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.

Step Two: Get Sorted

There are four houses at Hogwarts that your character can be sorted in to. A character’s house is a refection of the way his personality has developed and what the character values. Thus, the character’s house becomes his family and reinforces the values that the character has learned. The four Hogwarts houses, thus, confer benefits based on these values and bring members of the house and house alumni in bonds of commonality.

Houses are chosen on the basis of the Character Concept you created in step zero. If you assumed it wasn’t important, go back and do it, and take ten points. Not really, but it is important. Take that idea of the character and decide where he or she would fit in best, where his or her personal moral compass would guide them, and where he or she would want to belong.

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!