course all manner of things that those of us with non-magic character classes had to help out of which one was a forgotten series of dungeons beneath the school that we had to clear out


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## Dannyalcatraz (Sep 20, 2017)

AnimeSniper said:


> Previous posters have all made good points and suggestion for the whole Magic Academy or Academia of Magic and Sorcery feel that can be achieved from the straight Harry Potter vibe or The Magicians College theme.   You could also allow for non-magic character classes to attend special classes with such How to Slay Monster-X with a physical example given at the end where the attendees fight said monster.
> 
> I know for one slightly similar scenario the magic users of our party had to attend a certification exam of their Magic School and of course all manner of things that those of us with non-magic character classes had to help out of which one was a forgotten series of dungeons beneath the school that we had to clear out




I'm thinking of Tyler Marlocke of PS-238, the only kid with no super powers in a school for the children of metahumans.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS238


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## practicalm (Sep 21, 2017)

I liked the vibe of Arcanum 101: New Students  but it's a mix of magic and science which I would love to do with GURPS.

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/arcanum.html

Magicians was college level students and I think the SyFy show is a good reference as well as the books.


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## Razjah (Sep 21, 2017)

I think using aspects of the university in The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear would be beneficial. Mostly young adults and adults; different classes; a local mundane location to blow off steam. Then mix in more D&D style magic. Bardic and Druidic mages and lessons. PCs could be TAs and at graduate level. If someone needs to miss a session, then they are "working on research" or "tackling their thesis" or something else. 

If you have the Burning Wheel Codex there are magic school life paths. BW is one of the few systems I can see where being non-faculty would be fun to play.


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## Dioltach (Sep 21, 2017)

_A Wizard of Earthsea_* could offer some flavour.

*The book by Ursula Le Guin, not the please-let-me-forget-it-ever-existed miniseries.


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## Silver Moon (Sep 21, 2017)

Don't reinvent the wheel!   Find a copy of the "Redhurst Academy of Magic" by Matt Forbeck and Shaun Abshur.  It is a 3rd Edition hardcover campaign book that goes into incredible detail for a full-blown magic school the rival of Hogworts.  I just checked Amazon, and they have multiple copies available for under $15.


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## Gwaihir (Sep 22, 2017)

Silver Moon said:


> Don't reinvent the wheel!   Find a copy of the "Redhurst Academy of Magic" by Matt Forbeck and Shaun Abshur.  It is a 3rd Edition hardcover campaign book that goes into incredible detail for a full-blown magic school the rival of Hogworts.  I just checked Amazon, and they have multiple copies available for under $15.




Oh!  Thanks for the heads up.  I will check that out.

G


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## Hand of Evil (Oct 1, 2019)

Think I would do a A&M school, a location where, young adults are sent to for training in agriculture and military training, to help support the local kingdom/state.  Define that the school is a bit more, have special studies, secret groups and such.


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## Usus (Oct 1, 2019)

I ran a campaign for several years about a magic school. It was with the 3rd edition rules and set in the Mystara setting using Gaz 3 Principalities of Glantri (it covers a nation of wizards - find it on DMs Guild, if you don't already have it) at The Great School of Magic in the nation of Glantri ruled solely by wizards and their relatives. 

I house ruled several things:
Only humans and elves (Mystara does not have half-elves, and playing the setting straight means no halfling or dwarf wizards; also dwarves are banned in Glantri). 
Only classes that memorize spells (I wanted the characters to grow as spellcasters and sorcerers just don't have that vibe), however no divine spellcasters as they are banned from Glantri. 
Pupils at the school begin at level 1 and graduate at level 9.
XP is gained from taking classes and passing exams. 

We played with a party of all wizards, where all but one were humans (of different ethnic cultures as according to Glantri) and the last was an elf. 
It was quite fun and intense to play, and we had great fun with an all wizard group striving to get to class and passing exams while being distracted by intrigues, secret societies, mysteries and the hunt for more magic.


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## uzirath (Oct 2, 2019)

For this type of campaign, you may want to read Bill Stoddard's _Worminghall_. It's a GURPS supplement about a medieval university of magic. It's packed with details, including realistic details about a university, town/gown relations, local places of interest (taverns, churches, secret locations, etc.), notable NPCs, and campaign ideas. I've plundered it for ideas for more than one campaign. 

As an added bonus, It's included in the GURPS 33% off sale for the rest of the week, so the 41-page PDF is about $5.


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## Ratskinner (Oct 4, 2019)

How do you want it to play, just traditional dungeoncrawling or school drama?

If school drama, I might take a look at Smallville, seems like that could be adapted.

If traditional dungeoncrawling...the thing that sticks out to me is that students will be less competent than full-fledged wizards....so maybe consider some kind of spell failure or learning mechanics.


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