The Strixhaven Institute of Magic is one of several schools nealty nestled away amongst the real world, obfuscated from the Humdrums (creatures without magic, typically humans). The campaign will take place at the Strixhaven Institute, starting at a United States high school level, and has many opportunities to deviate from the pocket dimension the institute hides itself in. While I encourage your characters to be 14 or 15, starting as first years, you are more than welcome to start as late as third year (17 or 18), when you will be officially graduating from General Studies and joining one of the five schools of the Institute.
It is important to note that this is set in modern day. Magical families and creatures are aware of modern technology and some do use it, although a well hidden spell is often more efficient and safer. While technology does work on the Strixhaven campus, devices that require signal will not find any. Strixhaven also does not run on electricity, instead using immense runes, glyphs, sigils, and other methods to harness magic to power their campus, so whatever you bring may unfortunately be useless after a few days if you can’t figure out a way to charge it.
There are other magical creatures such as goblins, vampires, selkies, pixies and oni just to name a few. Many of them have their own communities, one of the closest being the Moonlight Council of New York City, the leaders of the vampiric underworld located there. Be equally wary and friendly because they all have their own goals, which may help or yours. It is mentioned in the race section of the CS but if you want to play something other than human, reach out to me and we will get it hammered out!
A D&D World with Kids on Brooms
Many people will recognize Strixhaven from the recent D&D 5e sourcebook Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. I shamelessly stole a massive amount of its content but while I do love D&D, I wanted to do something more flexible for such an interesting setting. My husband introduced me to Kids on Brooms and I immediately thought about Strixhaven. This is my attempt to merge them and bring the wonderful whimsy presented in the book to life in a new and more flexible way!
The System
The system on Kids on Brooms is similar to D&D in a number of regards. It still relies on dice up to a d20, still relies on a Difficulty Check (known as a Target Number [TN] from here forward), and the narrative is still significantly driven by dice rolls. However, there are a significant number of differences.
Stats
Ability checks are a core component of this game, utilizing one of the stats below that relates to a specific type of magic (anytime anyone refers to a type of magic OOC, its referring to magic using one of these stats):
- Brains: This determines how book smart you are, how quickly you solve academic puzzles, and how well you are or will be doing in school. For magic, this ability governs how well you cast magic to reveal something hidden, understand something mysterious, or see a different time or place, such as revealing a hidden passage or astral projection.
- Brawn: This determines your physical strength and health and how intimidating you can be. For magic, this ability governs how well you cast magic to move or protect objects and places, such as levitating a book or locking and warding a door.
- Fight: This determines how good you are at fighting with whichever weapons you are capable of using and how quickly you pick up new combat skills. For magic, this ability governs how well you cast magic to attack enemies or break through obstacles, such as disarming an opponent or breaking down a door.
- Flight: This determines how fast you are and how easily you evade your problems, literally and figuratively. For magic, this skill governs how well you cast magic to hide yourself, deflect spells and effects, and move in magic ways (including your broom!)
- Charm: This determines your social aptitude and how easily you can read people and situations. For magic, this ability governs how well you cast magic to influence another’s thinking, create illusions, or modify your appearance in some way.
- Grit: This determines how difficult it is to break a character physically or emotionally and how street-smart a character is. For magic, this ability governs how well you cast magic to protect someone physically or mentally, including healing, mind shielding, and dispelling magic that has already been cast.
During character creation, specific dice will be assigned to specific abilities, representing how strong each ability is. Your strongest ability will be assigned a d20 while your weakest ability will be assigned a d4. The die assigned to your abilities will be used whenever I ask you to make a roll with that ability. For example, if you assign the d12 to your Fight ability and you want to break down a door, you roll that d12, add the appropriate modifiers, and compare it to the TN.
The dice never change. Once they’re locked in at character creation, those dice will be used for the entirety of the campaign! Instead, you can earn modifiers to give you an advantage.
Modifiers
There are a number of ways to gain additional bonuses to an ability when you roll. The most common are your Classes, Wand, and Broom.
Classes and Marks
You’ll notice next to each class there is a list of abilities. These are the abilities you may advance as a result of taking this class. As you go through the campaign, you will study, do homework, and take tests (mostly off screen) that will prove your mastery over the subject matter.
As you continue through the world, applying what you’ve learned in class will give you Marks. During General Studies, this could be applying your Charm studies to create an Illusion or determining the identity of a particularly foul looking concoction applying your Potions studies. Once enrolled in a formal school, this can range from narrating a particularly moving speech that magically boosts the morale of your friends while in Speech class, constructing a beautiful sculpture of ice and snow to distract a Disciplinarian while in Sculpture cass, or brewing an antitoxin after a nasty encounter with a Twelve Toed Giant Lizard while in Advanced Potions. Once you’ve reached third year and you enroll in a specific school, you’ll only be able to place marks in stats of the specific school.
Once you’ve reached a specific number of marks in a class, you earn the ability to complete a Test. While it may be RPed depending on the circumstance, it’ll likely be an off screen affair. There are two components to this: Studying and Testing.
During the Studying portion, you can choose based on your character how you want to prepare for the exam. How you decide to prepare changes what ability is used for the roll. Do you spend all day studying and get a decent night’s sleep while your friends party and hang out? Sounds like a Brains roll. Do you try to sneak in a cheat sheet to get an edge so you don’t have to compromise your time? That’s a Flight roll! Are you going to intimidate a smarter kid into tutoring you or making a sheet for you? Brawns it is!
During the Testing portion, the TN of the event will change based on your Studying portion. Successfully preparing well will make the Test a piece of cake and you’ll make a skill check with the appropriate roll. If you fail, you can take a Make Up Test later to try again! If you fail after cheating, you’re caught and you lose all your marks that you’d earned thus far, forcing you to regain them to try again. However, passing the Test earns you the appropriate bonus below:
- First Tier (2 Marks): Trained in [Magic]: +1
Second Tier (6 Marks): Studied in [Magic]: +3
Third Tier (10 Marks): Master of [Magic]: +5
Once you’ve earned the Master of [Magic], you cannot continue to put marks in that form of magic.
Wands
The most important tool for a mage, wands allow its wielder control over their magical gifts. Almost all mages display their magical potential around the age of 7 and wands appear shortly after that. The way mages obtain their wands varies greatly. Mages from long lineages of mages often have wands passed down from person to person, mages with Fey ancestry may find a Treant or Pixie bestowing them one as a gift, and others find theirs from amongst the quiet, hallowed halls of Rixim’s Statuary.
When considering your character’s wand, keep in mind there are two components to creating them: the wood and the core. Each one will confer a +1 bonus to a type of magic, so long as you are holding it, that cannot match. For example, if your wood grants a bonus to Grit, your core cannot also confer a bonus to Grit. Here are some examples of woods by type of magic:
- Brains: Wisteria or Hawthorne
Brawn: Pine or Oak
Fight: Crabapple or Dogwood
Flight: Birch or Bamboo
Grit: Ironwood or Maple
Charm: Lilac or Cherry
Next you’ll choose your wand’s core. Your character may not know their core if it was found or gifted to them but for mechanic’s sake, you should know! The core of a mage’s wand should represent something about them, for better or worse. Here are some example cores:
- Cores:
- Brains: Parchment, Phoenix feather, Owl’s Feather
- Brawns: Gorilla’s Fur, Orge’s fingernail, Hippos Tooth
- Fight: Dragon’s Heartstring, Wolf’s Tooth, Elk’s Antler
- Flight: Hawk’s Feather, Air, Bat’s Bone
- Charm: Changeling’s Hair, Gold, Glass
- Grit: Steel, Diamond, Lion’s Mane
Once you’ve made your wand, you should take some time to think of what your wand looks like and describe it on your character sheet!
Brooms
A staple of magical transportation, brooms are a standard method of travel. The vast majority of mages have one and you can too! In a similar fashion to wands, brooms can have deep and interesting backstories. Don’t be afraid to have fun with it!
Brooms can also confer special bonuses while riding it. Pick one from below and add it, along with a description of what your broom looks like, to your character sheet.
- The Blocker’s Broom: Gain the Guardian Strength
- Bolting 4000: You get +1 to Flight checks
- The Bruiser: You get +1 to Fight checks
- Cunning Captain’s Cruiser: You may treat snap decisions as Planned Actions unless you are facing a fear
- Daredevil’s Duster: If you perform a stunt, you get a +3 to Charm checks against any characters who witness the stunt.
- The Daring Dodger 3000: Each Adversity Token you spend during a check adds +2 to your roll, instead of +1.
- Heartwood’s Helper: Each time you succeed at a check, an ally of your choice receives one adversity Token.
- Mapmaker’s Friend: If you know the area, you cannot get lost.
- The Mastermind’s Sweeper: You get +1 to Brains checks.
- The Strong Sweep 2500: You get +1 to Brawn checks.
- The Suave Sweeper: You get +1 to Charm checks.
- The Tough Break: You get +1 to Grit checks.
- Valiance 2400: You may ignore your fears.
- Weasel’s Whisk: Gain the Unassuming Strength.
Stat Checks:
When you want to do something that has consequences on failure, you’ll need to make a Stat Check. A Stat Check is anything that you need to roll a die against the Target Number to determine success or failure of the action. Some examples of a stat check are spellcasting, attempting to fly your broom in a storm, running across a frozen pond, or attempting to cook a delicious meal for a date. You don’t need a skill check to open an unlocked door, to pick up most items, or just to climb a set of stairs. Use your judgment when deciding if you need a check and if you’re not sure, ask!
When completing a skill check, tag me (The GM) in discord and explain what you are trying to do. Based on a number of variables, I’ll set a TN and determine which stat you’ll need to roll. You are more than welcome to push for a specific stat for the roll but once it’s decided, that’s the one you’ll need to roll. You’ll roll the die, add any applicable modifiers, and compare it to the TN. If you match or exceed the TN, you succeed! If you fail to reach it, you’ve failed. How well you’ve succeeded or failed is based on how far off the TN you are.
- +10 or higher: You succeed smoothly and easily and something more beneficial than normal will likely occur.
- +5 to +9: You succeed impressively and something more beneficial than normal may occur.
- +1 to +4: You’ve succeeded but not impressively.
- On TN: You’ve succeeded with some difficulty.
- -1 to -4: You tried and almost succeeded but couldn’t quite make it.
- -5 to -9: You failed. Something bad may happen but it probably won’t bother you too long.
- -10 to -14: You bit off more than you could chew and there will be a price to pay.
- -15: You failed catastrophically and there will be hell to pay, whether you pay it or someone else does is up in the air…
Lucky Breaks
Anytime you make a roll and you roll the highest value on the die, you earn a Lucky Break (also known as Exploding Dice) and get to roll an additional die of the same value. For example, if you roll a d4 and get a 4, you get to roll an additional d4! This only works if you roll the highest value on a die and still don’t reach the TN for the check. If you have reached the TN, you cannot earn a Lucky Break.
For example, if Aaron wants to put out the fire in the fireplace of the dorm, Aaron would need to make a Grit roll to dispel the flames. The TN is a 8 and his Grit die is a d6 and he gets a +1 from his core. Aaron rolls the dice and gets a 6. Since the TN is 8, he may roll an additional d6. He rolls another 6 but since he has exceeded the TN, he doesn’t get an additional Lucky Break so he adds his +1 from his wand for a total of 13, succeeding with ease.
Adversity Tokens
Adversity tokens are earned each time you undertake a task that requires a Stat Check and you fail. These tokens can be collected and then spent on a future Stat roll for a +1 bonus to the roll. You can use any number of them at a time, discarding them after use. You may also spend them on other players’ rolls but you must explain how you are assisting them and in some situations, the GM may not permit them for narrative reasons.
Planned Actions vs Snap Decisions
There are two different types of Skill Checks: Planned Actions vs Snap Decisions. Planned Actions are stat checks that you’ve had time to prepare for, such as taking a test, or are free from significant pressure to complete, such as picking a lock in an empty hallway in the middle of the night. When making a Planned Action, perform the following:
- Get a TN and stat roll from the GM by explaining how you are attempting to overcome a situation (i.e, to get past a locked door do you want to unlock it (Flight), break it down (Fight), or transmute it to water (Brawn)).
- Because you have time, you may either roll the appropriate die or take half the value of the die (if you are rolling a d20, you can choose to take a 10).
- Determine if you have a Lucky Break and if you do, roll as appropriate.
- Add appropriate modifiers and spend Adversity tokens. Remember, others can spend their tokens on this but you’ll have to add in how they helped and they’ll have to include a section in their next post.
- Compare the result to the TN. If you meet or exceed, you succeed! Celebrate your success. If you failed to meet the TN, add 1 adversity token and the GM will explain how you failed for your narration.
Things change with a Snap Decision. Snap Decisions are things you have to do quickly and urgently under bad conditions. If you’re being chased across campus or trying to lie your way out of a situation without having time to line up your stories, you’ll be performing a Snap Decision. If you are making a Stat check during a snap decision, do above with the following modifications:
- You cannot take half of the stat die. You must make the roll and take the result.
- You may spend Adversity Tokens but others cannot spend theirs to help you.
Fears
Fears will be discussed more in Character creation but for now, when performing actions while faced with one of your fears, the following apply:
- All stat checks are Snap Decisions
- You cannot spend Adversity tokens to help your friends
- Depending on the severity of the fear, you will be faced with up to a -3 penalty.
A situation in which you are faced with your fear can vary widely from situation to situation. If your fear is snakes, it could be a snake slithering past you to an entire pit writhing with snakes. If your fear is disappointing your parents, it could be encountering a situation similar to one that you failed them before, or it could be the prospect of meeting with them after already doing something disappointing.
During these situations, you are too deep in your fight or flight reactions to make planned actions and too focused on yourself to spend adversity tokens on others (though they can still spend on you so long as they don’t share a fear!).
More importantly, you will be suffering a penalty depending on the severity of the situation:
- You won’t have a penalty for a non-persistent occurrence. For example, if a snake slithers across your path and then vanishes, you won’t be at a penalty to try and cast a light charm.
- You’re at a -1 when the fear is persistent but minor. Casting the same light charm next to a sealed terrarium in which you see a snake on a branch will reflect the minor distraction.
Strixhaven Institute of Magic
Strixhaven Institute is a massive sprawling campus nestled in the Adirondack mountains of northern New York. Hidden beneath layers of illusion magic, Strixhaven controls a massive valley between Lion Lake and Whiteface mountain and in order to access it, one must pass through Wilmington to the magical town of Stoneshore, a little further north. Here Strixhaven students say goodbye to their families and pass through the Arch, a special portal keyed to the Institute.
While there are two others in North America, they have been temporarily suspended due to some unpleasant business within the magical world.
Strixhaven is composed of the central hub, containing Archway Commons, The Biblioplex, Firejolt Hall, The General Studies dorms, Bow’s End Tavern, and Strixhaven Stadium, and the five student campuses. Well maintained roads connect the various parts of the Institute with regular carriages making tps from the Central Hub out to the campuses. Walking the distance would take nearly half an hour, or half as much by broom or carriage. In addition, several teleportation circles are littered through the campuses but it is ill advised anyone beneath fourth year use them as they do require a certain level of skill to successfully use them.
Central Hub
The Central Hub is where all students eventually find themselves at the end of the day, whether it be at Firejolt Hall for dinner or the Biblioplex to study or to finally find their beds at the General dorms.
The Biblioplex
The Biblioplex is a sprawling library where books reach from floor to ceiling as far as the eye can see. The main library, it stands as the heart of the Strixhaven Institute and inside holds the Hall of Founders, in which a snarl, a bit of tangled magic, glows like a miniature sun.
The Bibloplex is massive and many theorize that it has started to grow on its own. The archives are composed of long hallways with ceilings high enough to have their own weather, pools of strange bubbling liquid, moat passages only crossable by boat, and a large center garden favored by many Witherbloom students. The deeper one goes into the Bibloplex, the less organized and more dangerous it becomes.
Archway Commons
Just south of the Biblioplex, a star arch arches overhead a lush garden that marks the Archway commons. More commonly known as the Commons, it is a favorite place for relaxing, especially for first years, and an evening stroll for dates.
Firejolt Hall
At the edge of the Commons and just south of The Biblioplex, Firejolt Hall is the central dining hall where a number of students gather for three free meals a day. Named after a Strixhaven specialty developed by Ellina (an elvish alumni who now manages Strixhaven’s culinary program), the Hall boasts nearly 100 8-person tables within a beautiful crystal hall that showcases stunning landscapes from across the world. Food here is created and served magically, appearing with a simple tap of the wand.
Bow’s End Tavern
At the western end of the Star Arch, sits a cozy tavern popular with older students and faculty and has rooms for rent for visiting families, alumni, and guest speakers. It regularly hosts live music, deliciously greasy food, and a variety of potions and beverages. Unlike Firejolt hall, this is a private establishment and requires payment for service. The owner, Tulk “the Bulk” Tusktooth, is another alumni and is close friends with Ellina. While technically not allowed, Tulk often looks the other way when students come to settle disputes with duels behind the Tavern.
Strixhaven Stadium
Home of Strixhaven’s favorite sport, Mage’s Tower, this stadium is capable of magically adjusting to house up to ten thousand spectators and is found a stone’s throw past Bow’s End Tavern.
Strixhaven Schools
Strixhaven boasts five unique schools at their Institute, each with their own magically created environments, lecture and study halls, dorms, and dining halls. Each campus is dedicated to using magic in exciting and fun ways outside of the standard everyday life. First and second year students will spend their time in the General Studies program, during which they take classes from each campus to give them a fundamental understanding of each college.
Students are presented to the Oracle at the beginning of their Third year. This strange robed statue of a mysterious figure is said to be able to peer through time, find the future in which you are the most successful, and present you with unusual, esoteric visions to guide you to the appropriate direction. Ultimately the choice is yours and after your time with the Oracle, you'll inform the school of the campus you wish to join full time.
Lorehold
Brains, Brawns, Grit
The Lorehold campus is situated northwest of the central campus in a region of stark vertical relief. Unlike the other schools whose areas are magically created, Lorehold is connected to a strange interdimensional area that once held inhabitants. Rugged mesas and steep hills rise from a wide plain, and a great chasm holds the excavated ruins of an ancient settlement. Several star arches encircle rocky peaks and outcroppings, testifying to the powerful magical energy in the vicinity—energy once harnessed by the ancients who used to inhabit this area. Lorehold specializes in unraveling the mysteries buried away in times long past, weaving magic in a manner known as Archaeomancy. While there are a variety of parts to this, ranging from conjuring the dead to a plethora of divining and protective magic, Lorehold's goal is to study the driving forces of Order (the macro forces that govern civilization) vs Chaos (the micro forces that govern civilization.). They offer a wide variety of history classes, spell theory on Necromancy, defensive and preservative techniques, and divination techniques. The general classes they offer are:
- Introduction to Archeomancy - Brains, Brawns, Grit
- History of Magical Civilizations - Fight, Flight, Brains, Brawn, Charm, Grit
- Summoning - Brain, Charm, Grit
- Defense Against Malicious Magic - Fight, Flight, Grit
Pillardrop
Part natural chasm, part archaeological excavation, and part new construction, Pillardrop is a series of buildings excavated out of cliffs on the Lorehold campus. Ruins and upgraded halls together are now used for research, classwork, and housing. Precarious bridges link one neighborhood of Pillardrop to another, often directly passing the enormous stone faces of old statues. Every Lorehold class has a story of some careless student making a misstep on one of these bridges or in some particularly crumbling section of the ruins, sometimes with disastrous consequences—and sometimes finding deliverance when a spirit statue appears from nowhere to catch the hapless student before they suffer serious harm.
Effigy Row
The heart of the Lorehold campus surrounds a soaring bridge that crosses the chasm of Pillardrop. The bridge and surrounding pathways are lined with monuments depicting historical figures, including past professors and prominent mage-students, as well as war heroes and heads of state from ages past.
Kollema Hall
Kollema Hall is a grand, multitiered gallery built into a large outcrop at the end of Effigy Row. Here, Lorehold mages gather for large lectures. At the center of the hall towers a magnificent statue of Kollema, a wise monastic who was one of the first Lorehold professors
Prismari
Charm, Flight, Fight
Southwest of the central campus, the Prismari campus is situated in a region of jagged rocks, rugged spires, and intense geothermal activity The school of Prismari merges art and magic together, creating towering art pieces of elemental power in creative and awesome displays. To them, the fundamental elements are the purest expressions of life itself and through them seeks to understand the principles of Perfection (art that provokes intellectual, thoughtful responses through precision and forethought) vs Emotion (flashy, terrific displays that evoke strong emotional responses with sudden and intuitive displays). All their classes heavily emphasize elemental work, such as:
- History of Art and Magic - Fight, Flight, Brains, Brawn, Charm, Grit
- Transfiguration - Charm, Grit
- Charms - Brawn, Charm, Brains
- Brooms - Flight
Conjurot Hall
The center of the Prismari campus is Conjurot Hall, a towering structure with a glassed-in observation area at the top. Constantly changing strands of elemental energy encircle the structure. Artist-mages can see for miles from Conjurot’s main turret, and the view has inspired many artistic creations.
Opus Walk
Hundreds of Prismari creations are displayed along a path that winds through the central campus buildings, giving the path its name: Opus Walk. Some famous pieces of magical art have been displayed along Opus Walk for centuries, while other transient bursts of creativity last only a few moments.
Furygale
At the outskirts of the Prismari campus, the abandoned creations of thousands of past artist-mages have coalesced over the years into the notorious region of Furygale. Roped off by magical wards and warning signs, Furygale is several acres of ever-changing magical energy, gales of ice and wind and fire, and elementals gone rogue. While dangerous, it also provides a source of wild inspiration, and it remains a popular spot for students who want to duel without being interrupted by faculty.
Quandrix
Brains, Charm, Grit
The Quandrix campus is situated in a coastal area to the northeast of the central campus, surrounded by lush woodland and abundant rivers and streams. This school focuses on discovering and documenting the basic patterns, equations, and fractals of the universe and uses these to develop spells powered through mathematical formula and natural patterns. They are well known for their fractal light spells, excelling in both defensive and transmutive magic. General Studies classes usually include:
- Basic Magical Auras - Charm, Grit
- Beginning Computational Magic Brains, Grit
- Transfiguration - Charm, Grit
- Numerology - Brains, Charm, Grit
Torus Hall
The central hall of Quandrix campus lies at the end of a geometric series of walkways, terminating at ascending ramps to the towering building. Inside, Torus Hall’s architecture is mapped to an ever-changing three-dimensional grid, which slowly evolves. Some Quandrix faculty members insist that mage-students shouldn’t linger too long inside the hall, lest its geometry eventually turn itself inside out while students are still within it.
The Arithmodrome
The Quandrix campus is alive with dynamic sculptures made of water behaving in odd ways: cube-shaped fountains, arcing aqueducts that flow through the air, towers of solid-seeming water. One water structure holds a secret: a mysterious inner expanse called the Arithmodrome. From the outside, the Arithmodrome looks like a large cube of water, ten feet on each side. The inside is an apparently boundless theory-space that suspends the rules of reality. Mages use this space to explore theoretical numerical possibilities.
The Cultivarium
The Cultivarium is an eye-popping, sun-drenched garden of spiraling, cyclical plants and fractalized animals. Quandrix faculty members have repeatedly taught growth spells in this part of campus, and over the centuries, the area has come to intensify any growth magic cast within it.
Silverquill
Charm, Fight, Grit
The Silverquill campus is located due north of the central Strixhaven campus and looks much like an extension of it. Silverquill is the most urban of the five colleges, with a campus that features buildings of stately elegance. Better known as the College of Eloquience, Silverquill focuses on magic through the spoken and written word. Its magical principles revolve around Radiance (uplifting and inspiring through language) and Shadow (cutting down, suppressing, dominating through language) with many a student finding their magic warping to match their chosen philosophies. General Study classes include:
- Beginning Inkomancy - Charm, Fight, Grit
- Introduction to Debate and Dueling - Charm, Fight
- Charms - Brawn, Charm, Brains
- Defense against Malicious Magic - Fight, Flight, Grit
Grandloft Hall
The main Silverquill building is Grandloft Hall, a vast space with shafts of light streaking in from the enchanted window panes far above. Grandloft teems with balconies, loges, booths, daisies, and other spaces where orators can perform their craft. Inklings, the college’s mascots, flit around the high ceiling, and enchanted spotlights automatically focus on any mage who uses powerful magic.
The Rose Stage
The Rose Stage is a rotating circular platform on the Silverquill campus. It has a backdrop of roses made of magical ink (tributes left by spectators of past performances), which creates excellent acoustics. Mage-students meet at the Rose Stage to practice performances, spar, or engage in honor duels. Faculty members often observe performances at the Rose Stage, coaching the students in their magical and rhetorical displays.
The Dramarium
The Dramarium is a facility where Silverquill students train in fitness, dance, martial arts, and other acts of physical performance. Students can avail themselves of the preparation space called the Gray Room (actually a chain of rooms), which has hair and makeup salons, voice rehearsal booths, mirrored rehearsal spaces, and spa facilities. The back of the Dramarium has a special sensory deprivation chamber for mage-students who want complete silence in which to meditate.
Witherbloom
Brains, Flight, Grit
Witherbloom’s campus is tucked away in a wide bayou to the southeast of Strixhaven’s central campus. This school examines the magical world through a natural lens, literally and figuratively. Its students examine and document the many wonders of the natural world and derive magic from its pieces. The school has a deep respect for the processes of both life and death, not shying away from the darker side of the natural world. General Studies classes include:
- Arcano-botany for beginners - Brains, Flight, Grit
- Basic Magical Auras - Charm, Grit
- Transfiguration - Charm, Grit
- Potions - Brains, Flight
Sedgemoor
Sedgemoor, the bayou area that encompasses the Witherbloom campus, is known for a range of swamp creatures: bats, crocodilian monsters, zombified animals, lumbering beasts called brackish trudges, and canine creatures called groffs. Sedgemoor is an excellent place to find pest mascots, herbs, spider silk, fungi, and other ingredients for potions and spells.
Widdershins Hall
The center of the Witherbloom campus is Widdershins Hall, a bog mansion that looks like it grew out of Sedgemoor itself. Widdershins is a network of interconnected wooden pods, with planked walkways leading out of it like tendrils. The hall has a cozy inner chamber where students gather for classwork.
Detention Bog
A stinking, thoroughly unpleasant marshland lies adjacent to Sedgemoor: the Detention Bog. Witherbloom faculty members send misbehaving students to this bog as punishment, but it’s also an excellent place to gather herbs for certain cures and curses.
Character Creation
Stats:
Step 1 is to allocate your dice to your stats. If you recall from our section in System, the dice we use (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20) are all assigned to a stat so whenever you have to make a stat check, you’ll alway use that dice. So if you assign a d10 to your grit, you’ll always roll a d10 whenever you make a Grit check. These should be based on your character and their personality (or their personality will be derived from these stats, whichever you prefer). So if your character is an outgoing, smooth talking socialite who tries not to get into altercations, Charm and Flight will probably be high with Fight and Brawn on the lower end. If you have an idea but aren’t certain how to allocate your dice to match your character, don’t hesitate to ask!
Age:
Step 2 is figuring out your age. Characters can be anywhere between 14 and 17 (1st year and 3rd year, respectively).
If you start as a first or second year, you automatically gain the Innocent Strength and gain a +1 to Charm and Flight checks. This character should be anywhere between 14 - 16 depending on how their birthday fell. You’ll be in general education so you won’t have to think about which school you’ll be joining yet.
If you start as a third year, you automatically gain Studied in [Magic]: +3 for the stat of your choice and you have a +1 to Fight and Brawn stat checks made. You should be 16 or 17 and you’ll need to have decided which school you’ll be joining OOC so that when it comes your turn with The Oracle, we will know which one you’ll be joining.
Strengths and Flaws
Whether using a Trope or winging it on your own, you’ll need to select two strengths and two flaws from the list below. Tropes provide a suggested list of both. Strengths provide a mechanical advantage during gameplay. Flaws don’t have a detriment but should have a heavy presence in your character’s actions and personality in the game.
Like with everything else, if you don’t see a Strength or Flaw that you’d like to bring in, just reach out to the GM and we can make it work!
Strengths:
- Cool Under Pressure: You may spend an Adversity token to take half of a die when making Snap Decisions.
- Easy Going: Gain two adversity tokens instead of one when you fail a stat check.
- Gifted: If you fail a roll that involves the magic die, you may spend one Adversity token to reroll the magic die.
- Gaurdian: When defending another player or NPC, always roll your die and the magic die even if you aren’t using magic. If you still fail, you may reroll the magic die.
- Handy: You gain the benefits of your wand without having to hold it. You still need your wand to cast magic.
- Heroic: You do not need the GMs permission to spend AT to ignore fears.
- Innocent: Once per scene (with the GMs permission), you can spend 2 AT to convince an adult to not punish you for a minor transgression.
- Intuitive: You may spend 1 AT to ask a question about your surroundings, an NPC, or the like. The GM must answer honestly.
- Loyal: Each of the AT you spend to help friends gives them a +2 rather than a +1.
- Lucky: You may spend 2AT to reroll a stat check. This does not allow you to reroll the Magic Die.
- Prepared: Spend 2 AT (at the GM’s discretion) to just happen to have 1 commonplace item with you.
- Psychic Link: You have a complete two-way psychic communication with your familiar at any distance.
- Resilient: When spending AT on a check against a spell that is targeting you, each AT is worth +2 instead of +1.
- Spell Slinger: If you fail a spell check, add a +3 to the final total. While you still fail the check, you may reduce the impact of failure.
- Tough: If you lose a combat roll, add +3 to the final total. While you still fail, you may reduce the impact of failure.
- Unassuming: You may spend 2 AT to remain unseen, within reason.
- Wild speak: You can communicate with any animal whose species you have knowledge of.
Flaws
- Blunt
- Cocky
- Conspicuous
- Dishonest
- Haughty
- Irrational
- Loudmouth
- Narcissistic
- Reckless
- Tempted
- Clumsy
- Competitive
- Cursed
- Greedy
- Hotheaded
- Judgmental
- Naïve
- Rash
- Spoiled
- Timid
Fears
A character's Fear should be something your character is terrified of and is directly connected to their backstory. There are some mechanical points covered in The System that will reflect what happens when you encounter your fear. Pick one fear for your character.
Race
At this point, it's important to note that nearly everything here assumes your character is human. If you want to play a race other than human, do it! Just reach out to me so that we can get it properly worked out because you may have additional strengths or flaws based on your racial decision. A changeling, for example, may have access to a strength that lets them get a +2 for each AT spent on Grit rolls to change their appearance.
Wand
Like it says in the system section, every mage gets a wand. Notate what decisions you made and a description of your wand!
Broom
Like it says in the system section, every mage gets a broom. Take in consideration the resources you and your families may have for the quality of your broom if you purchased it but notate your decision and a description of your broom!
Familiar
While you will not be permitted to have your familiar in class typically, dorms are equipped to handle most common familiars. Familiars can be any sort of animal but keep the following principles in mind:
- Familiars are an expression of a core part of your character’s personality. It can be an overt one, easily seen or something your character is at peace with, or is it a reflection of something your character is avoiding or hasn’t yet discovered. It is important to note that this bond is special; a familiar choses the mage as much as a mage choses the familiar.
- Your familiar should be small enough that you can carry it with you. Birds, small dogs, cats, rodents, snakes, and other smaller animals make excellent familiars.
Familiars are capable of completing simple tasks based on their physical ability (a cat could deliver a letter but it isn’t going to carry your bag around) without issue. In addition, you have limited, one-way communication with your familiar.
The familiars (or mascots) of the Strixhaven campaign setting are available as familiars but if you aren’t a third year, you should have a reason why you have that familiar. Every mascot but Witherbloom are considered magical constructs for the purposes of creating them so make sure someone else has either made the familiar for you or passed them down (For example, if you have a Spirit Statue familiar, maybe your parent is a pastraiser and one of the spirits bonded with you as a child and so it possessed one of your childhood toys or your parent made a statue in accordance with the traditional methods). Strixhaven Familiars are:
- Spirit Statue - Lorehold
- Art Elemental - Prismari
- Fractal Familiar - Quandrix
- Inkling Familiar - Silverquill
- Pest Familiar - Witherbloom
Character Sheet
We’ve covered the mechanical character creation stuff and the System so now here is the official character sheet. As you complete it, please make sure you post it to the OOC for final approval before putting it in the character tab. If you have an editable pdf version of the official Kids on Brooms character sheet, please feel free to use that in place of this!
Character Name
Character Image
Gender(Pronouns) | Age(Grade) | Height | Weight
d20 - ___ | d12 - ___ | d10 - ___ | d8 - ___ | d6 - ___ | d4 - ___
Name:
Appearance: (Please include anything not easily identifiable in the image above such as scars, tattoos, eye color, etc)
Personality:
Background: (Include how you found your wand, how you got your broom, how you got your fear, and some references to your family!)
Strengths: (Pick 2)
Flaws: (Pick 2)
Fear: (Pick 1 or 2)
Likes:
Dislikes:
Habits:
Wand: Description
- Wood (Bonus)
- Core (Bonus)
Broom: Name (Bonus)
Familiar: Name, Species
Classes (If 1st or 2nd year, pick a total of 3 from the General Studies list above. If Third year, confer with the GM):
Scoolbag (Inventory):
Posts and Rolls
This is my first time hosting a dice rolling rp on a pbp forum. My intention for doing dice rolls is using Discord, a dice bot, and a dedicated rolling channel. PM me for the discord link!
When you need rolls, please tag me in the discord and tell me what you are doing that requires one or more rolls. At that point, I will tell you what the stat is and what the TN is and you can choose to abort mission (please reflect that in your narrative) if your character would or as the situation dictates. Maybe it is a bad idea to try and do a backflip while riding your broom like a skateboard but you want to win some respect with the older students so you try anyway. Those situations can be fun and interesting even on a failure, if not more so than on a success! You’ll make your own rolls in the dice rolling channel and you can narrate the results that I give you!
The number of rolls in a post should be a reasonable amount based on the time of what you're doing. Are you flying into a storm and need some light? Yeah, ask for those two rolls to keep control of your broom and to cast a light spell. Are you in combat with one of your classmates? One roll for that transfiguration spell is probably your best bet. Be reasonable with what you do!
Most importantly, don’t ask for rolls for things that you can do without them. You can open an unlocked door so long as your arms are damaged. You can safely run across a field so long as it isn’t obscenely crowded or slippery. Use your common sense and it’ll flow smoothly!
As for posting cycle, I will update at minimum every 14 days. I appreciate it if everyone posts at least once per 10 days with reasonable size posts but if everyone posts in a scene early than that, then I will also update earlier than normal!
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