i need creative help with a wizard's-collage/magic-school dnd adventure

[IncompetentDM]

ill apologise for my english before your read this post because i am going to make horrible english mistakes

so i started to DM a 5e D&D game for a groupe of my friends,
in the middle of a quest they enter "the academia", a school for younge adventurers that want to improve their skills and abilitys before they imbark an adventure
they went nuts for this idea, ditched the quest and started wondering around the school, that session i had done a lot of improvisation and as it seems i did it well because when we finished they told me to play a wizard's-collage/magic-school dnd game, they even asked me to creat an NPC called "brad" that would be the athlete-fratboy-blond&beautifull-douchbag of the school.
the thing is, i dont know how to do it
how to i combine
the social part:
brad and his gang of athletes, the teachers, the classes, the friends, the freaks, the nerds
and the fantasy adventure:
fighting monsters, solving problems, traveling through continents, completing quests, earning and finding tresure

i thought about field trips to temples
and thought about a magic-test scenerio inside a classroom

but i really dont know how to combin the social part inside it

anyway i would very much enjoy your advice and help.
i could use any note you have in mind
creative advice for things i can do/charcters i can create/ mechanics for the social part of the school/ or even quest ideas for a school themed playthrough

thanks in advance (:

[Herobizkit]

I assume you're aware of a little-known series of books/movies starring a character called Harry Potter. ^_^

Also consider the school like the X-Mansion (from X-Men); it's where the 'kids' live and study but they GO places. In the X-Men's case, usually by jet... for your game, maybe an Airship or straight-up teleportation/portals.

The social part is what you can do in-between the adventures. Run the social part like a TV drama/sitcom. If you need help coming up with ideas, there's a well-known site called TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/) where you can see any TV show, book, or movie and see what kinds of characters are in them.

Don't be shy, borrow characters already made from those programs, have them interact with one another, and then involve the players.

Bradford "Brad" is the blonde jock who most girls like, but Brad is also very vain.
Candace, head 'cheerleader' is his girlfriend, but she is only using him because he's popular.
Davenforth, a first-year wizard-in-training, really likes Candace but he's too shy to approach her.
Evanson, a cool, comical cat who doesn't take anything seriously, takes D under his wing.
Faith, a warlock who's kind of a tomboy, just wants to get D's attention; E likes her.
Gomer, a Dark Arts teacher cursed to remain as a cat for a hundred years, butts in whenever he can.

and so on.

[Dr. Cliché]

You could base it on Unseen University (http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Unseen_University#Beating_the_Bounds).

If, for example, the staff are all old men who just want to eat heartily, it might explain why the students have to sort everything out. :smallwink:

If nothing else, you want a good reason why it's the students risking themselves, instead of the more experienced staff.

In terms of staff/students, my suggestion would be to consider who hey're most likely to encounter (and who the most important people are). Write up some brief personalities for them (and stats, if necessary) as a start. After that, you can add more staff/students if and when you need them.

Also, consider whether you want to have any villainous staff/students. If so, it's probably better to introduce them early and let the players get to know them (or at least see them a bit).


In terms of the social side, I have a couple of points:
- Use it to get across any exposition, rewards or other stuff (the former could be staff telling them, could be students passing on rumours or just them asking questions). You could also use it to show a character acting strangely (perhaps a student is behaving oddly, having stumbled upon a dangerous artefact).
- Other than that, let the players decide what to do. See what they want to do, where they want to go, who they want to meet with etc. As above, make NPCs as and when you need them (maybe have some spare names and personalities on hand).

In terms of adventuring:
- They could be sent on 'tests' by the teachers (it is a school for adventurers, after all).
- There could be stuff happening in the school, in the tow/city or whatever that the school is in, or just in the surrounding area. This could be random or could tie in with something in the school - maybe the experiments of an evil staff member, or just because the school was accidentally built on a gateway to hell. These are likely to be unofficial adventures (the staff may be unaware or dismissive of the threats), and may even require the players to sneak out to solve them.

Really though, just have fun with it.