I’ve been wrestling with the combat mechanics of the Hogwarts RPG, mostly because combat(in an in-game sense) isn’t really meant to be a matter of life and death. So I thought, and the obvious answer was subdual damage. But that just seems like an excuse to replace “Killed” with “K.O.ed” for a PG rating and that feels like a cop out. So I brainstormed for a bit, and came up with a couple of ideas, the first of which will be playtested next week, but here it is.

To do this, begin with standard Health values, whatever the character has. This Health is considered, for the purposes of all spells that do not deal direct damage, is the fatigue of the student in the face of the spells cast upon him. Each time a spell is cast at the student, subtract one, until the Health value drops to 5 or below.

At this point, the character starts making yield rolls of 1d6 versus the health value. If the roll is higher, the student is overcome and yeilds to the opponent. However, if the character has WIL or STR at 5 or greater, he can reroll once on each yeild check, provided the hit is not a critical hit. A yeild does not imply anything greater than the effect of the spell cast at the player, simply that the effect was so extreme as to be disabling for the normal duration of the spell.

Step Three: Schedule Classes

In almost all RPG’s, a characters special skills are enumerated by category. In the Hogwarts RPG, we instead use 2 skill types, “Classes” and “Experiences.” Classes are skills that you can pick up by taking a class in that field, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions. They are leveled up on a scale of 1 to 7(For each year at Hogwarts) using points recieved in game. More on character advancement later. Experiences are skills that are taken as a result of backstory(Step Zero Again!) or significant in game occurences and rarely change. For instance, being versed in muggle cleaning could be an attribute of the Weasley boys, since that was a punishment they received for their various mischiefs. Another example would be Harry Potter’s abnormal resistance to Voldemort’s curses. These are on a scale of 1 to 4 OR can be given a percentage value(17, 33, 50, 66, 84, 100), and typically involve a bonus or skill that would only be used in a specific and somewhat unusual situation.

To use a class, choose an ability from that class and roll 2d6. Add the relevant stat(Ex. Expelliarmus(Easy Spell, Will based, Roll greater than 6 to cast)) and the number of years your student has taken the class. If the number is equal to or higher than the listed difficulty, you are successful.

GM Sidenote: Experiences are a little tricky for new gamers, because as a game designer, I cannot possibly imagine the breadth of experience that a schoolful of wizarding children would have. I therefore include examples and rough scales, but not lists or mechanics. The GM must guage the validity and extent of the experience and how he is willing to allow it to affect his game. Here are some examples from before

Experience Example: Muggle Cleaning

1. The character was told to clean with muggle methods, by someone who had only a vague idea what those methods entailed.
2. The character is fascinated by muggles and study’s the innocuous details of their lives, but often fails to understand their method of cleaning without magic.
3. The character was raised by muggles and had a normal set of daily chores, and thus has some experience cleaning using muggle means.
4. The character was responsible for more than appropriate amounts of housework and has learned muggle cleaning thoroughly.

Experience Example: Spell Resistance(Imperius Curse)

• 17% The character can resist the Imperius Curse 17%(1 on 1d6) of the time because of repeated exposure.
• 33% The character can resist the Imperius Curse 33%(1-2 on 1d6) of the time because of familiarity.
• 50% The character can recognize the effects of the Imperius Curse in others as well as resist the curse 50%(1-3 on 1d6) of the time, due to repeated exposure and familiarity.
• 66% The character has recieved limited training in recognizing and defending agains the Imperius Curse, and can resist 66%(1-4 on 1d6) of the time.
• 84% The character has recieved special training as an Auror, Order of the Pheonix Member, or scholar(professor) of the dark arts and can resist 84%(1-5 on 1d6) of the time.
• 100% The character has a supernatural ability that allows him to ignore the effects of the Imperius Curse, either from a specific source or universally.

So, I was reading Chgowiz’(Which is pretty much my favorite RPG blog, even though I am a new school gamer mostly) recent post about how “We Don’t Need no Stinkin Rules or Mechanics,” and got to thinking, is there an ideal level of mechanics to keep the world in the hands of the GM and the character’s effect on the world in the hands of the player(i.e. keep the game moving while minimizing metagaming)? Personally, I like rules to the extent that they define the ‘physics’ of the world, making sure things fit within the ranges defined by the setting, keeping the fudging to a minimum, and moving combat along. I like, for instance, that there is a defined level of power for a fireball cast by a level 10 wizard. I like how steel has a different hardness than wood. I like that I can see my skills on my character sheet. These are things that my character should know, providing he is a wizard with a skill set who has chopped down a tree at some point during his life.

I don’t like the rules when they try to control the world. The only balancing rules that I like, at all, are Health(HP) and Magic(MP) point mechanics. I’ve always thought of RP heroes in the Classical perspective, or as the Biblical Nephilim who are derived from them, and these were all exceptionally tough creatures. Here, more than anything, I think it’s a matter of taste. Beyond HP and MP, I hate that arrows are arbitrarily lost in 3.5 D&D. I hate when I don’t understand what to roll in certain situations. I hate having personality mechanics for player characters. I hate when skills checks are rigidly defined in terms of the skill used. Not all the arrows will break, not knowing what to roll slows things down, personality mechanics make for generic personalities, and anybody who has ever taken a Social Psych course will tell you, if you know enough about related fields you can usually fake it.

When I look at this, I see potential. Maybe we could have a minimalistic system, all done in PDF or similar, where each character can get all the info he needs and no more from the GM. Create rules for each skill, school of magic, and only distribute what the character would actually know to the character, plus or minus some common sense rules to move gameplay along. For example, say in my hypothetical game a chronokinecist gets to cast time magic based magic and know about time traveling monsters. The player can have a pamphlet regarding his magical abilities and their effects, the mechanics of skill checks and combat, and low level time based monster descriptions(but not stats!). Ideally this would take no more than 5 or six pages total. The GM would have all available information, and can exercise his own discretion with what parts he reveals to the players.

I have to give an acknowledgement here, to Charles Matheny, who’s homebrew gave me this idea in the first place. I can’t really give him any kind of shout out here, but if you visit Cookies and Cream I’m sure he’d appreciate it. Thanks!