Wizard City Character Creation Guide

With the conclusion of my previous campaign and the freeing up of space, I do believe I am now ready to playtest this puppy I've been working on called Wizard City.

Ladies, gentlemen, and brains-in-jars, we shall be using the GLOG!

WIZARD CITY CHARACTER CREATION

TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

Welcome to the second ever Wizard City campaign! (I can’t take credit for the first, Anne beat me to it!) This right here is a guide for making your first, second, and potentially last characters for the campaign.

WHICH GLOG???

We will be using Skerples’ Many Rats on Sticks of the GLOG.

LIMITATIONS

1. Available races (pg. A-10): Human. No others.

2. Only Wizard Templates may be selected, at least at first. No exceptions. All Wizards within the Rat on a Stick Edition ruleset are automatically allowed, and any other GLOG Wizards that use the MD mechanic are allowable with GM approval (just toss me a link over Discord and I’ll see if it’s kosher for this campaign).

CREATION SPECS

1. All characters begin the game with 2d6 Spellgold. 

(See: Spellgold, below.)

2. All characters have a STUDENT LOAN MORTGAGE worth 2d6x500sg (spellgold), which means your soul is presently reserved by the Fiduciary Lich in the Bank Inerrable, and if you should die before paying back the loan your soul goes right to the bank. This was the cost of tuition in Wizard City.

SETTING SPECIFICS

INTRODUCTION

You are a freshman at the University of Chronulus, Wizard City - a city full of wizards. Wizard City is a dangerous place, especially for a student such as yourself. You will be expected to brave many hazards during your undergraduate experience, and it’s more than likely several things will attempt to kill you during your studies.

Wizard City is a large and strange place, full of wizard criminal gangs, magi-oligarchs, mad scientists, half-robots, and poor students like yourself. Many students never survive to graduate, and even fewer decide to continue their studies beyond that. As a student, you are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of power: everyone sees you as a disposable asset. However… You are a wizard! Even weak wizards can be dangerous.

What follows is a list of questions for you to consider, with the help of the GM, when determining aspects of your character.

WHAT MAJOR AM I TAKING?

Your studies will be a reflection of what Wizard templates you choose to take. This is largely up to you to determine, and for you to coordinate with the GM. What your major/templates are will determine which University Department you primarily interact with.

Don’t fret too much about trying to match your class with a Department.

d20	Department	Spell Examples
1	Torture	Wracking Pain, Heat Metal
2	Medicine	Cure Wounds, Raise Dead
3	Familiars	Summon Familiar, Unseen Servant, Animal Messenger
4	Tongues	Speak with Animals, Bookspeak
5	Reality	Minor Illusion, Clone
6	Accounting	Locate Object, Detect Crime
7	Circles	Circle of Protection, Explosive Symbol
8	Venoms	Poison Spray, Hands to Spiders
9	Thought	Modify Memory
10	Space and Time	Teleportation, Hyperadjacency, Time Stop
11	Tailors	Bag of Holding, Magic Hat
12	Grammar	Misspell Magic, Counterspell
13	Spying	Scry, Detect Thoughts
14	Charms	Charm Person, Suggestion, Hold Person
15	Whales	Fireball, Light, Protection from Elements
16	Names	Instant Summons, Sending
17	Elements	Wall of Swords, Summon Ooze
18	Forms	Enhance Ability, Stoneskin
19	Elves	Sleep, Magic Missile
20	Crystals	Magic Jar, Prismatic Spray, Color Spray

For instance, a Drowned Wizard (pg. C-5H) might be taking classes in the Departments of Whales, Elements, and Accounting. A White Hand Wizard might be taking classes in the Departments of Torture, Medicine, and Circles.

HOW DO I GET SPELLGOLD?

Spellgold is the primary currency in Wizard City. Virtually all commercial things are paid in it, from food to rent to textbooks. You can get it several ways:

• Make it yourself - this is very inefficient. MD can be converted into Spellgold at a 1:1 ratio. To start you can only make one Spellgold per day, and this leaves you vulnerable.

• Fence some loot - Few undergraduate students find themselves above thievery of university property. If you’re above theft, however, there are some dungeons on campus one can delve to acquire loot. There might even be more outside of campus. Steal furniture and busts of old administrators, loot textbooks off forgotten shelves, delve deep and find abandoned magic objects. Kleptomania is likely to be rewarded!

• Do some (probably dangerous) work - There are plenty of organizations around the city who could use some cannon fodder bodies: wizard gangs, fraternities, magical capitalists. Do some work, get paid.

• Marketeering - Lots of goods are in demand in various parts of the city: necromancers need bodies, spies need secrets, krill converters need, well… everything. Pawn stuff you find to these people for quick cash.

• Get scholarships - Do really well in your studies, and maybe some benefactors might decide to help pay some of your expenses in return for future favors or employment.

WHAT’S THE GOAL OF THE CAMPAIGN?

Well, traditionally it’s to survive until graduation... But really it’s up to you and the consensus of the group as to what you want to do during your time in Wizard City.

Keep in mind, though, this campaign will be limited in scope. There is a world beyond Wizard City, but we won’t interact with it (for the most part). It may be alluded to, but venturing beyond the city limits will exist extra-narratively, if at all.

CAMPAIGN TIME COMMITMENT

I also do not have plans to continue it indefinitely. This campaign will run for a limited number of sessions. Ideally we’ll be looking at 1-2 sessions per Trimester Break, resulting in around 12-24ish sessions overall, each 3 Hours in length. (I have a habit of underestimating how long things’ll take, though, so maybe double that.) Understand that your time in-game is limited, and make the best use of it.

SETTING SPECIFIC MECHANICS/TERMS

SPELLGOLD (SG)

10 Spellgold can be consumed like a Magic Die in order to cast a spell that you know, or have a spell scroll for. All wizards can turn their MD into Spellgold at a rate of 1 MD = 1 Spellgold. This process takes 1 Hour.

SESSION STRUCTURE

Wizard City campaign sessions will compose of two parts:

• What happened during the Trimester?

• Adventuring during the Break.

Every academic year is composed of three trimesters, preceded by three breaks. Because being a student is hard, everyone will only have time to adventure during these breaks. The rest of the time is spent doing off-screen studying, taking classes, working for minimum wage, etc.

Each break is only 2 days long. Each day is 10 Hours long (Wizard City uses metric time. 1 Day = 10 Hours = 1000 Minutes.) When break comes to a conclusion classes will resume, and any adventuring comes to a halt (dungeon expeditions, quests, and all between get abandoned).

Every trimester start with an additional 2d6 Spellgold, representing MD you managed to spare.

TRIMESTER EXPENSES

As a student, you’ve got bills to pay on a trimester basis:

• Food: 1d6 Spellgold

• Rent: 4d6 Spellgold

• Student Loan Interest: 3d6 Spellgold

Failure to meet these bills means during the next trimester you’ll respectively be: starving, homeless, or hunted by the Bank Inerrable. Additionally, there may be additional bills:

• Club Membership / Fraternity / Sorority Dues

• Protection from Criminal Gangs

• Doctors’ Bills

• Payment Plans on Textbooks / Supplies

LEVELING UP

Characters will level up every academic year, provided they are not expelled from academic probation. To avoid academic probation, you must have two things: passing grades in three of your classes, and materials for your classes (textbooks, inks, reagents, etc.)

These materials have commercial costs as follows: 

Freshman: None

Sophomore: 50sg

Junior: 100sg

Senior: 200sg

At the end of every trimester all students will make one ability check per class to determine whether they’re passing it or not. This is traditionally representative of one’s grades on a midterm or endterm test/paper.

 

Roll-under the requested stat on a d20, and you’ve passed. This check can be modified with bonuses, penalties, and everything in-between according to how prepared you are (with materials obtained during breaks) and potential random occurrences.

Certain objects, relationships, or loot can grant you bonuses. Injuries, getting on peoples’ shit-lists, or being lost in time and space can grant you penalties.

(For instance, a pilfered Textbook on Spell Anatomy with handwritten notes might grant you advantage on the Spell Breeding class. Doing a solid favor for Professor Y might grant you advantage in your Demonology Class. Having a major concussion might give you Disadvantage on the Planar Mathematics class.)

The standard number of classes for a student is 6. Students can take additional classes, but doing so increases their workload and provides a -2 penalty per extra class taken on all of their classes.

WIZARD CITY CLASSES

While everyone will start as a wizard, certain GLOG templates will become available after certain achievements have been met. Classes can be found here. 

Unlock requirements (will become displayed once unlocked):

Anti-Magic Officer: ???

Mo-RON: ???

Spellshark: ???

T-Man: ???

Bureaucrat Bravo: ???

Grey Gnost: ???

Krill Man: ???

Speed Wizard: ???

These classes do not progress normally as Wizards. Instead, to gain templates one must acquire and spend an amount of spellgold equal to the XP requirements on page A-9.