Wizarding Wizarding is a game about a world of magic that’s hidden beneath the everyday world. The players take on the role of wizard apprentices attending the Institute of Magic. Make Characters Each player makes a character. To do so, the player imagines the apprentice they’d like to play. They then spend points on what that character is capable of. A players play as first year apprentice at the Institute. They’ll be age 10-13 and they’ll be able to work magic. Characters are only allowed to have one unique trait: a unique power, special destiny or a supernatural heritage. The GM will determine what counts as a unique trait. To spend points, the player divides four points between four Abilities: • Charm (likeability/persuasiveness) • Cleverness (intelligence/cunning) • Constitution (health/physicality) • Confidence (self-esteem/courage). Abilities starts at 1. Four points are then spent on the Colors of Magic: • Green (effecting living things) • Purple (effecting inanimate things) • Silver (performing neutral magic) • White (performing helpful magic). These start at 0. Roleplaying Character. Each scene the player tries to play their character in a consistent and compelling way. When a session starts, the player writes down three things they want to get across about their character. At the end of the session, each other player and the Game Master guesses what the three things are. If any of the things generally match the player gets an XP. If they don’t, the player can elect to change their character to what was guessed, which also awards them an XP. Make Decisions, Roll Dice A player says what their character does. Sometimes, they’ll need to roll dice to determine the outcome of their actions. Earn Tokens When a player gets their character into trouble, they get a token. Tokens determine what happens at the end of each Chapter and at the end of a Book or Series. Tokens come in 3 colors: Black, Red and White. If the action that earned the token was selfish a Black Token is gained. If the action was selfless a White Token is gained. If the action was emotional, they gain a Red Token. Spend XP At the end of each session the players can spend any XP that they’ve earned. It cost a number of XP equal to the current level of an Ability or Color to improve it. GMs Track Time A game consists of Scenes, Chapters, Books and Series as well as Sessions. The GM keeps track of these units. The system determines when things change from one to another. Create a Mystery Books are about a mystery at the Institute. The GM creates this mystery. Describe the World Each scene the GM will describe what’s happening, explaining what things look like and what the characters in the creatures in the world are doing. Drive the Story Forward The GM keeps decides when to begin and end scenes and where scenes begin, what NPCs populate them, etc… Each Chapter the GM will have a different goal during each Scene, as follows: 1. Establish the characters, the school and the NPCs. 2. Bring the characters together. 3. Establish adversity at the school. Reinforces PC connections. 4. Introduce the mystery. Get the characters interested in it. 5. Reinforce the need to solve the mystery. Increase the danger and the stakes the characters have in it. 6. Drop clues that bring the nature of the mystery to light.* 7. Address the possible outcomes of the mystery. Eliminate all but one possibility. 8. Put the group in situations that winnow their numbers and separate them, so that only one character is remaining.** 9. Resolve the mystery. Have the character confront the perpetrator(s). Make the confrontation as climatic as possible. *If Chapter 5 ends without enough clues to move forward. Have additional Chapter ‘5’s’ until there are enough clues. ** During this Chapter, any character that leaves the group can give Tokens they’ve acquired to the remaining characters. You may need to have multiple Chapter ‘7’s’ in order to isolate a single character. Handle Dice Rolls A player makes a roll whenever they do something that might get their character into trouble. Working magic always counts, unless under the supervision of one of the teachers at the Institute. The character’s action determine how many dice are rolled, equal to the most relevant Ability or if working magic, two of the Colors (either Purple or Green and one of Black, Silver or White). The type of die rolled starts at d12 and is reduced one size (down to d4) each time one of the characters gets into trouble. Whenever a particular bit of trouble would reduce the die from d4, a Chapter ends. Interpret Rolls If all the dice a player rolls come up 1’s, the character gets into trouble (something bad happens). If any dice in a roll to work magic are greater than the character’s Confidence, the magic goes out of control. The more dice that exceed the character’s Confidence, the more out of control the spell. Otherwise, the character succeeds at the task they were trying to accomplish. If the player gets the maximum result on a die, something cool happens. The more dice that come up with the maximum value, the cooler the result. End Things To end a segment, look at the acting character’s tokens: • If they are balanced, tell the player that their character does something brilliant to get everyone out of trouble and ask them what that thing is. Whatever they say is what happens. • If they have more Black, tell the player that, however their character may normally act, they’re convinced to do something really awful to get the group out of trouble, and ask them what that thing is. Whatever they say is what happens. • If they have more Red, a random event or action, either a force of nature or the behavior of another character comes and saves the group from the trouble they’re in. Explain what happens. • If they have more White, a friendly character or creature, or even the power of magic itself, comes and rescues the characters from their troubles. Explain what happens.