Harry Potter RPG for kids

[jeregenest]

The boy has asked me to run a game for him and his friends. He writes:

I would like my roleplaying game to be about Harry Potter.

I think the setting should be at Hogwarts and I think the characters should be very good at magic or not very good at magic.

I also think that the scene should be a mixture of quidditich and magic class.

Discussing it with him he seemed happy to choose a different school, perhaps in the USA. So I'll probably set it at the Salem Academy, which is mentioned very very briefly in Goblet of Fire. Probably for simplicity we'll end up with the same houses but need to ask the kids that.

From discussions with peaseblossom it appears what he really wants is to focus on magic class and quidditich and he doesn't care about having a big bad. He also wants to go through all seven years. That seems to lend itself to a nice narrative arch of start of school, halloween, christmas break, quidditich cup, end of school. Which is pretty much how most of the books are organized.

Mechanics, well definitely will have to whip up something simple. peaseblossom recommend using a class schedule to build skills, and that seems reasonable. Throw in some virtues and we're all set.

Now to invite his friends.

Comments

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

We've been playing an HP game with my friends daughter. We do about 20 minutes of it before our sessions on Wednesdays. She'd seen us playing Mortal Coil before so she asked that the game involve poker chips and dice.

We've been doing a range of things and are currently on a tramp steamer going to the Antartic to find out why Voldemort is interested in certain goings on in a hidden city.

We met and defeated him at the end of last year, or at least part of him that had appeared in the guise of a beetle that professed to be an ancient Sumerian god. We fed him to the shoggoths in Care of Magical Creatures.

There are lots of references to this kind of thing to amuse the adults.

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

We have four stats in our system represented by poker chips: magic, speed, intelligence and hit points.

The GM sets a difficulty level for an action and this must be equalled by a d6 roll. Chips can be spent to reroll and add to the score. Chip spend must be justified in the game. Chips replenish at the end of each session.

Spells we know are typically difficulty 4, spells we don't at 10 or more. Casting them once lowers the difficulty level.

We later added swine tokens or pig points. These can be spent to alter the narrative in some way. They get replenished either by getting into trouble on purpose or when a significant storyline finishes. So we've spent them to learn the Albino Penguin language or to have remembered to pack ones broomstick on the boat.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Nice easy mechanic there. I like.

[imnotandrei.livejournal.com]

I like the "class schedule to build skills" idea -- and may I recommend a simplified (very!) Ars Magica system? Their skill+trait+roll would do a great job of showing how people get better at things as they go on.

Also -- for invitations, I wonder if there's a source for bulk/very cheap stuffed-animal owls?

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Oh nice idea about the owls!

[fossilapostle.livejournal.com]

Two things that I hope will help:

- Sorensen's Broomstix RPG - http://www.memento-mori.com/other/games/broomstix.html - PDF version - http://www.memento-mori.com/other/games/broomstix_rpg.pdf - just in case you didn't already know about it. It's very simplistic, and character advancement isn't to my liking, but it could give you some ideas.

- HP spells (including spells from movies and video games) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spells_in_Harry_Potter - Might be helpful to have a printout of this list, for when the kids start asking to learn spells from the books & stuff.

Please, please, PLEASE write a full report on how this turns out! I can't wait to hear how it went!

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

I probably should go back and read Broomstix, its been a while.

And I'll try to be good about writing actual plays.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

"The boy has asked me to run a game for him and his friends."

Every parent's dream! That's so awesome! :D

They grow up so fast... ::sniff::

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

He's a harsh critic, but this should be fun.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

A chip off the old block, eh? ;)

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Yeah he's just like his mom.

[foxtown.livejournal.com]

You are so cool.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

My kids tend to think I'm weird.

[smoagendash.livejournal.com]

What happened to the superhero game?

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

He changed his mind and deided he wanted this.

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

It's about time (http://robotnik.livejournal.com/41011.html#cutid1)!

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

I was actually thinking about that last night when discusing with Jess how hard it will be for me to make sure I don't go overboard for a bunch of 7 year olds.

I'm pretty sure most of the parents might wodner why their kids are learning about 14th century alchemists and Russian demonology...no wait, they'll all be homeschoolers.