I would like to test this game with my daughter and her friends. It will be their first time with RPGs, and a girls-only party!
However, they are HP experts, while I only watched the movies. I do not have the time or knowledge to create a scenario. It would be low-quality and a delusion for them. Is there any ready-made adventure available, in any language?
I know this isn't what you asked: but I hope this helps. I ran this with 4 Potter experts, I am not. Here's what I did.
The beauty of PbtA games is the agency it gives the players. Before you start, ask each one of them what three things they'd like to see in the game from the HP world. Start on the train to school and just have them encounter one of those things. They will take the story from there. You'll be there to pepper in the other wishes & help guide their mess of ideas. :)
Yes, this is not what I asked, but thank you anyway. Your suggestion is brilliant because the girls are Potter experts, but RPG newbies. If any of them finds this 'trick' a little bit obvious, I will explain that this is thought as an introduction for them. Just play along with it. Besides, if you can share your adventure, in any format and level of detail, that will help me. :-)
I wish I could. I started on the train, as one player wanted to do. I asked one of them something along the lines of "as you walk to the back of the train which teacher do you go out of the way to avoid, and why?' this had that player talk about their potions professor whose class they failed. they hide from them, no big deal.
I introduced some house-elves acting sneaky and up to something. they were working for, yup, that potions professor from earlier.
none of it was planned and I've forgotten most of it.
Yes, I will. I understand that this type of RPGs does not rely on old-school pre-made scenarios. I need ideas to set the session up in my mind, and you have provided one. Thank you!
Hi there! As others have mentioned, PbtA games give players a lot of agency to co-create the scenario with the GM. Note the game instructions about asking the players when you don't know something. The GM is not the ultimate font of all knowledge in this style of game.
My favorite trick is to start the game by asking each player about one rumor they've heard at Hogwarts this year. Then, use one or more of the rumors to introduce your initial unexpected event. As the players investigate what's going on, they'll start seeing mysteries to solve. And as you introduce more events based on their rumors, you'll all start to see interesting connections between them – that's the scenario.
If you're still stumped, email me at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com. I don't have any public-facing pre-written scenarios, but I can share my personal notes for the scenarios I run at conventions.
Thank you David. I really appreciate the level of collaborative support that I am receiving on this page. I plan to hold the session in October, as a present for my daughter's birthday. My birthday gift wil be her first RPG experience, with her best friends, in their beloved HP world. That's my plan.
I was an avid RPG player and master, back in old-school times. So my GM skills are rock solid - if we play the old school! But I realize that I must introduce them to RPGs in the way that they are played today. So I must re-start from scratch, and learn such a different gameplay (PBTA). Hope I find time in the coming weeks. I appreciate your availability and will contact you if needed.
Even if I don't contact you, I will take the time to 'report' about the session, if I manage to do it. :-)
Sounds great! I hope the girls have a fun time, and I’d love to hear how it goes :)
If you’re looking for more guidance on GMing this style of game, I’d also recommend reading the DM guidance in Dungeon World. It helped me a lot in moving from D&D to PbtA games.
I will take a look, thank you! In the last weeks I've listened to GM podcasts and to some recorded live sessions. I've cleared my mind up a lot. Mastering PBTA games looks easier than I thought. So, now I have a second reason to organize the Hogwarts RPG session: as a birthday present for my daughter, and to satisfy my curiosity about mastering a PBTA. :-)
Hey david do you maybe have a site or links to possible sites that may have your or fan made premade maps, character concept art and wands? Due to me living by myself and I have been wanting to solo play this and or if possible write a cyoa interactive fanfic on my phone using this as a guide (cuz I don't have a pc atm lol )
I haven't made any Hogwarts maps or character art, but the Italian translation of the game has a bunch of extra art, including maps & wands. Hope that helps!
ran few mini campaigns of Hogwarts RPG and had a blast. And here with a couple of new questions, to make it even better : )
1. If a player chooses another player's character as a friend, does that mean another player can only choose him as a friend as well? (Same with rivals) 2. Do you have any tips on how the game works best: is it better to always keep the players as one group? Because when I let them do their own stuff separately, which is common for most PbtA games, it doesn't work well : / 3. As mentioned by the author, the game is meant to be played for students only. But why the "Create Your Wizard" step 1 says "Your witch/wizard may be a 1st-7th Year student, or a graduate like a teacher or staff member."?
Hey Marrsho! Glad the mini-campaigns went well. Answers:
Nope, friends & rivals are asymmetrical – you might consider someone a friend or a rival who doesn't feel strongly about you at all. When a player chooses another player's character as a friend, only the player doing the choosing writes down a name.
As the Narrator, you have 2 General Moves covering "splitting the party" – Split Them Up & Put Them Together. When characters are together, think about ways you could split them apart for drama & to spotlight players. When they're apart, think of ways to bring them back to the same place or get them to join forces. If you're having difficulty, I'd keep them together by giving them a shared goal, or at least asking where they're planning to meet up after completing separate tasks. If you're really struggling to motivate them, remind them that mechanics like getting help (+1 to rolls) or clearing Conditions rely on being with other characters.
Good point! The game is heavily geared towards playing as a student. I should probably remove that phrase.
Hey Marrsho, do you have your mini-campaigns written down, in any format and level of detail? If yes, I would love to read them. Looking to set up a test session with my daughter and her friends.
Hey frain! No, I don't, for that's the specifics of that kind of system – the adventure is created collaboratively in the process. You all are authors, unlike "classic" games, like D&D, where you have the pre-written scenario and basically you are the only narrator. You just have to try it once and trust your players, in fact, RPG newbies play that kinds of systems the best because they don't have thinking cliches from other RPGs, and just let their imagination out :) But you have to know the basics of HP Universe (movies are enough in fact) and if you need ideas about villains and their plots, you can read https://harrypotter.fandom.com/
Also, listen to the podcast above, the last 30 minutes or so is the mini actual play from David. It really helped me.
Here's a 4 session long actual play aswell. Wish you the great game! I'm sure you will have a lot of fun! :)
Thank you for the explanation and resources! Knowing that movies are enough to master this game, from someone who already mastered campaigns, is reassuring. I understand that I must spend some more time reading & watching about the HP world, before the first session. It will be a pleasure to do and increase the probabilities of a successful test session.
Hello. I wanted to say thank you for creating such a lovely and marvelous game that brought the world of Hogwarts to life. I tested the game with some friends today as a pre birthday celebration for my 30th and it was a fun journey. I tweaked the mystery and luck function thinking my friends would only do the oneshot and turns out they want play again. But I would like to really complement you to how easy and how the system flowed as you got into it. I loved the serious conditions and how I was able to create the magnificent world of Bogwarts Hogwarts in the 1920s. So thank you and I loved every second of this game.
I'm about to start playing with a group of friends and I was wondering if you have a suggestion on how to handle a quidditch game. Should it have a set number of rounds in order to give the team that didn't got the golden snitch a chance to win?
For example: if a match lasts twenty rounds and Gryffindor manages to score 16 goals for 160 points and Hufflepuff scores 0 goals but catches the golden snitch, Gryffindor still wins.
Is a set number of rounds the way to go or should it just be whoever catches the golden snitch first?
I haven't been a GM before, so I'm not really sure if I should worry about details like this. I guess you play a couple of rounds, you introduce the golden snitch and whoever catches it first, that's it?
What do you think?
PS I'm very excited to play this. We're currently playing a much more complicated system and it's kind of awesome to have a chance to play a simpler one, especially one set in this world. Thank you for that. I must also note that I really appreciate the beautifully designed PDFs. Have a great day!
Thanks! My goal is to make game systems that are simpler to use and make people's ttrpg experiences more fun.
As to your questions: The Quidditch rules are about narrating an exciting game of Quidditch at the table, not about playing a fair match between teams. (The game as written in the books is inherently nonsensical & unfair, right? A goal scores 10 points but the team that catches the one ball at the end gets 150 points? Ridiculous!) So keep that in mind.
Having a set number of rounds before you announce the Snitch is what I usually do. I'd suggest 2-3 rounds (where every player at the table has gotten a chance to roll during the match). But pay attention to your players! If they're having a blast describing all the cool plays & broom tricks they're doing, go for more rounds. If they're struggling to come up with new ways to describe getting the ball into the goal, introduce the Snitch earlier so you can move on to a more engaging part of the game.
Also note: Getting the Snitch requires a 10+, so it's statistically less likely to happen on the 1st try, which gives the opposing team a chance to steal. And the rules are written to allow player characters to be on opposing teams, for a player character team & a narrator-controlled team to face off, or even for all player characters to be observers who aren't on either participating team.
Hello again! Maybe it's my English level's fault, but can you please clarify,
1. What's the difference between two 10+ options of Face Danger: "You stand firm and nobody gets hurt. You aren’t hurt, and you hurt the threat right back." What's the point of choosing the first one, it seems that it just doesn't change the situation at all. 2. "Learning spells" says they can be learned from a book and you don't even need a roll for it. Does it mean, a student can just have the textbook with him all the time and learn whatever spell he needs? What's the point of gaining experience and spending it to learn a new spell? Or spending luck point to try to cast it? 3. Help or Hinder Someone – "Offer them 1 Experience to stop what they're doing." That sounds like the option for players. How to narrate that as the option for characters?
Stand in the face of danger is about choosing whether to attack or defend against a threat. So if you pick the 1st 10+ option ("Stand firm and nobody gets hurt"), you can defend yourself and others, but you won't necessarily lash out against the threat. This is useful if you want to take a nonviolent course of action, or if you need to protect someone else. If you choose the 2nd 10+ option ("You aren't hurt, and you hurt the threat right back"), you're deciding to respond to a threat with aggression, and you may not be able to protect others (even if you're okay).
Learning a spell is supposed to be fairly easy, but it still requires a character to find the information in-game. You need to locate the correct book, seek out an instructor, etc. The advancement option handwaves this process and allows you to know the spell immediately. The luck point option allows you to, in an emergency, attempt a spell you haven't learned at all. Of course, if you want to play a character who hauls around forty textbooks around at all times and stops the action to spend 15-30 minutes reading a book to learn a new spell, there's nothing in the game rules that says you can't.
Yes, "Offer them 1 Experience to stop what they're doing" is just between player characters. So it's a negotiation between players, and they're free to work out what that looks like narratively between themselves.
Great! I'm still thinking about the role of the Face Danger in combat, but I think I just need to research and practice combat in PbtA more, since Hogwarts is my first PbtA game to run. Your answers always improve my games a lot, thank you so much! : )
Happy to help! Hogwarts isn't a fighting game (though obviously fights will occur, just like in the books & movies). If you're interested in how PbtA deals with fights, I'd recommend looking at Dungeon Worldor Monster of the Week.
Thank you very much. I'm pretty successful with my research, and definitely will check out these two. For now I understand, that I need to get rid of that "action economy" thinking and take turns as a spotlight.
We are working on the french translation of Hogwarts RPG, and I have some questions about some parts of the rules. So I sent you an email if you don't mind. Thanks in advance for your help !
Would be cool if someone did a virtual tabletop for mobile android with this game for offline 1 player that be epic if there is something like that can someone let me know as well as send a link to it to download thank
Hello, this game looks great! Unfortunately, this game is not very well-known in Russia. But many Russian players love the world of Harry Potter. Therefore, I ask for permission to execute and publish on Russian tabletop games forum a free fan localization of "Hogwarts RPG – Full Game", "Hogwarts RPG – Player Kit", "Hogwarts RPG – Fillable Character Sheets".
This is a completely non-commercial project aimed to show as many players in Russia as possible advantages of this game.
Hey there, just in case – there is a Russian fanmade translation already. A couple of mistakes here and there, but it's complete. https://vk.com/wall-176339701_69
Hi Alexander! Thanks for your interest. This game is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License, so you're welcome to create any derivative projects you'd like (translations, hacks, etc), no permission necessary. The only requirements are attribution and that your project also be 100% non-commercial.
Looks like there's already a Russian translation (thanks, Marrsho!) but you're free to create your own!
Hello, There is a discussion on the french discord CestpasduJdR about translating the game in french. It's still a dream, but so you know : it's in the air.
Hm, I've never playtested it as a solo game (and to be honest I don't know enough about solo-play RPG design to say whether it would work or not, or if it needs additional rules & systems). But you're certainly welcome to attempt it, or attempt to modify it! I imagine best practices for Powered by the Apocalypse solo play will apply (whatever those may be). I know for sure you can successfully play this game with two players – 1 Narrator (GM) & 1 Student (PC). Hope that helps!
Hi, Just found this about 20 mins ago and have 3, maybe 4 if they can make it, people up for running this with myself as the narrator. I think its fantastic! Its incredibly easy to pick up (my group was incredibly thankful for that as they already have about 4 game systems memorized).
Hello and thank you for such a nice and pretty game. Can you tell me please what happens, when a character takes four Experience during the game, does he has to stop adding it after each failed roll since he can only advance at the end of a session?
Hi there & thanks! Advances can be taken at any time during play, as soon as a player fills their 4th Experience slot. No need to wait for the end of the session to clear Experience, take an advance, and start marking Experience again.
Miro allows you to draw on the sheet, just like in real life (see video on editing hogwarts sheet here: https://imgur.com/sjqZVxL)
PbtA games don't require complicated automatization, since the character sheet editing is literally about marking and underlining a few dots and words :) For a character sheet to be available in Roll20 it needs to be created and exported there, since it's not available in options (you can check it by "create a game" and "choose character sheet" options in roll20) it's not been exported there. And, frankly, one does not need it :)
Any chance to have fillable italian sheet too? goodjob anyway, this game is amazing! the only thing I've noticed is that it's pretty hard to leave the scene or die
Glad you like the game! This is a free fan project, so it only exists as a PDF download. The game will never be available for sale (digital, physical, or otherwise). But thanks for your interest & enthusiasm!
I'm sure you will be glad to hear that Hogwarts RPG has now a Spanish translation thanks to the Creative Commons license under which the original was published. Thanks for creating such a great and fun game! Muchas gracias! Muito obrigado!
That's fantastic! Thanks so much for putting this together – I'll include a link on the game page above. Really glad that everyone is making such good use of the CC license
Hi David! A week ago, i've played this amazing game in a italian Discord server named "Racconti da GDR" as a DM. One player was really exited and decided to make an Italian translation with a new layout. Can i send you a copy to give im a look?
Ciao! Io sarei davvero interessato ad avere più informazioni! Mi farebbe davvero piacere se potessi condividere con me la tua esperienza e la traduzione in italiano. Come DM neofita i miei player mi chiedono spesso qualcosa a tema HP. Se puoi rispondimi tranquillamente per mail: zacckalbrigo@gmail.com
Ciao! Per quanto riguarda il gioco è stata una bella scoperta, perchè anche se il sistema è molto semplice ti permette di affrontare praticamente qualsiasi situazione che potrebbe capitare in un mondo come quello. Ho fatto una oneshot dove i personaggi dovevano recuperare un ingrediente per Hagrid e ci siamo tutti molto divertiti, soprattutto perchè il sistema di randomizzazione dei pg è molto valido e veloce.
Per quanto riguarda la copia in italiano preferisco aspettare la risposta di David Brunell-Brutman che in caso (se gli piacerà) potrà metterla scaricabile qui insieme alle altre. La traduzione e la nuova grafica non sono state fatte da me ma da uno dei giocatori di quella oneshot
I'd love to take a look at what you've put together! There are a few Italian translation projects in progress, though I'm not sure of their current status. Feel free to email me at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com. Glad to hear you've enjoyed the game!
Hello David! This looks like so much fun. I am so stoked to play this. I have one question: in the player move "Stand in the Face of Danger," you use the term "hurt" and I'm curious if that is another word for condition. If they roll a 7-9 and hurt the threat but the PC gets hurt too, does that mean a condition is being applied? Sorry I'm coming for DnD 5e so I'm taking everything literally.
Hey there! "Hurt" is literal, but it's literally what happens to the characters in the story.
Let's say you have a witch facing down a Dementor and she casts a Patronus charm. She rolls to stand in the face of danger, gets a 7-9, and picks "you hurt the threat, but it hurts you as well". The important thing is to narrate the Dementor closing in, then reeling back from the light of her Patronus ("you hurt the threat") as she collapses to the floor ("it hurts you as well"). Then, as the Narrator, you might describe her shaking in terror & give the Scared Condition, or passing out from the attack & give the Unconscious Condition.
So yes, generally, getting "hurt" means that the Narrator will make the Narrator Move "Give them a Condition". But it's important that the Condition only occurs because the character got hurt in the story.
This just looks gorgeous! And as a fan of both the PbtA System and HP, this is a must-have for me. As I am planning on running a German session soon, is there any way to get some templates or something similar, so I can translate the players' sheets?
Thanks so much! There are actually a few folks starting a full German translation now, but I'm happy to send you design files for your own translation. Email me here
Hi! Just found this game and I'm excited to try it with the kids next week! How is the German translation going? Even partly translated stuff, like translated character sheets would be very helpfull! Smile and greetings form Munich, Christoph
I would love to be able to access this on Roll20 as well -- is there a way you can share it? (i have a number of friends who would love to give Hogwarts a try if it was available on Roll20). Hope this is possible. Thanks!
Hey man, thanks for the game, it's simply the best adaptation of HP to PtbA.
I'm a Brazilian professional RPG and boardgame translator, and unfortunately you'll have a 3rd translate to Portuguese soon haha... But mine has a full quidditch system, with differences between positions, broomsticks, maneuvers and a non-arbitrary form to end the game lol
Hi, I enjoyed very much the game! Where can I find the "scroll" background you use for the sample pages? I'd like to print some pages in color with that background, thank you very much!
I really like the collaborative storytelling approach to this system and how it’s focused on player interactions. Unfortunately the group I am playing with really just wanted me to write a game for them so it’s less satisfying for me.
I’d be really interested in seeing what a group that wanted more collaboration would achieve storytelling wise. Perhaps over a Discord server? If anyone else is interested in that, let me know. I’d love to Narrate and play in a bunch of little collaborations since the Wizarding World has such a deep, vast history to it.
Peraonally, I think it would be really fun to play/narrate stories during different historical eras and not just the “Harry Potter” timeline.
The game works great over Discord, and in different time periods! I've previously run a HWRPG Discord game set during the 1st World War. (You can also connect with other gamers over Discord on the special server I set up for my Patreon patrons)
Thank you so much for this game. Since my gaming went digital I went ahead and made a PC Tracker on Google Sheets for online play. I'm sharing it here for anybody to use.
I'd love to see this expanded to allow for the characters to have their adventures away from the school, and to include other races. Muggles would have advantages over wizarding families in the muggle world, even if they can't do magic. Magic and technology don't tend to get along, so they would be able to help out in those ways. Players could be muggles, squibs, goblins, centaurs, etc if the players were away from school, say on summer holidays. We may try it out here to see how well it will work. I know most people will want to be wizards (obviously) but having the option could be fun.
It's definitely outside the scope of this game, but feel free to hack it & see what you can do! There's a lot of Wizarding World out there to explore, and Hogwarts only focuses on one specific part of it. Let me know how it goes if you mod the game
I like this system, I do think you can go into more detail about what wands you use. There are many to chose from to limit people to just those can be a little restricting, following this you could say that each wand gives you a bonus to a certain spell or proficiency. Finally, I know it's nigh impossible to list all spells, but you have missed some. I.e. Bombarda, feindfire and such.
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. I tried to simplify as much as possible, so you're correct about things being left out. Feel free to hack the game and add in things like additional spells or wand types – neither of those would "break" the system
During my family game of this we found lists of different wand woods, cores, and lengths and just rolled extra dice for them then had attributes separately. That seemed to cover those bases. There’s another system we tried that actually gave proficiency in certain spells or charms depending on the core, so we added elements of that as well.
This is a wonderful little game that captures the heart of Hogwarts really well. Recommended for that alone - but it also does something really unique in PbTA design with its mystery mechanic - you could use this to port all sort of mystery games in a "play to find out" sort of way.
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I would like to test this game with my daughter and her friends. It will be their first time with RPGs, and a girls-only party!
However, they are HP experts, while I only watched the movies. I do not have the time or knowledge to create a scenario. It would be low-quality and a delusion for them. Is there any ready-made adventure available, in any language?
I know this isn't what you asked: but I hope this helps. I ran this with 4 Potter experts, I am not. Here's what I did.
The beauty of PbtA games is the agency it gives the players. Before you start, ask each one of them what three things they'd like to see in the game from the HP world. Start on the train to school and just have them encounter one of those things. They will take the story from there. You'll be there to pepper in the other wishes & help guide their mess of ideas. :)
Yes, this is not what I asked, but thank you anyway. Your suggestion is brilliant because the girls are Potter experts, but RPG newbies. If any of them finds this 'trick' a little bit obvious, I will explain that this is thought as an introduction for them. Just play along with it.
Besides, if you can share your adventure, in any format and level of detail, that will help me. :-)
I wish I could. I started on the train, as one player wanted to do. I asked one of them something along the lines of "as you walk to the back of the train which teacher do you go out of the way to avoid, and why?' this had that player talk about their potions professor whose class they failed. they hide from them, no big deal.
I introduced some house-elves acting sneaky and up to something. they were working for, yup, that potions professor from earlier.
none of it was planned and I've forgotten most of it.
Maybe dig around for some Potter fan-fiction?
Yes, I will. I understand that this type of RPGs does not rely on old-school pre-made scenarios. I need ideas to set the session up in my mind, and you have provided one. Thank you!
Hi there! As others have mentioned, PbtA games give players a lot of agency to co-create the scenario with the GM. Note the game instructions about asking the players when you don't know something. The GM is not the ultimate font of all knowledge in this style of game.
My favorite trick is to start the game by asking each player about one rumor they've heard at Hogwarts this year. Then, use one or more of the rumors to introduce your initial unexpected event. As the players investigate what's going on, they'll start seeing mysteries to solve. And as you introduce more events based on their rumors, you'll all start to see interesting connections between them – that's the scenario.
If you're still stumped, email me at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com. I don't have any public-facing pre-written scenarios, but I can share my personal notes for the scenarios I run at conventions.
Thank you David. I really appreciate the level of collaborative support that I am receiving on this page. I plan to hold the session in October, as a present for my daughter's birthday. My birthday gift wil be her first RPG experience, with her best friends, in their beloved HP world. That's my plan.
I was an avid RPG player and master, back in old-school times. So my GM skills are rock solid - if we play the old school! But I realize that I must introduce them to RPGs in the way that they are played today. So I must re-start from scratch, and learn such a different gameplay (PBTA). Hope I find time in the coming weeks. I appreciate your availability and will contact you if needed.
Even if I don't contact you, I will take the time to 'report' about the session, if I manage to do it. :-)
Sounds great! I hope the girls have a fun time, and I’d love to hear how it goes :)
If you’re looking for more guidance on GMing this style of game, I’d also recommend reading the DM guidance in Dungeon World. It helped me a lot in moving from D&D to PbtA games.
I will take a look, thank you! In the last weeks I've listened to GM podcasts and to some recorded live sessions. I've cleared my mind up a lot. Mastering PBTA games looks easier than I thought. So, now I have a second reason to organize the Hogwarts RPG session: as a birthday present for my daughter, and to satisfy my curiosity about mastering a PBTA. :-)
Hey david do you maybe have a site or links to possible sites that may have your or fan made premade maps, character concept art and wands? Due to me living by myself and I have been wanting to solo play this and or if possible write a cyoa interactive fanfic on my phone using this as a guide (cuz I don't have a pc atm lol )
I haven't made any Hogwarts maps or character art, but the Italian translation of the game has a bunch of extra art, including maps & wands. Hope that helps!
Hello,
ran few mini campaigns of Hogwarts RPG and had a blast. And here with a couple of new questions, to make it even better : )
1. If a player chooses another player's character as a friend, does that mean another player can only choose him as a friend as well? (Same with rivals)
2. Do you have any tips on how the game works best: is it better to always keep the players as one group? Because when I let them do their own stuff separately, which is common for most PbtA games, it doesn't work well : /
3. As mentioned by the author, the game is meant to be played for students only. But why the "Create Your Wizard" step 1 says "Your witch/wizard may be a 1st-7th Year student, or a graduate like a teacher or staff member."?
Thank you!
Hey Marrsho! Glad the mini-campaigns went well. Answers:
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! Now can't wait to test that all : ))
Hey Marrsho, do you have your mini-campaigns written down, in any format and level of detail? If yes, I would love to read them. Looking to set up a test session with my daughter and her friends.
Hey frain! No, I don't, for that's the specifics of that kind of system – the adventure is created collaboratively in the process. You all are authors, unlike "classic" games, like D&D, where you have the pre-written scenario and basically you are the only narrator. You just have to try it once and trust your players, in fact, RPG newbies play that kinds of systems the best because they don't have thinking cliches from other RPGs, and just let their imagination out :) But you have to know the basics of HP Universe (movies are enough in fact) and if you need ideas about villains and their plots, you can read https://harrypotter.fandom.com/
Also, listen to the podcast above, the last 30 minutes or so is the mini actual play from David. It really helped me.
Here's a 4 session long actual play aswell. Wish you the great game! I'm sure you will have a lot of fun! :)
Thank you for the explanation and resources! Knowing that movies are enough to master this game, from someone who already mastered campaigns, is reassuring. I understand that I must spend some more time reading & watching about the HP world, before the first session. It will be a pleasure to do and increase the probabilities of a successful test session.
Hello. I wanted to say thank you for creating such a lovely and marvelous game that brought the world of Hogwarts to life. I tested the game with some friends today as a pre birthday celebration for my 30th and it was a fun journey. I tweaked the mystery and luck function thinking my friends would only do the oneshot and turns out they want play again. But I would like to really complement you to how easy and how the system flowed as you got into it. I loved the serious conditions and how I was able to create the magnificent world of Bogwarts Hogwarts in the 1920s. So thank you and I loved every second of this game.
You're welcome! Glad you had a good time playing the game and happy birthday!
Hi there :D
I'm about to start playing with a group of friends and I was wondering if you have a suggestion on how to handle a quidditch game. Should it have a set number of rounds in order to give the team that didn't got the golden snitch a chance to win?
For example: if a match lasts twenty rounds and Gryffindor manages to score 16 goals for 160 points and Hufflepuff scores 0 goals but catches the golden snitch, Gryffindor still wins.
Is a set number of rounds the way to go or should it just be whoever catches the golden snitch first?
I haven't been a GM before, so I'm not really sure if I should worry about details like this. I guess you play a couple of rounds, you introduce the golden snitch and whoever catches it first, that's it?
What do you think?
PS I'm very excited to play this. We're currently playing a much more complicated system and it's kind of awesome to have a chance to play a simpler one, especially one set in this world. Thank you for that. I must also note that I really appreciate the beautifully designed PDFs. Have a great day!
Thanks! My goal is to make game systems that are simpler to use and make people's ttrpg experiences more fun.
As to your questions: The Quidditch rules are about narrating an exciting game of Quidditch at the table, not about playing a fair match between teams. (The game as written in the books is inherently nonsensical & unfair, right? A goal scores 10 points but the team that catches the one ball at the end gets 150 points? Ridiculous!) So keep that in mind.
Having a set number of rounds before you announce the Snitch is what I usually do. I'd suggest 2-3 rounds (where every player at the table has gotten a chance to roll during the match). But pay attention to your players! If they're having a blast describing all the cool plays & broom tricks they're doing, go for more rounds. If they're struggling to come up with new ways to describe getting the ball into the goal, introduce the Snitch earlier so you can move on to a more engaging part of the game.
Also note: Getting the Snitch requires a 10+, so it's statistically less likely to happen on the 1st try, which gives the opposing team a chance to steal. And the rules are written to allow player characters to be on opposing teams, for a player character team & a narrator-controlled team to face off, or even for all player characters to be observers who aren't on either participating team.
Hope that helps!
Hello again! Maybe it's my English level's fault, but can you please clarify,
1. What's the difference between two 10+ options of Face Danger:
"You stand firm and nobody gets hurt.
You aren’t hurt, and you hurt the threat right back."
What's the point of choosing the first one, it seems that it just doesn't change the situation at all.
2. "Learning spells" says they can be learned from a book and you don't even need a roll for it. Does it mean, a student can just have the textbook with him all the time and learn whatever spell he needs? What's the point of gaining experience and spending it to learn a new spell? Or spending luck point to try to cast it?
3. Help or Hinder Someone – "Offer them 1 Experience to stop what they're doing." That sounds like the option for players. How to narrate that as the option for characters?
Thank you in advance!
Good questions!
Hope that helps!
Great! I'm still thinking about the role of the Face Danger in combat, but I think I just need to research and practice combat in PbtA more, since Hogwarts is my first PbtA game to run. Your answers always improve my games a lot, thank you so much! : )
Happy to help! Hogwarts isn't a fighting game (though obviously fights will occur, just like in the books & movies). If you're interested in how PbtA deals with fights, I'd recommend looking at Dungeon World or Monster of the Week.
Thank you very much. I'm pretty successful with my research, and definitely will check out these two. For now I understand, that I need to get rid of that "action economy" thinking and take turns as a spotlight.
I wish there was a Hogwarts map suitable for tabletop gaming.
The Italian translation of the game includes a map on page 20, if that helps:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XKl6onM0J4Hp_tK1_lXE26PHtThbk6e0/view?usp=shari...
Amazing, i was looking for that very map really hard, thanks!
Has anyone put the character sheets up on Roll20?
I don't think there's anything on the marketplace, but a player was kind enough to put together this DYI guide for creating your own Hogwarts Roll20 character sheets:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IWsppK9_BP12qZP0pcDB_5VxKOy2siYx/view?usp=shari...
Hi David,
We are working on the french translation of Hogwarts RPG, and I have some questions about some parts of the rules. So I sent you an email if you don't mind. Thanks in advance for your help !
And thank you for creating this amazing game !
Would be cool if someone did a virtual tabletop for mobile android with this game for offline 1 player that be epic if there is something like that can someone let me know as well as send a link to it to download thank
Maybe that Google Sheets version will help. Just copy it into your GDrive to edit.
Hogwarts RPG Charcter sheet:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DnzVkHTl2zcYwfzOXK2GvQhTN2m4gBZu
Dice Roller (you can copypaste it into your charsheet):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CYAKe2ezNj56KQoBpntR0rwvvWiQ7v3iZ8Bu-_x9...
Hello, this game looks great!
Unfortunately, this game is not very well-known in Russia. But many Russian players love the world of Harry Potter.
Therefore, I ask for permission to execute and publish on Russian tabletop games forum a free fan localization of "Hogwarts RPG – Full Game", "Hogwarts RPG – Player Kit", "Hogwarts RPG – Fillable Character Sheets".
This is a completely non-commercial project aimed to show as many players in Russia as possible advantages of this game.
Hope you will grant your permission
Best regards,
Alexander Mikhailov
Hey there, just in case – there is a Russian fanmade translation already. A couple of mistakes here and there, but it's complete. https://vk.com/wall-176339701_69
Hi Alexander! Thanks for your interest. This game is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License, so you're welcome to create any derivative projects you'd like (translations, hacks, etc), no permission necessary. The only requirements are attribution and that your project also be 100% non-commercial.
Looks like there's already a Russian translation (thanks, Marrsho!) but you're free to create your own!
Hello, There is a discussion on the french discord CestpasduJdR about translating the game in french. It's still a dream, but so you know : it's in the air.
Hey ! Yep, and it's no longer a dream, now it's reality. :)
hi, would this be suitable for solo play? Or does it really need to have a group to play? Thanks!
Hm, I've never playtested it as a solo game (and to be honest I don't know enough about solo-play RPG design to say whether it would work or not, or if it needs additional rules & systems). But you're certainly welcome to attempt it, or attempt to modify it! I imagine best practices for Powered by the Apocalypse solo play will apply (whatever those may be). I know for sure you can successfully play this game with two players – 1 Narrator (GM) & 1 Student (PC). Hope that helps!
thanks David - appreciate the quick response! Will have a look and let you know
So far, I love the look and feel of the character set up ❤️
Hi, Just found this about 20 mins ago and have 3, maybe 4 if they can make it, people up for running this with myself as the narrator. I think its fantastic! Its incredibly easy to pick up (my group was incredibly thankful for that as they already have about 4 game systems memorized).
Hello and thank you for such a nice and pretty game. Can you tell me please what happens, when a character takes four Experience during the game, does he has to stop adding it after each failed roll since he can only advance at the end of a session?
Hi there & thanks! Advances can be taken at any time during play, as soon as a player fills their 4th Experience slot. No need to wait for the end of the session to clear Experience, take an advance, and start marking Experience again.
Thank you! That makes things much appealing :D
How do I add it to roll20? I can't manage to add the character sheet to the game. Can someone help me?
Try using https://miro.com/ You can drag and drop any materials and customize them there live.
I don't think it'll work. Just tried and I couldn't edit the sheet.. There must be a way to add the character sheet to roll20
Miro allows you to draw on the sheet, just like in real life (see video on editing hogwarts sheet here: https://imgur.com/sjqZVxL)
PbtA games don't require complicated automatization, since the character sheet editing is literally about marking and underlining a few dots and words :) For a character sheet to be available in Roll20 it needs to be created and exported there, since it's not available in options (you can check it by "create a game" and "choose character sheet" options in roll20) it's not been exported there. And, frankly, one does not need it :)
So, I searched for another table for my RPG and discovered a Brazillian table called Firecast, you can use any sheet and it is very complete
Thanks
Any chance to have fillable italian sheet too? goodjob anyway, this game is amazing! the only thing I've noticed is that it's pretty hard to leave the scene or die
Hey there! Stellar game! I was curious, but is there perhaps a physical version that has ever been made? If so, I'd be overjoyed to buy it
Glad you like the game! This is a free fan project, so it only exists as a PDF download. The game will never be available for sale (digital, physical, or otherwise). But thanks for your interest & enthusiasm!
Hi guys!
I'm preparing a game session with my player and I'd like to use this system. Is there anyone who made the italian translation for this system?
If you want you can contact me to my email "fazioerik@gmail.com"
Thanks in advance.
Hi, David!
I'm sure you will be glad to hear that Hogwarts RPG has now a Spanish translation thanks to the Creative Commons license under which the original was published. Thanks for creating such a great and fun game! Muchas gracias! Muito obrigado!
Here we have our translation, at last on this site:
https://lospergaminosdelfenix.itch.io/hogwarts-rpg-es
Best regards!
That's fantastic! Thanks so much for putting this together – I'll include a link on the game page above. Really glad that everyone is making such good use of the CC license
After 15 years, my old HP party will roll again.
THANK YOU!!
Amazing! Glad I could help :)
I really really like your work! Great contribution to the scene!
Thanks so much!
Hi David! A week ago, i've played this amazing game in a italian Discord server named "Racconti da GDR" as a DM. One player was really exited and decided to make an Italian translation with a new layout. Can i send you a copy to give im a look?
Ciao! Io sarei davvero interessato ad avere più informazioni! Mi farebbe davvero piacere se potessi condividere con me la tua esperienza e la traduzione in italiano. Come DM neofita i miei player mi chiedono spesso qualcosa a tema HP. Se puoi rispondimi tranquillamente per mail: zacckalbrigo@gmail.com
Ciao! Per quanto riguarda il gioco è stata una bella scoperta, perchè anche se il sistema è molto semplice ti permette di affrontare praticamente qualsiasi situazione che potrebbe capitare in un mondo come quello. Ho fatto una oneshot dove i personaggi dovevano recuperare un ingrediente per Hagrid e ci siamo tutti molto divertiti, soprattutto perchè il sistema di randomizzazione dei pg è molto valido e veloce.
Per quanto riguarda la copia in italiano preferisco aspettare la risposta di David Brunell-Brutman che in caso (se gli piacerà) potrà metterla scaricabile qui insieme alle altre. La traduzione e la nuova grafica non sono state fatte da me ma da uno dei giocatori di quella oneshot
I'd love to take a look at what you've put together! There are a few Italian translation projects in progress, though I'm not sure of their current status. Feel free to email me at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com. Glad to hear you've enjoyed the game!
I wrote you an email with che pdf! Take a look at it :)
Do you think you could send me a copy to play the game in italian with my friends?
i cant find the narrator sheet and the group sheet, can someone help me ??
The Narrator Reference Sheet and Narrator Notes Sheet are pages 7 and 8 in the Full Game PDF. Hope that helps!
Thnx
Hey! I would like to join your game on rolegate. Is it still possible to join?
Hi there! I'm not familiar will rolegate... You'll have to talk to whoever set the game up over there. Hope you're able to play & enjoy the game!
Oh, thanks!
Hello David! This looks like so much fun. I am so stoked to play this. I have one question: in the player move "Stand in the Face of Danger," you use the term "hurt" and I'm curious if that is another word for condition. If they roll a 7-9 and hurt the threat but the PC gets hurt too, does that mean a condition is being applied? Sorry I'm coming for DnD 5e so I'm taking everything literally.
Thank you so much!
Hey there! "Hurt" is literal, but it's literally what happens to the characters in the story.
Let's say you have a witch facing down a Dementor and she casts a Patronus charm. She rolls to stand in the face of danger, gets a 7-9, and picks "you hurt the threat, but it hurts you as well". The important thing is to narrate the Dementor closing in, then reeling back from the light of her Patronus ("you hurt the threat") as she collapses to the floor ("it hurts you as well"). Then, as the Narrator, you might describe her shaking in terror & give the Scared Condition, or passing out from the attack & give the Unconscious Condition.
So yes, generally, getting "hurt" means that the Narrator will make the Narrator Move "Give them a Condition". But it's important that the Condition only occurs because the character got hurt in the story.
Hope that helps!
This is perfect. Thanks David! I appreciate you you helping me out :)
This just looks gorgeous! And as a fan of both the PbtA System and HP, this is a must-have for me. As I am planning on running a German session soon, is there any way to get some templates or something similar, so I can translate the players' sheets?
Thanks so much! There are actually a few folks starting a full German translation now, but I'm happy to send you design files for your own translation. Email me here
Have you translated it or found one?
Hi! Just found this game and I'm excited to try it with the kids next week! How is the German translation going? Even partly translated stuff, like translated character sheets would be very helpfull! Smile and greetings form Munich, Christoph
I know you are setting up a fillable PDF, are you possibly doing a roll20 sheet too which would be amazing?!
I don't have much experience with Roll20, but if it was something I could do for free I would consider it. Thanks for the suggestion!
I made a character sheet that very simple but its functional on Roll20. And I have macros that save time on Roll20. would you like to have it?
Yes please! Just replied to your email
I would like to have it too if that is okay. Thank you so much.
I would love to be able to access this on Roll20 as well -- is there a way you can share it? (i have a number of friends who would love to give Hogwarts a try if it was available on Roll20). Hope this is possible. Thanks!
I really love this system! I was wondering if you could post a link to the PSF fillable version of the character sheet?
An official fillable PDF is in the works! Expect something next month or so
Thanks! I'm looking forward to it!
Hey man, thanks for the game, it's simply the best adaptation of HP to PtbA.
I'm a Brazilian professional RPG and boardgame translator, and unfortunately you'll have a 3rd translate to Portuguese soon haha... But mine has a full quidditch system, with differences between positions, broomsticks, maneuvers and a non-arbitrary form to end the game lol
how could I send it to you?
Thanks so much! That sounds cool – feel free to email me here
Hi, I enjoyed very much the game! Where can I find the "scroll" background you use for the sample pages? I'd like to print some pages in color with that background, thank you very much!
Thanks! Here's a blank version of the texture:
Thank you very much!
I really like the collaborative storytelling approach to this system and how it’s focused on player interactions. Unfortunately the group I am playing with really just wanted me to write a game for them so it’s less satisfying for me.
I’d be really interested in seeing what a group that wanted more collaboration would achieve storytelling wise. Perhaps over a Discord server? If anyone else is interested in that, let me know. I’d love to Narrate and play in a bunch of little collaborations since the Wizarding World has such a deep, vast history to it.
Peraonally, I think it would be really fun to play/narrate stories during different historical eras and not just the “Harry Potter” timeline.
Discord ID:
starshinesMonet(s/h)#4821
The game works great over Discord, and in different time periods! I've previously run a HWRPG Discord game set during the 1st World War. (You can also connect with other gamers over Discord on the special server I set up for my Patreon patrons)
Done! :)
This sounds like a fun idea!! Send me a DM, I’d love to play!! LadyLorax#7380
I made a copy of this that is PSF fillable:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sqByJRDFgwJG_hf-mGaOEGqdL-DClfPe/view?usp=drivesd
Enjoy!!
Sounds cool! I can't seem to access it, however
Hello!
I emailed you a copy of the PDF. Please let me know if you’re still unable to access it.
:)
Hi, could you make this public? I just requested access
Hi! I emailed it to Dave so he could post it, but I’ve updated the link so it’s editable now.
Whoops, sorry! I thought you'd made the link public after you emailed me
Thank you so much for this game. Since my gaming went digital I went ahead and made a PC Tracker on Google Sheets for online play. I'm sharing it here for anybody to use.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZXmvZ4ni9sjnkqqxto6mgDw2oOTaxp5EOelI4Vd2ovg
You are wonderful!! Thank you!!
This is great! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this resource together!
the link's dead...Could you fix it? Because I love it so much but couldn't find some ways to download it
Thanks for bringing this to my attention – which link are you trying to access? The normal download links on this page seem to be working
I'd love to see this expanded to allow for the characters to have their adventures away from the school, and to include other races. Muggles would have advantages over wizarding families in the muggle world, even if they can't do magic. Magic and technology don't tend to get along, so they would be able to help out in those ways. Players could be muggles, squibs, goblins, centaurs, etc if the players were away from school, say on summer holidays. We may try it out here to see how well it will work. I know most people will want to be wizards (obviously) but having the option could be fun.
It's definitely outside the scope of this game, but feel free to hack it & see what you can do! There's a lot of Wizarding World out there to explore, and Hogwarts only focuses on one specific part of it. Let me know how it goes if you mod the game
I like this system, I do think you can go into more detail about what wands you use. There are many to chose from to limit people to just those can be a little restricting, following this you could say that each wand gives you a bonus to a certain spell or proficiency. Finally, I know it's nigh impossible to list all spells, but you have missed some. I.e. Bombarda, feindfire and such.
Great potential though
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. I tried to simplify as much as possible, so you're correct about things being left out. Feel free to hack the game and add in things like additional spells or wand types – neither of those would "break" the system
During my family game of this we found lists of different wand woods, cores, and lengths and just rolled extra dice for them then had attributes separately. That seemed to cover those bases. There’s another system we tried that actually gave proficiency in certain spells or charms depending on the core, so we added elements of that as well.
This looks really interesting. I'm doing something similar that happens after they leave Hogwarts. If you want to discuss it, I'd like that.
Sounds cool! I'd be down to chat about your project. Send me an email here
The descriptions for the choice of pets deeply amuses me.
1-2 Owl (Can send and receive mail)
3-4 Rat (Cannot send or receive mail)
5-6 Cat (Will not send or receive mail)
This is a wonderful little game that captures the heart of Hogwarts really well. Recommended for that alone - but it also does something really unique in PbTA design with its mystery mechanic - you could use this to port all sort of mystery games in a "play to find out" sort of way.