Scene 10, closed: Off you go

A meeting with Ionjae's advisor.

Xillik'kea: Well, my boy, it has come time for you to make arangments for the betterment of your conjoring.

Ionjae: Am I not doing well?

Xillik'kea: No, you're doing wonderfully. That's just it. An amature conjurer can just pull at whatever will come, but a true master, although fully capable of calling anything at need, should have at his disposal something that when called will come willingly and eagerly assist. It's time for you to make a pact.

Ionjae: With what?

Xillik'kea: Well, that's up to you. I can make suggestions, but the end decision is your's; it'll be you fulfilling your end of the bargin, after all. Just chose carefully. A first pact is important. You can always make more, but it sets the tone. Some beings won't talk to you if you've entered into agreements they don't like. Some can tell who you're bound to, and they might move against you because of it. And yet, the most useful allies always have the most enemies, and the most powerful at that. Also, be careful of the terms of your agreement. On the one hand, you don't want to be left with insufficient help when you're counting on it, but on the other, you want to avoid terms too onerous to keep.

Wow, or Update

I just switched over to the new version of blogger, so let me know if there are any problems. Also, if you know of any new features that I'm failing to take advantage of, let me know.

Scene 9,closed: Assembly

The headmaster, a portly greying man of about 45, stood before the assembled student body. Nearly 700 faces, mostly human, looked up at him as he grasped the lecturn.

"Welcome, and welcome back. You have all, unless this is your first year with us, just participated in a time honored tradition, the summer break. It arose from agricultural needs and has been a part of school tradition for as long as there have been schools. It may seem odd to some of you that we call it summer break, as you may have gone home to find yourselves in the midst of any season imaginable. Snow, changing leaves, budding leaves, or even possibly summer may have greeted you along with your families. We choose to call it summer break for two reasons other than the obvious fact that it is summer here.

"First, as a school of magic, we value tradition and ritual quite highly. Second, it serves as a reminder of one of the things we strive here to teach: the Planes are vast and varried. This one simple fact will help you find your ways in the world better than any magic you may master here. Somewhere, there is a place for you, a place where your particular skills and assets will make you a king. Find that place and you find sucess.

"Here we will help you to look for that place, or at least to understand how to begin looking. As you do, remember caution. Right now I look out at 700 of you. By the time the summer solstice again approaches, if this year is like most, I will be looking at nearly 150 less of you. Some will have failed in the struggle for grades, but more will have failed in the struggle for existence. Instructors are lost too. We welcome a new abjuration professor; the Professor Blaine was lost to us when his wards failed and he was dragged screaming into Pandemonium. We teach you to play with the fabric of existence, and that is not safe. Be warned, and be careful.

"Take heart, though; the rewards are great. Find your places now, and you would be kings; find your places after graduation, and you will be gods."

Scene 7b, closed: Show me the way to go home

In the street outside the restaurant, Moll moved close to Varien in the chill air. The darkness was disorienting, as always. There was never a sun over Sigil; it simply fluctuated between day and night according to its own rhythm, mostly predictably, but sometimes not.

Varian silently reflected on the wisdom and utility of getting a girl drunk on the first date.

As they walked back towards the gate back to the school, they continued their conversation from earlier, exchanging ideas for magical products and golemical strategies, but mostly planning their next date. Moll wanted to take him to her next match. They were both pleased at finding someone as unprincipled, mercenary, and mercantile as themselves.

Turning the corner from the Way of Knives into the Courtyard of Justice, they came upon a wrinkled Gith dressed in undyed leather robes, preaching at the top of his lungs. A small crowd had gathered to hear what he had to say.

"The Gods are parasites! They serve no lasting purpose but to manipulate us. Think on our past. Have the Gods ever done anything purely good for us? No, not even the most 'good' of them ever does anything but serves his own purposes. And those purposes, even when intended, supposedly, to bring greater good, always bring suffering. The Gods struggle and strive for position among themselves, and use us as tools, easily broken and easily replaced.

"And for all this we give them our worship and sacrifice. I say, no more. I say, let them serve themsleves, and let us do the same. The Gith have long survived without Gods. Now we will show you the way."

No one jeered, no one threw anything, but grumbling about impiety was widespread. "He'll bring this whole place down," a day laborer muttered. Gesturing with his rough hands he continued, louder, to those around him "The Lady keeps us from the Gods' warring, but if this attitude catches on, they'll all come down on us."

An apothecary nearby jumped in. "No worries there. He's been preaching this for at least a year. Calls himself the Prophet of the Empty Heavens, and the only followers he has so far are a few other Gith. He can say what he wants, but the Gods have been good to us, not here of course, but everywhere else."

Scene 8, closed: Investigation

Aberdal is dead. Why?

Scene 7, closed: How to Date a Witch

This is going to be pretty open to start. Varian has a date with Moll. How and when he picks her up and where he takes her is up to him. Ionjae's sister is Moll's roommate, so it in no way strains belief, considering recent events, that he'd be hanging around the room whenever the date starts. Not that he will, just that he could. Have fun, but if you get too forward (and how forward is too forward?) she just might make you think you're a frog.

Scene 6, closed: Back to Sigil

Varian takes the loot back to the dealer.

Scene 5, closed: Murder

It is early morning. There's a large knot of people, mostly students with a few professors in the middle keeping people from closing in, in a courtyard near the dining hall. A student has apparently been killed, messily.

Scene 4, closed but not yet revised: Looking for a buyer

In which Varien goes into Sigil to sell things taken from orcs. If anyone else happens to go into Sigil in the same timeframe, that will also go here.

Varien checked his appearance in his mirror. The disguise was minor, but effective. A darker complexion, darker hair, and a shorter stature did wonders to prevent him form being recognized. Magic is so common in Sigil, he reflected, that no one is likely to wonder at it.

He pulled up his hood as he left his room; no reason to be seen in the wrong place with this look.

The trip to Sigil was a short one. The school had a special gate that led directly to the city. No one knew who had created the portal or when it had been made, but it had been there a long time and seen a great deal of use. It was never closed. He stepped through the iron gate, about eight feet wide on the school side, and once again wondered about the mechanics of the transfer. How did a gate that was eight feet wide and open on one side, as well as scrubbed clean, manage to be only three feet wide on the other, and closed and rusted? Also, how did things too wide for the Sigil side make it through? As always, he shrugged it off and kept walking.

If you see your money lenders first, turn to page 87.
If you look for a buyer first, turn to page 45.
If you do anything else, turn to page pi^i.

Scene 3, closed but not yet revised: Home again home again jigity jig

Feel free to add bits into the middle as well as onto the end of the following scene. There may be other things you want to ask about before you let this man go. Any discussion of who is going into Sigil to unload things and look for a dealer should happen before you leave the cart, though the actual trip will be a separate scene.

They arrived back at the school tired and sweaty. Their cart came to a rest in the courtyard outside the stables, and their second set of summoned oxen vanished. Gurg was waiting.

"They gone?"

Varian woke when Ionjae answered from beside him. "Yes. They're gone. The farmhouse couldn't be saved though."

"That's fine. Those farmers won't mind, so long as the orcs don't come back to bother them."

A squinty eyed farmer wandered out of the stable, straw in his hair and mud clinging to his stubble. "You sure they ain't commin back?"

"Yes. They're gone. Don't worry."

"Good. My name's Earl, and I'd like to thank you. That was my house they was in. I shoulda burned it like my neighbors did theirs. Keep them damn dirty orcs from gettin anything o'mine. Now me and mine is gonna get back to our farm and away from all the strange things you have here abouts."

"Wait. They burned their farms? I thought the orcs had done that."

"Naw, but they woulda. Them orcs cain't be trusted round civlisation. They ain't made for it, and that's a fact. Thank you kindly, and I'll just round up my blood and get out of your hair. You stop in if you're back out our way and we'll stand you a nice homestyle supper." Calling out that it was safe now, he walked back into the stable.

Gurg had been peering into the cart while the farmer thanked them. "You took their weapons? You killed them, didn't you. I didn't think you were the sort. Did you try talking to them first? No one's likely to miss some orcs around here, but in the future, I'd appreciate a bit more... delicacy when I give you a job."

"We didn't-"

"That's all right. No skin off my nose, but keep this quiet. Particularly from Throg, that sixth year abjuration major. He's figured out some very creative things. I hear he once warded his roommate's lips against food for a day as a joke, and I know he warded his roommate's girlfriend against water for two weeks. She smelled horrible. I think the roommate had made some idle joke about 'stinking orcs.' I'm pretty sure that the chief of this tribe, that's his helmet there with the dragon teeth and ogre tusks, was his uncle, or cousin, or mother's uncle's halfbrother or something. Just keep it quiet, and get all this out of here."

Scene 2, closed but not yet revised: Bit with the Orcs

They left early. Very early. Varian didn't think he had ever been up this early except from the other side, and then he'd thought of it more as late. He liked late better. Grumbling to himself, he reflected that there had better be good money at the end of this.

The walk was uneventful. They hiked down country lanes usually used by the farmers to bring their produce and livestock to the school, the only dense settlement or link to more civilized parts on the entire continent. They walked the first ten miles in silence.

Ionjae finally broke the mood. "Thank you."

"Huh?"

"Thanks. I'm glad I don't have to do this by myself. They always tell us in class that a well prepared wizard is easily a match for hundreds of armed warriors, but it's still scary to actually try it out."

"Hey, that's what we're here for, right? A learning experience is what this is. It'll be good for us. Just wish it didn't have to be so early."

"We talked about that. We have to get in position before they wake up or get any kind of visibility. Neither of us is good enough to cast our spells at a distance, and besides, we wouldn't be able to pick up the loot if we weren't on hand."

"I know. The complaining just makes me feel better is all. So lets go over the plan again. When we get close, I'll make us invisible."

"No, we were going to be camouflaged."

"Nah, invisibility's easy enough. Easier, actually. I just make the light go around us. Camouflage is harder. I have to make our skin look like both skin and whatever's around it at the same time. Easier to accomplish with paint, harder with magic."

"All right, invisible then."

"So what next?"

"Well, after we're invisible, we get into position. Loannae showed us that hill about a hundred yards off with the big bushes on the south face. We'll sit there. I'll start it raining oil. Hopefully they won't notice that. If they do, then we'll have to move the timeline up. So once it's raining oil, I'll summon a few air elementals to keep an eye on everything for us. Then the wolves to guard the back door, over in that gully. Then you again."

"Right. Then I send in a hoard of illusionary vermin, and hopefully send them running out into your oil."

"Yes. Then I light it all with a bolt of lightning. That ought to kill them all, but if it doesn't, then the wolves and elementals go to work. We never did discuss what we'll do if any get away."

"I don't think they will, but it's your job, what do you want to do? Do we hunt them down, or let them go and hope that no one reports it?"

"Well, I don't know. Do you think you could track any that get away?"

"Yeah. I can do that no problem."

"Then we'll deal with that if it comes up."

They walked a few more miles, again in silence. A light rain started to make puddles in the lane. An hour before dawn they reached their goal. Varian muttered and waved his hands for a few moments, then stopped. Ionjae looked at him.

"I thought you could do it."

"I did. I just let us see through it, so we don't get separated. Same way we see out of the illusion. Easy."

"Oh, right."

As they headed to their selected bush, they saw a single orc, standing near the door of the farmhouse.

"He's huge. At least 6'6". And that axe. Damn. I wonder what that's worth?"

"Ha. Even if it makes it through the fire, do you want to carry it all the way back?"

"Oh, I thought we'd take one of their carts. If one makes it through the fire. Do you think you could keep the oil off just one cart?"

"Yeah, good idea. I'll leave the farthest one clear."

They sat down. Ionjae scratched a few symbols in the dirt. The smell of the rain changed. The orc didn't seem to notice. "A few more minutes of this and we're ready." He started muttering to himself. A few minutes later, he looked up and nodded. "The oil's ready, and we've got our wolves and elementals. Your turn."

Varian mumbled some more. Bats, rats, snakes and insects seemed to boil out of the air and earth at the side of the house. The orc around front saw nothing. The vermin began to push through the wall and windows. Then the screams began.

"Do they have prisoners in there?"

"No. Loannae checked that. She said they were all orcs. She showed us. They were all orcs."

"All right..."

Just then the door burst open and orcs of various sizes began to pour out into the yard.

"Shit," Varian swore, "light it, quick."

Ionjae thrust his hands into the air and clapped them together. A flash of lightning split the air amidst the crowd of orcs, illuminating them for a moment. Then, the entire yard and house burst into flames. Ionjae sat silently, mouth agape, reviewing the image seared into his mind.

"Was that a teddy bear?"

"Yeah. I think we screwed up."

The conjured oil only burned for a few moments, but the things it had lit burned much longer. Small fires burned around the yard, and various heaps smoldered. Some of them screamed. Nearby, a child was sobbing.

Scene 1, closed: Financial Aid

Please respond to the following situation. When the scene has closed it will be rewritten with your actions included.

You, all of you, walk into the financial aid office first thing in the morning, though not together. Any characters can conceivably converse in the lobby before or after they meet with their councilors.

All characters are told that they must come up with 10,000 gold per semester, of which the first payment, 1/5th the total, is due in two weeks. Scholarships are available by applying to department heads, or to the athletics coaches. Alternatively, your financial aid advisor can offer suggestions regarding sources of income. The only other options, beyond self-funding, are contracts of indentured service or withdrawal. You may discuss these options with your councilor now, or make an appointment to return later in the day.

Dramatis Personae

This is who we're working with so far. More will be added as they arrive.

• Gurg: The financial aid goblin, rumored to be well connected in both the underworld and the Underworld.
• Ionjae: A third year conjuror, well liked by peers and professors alike.
• Loannae: A third year diviner, and Ionjae's twin sister.
• Moll: A second year enchantress, and Loannae's roommate.
• Professor Gregor: Chair of the Illusionary department.
• Professor Xillik'kea: Chair of the Conjuroring department.
• Ruzkeeel: A third year dabbler in the magical arts, and Ionjae's roommate.
• Uzman: A second year necromancer, and Varian's roommate.
• Varian: A second year illusionist with aristocratic airs.

Characters

Now that we have a setting, we need characters.

Using the system posted earlier, 18 points in attributes would be average. Take 20 points to have a slightly above average character. Distribute them as you see fit. Also take 6 points in skills. Feel free to take more as long as you balance them with applicable weaknesses. Acceptable magical skills will be the eight schools of magic, or specific skills. If you know anything about d&d then forget everything you think you know about spells and go ahead and make up your own favorite effects, though I would imagine that most of the time your wizards will be making their effects up on the spot to suit their imediate needs.

I want descriptions of your family, where you grew up, who you know in the planes, and why you chose to pursue magic. Tell me about your favorite class and favorite professor. Tell me about your roommate. Tell me your major if you've picked one. The eight available majors are the major schools of magic, abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. This is an eight year school, sort of a combination college and PhD program. Tell me what year you are in, though no later than third year will be allowed. I also want at least one major goal that your character wants to accomplish before graduation. Oh, and at least one thing that if discovered by the administration would result in expulsion, for someone, though if not for you then I'll also need a reason you haven't ratted them out.

Email these to me and I'll post the bits that would be public knowledge.

A Map

It gets bigger if you click it.

Setting

We're playing as students at a wizarding school somewhere in the Planescape setting. Here’s what one eyed Bob the street vendor has to say about the Planes:

What are the planes? Mind-boggling is what they are. You've got so many planes of existence all competing for dominance that you can't ever know what to expect and no one can ever really know what's going on. Your world, that little planet you're from, that's just one little place among a lot of really big places. But they're all connected, right? I mean, you got here from there, so they must be, and from here you can get anywhere, so that's all connected too, see?

Where are we? We're in Sigil. Yeah, I know it's a little strange at first, but don't worry, live here a hundred years and, well, it'll still be strange. Just between us I don't think it's natural, but that's not really important, is it? It's here, and it's been here near to forever, and it's the greatest city anywhere.

Oh, well, yes, Sigil is somewhere. Sigil's smack in the middle of the Outer Planes. You know those alignments the priests yammer on about? "Oh, your god's lawful good and so is mine, so there's no reason we shouldn't get along just fine," just before they brain each other with their holy mauls. Well, out here that sort of crap actually means something. We're living floating in the sky above an infinite expanse of intellectual territory. You've got one plane in the outer planes for each alignment, all surrounding the vast plain of true neutral. And no, those nature worshiping nuts are full of crap. Nothing's in balance, at least not for long. The devils are in an eternal war with the fiends, and the gods all hate each other. They're like children with really big sticks. They do tend to stick together in their little clans, but even so they scheme endlessly. The Lady, she's the one that rules this place, if you can really call it that when she hardly ever does anything, keeps all the gods and their divine magic out of here, but their servants come and go, so their fights find their ways in here too. So long as they don't threaten the existence of the city or the lives of too many of the citizens, she lets it slide. Kind of an anarchy with big scary cops lurking in the shadows. But everywhere else is worse. Everywhere else is someone's turf, and they might demand your service or worship, and their enemies might invade any time and kill you for no good reason.

What else do you need to know about the Outer Planes? Let's see... This isn't the only city out here, just the biggest. Any race you've ever met, they're here, and more besides. Like I said, your planet is just one little place, with a lot of other little places just like it. There are countless tiny planets out there, and they've all got people, and someone's here from every one of them. Most people are just people, but there are a few you need to steer clear of. The Gith are dangerous. Some of them will kill you for one religious reason, and the others for another, but dead is dead, right? They'll both kill you if you get in their way or piss them off. Take my advice and don't try to talk religion with them unless they bring it up, and never get between the two groups. Trying to figure them out might get you dead. And the Illithid. They drink minds and eat brains. Seriously. Every single one of them is a murderer, and they still wander the streets free here. Biggest slave dealers anywhere, and a pretty big trade in psychoactive substances too. In public you're safe, and in Sigil you're probably safe, but anywhere else, run. They threaten you, go find the Gith, both groups will gladly kill any mind flayer they can get their hands on.

Sure there are other planes. These are the outer planes, so there've got to be at least middle and inner planes, right? Well, yours is kind of the middle. The Prime Material Plane. All those little balls of dirt. They're linked to here by the Astral Plane. That's mostly a place to either use to travel from one place to another or to stick something. Then, kind of kick it sideways and you've got the Ethereal Plane. That's the very stuff of magic. It's kind of everywhere, but at the same time it's its own place. I don't really get it. Go find an Archmage and he can explain it better. Just like out here we're living on the embodiments of ideas, there are other conceptual things there. Inside the Ethereal Plane there are the Elemental Planes, the Inner Planes. You've got Earth, Fire, Positive Energy, Negative Energy, blah, blah. Elementals are from there, and so's the whole fabric that your planet's cut from. There are other things than the normal elements too. Ever met a Dread Elemental, made of dread like an earth elemental is made of earth? No, well, they're out there and they're nasty business. Elemental plane of Dread. I've never been there, and they say you can't ever escape it, but if that were true, how would we ever hear about it?

Listen, you want to get a good education in the Planes and learn some top rate magic, you go enroll in Hedgemere Academy. You go down that way, turn left at the second street, right at the third, and about a quarter mile down on the right you'll see a rusty iron door. Go through that door and you'll be in a back alley in the only city on a planet like yours, or at least a planet, so how different can it be? All those Prime places are the same to me. Ask around there and you'll find it. Good school. I took a semester there. Didn't have what it takes to cut it as a magician, but I learned plenty. No, don't worry, they'll get their payment out of you one way or another. They never worry about it. In the Planes there's always money for a bloke crazy enough to try and get it, and they use the student body like slaves that way. Nope, not too dangerous, usually, and part of the education. You learn a lot when a godling's trying to kill you for taking his shiny baubles. The lectures are pretty good too.

Go on. It'll be fun. Trust me.

System

Here's my homebrew.

Three basic attributes, each divided into two categories: Body, Mind, and Spirit. The first sub-category represents your full strength in the category, and the second your control or what you can use spur of the moment. For example, a roll to punch someone in the face would be based on your body control, while the damage you did would be as much of your body strength as you wanted to use. A role to figure something out (if I ever required you to make such a roll) while sitting at your leisure would be based on your mind strength, while a roll to notice something would be based on your mind control (I think I need a different term for that). All of these values range from 0 to 10, with 3 being average.

Body represents everything physical. The strength bit represents things like how hard you can hit, how much you can lift, and even how good you look. Body control represents things like how coordinated you are and how many balls you can juggle at a time. Someone with a 8/1 will be very unlikely to connect with a punch, but will break something if he does. Someone with a 1/8 will nearly always hit, but they'll barely bruise.

Mind represents everything mental. The strength bit represents how smart you are, how well you do research, and how convincingly you can give a prepared speech. The control bit represents how likely you are to notice that your shirt is on inside out, how well you can lie extemporaneously, and how likely you are to remember all the instructions you just read on how to dismantle a bomb. Someone with a 8/1 will be the too smart to walk and chew gum type, except that the walking bit is body. He'd be able to understand cold fusion, but wouldn't notice the masked man with the knife standing next to his favorite chair. Someone with a 2/8 would be of slightly below average intelligence, but he'd be so clever he could con you out of your false teeth.

Spirit represents everything supernatural. The strength bit represents how powerful your spells can be, how well you resist spells, and how likely you are to know that something unnatural is going on nearby. The control bit represents how likely you are to know exactly what that unnatural thing is, how complicated your spell can be, or how quickly you can cast it. Someone with a 8/1 would be able to cast very powerful spells, but only from the comfort of their own library. Someone with a 1/9 could only cast very weak and superficial effects, like lighting a candle or floating pieces of paper around, but could cast them constantly and without thought.

You make up your own skills. You might choose Magic+1, or Pickpocketing+2, or Ballroom Dancing+5. How broad the skill is will determine how expensive I make it, or whether I allow it at all. Those three would probably all cost the same, dependant on the setting, while I would not allow a Good at Everything+4. Skills range from +1 to +5. Weaknesses work the same way in reverse. Music-3 means you shouldn't pick up a guitar or try to sing.

Rolls are 1d10, + attribute, + or - any applicable skills or weaknesses, + or - any difficulty modifiers, versus 8 or an opponent's roll.

Hitpoints are your body total. Armor adds to hitpoints and subtracts from body control. Weapons add to damage.

If scores are uneven in a category you will have limitations. If you have a body of 1/8 you'll probably be able to consistently punch someone, but can only do 1 damage. If you have a body of 8/1, hitting will be hard and if you connect you will have no choice but to do at least 7 points of damage. If you're using a knife that adds 3 to damage you will have to do at least 3 damage on a hit unless you have a difference of at least 3 in favor of control (Body strength + any weapon damage - body control = minimum damage, though nothing negative).

Further variations, including how many points you get to build a character, will depend on which setting we use. Keep in mind that most of the time I'll just make up results that seem right to me without any reference to the system at all. Feel free to complain if I make something up that you think was unfair, then we'll resort to the system.

Does this seem too complicated, tragically flawed in some way I've missed, or just pointless? Are we willing to use this, or is there something we'd prefer? Have I wasted my time, or come up with something that can work and still fit on an index card? I'd like to try this out, although I'm open to other ideas within limits. I won't do d20, and it'll be hard for me to do anything I don't have access to or know really well. That means that anything freely available online is fair game, as well as the old storyteller system. Vote.