The Core Concepts of Arcana High

The Avengers - Iron Man by theDURRRRIAN of deviantart

For the past 2 to 2.5 years there's been a particular idea stirring in my head for a while. An idea which as of now has several hundred pages worth of notes and draft write-ups the result of 2 campaign's worth of design. One of the campaigns was uncompleted sadly, yet still brought about several months worth of play. I at first decided to write up an adventure path for Pathfinder for this work, as a four-part series. This took a lot more time than I thought, so I decided to work on various side projects all the while hoping to one day see my magnum opus on the shelves of online storefronts one day (most likely for Pathfinder and 5th Edition). But like Larius Firetongue's School of Sorcery, I figured that drumming up interest over time can be a great idea. As such, this blog post is the first in a series of revealing Arcana High.

Introduction

Arcana High is a hybrid four-color fantasy and magic school campaign in the vein of Harry Potter meets Teen Titans in a D&D fantasy world. For those unfamiliar with my earlier posts on the subject, the general idea is that the PCs are adolescent mages who found some magical artifacts. With these powerful relics, they can transform into alternate identities to better fight the forces of evil. All the while they must juggle their public lives as students in a world-renowned magical academy along with keeping the good people of Brancean safe from their ever-growing rogue's gallery of villains.

It was a rather popular itch I've been wanting to scratch for a while, due to the rarity of such play elements in traditional fantasy games and retroclones. When you think about it, the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons can support a pseudo-superhero style of play quite well. You have titanic dragons ravaging cities, foul cults seeking to awaken sealed evils, mad archmages brewing up new and deadly horrors to inflict upon the world, and holy forces bestowing their powers upon worthy mortals. With the preponderance of city-based campaigns and sourcebooks, diversity of adversaries, and the ever-popular appeal towards saving the world, a superhero kind of game with masked vigilantes wielding supernatural powers not for gold but for justice is not only feasible, it can work very, very well!

Major Themes

Four-Color Fantasy: Masked knights, sorcerers, and druids battle a mad alchemist atop an undead leviathan creation wreaking havoc on a port city. Thieves' Guild goons shake down storefronts and make a quick getaway on charmed manticores. A golem built by the lord-governor to fight crime goes on a  rampage due to interpreting the law in an over-literal fashion. The city's gnomish-designed printing press publishes eye-catching headlines of the PCs' latest exploits and clashes with the aforementioned threats.

A Central City of Adventure: The city of Brancean is modeled off of the real-world city of Constantinople, the capital of the East Roman Empire and then the Ottomans. As such, it is the focus of most of the setting, akin to what Gotham is to Batman and Metropolis to Superman.  It is a city of history, formed around the foundations of Highstone Academy when Aleria was but a division of independent baronies and tribes. As a principle nexus of an intercontinental trade network, it sees folk from all corners of the world (and some say of the planes). It is home to many wonderful sights, from the Colosseum where one can watch and participate in chariot races and all manner of sports tournaments; a literal Undercity home to drow, dwarves, and other subterranean beings; a 200 foot tall statue of the Goddess of Law and Civilization; and the pre-eminent Highstone Academy, of course!

Mediterranean Style Setting: The region is known as the Bowl of Levios, dominated by a central sea also called the Sea of Levios. This body of water was home to a great sea serpent of its namesake who ruled the lands as a god-king in times long past. Although in the current era there is debate as to his divinity, there is no question that he left a great mark on the land, and many of the oldest realms are seaside and underwater cities. Here are but a few lands of the Bowl:

• the Alerian Empire, home to the cosmopolitan metropolis of Brancean and the world's most famous magical academy. 
• the Al-Bahri Sultanate, a southern kingdom home to the Ridhai, who sail the seas on the back of island-sized Zaratan turtles.
• the city-state of Kremdora, which suffered a devastating cataclysm while fighting an ascendant mage-tyrant and whose domain is now located within a residual anti-magic field.
• Bristor, a northwesterly realm of small, independent kingdoms and tribes, home to knights, druids, and berserkers.
• Tabiach, a realm of merchant princes and feuding city-states.

Imagine a Venice with merfolk and aquatic elf residents.  Imagine open-air tavernas serving pita bread dips and shish kebab street food to apprentice mages on their way to school . Imagine masked vigilantes fighting a possessed toga-clad statue of a long-dead emperor. Imagine an adventuring company accepting submissions from not just honorable knights and iconic elven archers, but also fair-haired northern reavers and steppe-borne nomads with curved swords. This is the world of Arcana High.

Scaling Powers: One of the chief mechanical principles of the two Pathfinder campaigns I ran for Arcana High was the use of magical relics. Once belonging to heroes of the distant past, they could transform a wielder into a masked form which the original heroes wore themselves. Aside from the super-genius gadgeteer, most superheroes were not known for carrying around gabs of equipment to act as the primary extension of their abilities.

For that reason, instead of accumulating gold and magic items as a primary campaign concern, I more or less made the relics into scaling magic items for the "big six" bonuses (weapon, armor, shield, saving throws, deflection, and natural armor). I also let the PCs choose from a broad array of relic upgrades which could be gained once per level. They included things ranging from an elemental energy blast attack to a Green Lantern-style major creation spell-like ability of limited duration. Magic items were still a thing in the campaign, and the PCs did have access to a pseudo-Batcave where they could load up on common gear between missions, but with the versatility of relics reliance upon the "Magic Item Christmas Tree" effect was nowhere near as pronounced. Being an all-spellcaster party helped ease things as well, for they are the classes in base Pathfinder which can best replicate a superhero feel.

Conclusion

I have a lot more to say about this dream project of mine, but right now I wanted to focus on the major themes instead of losing my dear readers in layers of lore I already wrote up in various documents.

What aspect of Arcana High should I focus on next?  Talk a bit more about the magic school? Perhaps a few figures from the supervillain rogue's gallery? Sample relic powers and abilities?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!

Magic School Campaigns: Young Minds Review

Cover Art by Laurel Shelley-Reuss

Spoiler Warning: This will discuss several encounters and characters from the aforementioned product, so if your gaming group is adventuring in the city of Mordenheim or your GM indicated that he may run this book, then look no further!

I had an inquisitive eye on this adventure ever since it came out last month, but didn't get the time to read it until very recently. Its publisher has a reputation for making rather clever and unique adventures in addition to more typical fair, such as a training academy for adventurers and players new to Pathfinder, a fairy-tale adventure series based off of the tales of Snow White.

Young Minds is the third of a series set in the weird city of Mordenheim, where the ecology of fantasy monsters and magic are integrated into society's structures. It is a city where gargoyles deliver the mail and people's addresses are painted on the rooftops, where ooze-handlers send their slimy charges down streets to dissolve trash and detritus, and tax collectors need to hire experienced adventurers to take their cut from ornery mages and monsters well-capable of driving away unprepared soldiers (a plot point of the first adventure B17: Death & Taxes).

For the adventure itself, it is a mystery-focused plot, where a ravenous intellect devourer murdered one of the teachers at the prestigious university Leverinac University. To prevent panic from spreading, the Dean hires the PCs to investigate. But as intellect devourers are known for their ability to hijack other people's bodies and masquerade as normal folk, the adventurers-for-hire must go undercover as prospective students via shapeshifting magic rings at the start of a new school year.

The adventure has its fair share of social encounters, with some combat encounters to mix things up a bit. It has a lot of the charm and feel of a modern high school but with a fantasy twist. In one encounter, PCs participate in a dodge ball game against a team of giants with magic size-changing projectiles so as to give the smaller races an even footing. In another, they'll have the opportunity to join either the honor society or troublemaker's clique, and thus tasked with stealing or protecting an important book used for initiation ceremonies depending on their faction choice. Beyond that, the three primary suspects of the body-hijacker are all capable in their own right against a team of mid-level adventurers, from an ettin dodgeball coach to an arrogant prefect with a badge capable of animating the omnipresent suits of armor lining the school's halls.

Successfully endearing themselves to certain NPCs during the various encounters (especially the 2 factions) make a visible difference in the final encounter when the intellect devourer's nest of eggs hatch beneath one of the frat houses. PCs with a good track record can better rally the students and cooperate with allies to fight them off, or end up as a bloodbath if the party hasn't had a lucky streak.


My only real complaints with the adventure are its briefness and the two major factions. We only see the bare basics of Leverinac and its students and staff, but I suppose that makes sense for a quick adventure. There are seeds for further ideas in some of the write-ups of minor NPCs, but aside from there's not a lot of further adventure hooks for a school full of monsters, mages, and stranger inhabitants. My other complaint is that a large portion of the adventure is predicated on the PCs joining either the honor society or troublemaker's, who although both are in charge of the major Houses of the school, is no guarantee that the PCs are going to pick a side so soon at risk of alienating about half the student body.

Aside from these minor shortcomings, Young Minds is a fun little title which makes for a nice change of pace from dungeon-delvings so common to the genre.

Young Minds can be purchased from DriveThruRPG/RPGNow.

Today marks the end of my Arcana High campaign

Candlekeep, by William O'Connor

Back in the date of August 5th, 2014, I was a groupless gamer.  Half the old crowd of high school buddies moved out of the state, and for a while I've debated whether to give online gaming a shot.  I could try typical fantasy fare like so many others, start slow with time-tested ideas and do yet another fantasy adventure.  Or even a test adventure of "clear out the kobold cave" to be dropped as a one-shot.

I could've played it safe, but to hell with that.  I had an idea of mine brewing in my head for quite a while.  An idea given fruit by years spent reading Harry Potter, of watching shows like X-Men and Chip Cheezum's Let's Play of Wonderful 101, of masked figures in Assassin's Creed traversing the rooftops of a medieval city as pursuing knight-templars gave chase.

I wanted a D&D game; I wanted a magic high school game; I wanted a fantasy superhero game.  And I was so set on this idea that I was willing to test it out on players who've I known and chatted with, but never gamed together.

I wanted Arcana High.

It was then that I found my new gaming group, a group of four friends I got to know and have fun with for these past months, a group I will continue to play with even after this campaign's end.  It's been a great run; I had an overarching idea for the game, but no plan survives contact with the enemy and many of the games' plots, characters, and story arcs took on a life of their own.

There are some gaming groups who continue a game until they get tired of it and try something new; there are some gaming groups who've been playing the same campaign for decades.  Every group has their own style, but for me I like to wrap things up with a definite conclusion.  A satisfying ending which brings closure on a story, after a heroic triumph, that is the way we wanted to go.  The way which felt best.

I'm happy, and yet sad.  Happy that these many months of collaborative story-telling created an epic campaign we'll remember for a long time, yet sad that it had to end.  For the time being I want a break and wish to try out other games, but there's a part of me which knows that someday I'll return to that world once again.  The bustling streets of Brancean, with its street vendors selling kebabs to hurrying apprentice mages on their way to school; the tower-neighborhoods of the Undercity and its subterranean shrine the Glittering Dome; the vaunted halls of Highstone Academy, home to wood elf wizards with talking rabbit familiars and drow artisans setting up dungeon obstacle courses for would-be adventurers.  I'll miss the daring battles with supervillains such as the terrifying dungeon-builder Deathtrap, the Kingpin-esque crimelord Theopolis, the unseelie king Orpheus, and the fallen gold dragon Dorethal whose centuries of witnessing and battling great evils sent her over the edge.

I once sought to collect my stories in a campaign journal like so many other groups, but the time spent prepping for an ideal game week after week (along with jobs and self-publishing projects) made this a failed endeavor.  Hopefully, one day, in some form or another, I can share the many wonders of this world with you as well.

Farewell for now Arcana High, it's been a great run!

Magic School Campaigns by System and Setting: Scarlet Heroes

Artwork by Eric Lofgren

Back in May 2013, Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Games published a series of free supplements for his Red Tide Campaign Setting known as Black Streams.  One of them, Solo Heroes, proved to be an incredibly popular pick.  It dealt with the mechanical aspects of how to run a game of one DM, one PC in a way which wouldn't break the game or result in one-sided battles.  More than that, the underlying math largely worked, and it was compatible with most existing B/X D&D and retroclone adventures.

One year and one Kickstarter later, Crawford expanded the concept into a full-fledged OSR game of its own, complete with its own setting, bestiary, DMing advice, and even rules for true "solo gaming" where you can play a Scarlet Heroes game with nobody but yourself.

Mechanical Considerations

Scarlet Heroes works very well for a magic school campaign, in that the character creation method is very forgiving for a player willing to go against type.  Unlike other retroclones, ability scores are generated using 4d6 drop the lowest, assign the results to scores of your choice.  Additionally, results where the highest score is below 16 allows the player to bump an ability of their choice to 16.

Race is separate from class, allowing for halfling mages, dwarven clerics, and the like.  Racial abilities are turned into "traits" which are a simplified pseudo-skill system which cover things like "acrobat, friend to secret society, vibrant health" meant to provide open-ended bonuses to rolls where they can be a factor.

What's more, a PC is not locked into their class, and can forestall gaining an additional level in their existing class upon leveling up in lieu of taking a level in a new one!  A 4th-level Magic-User may pick up a 1st level in Fighter to gain increased damage with weapons and hit points, or a Cleric may balance out levels with Magic-User to become adept in both arcane and divine spells.

Unorthodox Races: By seeking an alternate to the race-as-class system and boiling down racial features to pseudo-skill traits, Scarlet Heroes allows for the easy creation of new races and the implementation of existing ones.  Generally speaking, humans gain 3 trait points to spend as they wish, while non-humans gain 1 trait point to spend as they wish plus 1 trait point in a pre-determined skill reflecting the races' innate abilities.  Generally speaking the latter should be their most iconic feature and impossible for other races to take as a trait.

House Rule: Let's say we wanted to turn the Serpent Folk, a classic sword-and-sorcery staple, into a race.  As these ancient reptilians have a renowned ability to take the shape of humanoids, we'll give them 1 trait point in "Magical Visage," reflecting their keen ability to appear like a normal human and hide their true nature.  To balance this ability, we'll make any attempts to disguise themselves as a specific human require a skill check (which the 1 trait point applies as a bonus to).  Other than this, Serpent Folk gain 1 free trait point to spend as they wish.

Student Budget: Clerics are able to access potentially any class spell provided they are at a level capable of casting it, but Magic-Users aren't so lucky.  In order to add new spells to their spellbook, they must copy it from an existing spellbook or scroll or be taught by a teacher.  As even the cheapest method (scroll or spellbook-copying) takes 100 gp worth of ingredients per spell level, the GM for a Scarlet Heroes game should provide some means of spell access if they're going for a more Harry Potter vibe where the heroes aren't amassing great hoards of wealth while doing adventures at school.

House Rule: Beyond the spells a 1st-level Magic-User knows, every level gained in the class allows the PC to select two Magic-User spells of their choice to add into their spellbook, provided that they are at a level they are capable of casting.  Such knowledge represents the PC researching the accumulated lore they came across in their adventures.  As there are 50 Magic-User spells in Scarlet Heroes and this method allows them to gain 23 spells at most by 10th level, this is a reasonable value.

Naturally, Magic-User PCs are more than free to add spells they find as a result of scrolls and spellbooks borrowed/stolen, and favors gained from fellow sorcerers.

Arcane Lore: The creation of magic items and copying spells are expensive endeavors.  If sitting on literal piles of gold feels unseemly, the GM can substitute a portion of treasures in exchange for "Arcane Lore."  This may be in addition to or separate from the Student Budget houserule above.  Generally speaking, Arcane Lore is pseudo-treasure representing the scribbled writings of cultists, esoteric ingredients from unnatural beasts, mind-melded knowledge from otherworldly entities and the like which grant a spellcaster ability to create magic items and learn new spells.  They can range from research notes and insight-producing consumables, the latent power of a specific area (where the ambient energy is used by magical artisans while building/researching there), and strange ingredients.

Arcane Lore is treated as individual treasure values, but can only be "spent" for the purposes of creating magic items and the learning of new spells into one's spellbook, or trading in exchange for such material.  Here are some sample lists:

Random Value:

Arcane Lore	Value
Cheap	1d6 x 20 gp
Costly	1d10 x 50 gp
Precious	2d10 x 100 gp
Priceless	1d6 x 1,000 gp

Types of Arcane Lore:

1d12	Cheap	Costly	Precious	Priceless
1	Cultist’s Scribblings	Inquisitor’s Journal	Memory-storing Crystal	Dragon’s Knowledge
2	Witch’s Herbs	Elemental Salts	Earthshield Plates	Fey’s Dreams
3	Tarot Deck	Alchemist’s Lab Materials	Meteorite Metal	Unicorn Horn
4	Crushed Moonberries	Runic Stones	Sigil-embroidered Cloth	Spirit-Possessed Mask
5	Strand of Prayer Beads	Bardic-enchanted Writings	Magical Hieroglyphs	Quill of the First Library
6	Local Lord’s Library Resources	University Library Resources	Wizard’s Library Resources	First Era Library Resources
7	Curio Shop Trinkets	Augury Bones	Demonflesh-stitched Tome	Raw Souls
8	Weak Ley Line Location	Druidic Grove	Location with Spiritual Resonance	Geomantic Planar Crossroads
9	Household Shrine	Village Shrine	City Shrine	Holiest of Shrines
10	Gnomish Cookbook	Basilisk’s Eyes	Dragon’s Blood	Fur from the Wolf God
11	Bloodstone Crystals	Onyx Skull Gems	Leprechaun Gold	World Tree Flowers
12	Zombie gallbladder	Wight’s teeth	Bottled Nightshade Spirit	Lich’s phylactery

Sufficiently "rich" wizard PCs over time will pepper their lairs and laboratories with the flesh and bones of magical monsters, cauldrons brewing with liquid shadows, shelves lined with crystals mined from the deepest dungeon trenches, and a small library of tomes penned by archmages, legendary bards, and other folk touched by the otherworldly.  As magic doesn't abide by the laws of the mortal realm, you might allow the PC to spend the gp value of treasures for the creation of otherwise-unrelated magic items.  Perhaps the Basilisk's Eyes (normally used for petrification and stone-related rituals) and a set of Wight's Teeth can be used to make a Purifying Oil, as the inherent "curses" of such creatures' essences overwhelm any latent magical debilitations on an applied person or object.

Quest-giving NPCs might grant the heroic adventurer things like access to a legendary forge worth an arbitrary amount of gold pieces for crafting the perfect blade in lieu of raw gold.  Adding such treasures, even if they're cheap things like macabre preserved monster fetuses from a curio shop, can add a hint of eldritch wonder to one's campaign.

Magic Schools of the Isles

The Sunset Isles are home to many civilizations with their own local magic traditions.  Although the Magocracy of Tien Lung is home to the grandest (and most cruel and dangerous) arcane academies, they are by no means the only realm with wizarding schools and temple-shrines.

Altgrimmr: dwarven magic-users bear runic stones as their "spellbooks," the traditional means of storing magic in the old times.  Apparently the long-forgotten dwarven civilization of the old Isles was home to grand underground spires brimming with magical energy.  Although the Underking has yet to find a way to harness their true potential, such spires provide indispensable aid against the many underground horrors poised to invade their country.  The inevitable attraction of dwarven mages caused magic schools to sprout up around these spires, which the local communities welcome because few of their own can hope to control the spires' great magical energy.

Hohnberg Pact: a devoutly religious folk, the Makerites of Eirengard devote significant resources to the upkeep and maintenance of holy shrines, statues of saints, and other divine sites meant to honor their patron.  Even Magic-Users are expected to follow in the religious traditions, supplementing their spell invocation with holy incantations and ritual prayers.  Young men and women who show a gift for magical manifestation, be it arcane or divine, are often brought to live in theurgist chapter-houses.  Here they are raised by monks and scholars under strict moral guidance so that they use their powers for the betterment of society and the Maker's glory.  Naturally, differing religious sects have varying interpretations on the nature of arcane magic, and it's not uncommon for rival schools to develop resentment and open disputes over theological interpretations.

Magocracy of Tien Lung: In comparison to Xian, Tien Lung seems at first to be a freer society for mages to carry on their magical research and work without pesky laws and moral codes restricting them.  A Learned (the magic-users of the country) can do what they want to the common folk without much in the way of consequence, and the lore of the otherwise-forbidden Stitched Path is the most common form of sorcery at the Academy of Refulgant Wisdom.  However, this "might makes right" society causes Tien Lung's wizards to be ruthless and paranoid, and it's not uncommon for even academy students to resort to sabotage and murder to preserve their social standing and surpass their fellows.  The school's teachers often force students to pledge loyalty to them, and cloak-and-dagger espionage is often carried out by their apprentices against their rivals.  Studying to learn astrology under the Stargazer's class might preclude an apprentice from attending necromancy lessons if the two teachers despise one another.  Mages who end up multi-talented earn both great respect and even greater suspicion, as the theft of scrolls and spellbooks is almost certainly required to accomplish this feat.

Mandarinate of Xian: The remnants of the Ninefold Celestial Empire are a shadow of their former glory.  Once the province of the nobility, now old and established families cannot afford to be so picky when their heirs produce no magical talent.  The magic schools of the capital are full of heirs to old money as well as the sons and daughters of well-off "commoners" and non-Xian foreigners, whose donations are too generous to refuse or overlook on the manner of xenophobia and elitism.  There is significant wheeling and dealing by the political powers of cities to woo a promising student to work for the local government or the private mage of a noble family upon completion of their graduation.  It's not unknown for even the teachers and faculty to incorporate local errands and favors as part of an apprentice's "training."  The magic schools of Xian are some of the oldest and most well-respected, but the deep incorporation of their residents into the societal power structures affords little respite for mages who wish to remain non-political.

"Magic" School Campaigns by System and Setting: Pathfinder's Path of War

Footage from Sword Art Online

On the arid plateau of Kremdora, a city of the same name is built in a bowl-like fashion around a vast crater.  What was intended to be an act of utter devastation by the mage-tyrants of Vierks merely created a haze of null magic over the area.  After this act of willful destruction, the Kremdorans knew that the wizards would not stop until they’re either enslaved or destroyed.  Knowing that the anti-magic field would not keep them safe forever, they trained successive generations in the arts of combat, science, and other important disciplines from across the world.  The best and brightest of them founded a training facility for the new generations of Kremdora, the world-famous Battle Academy!

The Battle Academy is an impressive structure built near the central bottom of the sloped city in the Meteor District.  Much like a wizarding school, the building houses hundreds of students, teachers, and staff dedicated to training young minds in the many arts of war.  Over time the Academy accepted foreign students (along with donations from ideologically-minded families and organizations supporting said students) in recent years as well.  Here one can find northern berserkers and ascetic warriors debating the merits and flaws of using anger to fuel one's fighting prowess.  Unarmed nimble monks, confident courtly duelists, and ironclad knights-in-training can be found in this diverse environment, learning both how to improve their own abilities as well as the history and tactics of other martial art forms.

Fighting School Tropes

Panel from Mahou Sensei Negima!

The Path of War by Dreamscarred Press is the spiritual successor to the Tome of Battle.  Unlike its 3rd Edition ancestor, the game mechanics and vast majority of the book is Open Game Content and freely available online at D20 Pathfinder SRD.  It adds a breath of fresh air to non-casting martials, granting them a versatile assortment of special attacks, counters, mobility effects, and fighting styles beyond the repetitive "5 foot step full attack" or "I charge and attack" formula.  I found out that the versatility and overall themes of the Path of War make an excellent base for a "Fighting School" style of game!  Below are various tropes and plot ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

Speak with your Fists! Although social interaction and role-playing is an important part of any psuedo-high school game, a Fighting School campaign is naturally more combat-focused than most.  Although most duels are not to the death, it is a point of pride for a disciple to display his or her skill in a duel with other talented young fighters.  As a result, many students are eager to spar with each other, whether it's to settle disputes, prove their fighting style's superiority, as part of a competition, or just to get a passing grade!

Martial Lore: The Big Dumb Fighter stereotype is absent in a Fighting School game save for a few NPCs, rampaging beasts, and the like.  Stalkers and archers are encouraged to rely upon their senses to strike at their opponents' weak points and to dodge attacks; warlords and gladiators channel their force of personality to inspire witnesses and comrades; tacticians and cerebral warriors plot out quick mental calculations in the middle of an ensuing battle.  Each Path of War class has a mental ability score as an "initiation modifier" to determine the effectiveness of moves; many real-world military orders both ancient and modern encourage the develop of both physical and mental abilities.   The knights, monks, and brawlers of the Battle Academy are just as likely to focus on scholarly classes such as philosophy, military history, debate and rhetoric clubs, and other such vocations to help round out their skill sets and grades.

Show Me Your Moves: Much like wizards researching spells, so too do Fighting School apprentices research styles and attacks within tomes in the Ancestral Halls and under the tutelage of wise mentors.  Much like shonen fighting manga and Pathfinder spells, Path of War's maneuvers and stances have descriptive signature names and "ultimate attacks" capable of only being mastered by the world's greatest warriors.  A stalker doesn't just deliver a poisoned blade to the ribs: he initiates Sickening Venom Strike.  The legendary elven archer not only downs multiple opponents with a flurry of arrows; he can call upon the power of the sun to unleash a cone-shaped volley of blazing phantom arrows with a Solar Wind Nova attack!  Showmanship and cool signature moves are the name of the game here; calling out the name of your attacks are optional, but highly recommended if you want that distinctive genre flair.

The Tournament Arc: It is common in shonen fighting manga to devote a piece of the story to a world-famous martial arts tournament which the heroes and villains join.  It's an extremely useful plot device for various reasons.  One, it's a good way of introducing new adversaries quickly.  Two, time between matches when the PCs aren't participating can allow for a nice change in action as well as some role-playing.  Three, it can allow the PCs to engage in no-holds barred fight scenarios which ordinarily wouldn't come up in a typical campaign, such as with allies, mentors, or even each other (perfect for seeing if your ninja-sorcerer can win against the party's holy knight).  Fighting in front of a crowd of thousands with a colorful announcer narrating the results of the fight in a dramatic fashion, is a great way to add to the fun of an otherwise 'plain' battle with minimal fanfare and showmanship.

Team-based duels should be encouraged, as having one PC do all the fighting while the rest of the players sit around watching the melee can get unfun.

Martial Traditions and Cliques within the Battle Academy

Image from the Irregular at Magic High School

At its founding, the Battle Academy was home to eleven practitioners of renowned martial disciplines who passed on their training and talents to any who would learn.  Their disciples in turn were expected to share their learned wisdom with other prospective students who came to the Academy.  Each teacher had their own way of doing things and reserved their own training centers, eventually turning into full-blown cliques and schools of different martial arts.  Today the school's leaders are part of the Council of Seven, each member a master in one particular discipline.

Classes and courses in the Battle Academy are split into “general studies” which are useful to any warrior, and the seven disciplines representing each martial tradition.  There is nothing preventing a student from taking courses in multiple traditions, but dividing up one’s talents into too many fields is too much for most newcomers and so most students start out with joining one tradition.  In addition to spartan dormitories, classrooms, and training fields, the Academy also houses centuries' worth of books on combat and warfare in its Ancestral Corridor.

Black Seraph: No longer a discipline taught at the Battle Academy, its founding teacher left the school in exile after his harsh training regimen resulted in the insanity and death of several disciples. Rumors among the student body say that the surviving scrolls and tomes of the Black Seraph disciples lie hidden in encoded messages and secret passages within the Ancestral Corridor, detailing forbidden secrets and blood oaths of power to otherworldly patrons.

Broken Blade: Those who join the disciples of the Broken Blade are expected to live meagerly in all aspects of life.  Forced onto a bland diet and plain training uniforms to wear, they learn to overcome both combat and life’s struggles with nothing but their own training and force of will.  It is taught that coin, wine, and earthly pleasures weaken one’s body and soul, softening them physically and morally.  Unsurprisingly it is not a popular school, but nobody can deny that its students are some of the most resolute and hardworking at the Academy.

Golden Lion: Clad in black and yellow uniforms, the Golden Lion disciples understand better than anyone that no true warrior stands alone.  Students are encouraged to put their trust in each other, and everything is done communally; newcomers are paired with an older classmate to serve as their “shield-kin” and the junior as a “sword-kin.”  Both are responsible for each other’s welfare, although the shield-kin’s senior position raises their duty to a higher standard.

Golden Lion classes place a heavy emphasis on social skills as part of their curriculum, including theater and debate clubs.  There is a fierce rivalry between them and the Scarlet Throne school, in part due to their shared affinity for regal command and their differing ideologies of collectivism versus individualism.

Iron Tortoise: Its founder a valiant knight who guarded a bridge against a goblinoid army outnumbering her forces ten to one, Iron Tortoise training uniforms are literally clothed padding one usually wears below metal armor.  "Being able to defeat one's enemy is a necessity in battle, but so is protecting yourself and the ones you love."  Iron Tortoise classes grade students on defense as well as offense, with sport-like training courses where opposing teams do their best to guard detachable flagpoles, zones, and designated "VIP" apprentices from the other side.  By themselves, Iron Tortoise apprentices are resolute, strong-hearted warriors.  Together, they are an unyielding wall.

Primal Fury: The Council seat now vacant, the apprentices of Primal Fury are an urban legend among Kremdorans.  It is said that they live in the caverns beneath the city where the null magic zone does not reach, either stalking the tunnels for hapless spelunkers to kill or hunters of fell abominations and spies from Vierks.  The truth is that the subterranean disciples recruit from Battle Academy apprentices who seem the most worthy of their training.  They view the city as a temporary shield against Vierks and a willing prison for its inhabitants.  As such, they teach that true warriors only improve when they're out living in a hostile world.  Disciples live a vagrant lifestyle in the tunnels and surrounding plains, learning the behaviors of animals and how they survive to supplement their fighting arts.

Scarlet Throne: The Council member a sultan whose skill with the blade matches his wit for governance, Scarlet Throne apprentices are disproportionately drawn from the aristocracy and society's well-to-do.  Emphasizing light weapons, quick strikes, and superior mobility, this flashy yet efficient fighting style has a tendency to attract students whose egos and desire for attention match their talent.  Whether this is due to such folk gravitating towards more "showy" styles, or the Scarlet Throne engendering confidence in its training, depends on who you ask and whether or not the one who answers is a Scarlet Throne disciple.

Silver Crane: Many cultures understand that heavenly entities watch over mortals, and this is just as true in magic-less Kremdora as it is anywhere else.  Although no known members of the Battle Academy practice this style (in part due to its dependence on supernatural maneuvers), students who show traits of compassion, mercy, and a desire for justice receive visions in their dreams of a masked celestial clad in silver.  Those who accept her offer to learn the secrets of the Silver Crane often go on to lands where virtue and value are most needed.  Along the Kremdoran-Vierksian border many folk report witnessing masked silver soldiers distracting Freedom Guard patrols and spiriting away refugee families from the watchful gaze of the mage-tyrant's minions.

Solar Wind: Students of this discipline hold classes in the Academy's towers and open roofs, where the view is greatest and the winds are strongest.  The floating paper lanterns, decorated hanging circles, and other targets are what the apprentices test their bows, firearms, and throwing weapons on, trusting in the light of the sun and moon as well as their own instincts to guide their aim.  Although such activity is punished by teachers, it is popular for Solar Wind practitioners to stand upon the roofs of the school, tie a written message to a blunted missile, and initiate a dazzling maneuver while firing it at some they intend to receive the message.  Most disciples ask students if they'd like to participate in the "Solar Delivery Service" as a way of testing their willingness for this fun diversion.

Steel Serpent: Clad in dragonbone masks and bearing strange titles in lieu of names, the disciples of the Steel Serpent train in a reclusive tower in the Academy's southeast.  There are lots of rumors about what goes on inside the walls, from prayers to foul patrons, murder for hire, and the raising of venomous beasts for poison.  The masked practitioners are tolerated because their killing arts grant them significant medical insight, and graduates go on to be accomplished herbalists beloved in the city.  In spite of the disciples' reputation, the Steel Serpent Council member is loyal to Kremdora and would fight to the death to protect its people from Vierks.

Thrashing Dragon:  Although one member of the Council of Seven represents Thrashing Dragon, in practice this discipline is taught by two teachers with very different philosophies.  The Council member is Sedef Mataraci of the Bronze Reach, a seemingly emotionless and jaded woman.  The other teacher is Nurullah Uzun the Bold, a joyful and headstrong warrior who most students can't remember ever seeing him frown.  Classes are an improvisational, chaotic affair as both teachers encourage students to adapt to the changing environment of battle (even during midswing!) instead of sticking to a single plan.  As a result, even the stoic apprentices of Sedef are as unpredictable in tournament matches as Nurullah's brash daredevils.

Veiled Moon: Like Primal Fury, the disciples of Veiled Moon do not practice their techniques within the city proper.  A strange and elusive bunch, the elder members are actually comprised of planar scholars and spellcasters who found themselves cut off from magic after the meteor fell.  They found out that they did not need spells to tap into the Astral and Ethereal Planes, as their lore about the mortal and spirit world allowed them to bridge the often-misunderstood gap between what is natural and what is supernatural.

The Veiled Moon warrior-mystics have an alliance of sorts with the Battle Academy.  They visit the city at rare times, but do not linger for long as they find the null magic zone disconcerting to their senses.

Let Them Play Drow

Goodbye Negeemiliel by Shabazik of Deviantart

A recurring element I see in the Dungeons & Dragons fandom is one of apprehension when it comes to drow, namely the inclusion of them as a playable race.  The most recent example witnessed was while browsing Paizo's Pathfinder forums, but they're far from the only player base to do this.  I find the issue rather peculiar for several reasons, which makes it rather different than a player desiring a goblin, orc, or similar antagonist-race PC.

First off is the classic Drizz't conundrum, of gamers copying mostly or whole-sale from an existing fictional character.  Understandably many players have a problem with this, although I think it's less due to a lack of originality (basing PCs off of existing fictional characters is nothing new) so much as the repetition it engendered across the decades of play.  Secondly is the problem of an antagonist/monstrous race in a party of humans, dwarves, halflings, and the like.  The fact remains in most published campaigns the drow are pretty much universally vilified.  PCs with one in their group are going to encounter torch-wielding peasants and armed militia whenever the party sets foot in a town or city.  Barring that, the other assumption is that a non-Drizz't drow PC is going to be played like a backstabbing sociopath who is eventually going to offend or turn against the rest of the party.  In short, the baggage is such that the mere option of wanting to play a drow causes lots of groups to jump to the worst conclusions.

And yet that very same fandom can't get enough of them; drow are just plain popular.  They're common antagonists in adventures both modern and classic.  The Drizz't saga is one of the most popular D&D book series.  There's a lot of third party sourcebooks devoted to them as villains, PC options, and cultural detail from Green Ronin's Plot & Poison for 3rd Edition to Barrel Rider Game's Dark Elf base class for Labyrinth Lord.  At least six adventure paths center on them in some way: TSR's Against the Giants series,  Wizards of the Coast's City of the Spider Queen, Paizo's Second Darkness, Adventure-a-Week's Rise of the Drow, Mongoose Publishing's Drow War, and Fire Mountain Games' Throne of Night.  They've been an option for playable characters in official material as early as 1st Edition's Unearthed Arcana, and 3rd, 4th, and now 5th Edition makes them available in setting supplements or even as "core options."  This is not even touching fan material like Drowtales, a webcomic which got popular enough that the creator can make a living off of it.

So this ties back into a common conundrum.  You got all this material for players and DMs alike, scattered across Editions about an elven subrace that a lot of gamers find appealing for various reasons.  And given they're humanoid and have several neat aesthetics (spider motif, underground cities, a magically advanced society, etc), it's inevitable that people are going to want to play as them.

I think we should let drow be playable options.  More than that, I think that we need more original settings and material to make it so they aren't near-universally reviled and evil, as well as tackling the above-mentioned problems.  The thing is, a huge amount of D&D material goes out of its way to show them off as a depraved society.  Orcs and goblins raid and kill, but depictions of drow  have them torture for fun, engage in rape and pedophilia, lack a conscience, and is mentioned in various sourcebooks (like 3rd Edition's Drow of the Underdark) that their society is so unstable that it would fall apart without Lolth micro-managing everything and intruding into her followers' lives.  In some material (Complete Book Elves, 4th Edition Forgotten Realms) the text even links their physical traits like skin color as proof of their evil taint.  This is part of several problems regarding related uncomfortable subject matter underlying their portrayal, as has been noted by others.

Like I noted in my Pathfinder/OSR monstrous PC books, the society of a PC belonging to an "evil" race needs to be more nuanced and three-dimensional beyond the whole 'depraved, violent, and wicked' aspect in order for smoother games.  Otherwise every trip to a non-drow town becomes a potential series of combat encounters.  In my current magic school campaign setting I made the decision to make drow non-evil, or at least as evil as humans are.  They still live underground, have a fondness for spiders and the like, but the major difference was that they were another fantasy civilization in a cosmopolitan metropolis (albeit in the undercity).  They belonged to an old clan of elves who once lived in the mountains, but had to retreat underground from a surface-world disaster.  One of the teachers at the magical academy is a drow, Professor Shadershin, responsible for teaching the Amateur Adventurers obstacle course and gearing the PCs up with equipment.  Another is Gazerlin, a martial artist who wears a mithril power suit in battle; she came to the city avenge the people of her city who were slain by the machinations of Theopolis, a surface-world crime lord.  Other than these two characters, drow have not really played much of a role in my games.  However, the characters I designed were meant to be more than just a straight trope.  Even Gazerlin, who seeks vengeance, does it because everyone she knew and cared about was taken from her by the ambitious greed of one wicked man.  A more typical drow wouldn't feel sorrow for the loss of her fellows.

I think we're at the point where a societal face lift would be the best option forward, both to feed the demand for drow PCs as well as assuage the common fears of DMs and play groups of coping with such an option.  Perhaps we can make their societies varied.  One stalactite city might be under the iron fist of a fascist tyrant whose upper class follows the God(dess) of War.  Another community might live amid a mushroom forest, where their druids and alchemists use the fungus for delicious food, giant specimens hallowed out to live in, and even dangerous mold as weapons against invaders!  A few isolated cities might preserve the old ways of surface elves, worshiping the pantheon like their ancestors did thousands of years ago.  Not only does this move the majority of drow beyond 'elite cannon fodder' and 'evil geniuses in training,' it also adds more variety to the potential backstories of drow PCs beyond the typical rebel/sociopath schematic.

Magic School Campaign Inspirational Material: Harry Potter Series

Universal Studios Picture

For this series, I am going to cover various novels, shows, movies, role-playing supplements and other media for ideas and tricks to add to one's magic school campaign.  And what better fictional world to start with than the most iconic and well-known series?  Harry Potter is a very good series because many people, gamers and non-gamers alike, are familiar with the source material and the use of a similar backdrop can help ease players into your setting.  Thriving fan communities on the Internet for children and adults alike mean that plenty of information about the series is available at one's fingertips.  On the other hand, its familiarity can be a double-edged sword, in that some players might not appreciate it if your setting feels too unoriginal or copying too much.  There's a difference between a teacher who's a hard-nosed disciplinarian, and one who copies Professor Snape's mannerisms down to a tee!

A Hidden World

The Harry Potter series takes place in our own modern society, albeit one with a secret community known as the Wizarding World.  Those who cannot cast magic are known as Muggles, and are separated from the magical communities via a series of spells meant to alter perception, erase memories, and the like along with general secrecy.  Witches and wizards learn magic through training and study, but the gift to be able to do it at all is an inborn trait which can never be learned by Muggles.  Magic is an all-purpose power which acts more or less as a substitute for modern technology such as light generation charms, travel by teleportation or broomstick, and of course offensive spells such as the summoning of a patronus (a kind of guardian spirit) or the forbidden killing curse.

Campaign Ideas: Even beyond the marvelous school of Hogwarts, magic was omnipresent.  It wasn't out of place to see schoolchildren eating animated chocolate frogs on the train to school, nor for large sports stadiums to hold Quidditch tournaments between international teams.  Perhaps your magic school campaign takes place in a setting where the benefits of magic spread across all social strata.  The local blacksmith uses minor repairing spells to supplement his work, while village militias stock their arsenals with healing potions and silver and cold iron weaponry.

It can get easy to get carried away with this, and if magic seems too omnipresent the PCs might not feel so special in comparison.  To rectify this, have the majority population of spellcasters know magic focused for their trade and little beyond that.  Another idea is to borrow the concept of reusable cantrips from games such as Pathfinder and 5th Edition D&D, and hand out a few to most NPCs.  That way, the more powerful magic of Vancian casting can remain within the hands of important characters with class levels.

Hidden Portraits and Passages

Hogwarts' full environs have not been entirely mapped out in the series, and in virtually all of the books Harry and his friends utilized many secret tunnels to get around the school.  One such pathway in the Chamber of Secrets leads to the lair of the vicious basilisk.  Another was the Room of Requirement in the Order of the Phoenix, which would appear people in an hour of greatest need and was used for the clandestine training of Dumbledore's Army.  And even the very environment itself has a tendency to change, like stairs spanning several floors moving to other doorways of their own accord!

Campaign Ideas: In the creation of your own magic school, you should draw out a rough draft of a map.  Leave plenty of empty rooms and space so you can develop rooms and places as the need arises over the course of the campaign.  Consider the benefits of illusion magic and spells such as Magic Aura and Detect Secret Doors.  Think of the original purposes for secret rooms and passages in the school's original design: that tunnel leading out of the school and into that unassuming shop might have once been used to smuggle people into or out of the academy.  That sealed door might hold a vicious monster trapped in stasis.  Rival houses might have secret passwords to get into their dorms.

Death, Power, and Limitations

In spite of its great power, magic can only do so much.  Wizards need wands to focus their magic into reliable spells (wandless magic is possible, but often so hard and unreliable most don't bother using it).  Magic cannot bring the dead back to life.  The Rule of Conjuration makes it such that items made out of thin air tend to better fit general uses than specific ones, and Gamp's Law makes it such that food cannot be made out of nothing (along with four other Principal Exemptions).

Although most fantasy worlds have some sort of principal laws governing magic, the world of Harry Potter's is interesting due to the fact that it cannot master death itself; even spells which can extend one's lifespan come at a cost.  The inability to spontaneously create food is another one, as it would otherwise eliminate a primary need for living beings.

Campaign Ideas: The limitations of magic in OSR games tend to be more broad than Harry Potter's.  The granting of wishes, the possibility of continual energy sources, and resurrection magic are some of the greatest powers and thus the ones most capable of changing society.

And the disparity climbs even farther in Pathfinder.  Although OSR games tend to have binary either/or conditions for things such as material components, spell slots, and casting in armor, most of these limitations are done away with or can be circumvented in Pathfinder.  Eschew Materials, reducing Arcane Spell Failure, and leaving spell slots open to fill in with spells later that day are valid tactics.

In comparison to most fictional fantasy worlds, D&D mages tend to be broad, unlimited, and multi-disciplined in how they can use their magic.  The imposition of limitations should be done so as to not be too harsh and ruin the player's fun, but be able to reign in some of the more extreme shenanigans.  Perhaps magical effects cannot be permanent or retained indefinitely, and thus require the expenditure of ritual energy and material sacrifices?  Maybe spell energy's principally tied to the planes or the land itself, and overuse can drain the land of future spell use.  Or maybe certain materials are strongly anti-magical in nature, and thus can be used to block against scrying and other useful applications of spell energy.

Thanks: the Harry Potter Wiki was instrumental in helping me search for and remember events from the series.

Harry Potter is a long and popular enough series that I could go on, but right now I feel that this post is long enough, and to move on to other forms of lesser-known media for the time being to mine for inspirational material.

Interesting 3rd Party Finds: the Variant Adept (Pathfinder)

The Wizard's Apprentice by fUnKyToEs of deviantart

For those not familiar with the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game, anyone who belongs to the major races and is not a monster has class levels.  However, there are no 0-level humans in the game like in earlier Editions.  Instead, there are five NPC Classes meant to broadly cover the non-adventuring common folk of the realm.  The Aristocrat is the rich noble who doesn't know much in the way of fighting; the Commoner is the peasant or unskilled laborer; the Expert represents a skilled tradesman; and the Warrior a common soldier who knows how to fight but does not approach the level of the Fighter (a master of war).  The Adept is the sole spellcasting NPC class, yet surprisingly it only covers a narrow purview: the folk shaman living away from civilization who gains minor spells from a patron.  Given its limited spell list and the differing game mechanics for magical traditions, the Adept can't really reflect the studious hedge mage, cunning illusionist trickster, or other minor apprentices common in magic school campaigns and Sword & Sorcery demonic cults.

By sheer chance I stumbled across an interesting Variant Adept within a free adventure for the Scarred Lands Campaign Setting.  Basically, it allows the Adept to expand their spell list to a small selection of ones from PC classes, and to trade in their Familiar class feature for another supernatural boon.  That way, a DM can have adepts who are wizardly apprentices, followers of a druidic faith, or even cultists to a vile god.  As this section of the rules in the adventure is designated as Open Game Content, I'm going to post it here in its entirety.

Optional Rule: Variant Adepts

These variant rules can make the adept NPC class much more versatile, representing anything from a simple apprentice wizard to a strange prophet, or even a druidic cultist who worships some primordial titanic power.

Spellcasting: An adept can cast either arcane or divine spells (choose one; this cannot be changed once decided), which are drawn from the adept spell list in either case. Like a cleric or wizard, an adept must choose and prepare her spells in advance. An adept cannot spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells.

To prepare or cast a spell, an arcane adept must have an Intelligence or Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an adept’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the adept’s Intelligence or Charisma modifier.

A divine adept must have a Wisdom or Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an adept’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the adept’s Wisdom or Charisma modifier.

Arcane adepts acquire their spells from books or scrolls and prepare them through study. The arcane adept keeps a spellbook just like a wizard, and uses it in exactly the same way that a wizard does.

Divine adepts must meditate or pray for their spells, in the fashion of a cleric or druid.

Where the adept class table indicates that the adept gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score for that spell level.

Adept Talent: At 2nd level, an adept can choose any one of the following options:

Arcane bond: As the wizard class feature of the same name (either a familiar or a bonded object).

Bloodline: As the sorcerer class feature of the same name. She gains the bloodline arcana and bloodline powers for that bloodline as a sorcerer of the same level, along with any bonus skills. The adept may add the bonus spells for that bloodline to her spell list, but does not gain the bloodline’s bonus feats.

Cleric domain: As appropriate for the adept’s god, philosophy, or religion; she gains a bonus domain spell of each level she can cast, as a cleric, along with any domain powers. She uses her adept level as her cleric level for this purpose.

Nature bond: As the druid class feature of the same name. If she chooses an animal companion, the adept treats her druid level as half her adept level for that purpose; if she chooses a cleric domain, she gains a bonus domain spell of each level she can cast, along with any domain powers. She uses her adept level as her druid level for this purpose.

This ability replaces summon familiar.

Favored Class Benefit: At 1st level, the adept may choose cleric, druid, or sorcerer/wizard; once chosen, this class cannot be changed. For each favored class level in adept, the adept can effectively add one spell of any level she can cast from the chosen class’s spell list to the adept spell list.

Personal Thoughts

You might notice that while the Variant Adept draws various abilities from the major spellcasting classes of Pathfinder, they are neither as powerful nor as versatile as the magical traditions they're meant to emulate.  The ability to add more spells to the base Adept list (which is quite small in Pathfinder) only comes via a Favored Class Benefit, meaning that only races which have Favored Class: Any will be adding things like fireball, silent image, and third party spells to their repertoire.

I also find it interesting in how an arcane adept is not limited by an arcane spell failure chance, and thus can potentially cast spells in plate mail with the expenditure of feats.  There's also no restriction in the text for a divine adept drawing Favored Class spells from the sorcerer/wizard list, or for an arcane adept to do the same with cleric/druid spells.  Although the base Adept was a strong contender for being the most powerful and versatile NPC class, the variant version makes it good enough to be on par with some lower-tier PC classes.

The utility of a spellbook and allowing others to copy spells from it might present a potential problem in regards to the Leadership feat and followers.  Even though the rules prevent a wizard from copying spells not on his class skill list into his spellbook (see "Adding Spells to a Wizard's Spellbook"), this can end up as a way for said PC to exponentially gain more spells for free.  Adepts copying spells from PC class spellbooks is not as much of a problem, in that they only gain cleric/druid/wizard spells not on the Adept list via Favored Class, and thus only 1 per level at most.

Use in a Magic School Campaign

The variant adept is a good way to populate your academy with low-level student NPCs without worrying about class features, at-will cantrips, and the like.  The adept's poor base attack bonus, lack of any martial weapon or armor proficiency, and low Hit Die and skill list make its minor spells and adept talent its sole strong suit.  This archetype is perfect for the mass of fresh-faced youngsters dedicating their school months to study, and having all Knowledge skills as class skills for this last part doesn't hurt either!