User:MisterSinister/Stuff

Need to note all this down before I forget it.

• Nealan's letter about Enforcement

• Enforcement file on Ashe

• Transcript of Faith's conversation with Aster

Academia Magica

Essentially a 'magic university' campaign setting. Designed to be playable as both a serious and a semi-humorous setting, featuring student misadventures, except all of the students are studying to be mages.

The rules will feature Tome of Prowess heavily. They will also involve a lot of simplifications, and probably won't have PCs going above 8th level or so. It will also heavily feature new spells.

The setting will be written entirely from an in-universe perspective, using promotional materials, reports, conversation transcripts and so forth. There'll be some 'DM Notes' in the margins to help people make sense of it all, but the idea is that the flavour text exists to be discovered, not simply put in front of you on a plate.

Some notable details

• Academia Magica offers four undergraduate programmes: Bachelor of Wizardry (BWiz), Bachelor of Sorcery (BSorc), Bachelor of Magical Philosophy (BMPhil) and Bachelor of Magical Studies (BMStud):

• • Bachelor of Wizardry is a three-year programme designed to train wizards. A requirement for graduation is the research, development and demonstration of a substantially new spell. A lot of their courses tie in with the Bachelor of Magical Philosophy, and the programme is heavily academic, with a focus on research and theory. Offers a major to correspond with each school of magic.
  • Bachelor of Sorcery is a three-year programme designed to train sorcerers. This is not research-focused at all - it's more like a visual arts or design programme, in that it gives some principles, but encourages creative development over formalism and rigour.
  • Bachelor of Magical Philosophy is a three-year programme for training individuals who want to understand the theory of magic more than its practice. Essentially, this is the 'fast-track' to magical academia, although quite a few of the courses for this degree are also required for the BWiz and even the BSorc.
  • Bachelor of Magical Studies is a practically-focused three-year programme for non-casters or limited casters, who want to understand more about how magic works in a practical sense, rather than worrying about theory or actually using a lot of it themselves.

• Academia Magica also offers four postgraduate programmes: Master of Faith Binding (MFB), Master of Magical Philosophy (MMPhil), Master of Magical Studies (MMStud) and Master of Magical Security (MMS). These can be completed with Achievement, Honours or Great Honours, with each being more difficult to get than the last.
  • Master of Faith Binding is a two-year program, focusing mainly on the binding and control of various types of outsiders. Significant theologically-focused studies are also a part of this course, and only very strong and mature students are even permitted to take it, due to the dangers involved.
  • Master of Magical Philosophy is a two-year program for those who want to specialize as magical researchers and academics. Practically all staff at AM do this program before they get their professorships, and its coursework mostly consists of highly-esoteric magical theory and research. Several very complex spells must be developed by those who want to complete this program.
  • Master of Magical Studies is a two-year program designed to train spellcasters with a more practical bent, or who want more practical experience. There is very limited research required, and it is possible to graduate without developing a single spell.
  • Master of Magical Security, contrary to its name, is mostly about defeating mages, and teaches advanced techniques to this end. It is not a well-liked program, and many at AM feel understandably wary of those who do this. This requires two years.

• Academia Magica has about 3, 000 students, which essentially makes its campus a fairly-sizeable settlement in its own right. When combined with all the staff needed to support them, they're basically a large city. Due to the extreme difficulties of travel in this period, the majority of the students live on campus.

• Academia Magica is nicknamed AM.

• AM is situated in a desert, but also has many underground laboratories and tunnels.

• Two types of student organizations exist - Clubs and Committees. The main difference between them is that a Club is primarily social, and doesn't aim for power within the system of rules and regulations of AM. Committees, on the other hand, are essentially AM's power by proxy, and act as lobby groups or legal gatherings.

• The strongest Committee is the Student Enforcement Council (called 'Enforcement' or 'Eyes'). These guys represent the enforcement arm of AM's policy, but is entirely student-run. They're suspected of a lot of foul play, and generally-speaking, people learn very quickly not to mess with them. It is meant to be intentionally up to the GM whether Enforcement are a villain or some kind of anime-style comedy group. They are however always secretive, and nobody wants to be on their bad side. How one joins Enforcement is a matter of mystery as well. Think of them as a cross between a student-run mafia and the KGB, except with magic. Their symbol is a white eye on a black background, which they tend to display on themselves somehow (including tattooing it).

• Generally-speaking, your year corresponds to your level. So a first-year student will be a first-level whatever, a second-year student will be a second-level whatever, etc.

• Staff usually range between 6th and 8th level.

• Professor Ashe will be making an appearance.

• Elush will be making an appearance (and he'll be a professor).

• Professor Norton Chadwick will be making an appearance.

• Ishara will be making an appearance as a student.

• Erzebet will be making an appearance as a faculty member.

• A new character will be introduced named Nealan, and his misadventures will form cornerstones of the fluff for the setting.

• Tarkis' Warp stuff will be used for this setting (except Warp will be a 3rd)

• Warp is what connects AM to the rest of the world, both in terms of people and goods (and mail)

• Most people are warped in before the year begins, and get warped out for breaks (if they want to be)

• New Level-Dependent Benefits are in

• Array of 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 is being used for PCs and NPCs

• No Tome armours (you have enough toys as it is)

• Available classes - Sorcerer, Wizard, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Bard, Shadow Magister. Bard needs some work. A fixed Duskblade could work. Fixed Binder also. Fixed Warmage also.