Harry Potter D20 (Mechanics posted)

[Stone Angel]

There are some good suggestions, I was more worried about the mechanics of Magic in this. I was thinking of making it skill based, there are four basic types of spells. Curses, jinxes,hexes, and charms. I am trying to find a difference, but as I have only seen the movies and I finished book 1 last night, my knowledge of the wizarding world is limited. Anyway I was thinking of making the magic system skill based, different feats would allow you to specialize in one of the four. You would start out with innate talents, such as Alchemy, natural flyer, monster friend, something that you were always good at.

I like using d20 modern as a base Cha. based, wis based, ect. I am set on using skills for the magic system, and I am thinking probably a whole new set of skills and feats. Also the wand would seem to do something and I have no idea how many different cores there would be I only no of three right now. If this gets developed enough I would be happy to host the sight so other people could use it.

 

[Akunin]

Give this ruleset a try:

http://www.memento-mori.com/games/broomstix.html

Jared's got a bunch more hcool games for free on his site, as well.

 

[Liquid Snake]

Harry Potter d20

Before discussing a Harry Potter d20 RPG you have to answer a very important question:

Is Harry Potter a wizard or a sorcerer?

If he's a wizard, what's with Muggles and all that strange magical phenomena around growing wizards?

If he's a sorcerer, what the heck he's doing in a schol studying and reading spellbooks?

I think a whole new Wizard core class is needed for such an experiment. And this class would have to integrate both Intelligence and Charisma for spellcasting.

There you have a tricky challenge.

 

[Duke Frinn]

I'd go with a Hogwarts based game.

Core Classes:

Griffindore: CHA based. Abilities include: magic, "chaotic good" spell list, can specialize in 2 magic forms, but not Dark Arts.

Ravenclaw: INT based. Abilities include: magic, "lawful neutral" spell list. Can specialize in 3 magic forms.

Hufflepuff: WIS based. Abilities include: magic, "lawful good" spell list. Can specialize in 2 forms of magic.

...gotta go, ill post more later

 

[kengar]

Re: Harry Potter D20

My nephews recently gained an intrest in Roleplaying, and they love Harry Potter, so I thought that they would enjoy adventuring around J.K. Rowlings wizarding world. I was wondering if anyone has started devolping this, if not I have several ideas. Wich I will list later after I get some responses

A lot of good suggestions on this site, but I would ask a couple of questions before sweating the magic system, etc. How old are these nephews? How complex a system are they going to want to deal with? They might be fine with 3e or similiar, or it might be easier to start them with a simpler system that lets them get the hang of RPG's first, then worry about more comprehensive rules & mechanics.

Drawmack's QLM is a great primer for new (especially younger) gamers, but isn't geared for a lot of rules concerning a detailed setting. Though it can be any setting you like.

If the kids are 10-12+, then 3e -or a rules set of similar complexity- is probably no problem, but much younger than that, I don't know whether the rules might get in the way a bit. Any folks who have taught kids to RPG have any thoughts on that?

 

[Marius Delphus]

Kengar makes a good point. I'd also posit that complex rules can't help but lose the sort of "just because" feel magic has in the Harry Potter books. What I mean is, while we readers have been treated to a lot of peculiar notions and specific examples of the *sorts* of things that are possible in Harry's world, the underlying rationale is not clear, and that makes magic almost arbitrary, not to mention arbitrarily powerful.

Some stumbling blocks would have to be addressed: Hogwarts students seem to be capable of a great many things that are beyond the abilities of low-level D&D wizards. Can the appropriate amount of library research turn up *any* desired effect? What *can't* child wizards pull off if they really put their minds to it?

My personal idea for a potential Hogwarts RPG would be to set it *before* the rise of Voldemort... say, during the Renaissance? Of Rowling's characters, only Nicholas Flamel and Fawkes might be alive, and they needn't even appear. Whatever you think of White Wolf Storytelling RPGs, there's always Mage: The Sorceror's Crusade to consider as a ruleset. I thought of it immediately when considering a different era for Hogwarts (it just happens to be set in the Renaissance). It's fairly rules-light, the magic system is fairly flexible... just a thought... although it'd probably take just as much work to adapt to Harry's world as would the d20 ruleset.

N.B. -- IIRC, the author J.K. Rowling is dead set against an RPG set in Harry's world because, in addition to revealing too many setting details, she's not comfortable with the idea of others (authors? players?) putting words in her characters' mouths. I don't remember where I read this, though.

 

[blackshirt5]

I'd love to see a Harry Potter D20 sourcebook; however, I don't think that we'll ever see it. Too bad, I'd love to see rules for deciding a Quidditch match, maps of Hogwart's, and things like that.


*Huddles down as his players beat him senseless*

 

[Celebrim]

I think that the biggest problem of adapting Rowlings works to an RPG is that Rowlings works are typical of the class of fantasy/sci-fi literature that I think works very badly as an RPG setting.

The title says it all: 'Harry Potter'.

Now, in this universe, if you are not Harry Potter and his immediate friends, just how interesting is it? Other than the boy messiah figure, exactly what is going on that is worthwhile? Does the setting really have the depth and diversity that you need for good RP? It's been my experience that any book that revolves around an epic apocalyptic struggle between a hero and a villian, makes for a very difficult to adapt RP setting no matter how good the material. OSC's 'Ender' cycle is a very tricky setting. Herbert's Dune is a very tricky RP setting. Tolkien's LOTR is a very tricky RP setting - especially in the eras that Tolkein most wrote about. If the world seems to be a blank slate outside of the area that _the_ hero is walking through, then my guess is that its not going to be easy to capture the feel for the story that inspires most fans of the story to want to role-play in the setting.

Beyond that, Rowlings doesn't write with a RPers perspective. She doesn't seem interested in balance, or in systemizing her magic under a set of laws that limit its function. Rowlings magic is ludicrously and often comicly magic turned technology, but without the apparant structural underpinnings that tends to turn magic into science in average RP worlds. Rowlings magic is a plot device that does whatever is conveinent for it to do at the moment. Hermoine's purpose seems to be to provide an infinite ammount of magic whenever it is needed and only when it is needed. The same can be said of the Hogwarts faculty in general. Relatively world shaking magic is widely available and readily accessible to even the most middling of adult wizards.

Quiddich is a typical example of Rowlings overtly non-gamer perspective. Quiddich makes a lousy game especially if played by its strict book 1 rules. Though she appears to have realized how pointless the game is to a certain extent in her latter works, the fundamental problems with Quiddich remain. Quiddich, like virtually everything in Rowlings works, wasn't designed with interesting gaming or world building in mind, but with show casing her young hero.

I'm not saying that it can't be done, but that it might be harder than you think. Certainly I'd guess that incorporating Voldemort and Harry Potter in the story line is just right out.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, the whole "character's mouths" thing can be solved by switching the setting...I think playing HPd20 either before the books begin or after they've finished would be the only logical choices, as otherwise everyone and their kid sister will want to meet Harry and do things with him that the book never took into account.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Not including the future, there are literally *several centuries* during which Hogwarts exists and Harry Potter doesn't that'd all be just wonderful for an RPG setting. What was Hogwarts like during the English Civil War? The Hundred Years War? Or the Victorian Era? The Edwardian Era? (Were wizards involved? If so, how, and how would it affect the school?) Or, on the magical side of things, any of the events mentioned by Professor Binns in History of Magic?

There's always Beauxbatons, about which we know practically nothing. Setting a campaign at Beauxbatons would dispense with much of the remaining "baggage" left over from moving into the past at Hogwarts: no Houses, no Sorting Hat... a very different setting with the same "feel."

Still, it's the magic system that'll require the most hand-tooling. I'd suggest having a look at not only Mage: TSC and Ars Magica, but also Ken Hood's Skills-n-Feats Psionics, available here. Stone Angel, you might not be able to use the actual feats and skills, but it does come to mind as an example of the sort of magic system it sounds like you're contemplating. And since psionics *is* merely magic with a different name...