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TooManySecrets
2014-08-19, 02:55 PM
I'm thinking of running a campaign with most of the focus (at least at the beginning) revolving around the players learning magical powers. Think of it as something in the style of X-Men or Harry Potter. The setting is a fantasy world (though with the slightly unusual fact that everybody in the setting has magical powers) and the characters, because of their potential, are attending one of the major academies in the world.

I'm an experienced with running normal campaigns but I want this campaign to actually feel like you're playing characters at a magic school, rather than it just being a slightly different setting. So what I'm looking for is advice on what sort of encounters and adventures I can run at the school, what type of NPCs would help make the setting believable, and basically just some advice on how to have the right feel for the setting. Note: when I say "encounters", I don't necessarily mean combat encounters. Any sort of conflict — where the players have to make choices — would count. Obviously, stuff where a teacher takes the PCs on a field-trip ("Today class we're going to go into a dragon's cave and poke it until it gets angry") can be run as a pretty normal adventure, so I'm sort of think for ideas and hooks that would be uniquely "school-based" (if that makes any sense).

The system (if it's important) is Mutants & Masterminds 3E, though mixing in stuff from Wizards & Warlocks and Mecha & Manga where appropriate. I just recently got Hero High so I'm reading that through, but another perspective would also be helpful.

Any help would be appreciated!

draken50
2014-08-19, 03:37 PM
What's the theme?

I get you have a school based game, but what kind of conflicts do you want? Are they running for class president? or is there a nefarious power in charge of/ taking over the school?

Do you want it to be intrigue based, or just kids with magic **** around.

I mean, school by itself basically offers, roll to not get noticed daydreaming in class, roll to stick a pencil in the ceiling... with magic I guess. I mean, you can have cliques and social stuff and all that junk, but what kind of conflicts are you looking for? Becky put gum in Jennas hair, is a different sort of conflict than, hey theirs evil cultists that want to use our blood for spell components.

braveheart
2014-08-19, 03:49 PM
I ran a campaign similar to this idea for a while, however it was pathfinder in my own homebrew world

The primary source of excitement for the party was their practical applications class where their professor was a high level grizzled dwarf paladin. the first day in the class I had him say "welcome to your practical applications class lads, and as you can guess the most practical application for magic is combat" that was his philosophy and he pitted them against summoned creatures every time the class met. aside from this I allowed the group to have free rain for roleplay and gave them bonuses to certain checks based on their schedule.

Metahuman1
2014-08-19, 04:09 PM
Just out of curiosity, what Power Level are you planning to run this at? (The way you would build a PL 5-6 character is different form a PL 8 or a PL 10 character, and more so if you decide the setting is really high powered form a PL 11-12-13 character.)

Also, is this a Play By Post, Live over the internet via something like Skyp, or an in person game?

Lastly, when you say everyone is magic, do you mean everyone is a more or less bog standard Zatana/Dr. Fate/Dr. Strange/Harry Dresden style caster with minor variance between them, or everyone has magic but magic means more then one thing? (I.E. the party might for example consist of a Dragon that learned to take human form and/or shrink to a human-ish size, a Harry Dresden Expy, A transformation Magic Specialist who can turn into almost anything or any sort of hybrid creature or some such, a high caliber Psykick, and a supernatural Wuxia Martial Artist who combines there magic and Chi to pull Shonen Anime styled feats of strength, agility, speed, power, durability, stamina and fighting prowess. )


These will kinda make an impact in the kind of game you should be looking at. (Particularly the first and third one's. )

Trellan
2014-08-19, 06:06 PM
While I don't have advice for specific encounters, I would like to offer a few pieces of general advice.

1.) Rivals. Pretty much every magical/supernatural education story thrives on good rivals for the main character(s). Make sure you throw some in, and make them truly hate-able people. Make them a step ahead of the characters, and have them constantly rub it in their faces. Then set up situations where the characters can beat them every now and then when it really counts, and let them revel in the victory of things... until the rivals pretend like it never happened and start it all over again.

2.) Be very careful not to be too caught up in the minutiae of "school". Club activities are great places for encounters, as are sports or school events. You can even have things happen during classes, or have them working on interesting homework assignments that require them to go do something special, but don't actually make class and work the core of it all. Is that authentic to a "school" experience? Sure. But none of those awesome supernatural school stories really care about that stuff. Set up a larger plot, and then use the school setting to supplement and enhance what you are planning to do, not vice versa.

Anxe
2014-08-19, 06:13 PM
There's tons of anime stuff that you can draw on. Google some stuff on anime magic school or anime monster school and I'm sure you'll get some ideas.

Knaight
2014-08-19, 06:58 PM
1.) Rivals. Pretty much every magical/supernatural education story thrives on good rivals for the main character(s). Make sure you throw some in, and make them truly hate-able people. Make them a step ahead of the characters, and have them constantly rub it in their faces. Then set up situations where the characters can beat them every now and then when it really counts, and let them revel in the victory of things... until the rivals pretend like it never happened and start it all over again.

Rivals are good to have, but this is only one model - I'd probably use it for one character, maybe two. There are other kinds of rivals that can also work. A particularly fun one is a rival that is totally benign. They are better than the main characters at essentially everything they care about, and they are aware of this - but they don't think that it makes them more important, or above them, or any of that. They are also genuinely nice, patient, and will probably even offer to help. If the PC out does them, instead of pretending it never happens they'll graciously acknowledge it, maybe even mention it on their own volition.

The players will probably hate them even more.

Then there's the one with very different direction. Yes, they're better at the things the PCs care about. It just comes naturally to them, they do it, and it doesn't matter to them at all. What they care about is something that the PCs see as utterly trivial, and worse, something the PCs are better than them at. Both parties see the other as the impressive rival and themselves as the underdog, and this one at least is willing to make that known if something comes up.

TooManySecrets
2014-08-19, 06:59 PM
What's the theme?

I get you have a school based game, but what kind of conflicts do you want? Are they running for class president? or is there a nefarious power in charge of/ taking over the school?

Hmm, good question. Let me expand a bit upon the setting.

First, it's a fantasy world with a society sort of similar to Renaissance-era and technology similar to High Medieval. Now, that's super vague since that encompasses about 500 years and about 4 million square miles, but it's a place to start. The point is that you're not going to have prom or class president and any sporting event is more likely to be jousting than football.

Second, the academy itself is set up for a very specific purpose. In a world where people can fly, throw fire, and/or read people's thoughts, the government needs specially trained agents to deal with unusual problems. Sort of a cross between a SWAT, investigator, and spy. The closest real-world equivalent might be the agentes in rebus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agentes_in_rebus) of the Roman empire. That's sort of the reason that I mentioned X-Men and Harry Potter; in both those works, while the school is a very important part of the setting and a source of conflict, it's secondary to the overall source of conflict (the PCs becoming agents of the government). Basically, I'm trying to run Medieval X-Men and not Boy Meets World With Magic.

So, while it might start as "kids with magic **** around", that's definitely going to give way more towards the "kids growing up to deal with problems". Now how they deal with those problems ties into the overarching theme, which is: "Is there a difference between what is right and what is necessary?"


practical applications class [...]

gave them bonuses to certain checks based on their schedule.

Both of those are pretty neat suggestions. Obviously, I wouldn't overplay the practical applications class (otherwise it's just a normal encounter) but doing something like the dragon fighting classes in How To Train Your Dragon every so often would be cool.


Just out of curiosity, what Power Level are you planning to run this at?

Characters are going to be starting out their career at PL 4 since they are, after all, just normal kids excepting their magic. (PL 4 actually puts them around "Golden Age sidekick" Power Level but it's workable) They're going to get up to PL 6 relatively quickly and probably be PL 8 when they graduate. I've got guidelines for how to choose powers so that they're consistent across characters (while still letting people have unique or rare abilities) and I'm also going to be fine with switching around points as the PCs grow (switching out their Expertise:Farmer for something more appropriate as they learn and grow, for instance).


Also, is this a Play By Post, Live over the internet via something like Skyp, or an in person game?

Play by Post


Lastly, when you say everyone is magic, do you mean everyone is a more or less bog standard Zatana/Dr. Fate/Dr. Strange/Harry Dresden style caster with minor variance between them, or everyone has magic but magic means more then one thing?

The magic that everybody has all comes from the same place. There are five thaumaturgical traditions: Air, Fire, Earth, Water, and Aether. Each tradition has abilities that are associated with it, though sometimes different traditions can achieve the same effect through different means (e.g. Air can create invisibility by creating "thick air" that obscures vision while Water can create invisibility by making themselves appear totally unremarkable to observers). Everyone in the world (at least, every human) has at least one tradition that they can use. People strong in magic might have specialized experience with one tradition or they might be able to use multiple traditions. Magic is seen as natural; it's seen as no more strange than using your hand or your foot. You still have archetypes like warrior or thief or scholar but they all use magic in addition to mundane talents to do what they do.



1.) Rivals.

I'm probably not going to make the rival so ... petty. While I'm not averse to torturing players that way (I've run plenty of Paranoia games), that sort of rival fits better in the more High School Drama sort of genre.

That being said, having foils and foes that the characters can face in the setting is definitely a good suggestion.


2.) Be very careful not to be too caught up in the minutiae of "school". Club activities are great places for encounters, as are sports or school events. You can even have things happen during classes, or have them working on interesting homework assignments that require them to go do something special, but don't actually make class and work the core of it all.

Agreed. I really like the club suggestion. The modern-style club isn't really in the feel of what I'm doing but that just means that it will require some changes to fit.

There's going to be no getting around the fact that the PCs are going to have to experience some (very abbreviated) classes but that's just so that they can know what the heck their characters are experiencing and learn a bit about the setting and how the world works.

I'll have to think up some homework that will turn into some mini-adventures.


There's tons of anime stuff that you can draw on. Google some stuff on anime magic school or anime monster school and I'm sure you'll get some ideas.

It's not really in the same style (once again Medieval X-Men vs. Boy Meets World With Magic) but I'll definitely look some of it up just for inspiration.

Knaight
2014-08-19, 07:19 PM
It sounds like you more or less have things under control. An option would be to have other sorts of schools around, which crop up from time to time, and flesh out the setting. There's also a wide range here - you have things like the school from Skin Hunger, in which the first lesson was basically "you can magically produce food, that's the only way you're getting it, figure it out", and a lot of subsequent lessons were "we sealed away your magic food production, that's still the only way you're getting it, figure it out", and you can have idyllic schools, with everything in between.

TooManySecrets
2014-08-20, 01:16 PM
It sounds like you more or less have things under control.

Oh yeah, I definitely have a good handle of things. It's just that with a campaign like this where you're diverting from the usual setup (e.g. wandering murder hobo-style adventures out for fame and glory and money) there's a million little fiddly details that make it actually feel like a different campaign. Even small suggestions are really helpful because it brings in another perspective and helps make the campaign setting fuller.


An option would be to have other sorts of schools around, which crop up from time to time, and flesh out the setting.

There isn't going to be a school that is exactly the same. The government likes to have a pretty tight rein on their special agents (i.e. what the players are training to be) so there's basically only that one school for that particular job and it's in the capital. That being said, I really like the suggestion for other schools. They might not have the exact same training, but they can still be potential rivals. Maybe they go to another school for a while just to see what other people are learning (e.g. they go to a military school to see what officers are learning. Even though the PCs won't be commanding troops, they will probably at some point have to work with the military as a liaison or to give them special orders outside the usual chain of command so it's important for the PCs to know how the other branches of public service think and act). It would be a good source for interschool rivalry and friction as there's the potential for resentment or overlapping missions or what have you.


There's also a wide range here - you have things like the school from Skin Hunger, in which the first lesson was basically "you can magically produce food, that's the only way you're getting it, figure it out", and a lot of subsequent lessons were "we sealed away your magic food production, that's still the only way you're getting it, figure it out", and you can have idyllic schools, with everything in between.

That's a good point. The way that I'm envisioning it is that the first (in-game) year is basically a primary school type education. The players are from all over the empire so the school needs to normalize their education and teach them what's expected of them. After that, that's when they start barring down on the students. It'll obviously vary teacher by teacher and that could be a good way of setting up contrasts.

Slipperychicken
2014-08-20, 06:00 PM
You could have plenty of bits where kids sneak off campus and get into trouble: Drugs, gambling, fighting, predators, police, and monsters are just a few of the troubles which these kids can get up to. These earn the PCs chances to hone their skills in the real world, but can also carry risks.

Other students could challenge PCs to a fight on or off-campus (which may turn out to be a trap or an underground cage match), or invite them to participate in all manner of recklessness and debauchery.

Abusive adults may be fond of terrorizing, beating, or starving the children for fun or the old-school tradition of corporal punishment. Choices made here could have a profound impact. Is their treatment of children necessary or right? Is it right or necessary to subvert this exercise of lawful authority?

The students may be chronically underfed, giving penalties unless they can somehow acquire proper sustenance. Bullies take what they can from the weak, the sneaky steal from other children and the storehouses, the rich buy food off-campus, and the rest are left to beg with hungry bellies. Particularly good food can even be traded for favors and information. The grown-ups have long since stopped listening to the "complainers" and "fat little piggies" who ask for more. RP opportunities abound as children look for food, and the PCs are tempted to resort to unsavory means to feed themselves.