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.