I saw a couple of these on that cesspool of technical ignorance, myspace, a few months ago and forgot all about them until I decided to take up the Hogwarts RPG again. I found a whole list!
Revisions and Errata: I have updated the posts on Ancient Runes and on Part 5 to include some things that I forgot.
Defense Against the Dark Arts
The cursed post, held by no teacher for more than one year since Tom Riddles was denied the professorship, Defense against the Dark Arts is one of the most danger-fraught classes, which is why many of the adventurous students of Hogwarts consider it their favorite subject. Unfortunately, the first two years of Harry’s education, he was instructed by incompetent and ill-willed teachers, Professors Quirrell and Lockhart. The class teaches countercurses and imparts knowledge of dark spells and creatures for the benefit of students should they ever find themselves in need of such knowledge(wink).
Sorry for the lull, I recently had a death of someone very close to me and have been unavailable.
Potions:
Taught by professor Snape througout most of the series, potions was the class all but the Slytherins dreaded attending. Given Snape’s disciplinary policy, I would imagine that some students only dreaded the punishment for not attending more than attendance. However, the subtle art of potion making can achieve effects mere spells cannot, bottle fame, glory, or even put a stopper in death.
Brewing potions can require from 1 to any number of checks, but a good guideline is to use 1 check for easy potions, 3 checks for meduim potions, and 6 checks for hard potions. If a character fails more than one check to create a potion, the potion is useless unless otherwise noted.
Chapter Two: Characters Whether we be old and bald Or young with scabby knees, Our heads could do with filling With some interesting stuff, For now they’re bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff, In the Hogwarts RPG, the most versatile and fun to play characters are students. Almost all the characters you will play will be students and the game is oriented toward playing students. The reason for this is that growing up in a world of such amazing power offers far more choices for good or ill than participating as a professor, or auror, or ministry employee, or Stan Shunpike of the Knight Bus. As students, you are offered several choices and will be affected by several events outside your control(Tradition and the adult world, to name a few) in the creation of your character. Still you have many options to use when creating your character. Step Zero: Conceptualize. Each character in the Harry Potter universe has a consistent moral compass, however skewed (Such as the cases of Professor Snape, Draco Malfoy, and Even Lord Voldemort). Each character has fears, desires, anxieties, joys, and even hobbies. Fred and George Weasly valued laughter and family above school and authority, for example, and consistently chose according to this. Remember that you are taking on an important role at Hogwarts. The most important role, as a matter of fact, for if there were no students, the teachers would be elsewhere, finding other kinds of jobs or guiding other students at other schools. It is therefore important that you know your character has his own thoughts and feelings. Some suggestions I might make to get you started are: Is your character Muggle Born or Wizard Born? Which house did his or her parents belong to? Did he or she agree with his or her parents choices? Does he or she have any favorite pastimes or hobbies? Does he or she have any relatively unusual talents? Who are his or her friends? What is his or her physical appearance like? Does he or she like animals, or have any pets? What are his or her aspirations or goals? Be careful how you create your character’s personality, as well. It will affect what opportunities are available to him or her, what house he or she belongs to, et cetera. This is a very important step, don’t skip it!
