New DM: need adventure ideas for kids in Wizarding school

[blargney]

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!

 

[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".

 

[blargney]

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.

 

[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.

 

[blargney]

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

 

[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

 

[blargney]

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

 

[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.

 

[blargney]

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

ps - Preparation is SUCH a timesink.

 

[wolff96]

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!