DOUBLE POTIONS
Introduction
You are all students at a school for witches and wizards.  First and second period is Double Potions.  Will you get into trouble in class?  Will you be sent to the nurse’s office?  Or will you work together to successfully create a magical potion?

Potions are not to be taken lightly. They are among the most powerful magic that exists. You may think that it’s fun to create a little fart juice for your fourth period magical animal taming or a sneaking syrup to get past the hall monitor but potions have been the cause of almost every major incident in wizarding history.

Brewing potions is dangerous business. When the magical essence of something as small as a cucumber seed is release in the wrong way it can have disastrous consequences, so I expect you all to behave and focus.

Double Potions is a game for 2 to 6 players. You will need a handful of six-sided dice, a bunch (about 10) of tokens in each of four colors and an opaque bag. You will also need your wits as Double Potions is a game as much about improv as it is about rolling dice. Oh, and it’s also about potions, but only mildly so.
How to play
There are three stages to Double Potions:

 1)	Getting to Double Potions
 2)	Brewing your potion
 3)	Impressing Professor Snoop

However, first of all you must create your character.
Creating a character
Put on your imaginary Categorization Cap and come up with a character. Define the following and write them down:

 •	Your name (the more alliterative the better)
 •	Choose your forte (knowledge or skill)
 •	Choose your specialization:
+ Knowledge: pure, dangerous, disgusting, magical
+ Skill: stirring, fire, preparation, wand
 •	Choose one flaw or liability (for example prone to fits of sneezing, has to be told twice or know-it-all)

You should do this without discussion or strategizing with the other players. When you are done, take turns describing your character to the other players.  Make up any other details about your character that you’d like.  The character with the best name becomes the leader.

Example character:
�	Name: Petunia Putinberry
�	Forte: Knowledge
�	Specialization: Dangerous
�	Flaw: Addicted to pumpkin juice
Stage 1: Getting to Double Potions
In order to brew a potion, you need to get to the potions lab - and preferably on time. However, getting to Double Potions is no mean feat, so all players should roll two d6 and look up their results on the shenanigans table to figure out what stands in their way. 

Roll	Shenanigan	Solution	
2	A Quoddotch accident	Escape intact	
3	A seething mass of fans	Placate or evade them	
4	Your books for Double Potions are missing	Get new ones	
5	Arse gnomes	You don't want to know	
6	A minor curse	Break it somehow	
7	Faygo Malfeasance and his goons throwing shade	Show him who's boss	
8	A highly contagious magical disease	Get cured at the infirmary	
9	Corridor congestion	Get through the traffic	
10	Forgotten homework	Do it quickly somehow	
11	Broken wand	Fix it	
12	Thee-Whom-Shan't-Be-Referenced is at it again	Defeat him, duh	

If you're feeling creative, feel free to make your own shenanigans table.

The player who rolled the shenanigan is now at the mercy of the other player/s, who must  decide how this particular shenanigan is impeding the roller's character on the way to Double Potions.

Once they have decided, they must briefly describe the specifics of the scenario. It is then up to the roller to narrate how they deal with the shenanigan in order to get to Double Potions in time. If the other player/s are satisfied with the roller's answer, they can give them a thumbs up. However, if they feel that any aspect of the scenario is unresolved then they can press for further explanation.

When the shenanigan has been satisfactorily dealt with, the next player rolls for their shenanigan and so on and so forth until all shenanigans have been identified and resolved.
 	Example stage 1 play
Alice Lokyadore, Peter Puffinstuff and Georgie Pieham are trying their best to get to Double Potions.

Peter rolls his two d6 first, getting 7. This means he happens upon Faygo Malfeasance and friends on the way to Double Potions - and they don't want to let him by without  a thorough dressing down.

Georgie decides to assume the role of Faygo, with Alice taking charge of the two friends his daddy paid for. Rather than discuss the specifics, they decide to go straight into the scenario - they think they know how to portray Faygo and co. pretty well.

Alice starts off the encounter by having one of Faygo's goons trip Peter up as he rushes to Double Potions, with Georgie following this up with some choice words about both Peter's lack of grace and his mudblood heritage.

After putting up with this abuse for a little while, Peter eventually comes up with such a zinger about Faygo's mother that everyone collapses in fits of laughter. Both Alice and Georgie agree that Faygo and friends are sufficiently taken aback for Peter to slip away and successfully reach Double Potions.
Stage 2: Brewing the potion
You must now take turns attempting to brew a potion. The potion is defined by ingredients and skills matched to one of four colors. The four colors represent (skill, ingredient):

�	White dice: stirring, pure ingredients
�	Red dice: fire, dangerous ingredients
�	Black dice: preparation, disgusting ingredients
�	Blue dice: use of magic, magical ingredients

Note: If you don’t have tokens in the correct colors you can use coins (for example quarter = white, dime = blue, nickel = black and penny = red) just don’t be all cheaty when pulling out of the bag.
Look up the potion recipe
Add 2 tokens of each color to the bag. Starting with the leader and moving to the left, each player draws a token at random out of the bag and rolls 2d6. Look up the results from the tables below.  If you have 2 or 3 players, repeat this process a second time so that each player has 2 tokens.

From the results build a recipe, for instance: “Add Whisper Mold and Yeti Breath and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add Dung of Ram, stirring frequently.” Keep track of the color, type and difficulty of each ingredient and step - these will be your targets to beat during play.
White
Roll	Name	Type	Difficulty	
2	Bloom of Dandelion	Ingredient	Easy	
3	Stir Occasionally	Skill	Easy	
4	Feather of Dove	Ingredient	Easy	
5	Stir Slowly	Skill	Easy	
6	Clarified Pearl Oil	Ingredient	Medium	
7	Alternate Fast and Slow Stirring	Skill	Medium	
8	Thrice Cured Lily Pollen	Ingredient	Medium	
9	Whisk to Frothing	Skill	Hard	
10	Yeti Breath	Ingredient	Hard	
11	Transfer to Glass Cauldron	Skill	Hard	
12	Widow’s First Silver Hair	Ingredient	Hard	
Red
Roll	Name	Type	Difficulty	
2	Whisper Mold	Ingredient	Easy	
3	Low heat	Skill	Easy	
4	Saliva of Narcofrog	Ingredient	Easy	
5	Simmer	Skill	Easy	
6	Cobra Venom	Ingredient	Medium	
7	Boiling	Skill	Medium	
8	Raven’s Claw	Ingredient	Medium	
9	Seared	Skill	Hard	
10	Egg of Dragon	Ingredient	Hard	
11	Open Flame	Skill	Hard	
12	Felon’s Tears	Ingredient	Hard	

Black
Roll	Name	Type	Difficulty	
2	Slice	Skill	Easy	
3	Dung of Owl	Ingredient	Easy	
4	Chop	Skill	Easy	
5	Bug Juice	Ingredient	Easy	
6	Crush	Skill	Medium	
7	Dung of Ram	Ingredient	Medium	
8	Cube	Skill	Medium	
9	Fartflower Bulb	Ingredient	Hard	
10	Slice Paper-Thin	Skill	Hard	
11	Dung of Dragon	Ingredient	Hard	
12	Powder	Skill	Hard	

Blue
Roll	Name	Type	Difficulty	
2	Wave Wand	Skill	Easy	
3	Faerie Dust	Ingredient	Easy	
4	Utter Magical Word	Skill	Easy	
5	Thrice-Blessed Water	Ingredient	Easy	
6	Thrust Wand	Skill	Medium	
7	Ectoplasm	Ingredient	Medium	
8	Utter Incantation	Skill	Medium	
9	Unicorn Hoof	Ingredient	Hard	
10	Flourish Wand	Skill	Hard	
11	Beam of Moon	Ingredient	Hard	
12	Enchant Cauldron	Skill	Hard	
Choose the ingredients
Players should discuss what ingredients they will need and who will get them.  Each player takes responsibility for one step (ingredient or skill) in the recipe. Players may swap tokens with each other but each player must have exactly 1 token (or 2 with 2 to 3 players).
Make the potion
In recipe order, each player takes their turn building the potion. Each player contributes to one part of the potion. The steps are as follows:
�	Chatter: The current player asks the next player an open-ended question. The player must answer the question coherently and without stumbling. The leader asks the first question unless the leader is the first player in which case the leader explains some detail about their ingredient or skill. Do not ask questions with simple one or two word answers. The question could have something to do with the potion or could be any question that you might ask a classmate. After the answer is given the other players vote thumbs up/thumbs down on whether the answer is sufficient, majority wins. If insufficient the player is flustered. 
	Example: “What is the history of wand use in potion-making?” “Why are you 	and Becky such enemies?” “What’s the latest information on Thee-Whom-Shan't-	Be-Referenced?”
�	This is where the potion is built, step-by-step.
�	Action: The player now attempts to add their portion of the recipe. A player begins with 2d6. If he or she has knowledge or skill in their step then add another die. Roll the dice and count up the number of dice that are 4, 5, or 6. That is the number of tokens the player receives. If a player is flustered, they only count dice that are 5 or 6.
�	Distraction: If the player rolls two or more 1s his or her liability comes into play and the player receives no tokens. That player describes how the liability distracts them from completing the step. Remove 1 die and roll again. However this time you are determined so count up dice that are 3, 4, 5, or 6 and receive that many tokens. A player starting with 3d6 can be distracted twice in a row, moving to 1 die, but can not be double-determined.
�	Contribute: The player adds to the cauldron the number of tokens in the correct color required for the step. Easy ingredients require 1 token, Medium ingredients require 2 tokens, and Hard ingredients require 3 tokens.
�	“No, Wait!”: If a player does not have enough tokens and is about to fail their recipe step another player can yell “No, wait!” That player then describes how they are helping and contributes a correct token to the pot. If they do not have the correct-color token they give up one of their tokens and roll 2d6 and count the 4s, 5s, and 6s (flustered and determined does not apply). With 1 success they contribute a correct token to the pot, with 2 successes they also get their original token back, otherwise nothing happens.
ｷ	Continue: Play continues to the next player. If the step was not complete the next player must complete the step. Play continues until the potion is made or players have run out of tokens.
Notes on flustered and determined
Flustered always removes the lowest number from the successful numbers and determined always adds a number. It is possible to be flustered and determined at the same time, in which case the success numbers are 4, 5, and 6. It is not possible to be double flustered or double determined.

Success	Not Flustered	Flustered	
Not Determined	4-5-6	5-6	
Determined	3-4-5-6	4-5-6	

For increased difficulty, have a player become distracted if they roll a single one and remove a token if they roll two or more ones.
 	Example stage 2 play
Anna Anubis (knowledge:disgusting, clumsy), Bonny Bombadil (skill:fire, barefoot), Carl Claro (knowledge: pure, haunted by spirits) and Devon Shire (knowledge: dangerous, claustrophobic) sit down in the potions lab.

Anna, who was elected team leader based on her superior name, draws the first token from the bag - a red one. She then rolls two d6 - 4. Looking up on the chart the first ingredient is “Saliva of Narcofrog.” Next Bonny Bombadil draws a black token and rolls a 9; the second ingredient is “Fartflower Bulb.” Carl and Devon go next pulling White-5 and White-12, respectively.  The recipe is: Add Saliva of Narcofrog (red, ingredient, easy) and Fartflower Bulb (black, ingredient, medium) to the cauldron, then Stir Slowly (white, skill, easy). Finally add a Widow’s First Silver Hair (white, ingredient, hard).

Anna knows about disgusting ingredients and Devon knows about dangerous ingredients so they swap tokens and Devon offers to work on the first ingredient, Saliva of Narcofrog, and Anna offers to work on the second ingredient, Fartflower Bulb. Bonny has no relevant skills or knowledge so she takes the easy white skill. Carl knows about white ingredients, so he keeps his white token and offers to handle the final ingredient.

Anna, being the team leader, asks Devon the first question.
Anna: Devon, why were you sneaking around the grounds last night with Groundskeeper Gavin?
Devon: I told Gavin I saw a Snufflebug so we were trying to sneak up on it.
Everyone is happy with the answer and votes thumbs up.
Devon: Using gloves I grab the Narcofrog and hold it upside-down to collect the saliva.
Devon rolls 3d6 and gets 1,3,3. Devon gets no extra tokens for his attempt. However he has a red token so he places that in the cauldron to complete the first step. It is now Anna’s turn.
Devon: Anna, how did you know I was sneaking around the grounds last night?
Anna: Umm, I was, umm. I forgot I had left my books in Professor... umm... Parsnip’s room.
Anna stammered way too much, maybe she was following Devon around?  Anyway, too much umming and pausing. Everyone gives a thumbs down. Anna is now flustered and must roll 5 or 6 to get a token.
Anna: I hold my nose and root through the soil to dig out a bulb, being careful not to rupture its scent sac.
Anna rolls 3d6, as she has knowledge, and gets 1,3,6. She receives one black token. She places two black tokens in the cauldron to complete the step.
Anna: Bonny, who discovered the Fartflower’s magical uses?
Bonny: Oh, that’s easy. In 1645 Jack Genowaithe accidentally broke the scent sack of a Fartflower spilling the juice into a potion of Malachi Rain he was concocting. It doubled the efficacy and reduced the after-effects.
Bonny totally nailed it.
Bonny: I stir the pot slowly.
Bonny rolls 2d6 and gets 6,5. She takes 2 white tokens and adds them to her pile. She places on token into the cauldron to complete her step.
Bonny: Carl, how are widow’s hairs collected?
Carl: The Regents of Reagents keeps a registry of recent widows and check in periodically to check for white hairs. When the first one is spotted it is plucked and the widow receives a gold piece.
It started strong but petered out towards the end, two thumbs up but that’s enough to not get flustered.
Carl: Using a set of tweezers I carefully remove the hair from its vial and place it in the cauldron.
Carl rolls 3d6 and gets 1,3,5. He receives one white token. He places two in the cauldron. He is short one for the recipe.
Bonny: No, wait! I notice that the hair slipped out of the tweezers and onto the floor. I crawl around and find it.
Bonny places one of her white tokens into the cauldron. This finishes off Carl’s step and the potion.
Everyone in unison: Success!
Stage 3: Impressing Professor Snoop
Now you've made your potions, they have to be marked - and that's where Professor Snoop, the potions master, comes in.

Professor Snoop wears long flowing robes, has fabulous hair and his eyes always seem curiously bloodshot. Most importantly, he is bad tempered, bitter and above all hates children. However, he is passionate about potions and holds the key to you getting a good grade, so students need to make sure they end up in his good books.

Roll two d6 and then look up the result on the following table to see what Professor Snoop thinks of your finished potion.

Roll	Verdict	Pass?	
2	“All of you stay after class.”	No	
3	“Make it again.”	No	
4	“I can't in good conscience call this a potion.”	No	
5	“Why me?”	No	
6	“Could be better.”	Just	
7	“The very essence of mediocrity.”	Just	
8	“As average as your intelligence.”	Just	
9	“I suppose this will do.”	Yes	
10	“Did you copy another student's work?”	Yes	
11	“You may go.”	Yes	
12	“Acceptable.”	Yes	

If you disagree with Professor Snoop's verdict - especially if you didn't get a passing grade - you can dispute it.

Discuss your counterarguments with your fellow students and make a list. If you can come up with six good counterarguments between you - and you all agree they'd give Professor Snoop pause for thought - you can roll again to see Professor's final verdict on your potion. However, this is your last chance - Snoop doesn't change his mind often, least of all for some snot-nosed upstart brats.
 	Example stage 3 play
Blake Bloodscuttle, Aurora Auror and Steve Summerisle have had their perfectly serviceable potion rejected by Professor Snoop after having rolled a 2 (“All of you stay after class”), and so plan to try and change his mind.

They come up with the following list of counterarguments:

 1)	Professor Bogplums has told us that nothing can make us miss Quoddotch practice
 2)	The headmaster has requested Steve's presence specifically in the next period
 3)	We don't want to give you levitation lurgy
 4)	Faygo Malfeasance switched our potions at the last minute
 5)	The felonies committed by the felons who the Felon's Tears were extracted from were not felonious enough
 6)	But it's the winter ball!

Blake, Aurora and Steve go over the list of counterarguments, deciding that Professor Snoop won't believe that Faygo Malfeasance did anything amiss and also that, as he would hate to think of them enjoying themselves, the final counterargument about missing the winter ball won't fly either.

As such, they replace those two counterarguments with:

�	Aurora is having witch's troubles
�	Blake has been told to collect pegasus dung as part of a detention he was given during his care of not-quite-normal creatures class

Blake, Aurora and Steve all agree that this final collection of reasons are both fairly feasible and will make Professor Snoop uncomfortable enough to allow them to make another roll.

This time they roll a 7 (“The very essence of mediocrity.”), meaning they scrape a passing grade for their efforts and can emerge triumphant from Double Potions after all.
Notes
Voting
It requires a majority in order to win a vote. In case of a tie during potion making, the player fails and is flustered.
Dice tables for stage 2
Results from http://anydice.com/program/6732 and do not take into account distracted rolls.

"2d Distraction",0.027777777777799998,0.16433554953060828,0,1
#,%
0,97.2222222222
1,2.77777777778

"3d Distraction",0.0740740740741,0.2618914004395053,0,1
#,%
0,92.5925925926
1,7.40740740741

"Standard",1,0.7071067811865476,0,2
#,%
0,25
1,50
2,25

"Skilled",1.5,0.8660254037844386,0,3
#,%
0,12.5
1,37.5
2,37.5
3,12.5

"1d Determined",0.6666666666669999,0.4714045207909138,0,1
#,%
0,33.3333333333
1,66.6666666667

"2d Determined",1.3333333333319999,0.6666666666663333,0,2
#,%
0,11.1111111111
1,44.4444444444
2,44.4444444444

"1d Flustered",0.33333333333299997,0.4714045207909138,0,1
#,%
0,66.6666666667
1,33.3333333333

"2d Flustered",0.6666666666659999,0.6666666666663333,0,2
#,%
0,44.4444444444
1,44.4444444444
2,11.1111111111

"3d Flustered",0.999999999999,0.8164965809273178,0,3
#,%
0,29.6296296296
1,44.4444444444
2,22.2222222222
3,3.7037037037