Apprentice, Wizard, Familiar

An apprentice wizard isn’t allowed to have familiars - these magical helpers are too clever and powerful for a mage-in-training to control. But a magical apprenticeship is hard, and familiars are so easy to acquire. Can one really hurt? Or two? And if you had three, you’d never have to study again...

Pronouns & Gender

Although the apprentice could be male or female, I will refer to that character exclusively as “she.” Similarly, although the mentor could be male or female, I will refer to that character exclusively as “he.” Since familiars are usually animals, I will refer to them character as “it.”

The Main Characters

In this game, as a group, you and your friends will create several shared characters -- the apprentice wizard, the apprentice’s mentor, and the apprentice’s familiar. You might create others (such as a parent, for example), or others might emerge during game play. but for now focus on this trio: Apprentice, mentor, and familiar.

Your apprentice wizard lives in your town - she even goes to your school! She knows everyone you do. She has the same teachers and shops in the same stores. She might even know you! Magic is very secret though, and non-wizards must never find out. Her mentor is a more experienced wizard who lives in your town, too. 

Your familiars come and go as they are summoned, but the first one you summon is special to your apprentice.

Although your mentor and your first familiar are important characters, it is the apprentice who is the viewpoint character. She is the one who seeks out trouble and adventure.

Playing the Game

Apprentice, Wizard, Familiar is a light-hearted game, so as you play, keep that in mind. Sure, the occult exists, you might find vampires, and your familiar might go bad and demand that you kill the family iguana, but the occult will not involve terror, the vampires will chat with you rather than kill you, and you will tell that familiar, “No, I will not kill Puff no matter what.”

You will also need to play well with others. Part of that is achieved through sensitivity (see the X-cards below), but most of it is achieved through negotiation and fun. You and your fellow players are the audience of this game. When you have the stage, try to entertain them, and when leave the stage, give the next person something to work with. For example, suppose you decide that your group’s apprentice, Clover, has a big history test in 24 hours that she has to pass, or she fails history, which means that Clover’s parents will ground her, and that she will have to curtail her magical studies, which she keeps secret from her parents. She might pass if she could get some help, but who? And this is when you get off the stage and let someone else pick up Clover’s story. Will Clover decide to summon a half-dozen familiars? Will she seek out a tutor? Will she ask her wise but hard-hearted mentor for advice or even help? Or will she do something completely different? Let the next person choose. 

X-Cards

This game involves a lot of sharing of ideas. To facilitate that, you should use John Stavropoulos’s X-cards. You can go to this address for more details:.  http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg

The way the cards work is that you place an index card with an X at the center of the table. Anyone can touch (or even simply point to) the card anytime they like to make the current subject off-limits, no discussion. 

Sometimes you might do this because the current subject is too painful to talk about, such as someone introducing divorce while your family is in the middle of a divorce. Sometimes you might do this because the game is getting off-track, and it’s obvious that the current subject has nothing to do with the game. You might even want to do this because someone is hogging the spotlight.

Of course, you might not want to use the X-card all the time. Perhaps you would rather explain the reason you want someone else to drop the divorce storyline, or perhaps you are OK with a little off-topic discussion. And if you want something to be off limits, you might mention it ahead of time, if you feel comfortable doing so. With close friends, you might never have to use X-cards at all or only rarely.

What Your Apprentice Does

Your apprentice is basically an ordinary young person, still in school, who also happens to be learning magic. She also has family and friends and likely enjoys video games. So she’s busy. 

In the magic section, you will see a list of spells, along with a lesson you must complete before you can learn the spell. Completing those lessons are not the only adventures you can have with magic, but they are a good start.

Like magic, just getting by day to day can test you and can provide a source of adventure. 

Here are some situations and related challenges your apprentice might find herself in:

At School

∙	A major test
∙	Election for some office - club leader? Class President?
∙	Drama between cliques
∙	A bully appears
∙	A teacher decides (correctly?) the apprentice is a bad apple
∙	Somebody knows the apprentice is magical

Away From School

∙	Drama with parents
∙	A huge social engagement
∙	Drama with friends
∙	Relatives arrive unannounced
∙	A big trip to someplace exciting
∙	Somebody knows the apprentice is magical

The list of situations is endless. What sort of things are going on in your apprentice’s life? News flash - the same things are going on in your life!

Making the Apprentice

The most important thing to remember about your apprentice is that she knows a little magic, she has a few skills, sometimes she’s lazy, sometimes she works hard, sometimes she’s obedient, and sometimes she does her own thing. In short, except for the magic part, she’s not that different from an ordinary kid.

To create the apprentice, you, as a group, must answer these questions together. I provide some suggestions, but your group may come up with any answer you like:

What is your apprentice’s given name? 

∙	Inez
∙	Clover
∙	Morgan
∙	Magnus
∙	Chris
∙	Todd

What is your apprentice’s family name?

∙	Peach
∙	García
∙	Grubb
∙	Chow
∙	Wheeler
∙	Castleberry

Write your apprentice’s name across the top of a sheet of paper. 

Why is she in training to become a wizard? 

∙	It’s an old family tradition. All of her family knows about magic, and many of them are wizards. She is expected to live up to this legacy. 
∙	It’s a secretive family tradition. Her family knows nothing about magic, except for that one weird relative with whom she has always felt connected. 
∙	All of her friends are doing it. Or at least some of them. She is the new kid in the group, eager to prove herself.
∙	Your cat (or dog or other pet) talks to her. Her familiar discovered her.
∙	Looking for the next Harry Potter series, she found a magical tome hidden in the recesses of her local library. The secrets inside proved too cool to resist.
∙	Her mentor contacted her out of the blue. Is there a prophecy involved?
∙	She received an acceptance letter from a magical academy that she thought she had only applied to in a dream

What is the one thing she's good at?

∙	She’s smart. 
∙	She’s athletic. 
∙	She’s charming. 
∙	She’s gifted (magic comes easily to her)
∙	She’s devious.

Write these things on a sheet of paper. Put a 2 next to the one thing your apprentice is good at. Put a 1 next to everything else.

Now that you know more about your apprentice, decide what she looks like, whether she has any siblings, where she lives, and what grade she's in. Let everybody really get to know her. 

Creating Your Mentor in the Magical Arts

What is the name of your mentor? 

∙	Filwin Hjortsberg
∙	Erasmus Browne
∙	Mezmo the Great
∙	Euphemia Whipple
∙	Éliás Szilágy 
∙	Bridget Maggs

How are the apprentice and her mentor in the magical arts connected to each other? 

∙	He is a relative.
∙	He is a familiar.
∙	He is an older teen.
∙	The mentor is a magical book.
∙	The mentor is a professional teacher of young wizards.

What does the mentor think the student should do to improve as a wizard? 

∙	Put in more effort. The apprentice, in his mind, slacks a lot.
∙	Think deeply and creatively. The apprentice, in his mind, does not examine problems carefully.
∙	Show respect. The apprentice, in his mind, is rude to him and to others.
∙	Have some fun! The apprentice, in his mind, is too serious.
∙	Stand up for herself. The apprentice, in his mind, is too timid.
∙	Nothing and everything. The apprentice, in his mind, is worthless and should quit, but if she persists, he will reluctantly instruct her.

Write these facts on the same sheet that you used for the apprentice.

Making the Familiar 

A familiar is a magical being that takes the form of a common animal. Cats, crow, dogs and frogs are the most common.  They come in all shapes and sizes, and each will be adept at something useful while having the potential (certainty, really) to cause trouble in some other aspect of life. There’s no limit to the number of familiars you can summon and have on hand, provided you can keep them all happy.

As the game progresses, your apprentice will find herself in situations where calling up a familiar will be extremely helpful. Once a familiar is created, anyone can play it. It’s likely that particular players will be fond of particular familiars and gravitate toward playing them when they appear, and that’s fine. It is important to remember that anyone can play anyone, though. Hold ownership loosely and collectively.
Your apprentice can cast Elicio Familiaris at any time. 

The most important thing to remember about familiars is that they are obligated to serve those who summon them, but they are also intelligent beings with their own feelings and interests. Although you may (and likely will) summon many familiars, this familiar that you are making is the first one that your apprentice summoned. She can always summon this familiar, no roll needed.

All familiars can talk, turn invisible, and communicate telepathically with the wizard who summoned them. No wizard is fooled by the invisibility (least of all your mentor), but wizards do not have any special ability to sense familiars they could not ordinarily see either. So an invisible familiar, say a cat, could sit in the corner of a living room, and no one would see it except a wizard, but if the cat were hidden under the couch, the wizard would have no way of seeing it.

When you make a familiar, answer these questions together:

What form does it take?

∙	Dog
∙	Cat
∙	Frog
∙	Crow
∙	Fly
∙	Rat
∙	Skunk
∙	Snake
∙	Monkey
∙	Spider
∙	Pigeon
∙	A book
∙	A mirror
∙	An action figure or a doll
∙	A homunculus (a tiny, living 6” version of the apprentice!)

What is its name?

∙	Tom Reid
∙	Greedigut
∙	Vinegar Tom
∙	Pyewacket
∙	Illemauzer
∙	Sack
∙	Grizzell
∙	Sugar
∙	Jarmara
∙	Holt
∙	Trullibub
∙	Mr.Newes

What is its talent?

∙	Smart+2
∙	Athletic+2
∙	Charming+2
∙	Gifted+2
∙	Devious+2

Describe how a familiar does not look exactly like a normal animal or thing of its type. For example, a Smart cat might be all black, with eyeglass-shaped markings around the eyes.

What does it Desire? (This should always be random, or at least a surprise)

∙	Attention and Affection
∙	Food and Drink
∙	Danger and intrigue
∙	Fun and excitement
∙	To help the apprentice with everything
∙	Something specific and odd

A familiar’s desire must be satisfied or it will start causing mischief. Whatever it wants it wants a lot of, and all the time. If the familiar is not satisfied, it’s talents will change to one of the following (pick whichever seems appropriate):

∙	Making a huge mess +2 (and +2 Smart when intrigued)
∙	Tattling to the master +2 (and +2 Devious if you tell it a secret)
∙	Attracting attention +2 (and +2 Athletic when stoked)
∙	Boasting +2 (and +2 Charming when flattered)
∙	Everything +2, but it charges a very high price for its assistance, like “Your little brother.”

If the apprentice continues to ignore a familiar’s desire, the familiar’s desire will change too, to something dark:

∙	Blood
∙	Pain
∙	Fear
∙	Forbidden knowledge

At this point, the apprentice must either make amends with the familiar or attempt to dismiss the familiar (see the Reditum Familiaris spell in the Magic section for more details).

This is meant to be a light-hearted game (unless you and your friends explicitly agree otherwise). Thus your apprentice should do very little to fulfill the desires of a familiar who has gone bad. 

How to Do Things

When your apprentice finds herself in some situation where the outcome is uncertain, where she could succeed or fail, figure out which approach she is taking (Smart, Athletic, Charming, or Gifted) and then roll a single six-sided die. It doesn’t matter who rolls it; take turns.

∙	If the result is a 1, it is a smashing success!
∙	If it is equal to or lower than her score, it is a success. 
∙	If it is over her score, she fails.
∙	If it is a six, something bad happens, whether she fails or succeeds. For instance, she might have increased her score to a 6 by studying and passed the test with an A, but her suspicious teacher accuses her of cheating, or her friend who failed is envious of her.

Whoa, That Sucks

It sure does. If you run the numbers your poor apprentice has five ones and a single miserable two! How can she ever expect to succeed at anything? 

The answer to that is simple, and it is one you’ve probably thought of already - she needs to get smart. One way to do that is to work hard on the task: Each hour spent preparing for the task adds +1 to your apprentice’s score for that task. Thus an apprentice with a Smart of 2 who studies for a test for 4 hours will have a 6 when it comes time to take that test. You can see the drawback to this approach: Who has the time to prepare for everything?

Another way to improve your apprentice’s chances of success is to get some help from someone significantly more skilled than she is. For example, if your apprentice loves soccer (Athletics 2), she might want to prepare for the next game, she might ask her aunt, a former college player, to help her. Her aunt might have an Athletics score of 4, so together they have a 6. It takes an hour to benefit from someone else’s expertise. The drawback to this approach is that competent people are often quite busy. Your aunt, for example, might love you, but she is also busy with her own children and her own job, so she might only be able to help you a couple of times per month. Other helpers might charge exorbitant fees (like certain tutors), and others might be disagreeable or annoying (like your mentor).

Another tactic is to put together a team of similarly skilled people, such as your fellow soccer players or fellow students. If your scores are within 1 of each other, say Athletics 1 or 2 for a group of beginning soccer players, you can combine your efforts, and get a lot of practicing done in little time. For each participant, roll a d6 per hour. For each participant that succeeds, add 1 to everyone’s score. For each failure, add nothing. For each 6, subtract one from everyone’s score. If at any hour, no one rolls a success and someone rolls a 6, the group breaks up, at least for that day, due to an argument or to slacking. The drawback to this approach is the difficulty in getting a bunch of people to work together, and the possibility of nothing getting done.

So finally we get to magic. Familiars are very helpful, often silly and fun, a bit troublesome, but compared to friends, family, and classmates, they are actually relatively easy to please and easy to work with. Familiars have a very strong bond with the wizard who summoned them, and so your apprentice get immediate benefit from them, as long as she takes their advice. One drawback to using familiars is that they leave once a task is completed and once their need is met. The drawback to using a familiar (or familiars) is that the relationship can turn ugly if the familiar’s needs are not met. How many familiars do you think your apprentice can handle? 

Since the apprentice isn’t supposed to have any familiars, they must be hidden from the master - and probably her parents as well in the case of snakes and flies. 

Magic 

Your apprentice has a lot to learn. Her master will assign lessons, and they will be challenging and dangerous. If she fails, the master can punish her or kick her out! If she’s caught by regular people, that is extra bad. The stakes are high, but so are the rewards, or at least that’s what your mentor tells you. 

Learning a spell requires a spell starts with a Gifted roll. Once your apprentice succeeds at the roll, gathers the components, (which is, of course, often an adventure itself!), and learns a lesson associated with the spell, the apprentice has learned the spell. Once you learn a spell, your skill with it is always a 6. You must still roll when you use it, since if you roll a 6, there will be a negative effect, even if the spell is successful.

Casting a spell relies on innate skill to work. When your apprentice casts a spell, describe her approach - is she relying on memorization? Is she exerting herself? In other words, is she being Smart, Athletic, Charming, or Gifted?

A Forbidden Spell That You Already Know

Elicio Familiaris

Your master didn't assign or teach you this spell, which summons a familiar. Or he would claim he didn’t, and it is true that he told you, in no uncertain terms, that is forbidden, but he also told you once about how he stole a peek at this spell when he was your age, and the fun times he had with his familiar until he was caught and punished, and the lesson you learned was this: Don’t get caught.

You did indeed learn this spell on your own by sneaking peeks in forbidden grimoires. It is for more advanced students, for it calls forth spirits that a mere apprentice does not have the power or experience to handle safely. That said, if you want to get through your apprenticeship, you had better use it. 

Requirements: None, really. 

A Forbidden Spell That You Don’t Know But Will Likely Need

Reditum Familiaris

This spell is the only way to get rid of a familiar gone bad. Like Elicio Familiaris, it has no requirements, and, indeed, there is no need to roll for it if you know it, since it is always successful, but it always carries a price too, as if you had rolled a 6.  

It is tricky to try to learn this spell when a familiar has gone bad, since the familiar will know what you are attempting. 

Simple Spells

Vox Beastarium

Description: The wise wizard is friend to the birds of the air, the beasts of the forests and jungles, the fish in the sea, and the worms in the ground. This spell allows you to communicate with ordinary animals.

 Lesson: Speak to an unhappy animal, find out what troubles it, and set the matter right. A familiar is not technically an animal, and besides, they already talk.

Requirements: A silver necklace, a megaphone, and the application of a temporary tattoo.

Pario Ignis

Description: Crafting fireballs is child’s play to the competent wizard. One must be skilled in the art of flame magic to even be considered a wizard. This spell allows you to create and control fire.

Lesson: Demonstrate your ability in a public place, without drawing attention to yourself, and separately use your Pario Ignis skills to cool a wayward flame.

Requirements: A large drum of of gasoline, a red wax candle as tall and thick as your arm and a dead bat.

Unblinking Wisdom of Andromalius

Description: Wizards must know how to find that which is hidden or lost, which this spell allows you to do. 

Lesson: First, find something or someone that has been lost for many years and return it to its rightful home. Then, locate a buried treasure and ensure that a deserving person “discovers” it. 

Requirements: A glass eye, 76 fountain pens and a really large loaf of bread.

Woodbine’s Insouciant Compass

Description: A fearless wizard views supernatural creatures with curiosity, not terror. This spell allows you to find and communicate with such creatures. 

Lesson: Find such a deadly wonder and befriend it. A familiar does not count but a vampire, griffon or qupquigiak would.

Requirements: A nice brass compass, a drop of blood from your one of your parents, and a bear’s claw (or a bearclaw, if you have a nice pastry shop in town).

More Difficult Spells

Sycophantor

Description: A true wizard can wave a hand and change a mind. 

Lesson: Convince your teacher to change your failing grade in Algebra to an A, then convince the principal of your school to change it back.

Requirements: A hand-made object more than 500 years old, a live salamander, and fingernail clippings from the people you are to manipulate.

Umbra of the Fell Witches

Description: Shadows are a wizard’s eternal companions. This spell allows you to create and control darkness.

Lesson: Cause darkness to cloak the world at noon. in the few minutes of inverted light, find the Fell Witches and answer their riddle.

Requirements: Charcoal from a boat that has burned and a blind person or animal wearing a heavy black cloak and singing your favorite song in a snowstorm.

The Dreadful Curse of Gwern the Younger

Description: A wizard does not suffer fools gladly, and their wrath is terrible to behold. This spell allows you to change someone’s fate for the worse, or to remove such a curse.

Lesson: Curse a deserving target - be absolutely certain they deserve it - and remove the curse after they have suffered for their mendacity and turpitude.

Requirements: A hair from a dog that has betrayed its master, a liter of whiskey, and a crown made of obsidian.

Mezmo’s Molaris 

Description: The Molaris provides a prudent wizard with protection from harmful magic in the form of a stone tooth that for some reason picks up a bad “Hits of the ‘70’s” radio station that only you can hear. As long as you hear those songs from the tooth, you are protected.

Lesson: Create one for yourself, keep it in your pocket, and go retrieve an enchanted skull that the evil sorceress Justine Applebaum has stolen from your master. The skull’s name is Barbara.

Requirements: A ring of stone you can stick your hand through and a cassette tape of Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams 1978 hit “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.”

Adventure Seed: The Big Book of Dangerous and Occult Lore

You don’t have to use this adventure first, and in fact, it might be better later, after you have gone through some adventures and learned some lessons.

In this adventure, you’ve borrowed a book from your mentor without his knowledge. How did you get away with it? One of you can explain that now, or you can explain it in a flashback.

You, of course, do intend to return it, or you did, until it started talking to you: 

So, young one, you’ve done it. You played your games, you tricked your master -- an easy task, I assure you -- and now you have found me. Who am I, you ask? I am a humble teacher of mysteries, and I delight in the edification of apprentices. In fact, I taught your master much, and your master’s master as well. But there is also much they did not learn. The absurd restrictions they place on you show me that much: A wizard shouldn’t do this; a witch mustn’t be like that. What nonsense! When magic flowed freely, the wise, your ancestors, ruled the world. But the small-minded, the fearful, the little moralizers, brought down the wise: Some were burned at the stake or drowned in rivers, but others lost their nerve and replaced their wisdom with the folly of the crowd, and disappeared into the shadows, hiding their gift, like your well-meaning dolt of a master. But before we continue, show me how serious you are: Tell me your name.

Does your apprentice even realize how dangerous it is to tell such an entity her name? Who will help you? Will you dare confess to your mentor? Can any number of familiars help you? What does this book really want? How will you handle school, friends, and family while this book tempts you with greater power?