Database reviews for:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
If anyone knows about a pencil and paper Harry Potter RPG, please let me know. My Google-fu may not be as good as yours and I didn’t find a single RPG. I did find well over 100 individual fan-based online games but not a single die-rolling version. My first question is why? Harry Potter is the best selling children’s series of the 21st century. Warner Bros. is desperately trying to figure out how to make Harry Potter 9. I can’t imagine that no one has thought of of an RPG set in Rowling’s universe.
How would I incorporate the Harry Potter universe into an RPG scenario? The series is tailor made to be picked up and dropped in toto into any Sword and Sorcery fantasy (you know, that system that Hasbro is issuing cease and desist orders to blogs for even mentioning the name of their intellectual property) game without any alterations, just file off the serial numbers. Without much alteration it would fit well into a space fantasy setting as well. Imagine Dumbledore as Yoda and you see what I’m getting at.
Putting Harry Potter into a hard science fiction RPG (Star Trek, Stargate, Firefly) is a little more problematic. My solution to this would be to replace the “magic” with “science”. Examples of this would be; broomstick flying with anti-gravity piloting skills, alohamora –replaced with some sort of lockpicking device.
I’m not sure how much mileage a GM could get out of Hogwart’s setting. Playing the characters themselves would be fun for younger children but not so much for teens and groganards. Setting some kind of mystery or quest at Hogwarts would work well for an adventure but I think an entire campaign set there would wear on your players after a while.
Savage World stats for:
*note* these stats are average only, abilities and skills should be adjusted according to the year being played
Harry Potter: Seasoned
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d6, Guts d8, Investigation d6, Knowledge (Magic) d6, Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Stealth d4, Streetwise d4, Survival d4
Charisma +4; Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 7
Fame +45 (His name is known and his face is more recognizable as the years progress)
Hindrances: Enemy – Lord Voldemort, Heroic, Branded (unlike the PotSM Hindrance this increased his fame), Outsider (the degree of which decreases depending on what year you’re playing the characters, Harry can be clueless about some things in his world because of outsider status), add the hindrance of Young if playing first or second year
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), Beast Bond, Inspire (only after 5th year), Filthy Rich, New Power, Wizard, Hard to Kill
Gear:Includes his wand, his broomstick, a cloak of invisibility (after 1st year), and an enchanted map that shows the location of others (after third year)
Hermione Granger: Seasoned
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d4, Guts d4, Investigation d6, Knowledge (Magic) d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Stealth d4, Streetwise d4, Survival d4
Charisma +4; Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 5
Fame + 10
Hindrances: Curious, Heroic, Loyal
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), New Power, Charismatic, Alertness, Beast Master, Wizard
Gear: Broomstick, Wand
Ronald Weasley: Seasoned
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d4, Guts d4, Investigation d6, Knowledge (Magic) d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Stealth d4, Streetwise d4, Survival d4
Charisma +4; Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 5
Fame + 10
Hindrances: Poverty, Heroic, Loyal, Fear of Spiders
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), New Power, Beast Master, Wizard
Gear: Broomstick, Wand
Dumbledore: Legendary
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d12+3, Spirit d12, Strength d6, Vigor d12+1
Skills: Fighting d10, Guts d8, Intimidate d10+1, Knowledge (Magic) d12+3, Notice d10, Persuasion d10, Stealth d10, Streetwise, d8+1, Survival d8,
Charisma +10; Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 8
Fame +75
Hindrances: Code of Honor, Loyal, Heroic, Pacifist (minor)
Edges: Arcane background, Champion, Beast Master, Power Surge, New Power, Imp Rapid Recharge, Wizard, Hard to Kill
Gear:Has access to nearly any magical artifact the GM determines.
Vulcan Stev's Database 
If you know you have the time and the dedicated players, Hogwart’s could be a great kick off to nearly any campaign. Like a certain band of mutants school for the gifted, and schools in general, it sort of defines, “your life starts or started here, what now?” as a campaign hook.
I really dig the notion of changing magic to science and dropping it into a sci-fi or even steampunk (Girl Genius, anyone?) setting. I would play that. hell, I might well run that.
Even if the PCs aren’t students, there is a lot of mileage in the notion of the school as a base and perpetual macguffin generator.
I’m down with the Girl Genius school setting. Transylvania Poly-Gnostic University, anyone?
Also, Steve Jackson Games released a setting for a dark comedy campaign called Illuminati University (or IOU. What’s the ‘O’ for? You’re not cleared for that). Either one would be fun.
Transylvania Poly-Gnostic University and the IOU would be great places for a roleplaying campaign. I am pretty sure I will pick up a copy of GURPS Girl Genius as soon as it’s out.
And what really surprises me is why nobody has created a Harry Potter RPG yet.
hi
harry potter
wher r you
I wrote a Harry Potter themed RPG in high school when my friends and I were having book release parties. If I find it(or more likely, rebuild it) I’ll post it on my site.
Ron,Harry y hermione son super amo a ron esta guapisimo
I know of two for sure and I think there’s another, but I’ve never actually looked at it.
Broomstix is small and pretty rules light- good for kids. It’s at http://www.memento-mori.com/other/games/ (can have either pdf or html).
The other is a GURPS 3rd ed. take on it which appeared in Sabledrake Magazine at http://www.sabledrake.com/2002/0205_harry_potter1.shtml (5- part html and somewhere I found a pdf, but I don’t know where). That one is pretty detailed but only covers the first four(?) books.
There is also Witchgirls Adventures at witchgirlsadventures.com and they have stats for most several of the HP characters at http://channelmlive.com/HP/
I’ve never heard of it before about 5 minutes ago and I all I know about it is that its goal is to introduce teen & preteen girls to RPGs, so there you go.
I’m pretty sure there are also Risus and Fudge (or FATE) takes on it, too.
My understanding (and this from what I’ve read online, so take it with several grains of salt) is that J.K. Rowling won’t grant anyone the right to make an HP RPG. I would suspect that’s true because I can’t imagine that nobody has approached her with a proposal after all these years.
I’ve seen SotC variants and then there is Broomstix by Jared Sorenson.
http://www.memento-mori.com/other/games/
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