Welcome! And questions?

Hello, and thanks for joining this little adventure!

I wanted to create a thread for OOC and system questions. Also, in the past when I've run text RPGs, it sometimes helps to use a group chat tool. I've used Discord pretty successfully, helps let people know when you've posted, or to ask questions or have convos in real time. But at the same time not everyone has a Discord account, so if that's the case I'm happy to keep everyone on the forums. Let me know your thoughts!

I’m fine either way — forum or Discord — as I check both pretty often. Okay, too often. I probably need an intervention...

Hey y'all! Uh, well, I don't use Discord but I can download it for the game. Still, I'm not so sure how much I would remember to check it. I mean, I can promise to do my best! But I feel like I should be honest. x)

Edit: To be clear, I'm up for it!

How many build points are we going to be using? If 4 players is the max, I'm assuming that 6/9/13?

Let's go with that! We can adjust down if need be.

Okay! Anyways, I just submitted my character. In case someone's curious or wants to avoid spending points on an ability potentially already covered, here is my spending:The only two things missing is the backstory - Which I'm not sure if I'm supposed to write it? I'd assume so but I prefer asking it just in case. And secondly: Aphelion, how are we going to spend Relationship? Should we create characters from our past like family members and hold on to remaining points, or maybe we should wait for the NPC cast to be eventually introduced?

I'll answer the sorting hat questionnaire as soon as my character is approved. I want to answer it using her avatar. x)

I don't have discord yet. I would personally prefer to keep everything on the forums but I could download discord. I'd probably check here more than I would there, though.

I'll create my character in a bit. I just need to get a bite of food first

I just got the Rulebook last night. It make take me a day or two to put together an official character. Looks like Lux and I would overlap a bit in classes...

Okay, I've spent my points as well now.I didn't do anything about Relationship because I'm not sure how we're going to handle this. Also, since this is my first time doing anything in a Gumshoe system, I hope I didn't make any major mistakes so far. I'll turn this into a character sheet and find a profile picture soon but I think I'll do the Sorting Hat quiz first

Whooops, I hadn't seen your post! Hmm, well, I will swap Ancient Runes with Muggle Studies. Tbh I wasn't really sure what to invest besides Potions & Charms, which are the classes I imagine Rafaella would be really interested in. x)

As for overlapping, there are only nine skills for the four of us who are probably picking two to four skills, so that's probably gonna happen no matter what we plan :/

Awn, we're gals!

I haven't spent yet, but def want DADA, divination, and transfiguration. I haven't gotte the rules yet, but this looks fun

Awn, we're not all gals anymore. :c

Probably a good thing. We need a token male. :D

Lux, your answers were hilarious. I'm going to like your character

I think the contrasting personalities are really, really fantastic. I'm super excited about everyone's characters thus far.

I'm working my way through the Bubblegumshoe book, and making some notes for myself for a little first year story, so in the mean time brush up on the rules a little, work on your characters and stand by! I'll get something going hopefully some time this week as I get a grasp on the system.

I'll write a full background probably tomorrow, possibly the day after. Should I post it somewhere here or send it to you privately when it's done?

I'll also read through the rules some more because right now, I'm still not sure about how everything works.

Awn, thanks! As Aphelion said, I also agree that our cast is contrastingly amazing, each characters with their own unique quirks.
The game is very easy. Keep in mind that, since we're using the HP hack that aphelion linked in the game description, some of the nomenclatures have changed. But the very chassis of the game is based on Trails of Cthulhu. For some context, ToC is based on Call of Cthullhu, and the main difference is that you don't have to roll to gain clues. As long as we have a point in the ability, we get the clue. We can also, sometimes, spend a point to gain extra information.

The only exception is for the General Abilities, who are rolled using a 1d6+ whatever bonus we want to spend. Meaning, if Rafa is playing Quidditch and wants to do something weird or hard, she will roll 1d6 + a quantity of Broomstick Flying points I want to designate. If my current pool of Broomstick Flying is 10 and I know the game is far from over, I will then decide that I only want to spend 2 points to roll a 1d6+2. That will leave my pool at 8 points. Difficulty tends to be anywhere from 2, which is something easy, to 8, which is something incredibly hard and almost impossible - I think. What I remember is that standard set difficulty tends to be 4. Assuming that your roll passes that number, you pass.

We can refresh any ability pool if we take a long pause - Eat a pizza, hang out, whatever.

The only thing I'd read is how Relationships scores work, and take notice on Cool, which is kinda your health. Oh, and Throwdown, which is the standard skill used for (social) combat.

Thanks for that explanation! That's really helpful

Hello! I don't have access to the main book for bubblegumshoe. Anyone have a character creation cheat sheet?

Okay, so here's my quick take on character creation because I can't find a complete cheat sheet and I can't get you a selection of the .pdf without, like, taking screencaps of each individual page.

There's this, which gives some info about the Gumshoe system. This is mostly for GMs, but I think the first page will be a helpful read.

From the book:

Sleuths begin with build points distributed among four areas: Investigative, Interpersonal, General, and Relationships. For all but General abilities, the number of points depends on the number of players:
# of Players: 4
Investigative Build Points: 6
Interpersonal Build Points: 9
Relationship Build Points: 13

All Sleuths begin with 40 General build points. You receive 4 points in Cool for free.

Character Creation Checklist
Based on number of players, assign Investigative, Interpersonal, and Relationship build point totals. Assign each player 40 General ability build points (refer to table page 9).
□□ Spend Investigative and Interpersonal build points on your
chosen abilities. Make sure all the abilities are covered by at least one Sleuth (page 13, 15).
□□ Spend points on General abilities. Take 4 free points in the Cool ability (page 18).
□□ Spend at least 5 of your Relationship build points on Relationships. If you take a Hate, you get 3 more Relationship build points (page 23).
□□ Define your Class, Clique, and Club (page 34).
□□ Decide how your Sleuths know each other.
□□ You might want to wait until after Town Creation for these last two steps. Or not (page 130).
□□ Choose your Drive (page 36).
□□ Decide on a compelling story arc.
□□ You’re done!

If you’d like, you can start defining how your characters befriended each other now, or you can play the process out in your first few episodes. You must spend at least 5 build points defining Relationships during character creation.

You can absolutely positively save build points to use later, defining abilities or relationships (mostly Like, one assumes) on an ad hoc basis in play. These don’t represent the sudden gaining of knowledge or techniques or parents—although Relationships do tend to pop up out of nowhere at weird moments. Instead, spending a build point during play shows the Sleuth revealing an ability or friend she has always had, but didn’t bother to mention until now. You can’t move points from one box to the other, though: Relationship build points have to be saved for Relationships, for example.

Soooo, Aphelion, when are we going to know in which house our kids have been sorted? 😁

When your characters get to the Great Hall and not a second sooner! 😂😈

In my defence, after spending my night reading up I'm feeling pretty good about the system, so I'm hoping we can get underway some time in the next week.

Noooooooooooooooooooooou :c

WELL, so I'll be pushy and ask what's missing for us to start?

Oh, nobody has uploaded their characters yet. Welp. No pressure, friends. (But like, yes pressure)

I just submitted mine!

I've submitted my character sheet. Relationships are still missing and I don't have a character portrait yet but I'll add the portrait as soon as I have it, but it would be useful to know my character's house for that

Finishing up now to the best of my ability in an unfamiliar system.

Absolutely is allowed, though very illegal (not that that matters!) and also it's highly advanced magic for a mostly untrained first year. Although if his father's an Animagus Bex would probably have been taught some of the basic concepts. Luckily Bubblegumshoe provides guidelines for challenges that'd be a longterm undertaking, like becoming an Animagus:

Continuing Challenges
Some tasks take a longer time than a single test represents, whether that test takes a round or a day of effort: trying to drill through a wall with Repair, or shove a heavy industrial freezer across the door with Athletics. Or they’re tasks that that should be played out narratively over numerous scenes or even numerous adventures: trying to hack a military database with Computers, trying to restore a Shelby Mustang with Repair, trying to weaken the head cheerleader’s social position with Throwdown.

The GM sets a total Difficulty (usually very high: 15+) and a minimum number of tests, and says how often the players can test (once per day, once per session, once per adventure, etc.). The Difficulty for each test is always 4. The Sleuths succeed when they’ve succeeded at the total Difficulty. "Extra" success does add to the total. Failed tests don’t add to the total.

EXAMPLE: You’re trying to take down the University’s web server so you can hack into the frat’s email when the system reboots. The GM sets the Difficulty for this hard and time-consuming DDOS attack at 20, sets the minimum number of tests at five, and says they can test once every two days. Tyler sets his Difficulty at 4, spends 2 points of Computers and rolls a 4, making the Difficulty. Elizabeth uses the school computer lab, but spends nothing: she rolls a 4 and succeeds—the total is 10. Jessica tries to help from home, spends 1, but only rolls a 2. Her points are wasted. The remaining 10 points of Difficulty have to wait for two days and at least two more tests.

Let me think on it, and I'll definitely come up with a framework for Bex developing his Animagus ability. But I'm obviously very into it.

That sounds like a really cool idea for a long-term plan. And it'll also provide some interesting character moments, I'm sure

Yep, that's what I was going for, His father was one. Although I thought if you registered it was legal. (It has been about 6 years since I've re-read the books.)
His parents were also involved in Ministry work keeping an eye on other Animagi...
His lost Uncle and the uncle's Twin sister were characters I played in another game, though it was very rules light, and I only got to play them a few times. Looking forward to playing him.

I'm really looking forward to working all of these relationships into the game. There's so much potential here.

I loooooooove that you've played the Uncle/Aunt before! If you want them included in some way feel free to shoot me a message with details about them.

Can you tell I'm bored at work? I think I've worked more on this campaign this morning than I've spent actually thinking about work.

As it should be xD

Same here! I'm a high school librarian and it is my open period right now, so I am totally not writing a journal from Bex's P.O.V. right now...nope not at all.....

Nice! Librarians rule! Full disclosure: I am not a librarian, I can only admire them from afar.

Personally, I'm looking for avatar pictures to avoid having to think about a department meeting in an hour and a half that is bound to be a miserable experience.

I manage the bookstore side of a little bookstore/cafe, so book people unite! (Quietly, hoping no one will talk to us.) I used to be a humble bookseller but then slowly took over the bookstore in absence of a responsible adult. So now I just send a lot of e-mails and cry to myself.

I'm assuming we will be able to improve the classes that we have a 0 in at some point? (I'm pretty sure Bex is a Ravenclaw, thought that is up to you. The idea of failure irks him something mighty)

Awn, look at this group! We're awesome, you guys. I'm also looking very forward to the game!

Librarian, at least rules-wise, we get 3 XP every time we finish an "adventure". One of the things we can do with it is to increase our abilities. And, hm, according to the hack we're playing, having a 0 in one of the Classes means we're terrible at them(As in, Charms blow up on our faces and that kind of stuff). So... Keep that in mind. x(

is it better if i spread the stats a bit then?

Dunno if necessarily better, but you might for roleplay reasons. 1st years shouldn't be having all these subjects though, so maybe most of them are more like if we've learned them on our own?

What do.you think GM?

I just took a quick glance through all the characters, and I think you're a well set group with a good distribution of skills. A couple of you have two 2 point classes and then a sprinkling of 1s, and a couple of you have one 2 point class and then more 1s.

Again, haven't run a game in the system yet so I can't say definitively if I'd do things different, but it makes sense, and you can absolutely earn more build points as our game progresses. Here's what the book has to say:

EXPERIENCE POINTS
You get 2-3 build points at the end of each adventure. You can use these points to:
○○ Add points to any of your current ability ratings.
○○ Add a new ability, ideally one you can explain having acquired in play ("I’ve been taking auto shop this semester, so I’m putting my points into getting Repair").
○○ Add a new ability to a Relationship character: this costs 2 build points per ability. These points do not add to the Relationship rating. Any player with a Relationship with that NPC can add an ability, or two players can each spend 1 build point to add a new ability.

You can save build points for later: build points gained in experience can go in any "bucket" including Relationships (new or existing). Usually an adventure has also given you a smattering of free Relationships (mostly Likes).

Awesome

I wanna staaaaaart 😤

SO odd request/idea....is it possible to have a section/forum for character's private narration or diaries? Or for non plot scenes where our characters can interact? I don't know if we will have any overlapping houses but I was thinking like spaces for the common rooms, etc.
(Sorry, I'm some characters speak to me more than others, and Bex has a lot to say) :P

That sounds like a fun idea. It would be great to have a "hub" where non-important scenes can take place. Common rooms probably won't be possible if we're different houses. Does Hogwarts have a cafeteria?

Just the great hall I think, but we have had scenes of them hanging out in the equivalent to the Quad, and when we are older there is Hogsmeade.

You're all wild nerds and I love it. I'm definitely down to making this happen. I have a character in a Mage: The Awakening on Gamersplane who likes to sneak off on his own and get up to shenanigans, the GM created a private section of the game for just him and I.

I want this to be a game that focuses on the slice of life stuff, obviously, and downtime stuff will help me take extra time for planning. At the same time everything's going to be happening in a chronological order. To get into some next level nerd stuff, I used to play in a Star Trek play-by-email game, and in between missions we'd have "shore leave" where the characters could do whatever they wanted. I'm going to structure the game in "chapters" where story missions happen. So for instance the first chapter will be the Hogwarts Express and the Sorting, the second chapter will be the start of classes, etc. Each of the chapters will have a specific mystery for the characters to unravel.

In between I'm totally happy for characters to pick a location or event and play them out as part of more open-ended, character-driven downtime. I also want to participate myself as NPCs!

This reminds me of another point I wanted to bring up. Since we're keeping discussion on the forums, I'm going to start another thread for out of character questions about the system and rules when you have questions for your All-Knowing-GM(TM).

I'm feeling pretty confident in the system, so I'm just working a rough outline of plot points. Hoping I'll get the first post up in the next few days!

I love the idea.

Non-plot scenes wouldn't have to be with all of the PCs, either. If someone wanted to play out a scene for their own character development, I'd be happy to help out and play NPCs or some such, if our illustrious GM would be okay with that.

Hurray. Looking forward to this!

This game sounds so exciting! I can't wait to finally start playing

Hey, nothing really to add but I just wanted to say how amazing that downtime-thingie sounds. 😁

Okay! I'm going to to work on getting a first post up some time later this evening, so look out for it! Let's do this, magical nerds!

*sniffle* That might be the nicest thing anyone's called me all week! *sniffle* ;)

"Magical Nerds" I like.

Oh good, I was hoping "this evening" meant "evening somewhere east of me"!

Just clarifying, we are only supposed to interact in the order assigned to the scene, right?

Yes! At least if I understood it correctly.

uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so I swear I was under the impression that the boy was called Monty and his cat Montague. Raffa should just have heard that "it's only me and Monty in here" from the boy, right? Hmmm, well... Oh, I know! She obviously wasn't paying a lot of attention and just assumed that the name that she heard was the boy's. 😁. I think it even fits within the context!

Oh, yeah, absolutely. As fast as I'm guessing Raffa's talking, it makes total sense for her to have mixed it up just a bit!

When I read that post, I wasn't even sure if it was a player mistake or a character mistake. I think it makes perfect sense for Raffa to get overexcited and miss something like this.

For sure!

And aw, man. I bet the kid will feel so pressured about his name now that he'll just let us call him Monty. x)

Btw guys, sorry if Rafa came off a bit strong before, when she uh, called a few of you out. BUT LIKE, it wasn't necessarily deservingly: She's just contentious due to being a spoiled brat. I'm sure she'll probably grow out of it. Unless any of you don't actually feel comfortable with that kind of attitude?

No, I think that was great. Caroline is just very socially awkward due to being neglected and not having any friends for most of her childhood. She can probably use someone like Rafa to get better about that

Ha! I thought the name mixup was super in character, I didn't even realize it might be a mistake!

Really enjoying the posts so far, thanks for jumping in, everyone!

I believe I'll be next in turn order after the GM but I'm going to sleep now so feel free to skip over me for now, if you want. I'll just post when I'm back in a few hours.

Edit: I'm back

I'll put you first, but other people can go first, and then I'll wait for a response from you before I go again. Thanks for letting us know!

Just a quick note, between a bad cough (and not getting enough sleep because of it) and work I'm a bit run ragged, but hopefully will be posting when I have a hot second during lunch or after work tonight.

Wow, we're off to a blazing start with our rolls.

I do think this is one of these groups roll things, so we might just have to sum the total of a score rather than to pass a difficulty in particular.

Meanwhile Bex is trying to play party face and praying it works.

Hi everyone! Sorry about the holdup on my end. I've been super frickin' sick with a horrible cough that's keeping me up at night. I love all your posts, I just haven't been in a headspace to respond over the last few days. I'm going to do my best to get something out hopefully tonight or tomorrow at latest. Thanks for bearing with me and my plague.

It's okay.
I'm really looking forward to continuing but of course you need to take care of yourself first. I appreciate the update

The plague has been going around my house, so I understand. Hang in there!

I'm back! Still got a bad cough but feeling a little more like myself. Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Yay!

Sooooo, weird question to bowl. I think you actually mentioned this already, but why don't Caroline has an avatar? I mean, poor Caroline!

Raffa and Affa. I love it.

I confess I was confused about it for a good minute. x)

Man, you guys probably got Rafa in trouble with that prefect. She just wanted to help! Poor Rafa...

Us guys?! Wait a minute here!

I can already tell that hanging around Rafa is going to lead to some... interesting adventures. :)

Agreed. Barge forward, don't care about who you upset. She will be definitely the cauae of many of our problems

A-hem! Problems is a harsh word. And I'd say we as people can better ourselves through conflict, soooo... She's basically doing y'all a favor. 😄 You're welcome, by the way!

Just to clarify, I'm of course kidding! Loving the game and the cast!

Same! This is light and fun.

Sorry for going MIA, my work's been absolutely killer this week. An example being that I called the cops on someone on Tuesday for behaving EXTREMELY inappropriately. So that's where I'm at.

Going to try to post before I go to work, or else later this evening. Sorry everyone, but I've been dying to get back to it, just haven't had the brainpower.

Things happen, don't worry! But I'm glad to know we're going to pick the game back up soon. I'm really enjoying it

Wow... yeah, you've got some things to deal with. I just appreciate that you're checking in now and again to say hi! No pressure from me, that's for sure.

No worries. Be safe, and take your time.

yeah Bex isn't subtle. Rafaella is amazing btw

As always, I'm sure everyone is more than okay with you doing it at whatever the pace you can do, so don't worry. And as already mentioned, thanks for checking in! (Though that was a few days ago, oops)

And aw, thanks Librarian! Bex is a sweetie as well. I'm just trying to not actually make anyone mad by playing her, so I'm glad everyone seems to be okay with Rafa. x)

I am so glad Rafa picked up on that interaction of Ava's with Rory. After I posted it, I thought, 'Oh, that's going to look like I'm smitten.' :)

Haha, I just edited my post to include everyone so no one feels excluded or anything from Rafa's attention. Though that may be a good thing. x)


AND YEAH! I mean, that's the first thing I thought after reading everyone's posts. "Awn, Ava has a crush!". That and "Yeah, Rafa is gonna annoy her with that".

Caroline is going to have to up her game. She finds some cool girl to be friends with and learn how to be popular from and then she keeps calling her a wuss. Poor socially awkward Caroline will have to think of something to impress her.

Hahahahahaha, oh man, I love it!

This doesn't have the potential for complete disaster. Not at all. :)

So... I'm guessing that everyone skipped their turn? Is that okay, aphelion?

Yes! Just haven't had the brainpower to finish up this chapter and start the next, but I've got a big cup of coffee and a day off, so look out world!

I dunno why but every time I post I feel guilty x)

Rafa’s sort of like a natural force of chaos.

yeah she is.

I feel that that is a very valid description of her, haha. 😊

By the way, guys, about the relationship thread... And I guess this question is more to aphelion. Uh... What should we do, exactly? I mean, I get what they do mechanically, but are we supposed to create NPCs? Or use those that already exist? Because I feel that it's kinda too early to set us up with anyone. Maybe, aphelion, you could eventually introduce the whole cast, have us play for a whole half-year in-game or something, and once we get everyone's dynamics not only between ourselves but with the NPCs, then time skip to the second year? And then, we could extrapolate how our relationships developed and do the relationship prompt-thing. Or, I mean something along those lines? I'm not sure if the relationships have to be particularly meaningful, that's the impression I got, but maybe it's okay if they're too new?

Also, I have another question! How often are we going to have time skips? I imagine we won't be rping the entire year(s).

Rafa is just the worst and I love it xD

Relationships aren't necessarily romantic, it's more like family, friends, teachers, prefects and maybe eventually romantic partners--although you're totally right, it's a little early in the game to be pairing off 11-year-olds. For example, if Rafaella has a very close relationship with her father, she could designated him as one of her "Loves", which gives her a significant bonus on skills where she uses his knowledge or connections. Relationships are just another group of ability pools you can spend from.

In terms of the time skip question, there's definitely going to be time skips, sort of like the jump in action from the train to the entrance, but I will always give you a heads up that they're coming, let you know I'm going to move the action along unless we have anything else we want to accomplish.

OH MY GOD I BROKE CAROLINE! *sobs*

Yes, how dare you? You made a little girl cry!

Poor Caroline...

Dammit, Caroline's gonna be dragged to the Headmistress's office before Rafa. 😠

Challenge accepted xD

Oh no, 78RPMLife will be unavailable til Saturday. I did notice Ava looking sleepy. Oh well, we'll have to carry on. Too bad! 😁

Seriously tho! Aphelion, what happens when players need to be absent for a few days?

Given what's going on currently, I don't know that anyone needs my input IC. I'm fine being skipped. :D

If we're not all in one place like we were on the train, we could just skip over Ava for a bit. In the time 78 is missing, we would probably only get through around two turns anyway so they wouldn't miss much.
Only if 78 doesn't mind, of course

I don't mind at all. I think that makes the most sense, honestly. Just say I've been studying extra hard to prepare for classes.

Absences are okay! Real life is an unfortunate thing that SOMETIMES happens. The next few posts are going to be about getting settled into school life, so nothing too earth-shattering--unless one of you declares yourself the secret heir of Bertie Bott, which wouldn't surprise me at this point!

Ava can temporarily fade into the background for a few OOC days as she's IC overwhelmed with the new workload. It helps that all of the students will be getting settled into school life separately, so they'll be experiencing different things. I'll leave her out of turn order, just shoot me a message when you're back 78PRM, and I'll add you back in right away!

Sounds great. Thanks, boss!

Sooooo... I mean, 78's kinda still around, right? Should I post, or?

Oh yeah, post away. I’m gone on Thursday. 😀

Huh. Nevermind, I hadn't seen Ava's post. Sorry!

Just a heads up, work, as usual, has been draining me, and tonight I'm heading right from work to D&D. Good news is I have three days off, but I probably won't get a post out until tomorrow afternoon. It'll be another bigger one leaping us forward into classes a couple of weeks.

I assume that at the beginning, Caroline was too caught up in class work and also wanted to keep a low profile. Now that were a bit settled in, Caroline would want to meet up with Mallory and possibly try to make friends with some Slytherin first years.

Is Bexley the only one wanting to get into the Quidditch team?

From what I understood, his mom was a good/famous-ish Quidditch player, right? And they get along super great? I'm assuming, then, that he probably wants to be part of the team because of her. My mom owns a bakery and I remember that when I was a kid that I had one of these H.E classes, and my teacher knew my mom, and not to brag but she can bake, you know? And I'm like ''Hey, I'm obviously great at it, right? Yeah, I gotta be.'' SO I MEAN, there were some expectations. But yeah, I wasn't, but one of my friends was and I still haven't fully forgiven her for stealing my moment.

ANYWAYS, I'm not saying that Bex's gotta be bad at it, but I was planning on Rafa trying it out as well and I think it's a nice take having some competition that can potentially be just as good if not better, despite her never once having flown before. Especially if it's his braggy friend. They are in different houses, but I bet it would suck if people talked about the other first year that just joined the team, independently of who performed better. Especially because I don't see Rafa particularly caring about Quidditch that much to begin with. She just likes being in the spotlight and stuff. That's all true for Rafa as well if Bex ends up being more talked about than her!

She is probably going for Seeker, though. Considering that Gryffindor's just graduated last year and stuff. Big shoes to fill. 😇

Did McGonagall just threaten Rafa into performing better? x) I confess I giggled.

yep. he wants to be a chaser his mum was a a keeper so he got practice

Sooo... Does Bex skip his turn?

no, Im not sure how our gm wants to handle the tryouts l, i can retool my post if needed. he's kind of overly focused

I would like to have Caroline write a letter home to her family. Would you be okay with me writing it and either sending it to you by PM or posting it somewhere in here so he can reply? I can also do it in iniative order just as part of my regular post but I feel like this is something that might just run on the side outside of initiative

I'm under the impression that we should post something right now, and then aphelion will go from there. If Bex wants to focus on the tryouts, maybe say how he's preparing himself for that?

Yes, I'm waiting for Bex' post before I go

I’m back now, just FYI.

Nice to have you back, 78!

By the way, bowl, how did you think Caroline dealt with the train crew afterward? What would be her attitude to Rafa in the following weeks, for example?

That’s a good question. I would imagine Ava has tried at least once to see how Caroline’s doing.

She would have definitely avoided Rafa since then. She still thinks Rafa is super cool but since she's a Gryffindor, she can't be friends with her. There might have been some awkward moments where they met and Caroline basically ran away from Rafa

She could have stayed friends with the Ravenclaws. I don't know how much time they would have had to interact but she doesn't have any problems with them

Anyone want to play a little side scene, maybe something in the Great Hall at mealtime, or in a class?

Oh, I'm always up for that! Didn't knew that was an option, though.

I figure there's not a particular story thread going right now, and there's lots of "downtime" being glossed over in the main thread. We could fill in some blanks with some casual RP, I'd think.

Well, whatever you decide, 78, I'll follow your lead. Worst case scenario, aphelion will be mad at you. 😋

I'm always up for some free rp. We could make a new thread for it to keep the main one less cluttered, maybe

sounds fun

Of course, I'd need to think of a scene... give me a bit. Alternately, if someone else has an idea, I'm game to follow along.

Hey folks. Sorry I disappeared, been dealing with a bit of a stomach bug that's put me out of commission, so I'm thrilled to see the side RP going down! Keep doing you, and I should be back in a day or two.

Feel better! We miss our fearless leader!

I figure if nothing else, side RP will give you things to torture... I mean, challenge us with later. :D

Yay, we have aphelion's blessing! Hopefully, they'll get better soon.

Anyways, I just got home. I'll do some stuff and when I'm free(er), Rafa will pop up to annoy everyone. 😁

Weeeird question, what's everyone's height?

I envision Ava as being a little taller than average, but not freakishly so. Like... 5’9"ish as an adult.

I think Caroline is a bit short and skinny compared to other kids her age. But still within a normal range

I wanted Rafa to be the smallest of the bunch if that's okay. Maybe just a bit smaller than Caroline? Though in my mind she's def smaller than usual for their age.

And oh man. 😁 I'm gonna wait a bit for 78 and Librarian to post. Though just a bit. If you guys are writing your posts, it might be a good idea to let everyone know before doing that, just to make sure that everyone's not posting at the same time.

We can post and edit placeholders so that doesn't happen. Might make sense now that more people are online.

We can be around the same height, maybe Rafa is a bit shorter than Caroline, if you want

Okay, writing a post!

(and daaaaaaaaaamn, Spinach!)

What did I do?

Oh, don't play innocent with me. :D

x)

Awn, poor Ava! And Bexley, who is watching the whole thing in silence lol

I imagine Bex is just slowly walking backwards away from everything xD

I’d like to post here, but I won’t be able to for at least a couple hours, so go ahead without me if you want.

sorry, family thing. All is well. Bex is tall and gangly for his age, I see him as the tallest of the group, at least for now

I wonder what aphelion is thinking about all of what's happening, haha.

No rush, Librarian. By the way, who did Bex said that to?

And 78, I actually have to do some stuff right now as well, so uh, I can hold off posting for now. No worries! (Though Spinach might want to!)

That was addressed at All of them. He's seriously concerned about his friends.

He has many reasons to be concerned tbh x)

78, do you wanna post before me? I'm going off for tonight, so if you want or can, feel free to do so!

Sorry, I got home later than I expected, and then kids... so, yeah. I have now posted. Thanks for being accommodating!

Poor Bex got yelled at because we got Ava all riled up xD

Yes, but then I felt bad!

I can't post until much later guys, super sorry! But in case anyone wanna butt in, feel free to go for it!

I think I'll wait for your response before going again. But no rush. Just post whenever you have time

Rafa and Caroline could have been such good friends. I really wonder how this relationship will develop further. I can't tell what's going to happen xD It's exciting

Heh, me too x)

I think it's important to note that Caroline and Rafa are both walking out the Great Hall, right? Just, like... Rafa first and Caroline a bit behind to not make it awkward? Although I guess I didn't specify that, so we can also assume that Rafa simply went to talk to other people or something if y'all want. No worries. 😊

I didn't realize she was leaving. If she's going towards the door, then Caroline would probably just awkwardly go into some other direction, just so she can walk off too. And then she would leave a minute or two after Rafa

WELL AVA I'M SORRY IF RAFA IS EXASPERATING a.k.a FULL OF LIFE

Btw I guess I can't post anymore, oops. But uh, feel free to talk about her, it certainly is entertaining x) (and it helps solidifying our dynamics!)

Yeah, that's unfortunate. We could probably end this scene and move on to a different one so Rafa can be present

Whatever you guys want, no rush tho. 😊 I'm loving this side RP thing, but i hope aphelion will recover soon so we'll be able to resume the story and keep playing but with him as well.

Don’t worry! I have good things to say too! I... probably should have put them in my first post. :/

No worries :B
So what do we do?

I think it makes most sense to wrap this scene up and come up with a new one. Any ideas?

I started the last one (admittedly it wasn't very novel). It's someone else's turn. :D

Aaaaawn Ava 💖

And yeah, I'll try to come up with something. Anyways, as Spinach said, please start wrapping up the scene so we can proceed onto the next. 😁

I don't mind starting it. I just need a setting that is interesting and makes sense. We've already had the "just running into each other in our free time". The next scene should be something else...

Oh wow, you answered super fast o.O

Yeah, I agree. I'm not sure how much liberty we can take with the scenes tho. But I guess that in the worst case scenario aphelion will just retcon something, no biggie.

Hm. Some ideas that pop into my head that would put us in the same space.

* Bex and Rafa are both working on their Quidditch moves. Caroline and I are watching.
* Homework in the library. A particularly nasty assignment for, say, Transfiguration or something equally nasty.
* I'm happy to put myself in a public confrontation with my snobby roommates.

All of those sound interesting.
I like the quidditch thing. It would probably mean that Rafa and Bex are mostly interacting with each other and Ava and Caroline with each other. That might even prevent Caroline and Rafa from going at each others' throats again right away.
Homework could also lead to some interesting btis but it might also turn out similar to this previous scene.
The public confrontation could force us all to work together against the roommates. It would also mean we'd have to interact with more NPCs, though, and one of us would have to play them. Maybe we should talk to aphelion about that first

Let me know all your opinions on these and then I'll just set up the one that most people seem to be into

Quidditch or homework.

I prefer the Quidditch thing as well, if only because it allows us to establish better one-on-one dynamics between the characters outside the group.

I've realized that Ava's conscience speaks with Rafa's voice. Except I can't write it quite as well as Lux does. :)

Oh, pfft, don't give me that. You're an amazing writer, 78, everyone here is! I'm lucky to be able to play with y'all. 😁

HAHAHA Caroline's super salty, I love it! x)

Ouch, Caroline. That's some emotional blackmail right there. :)

She would be sorry if she thought about it more

I'm gonna hold off posting for now in case you guys wanna take advantage of the bludger that is about to hit Rafa. 😄

Caroline has no idea how to do it anyway. And she wants to intervene in the team tryouts, not now, so you can just post now, I think

Oh ok, aight! Will post shortly then

Yes, go ahead. I'm not going to do anything to the bludger. It might get me expelled OMG!

Well, independently of Ava lending her a hand or not, I'm just going to leave this here... Ignore that whole dark spell mambo jambo thing, Rafa would 100% say that only wimps pay attention to that. The real question is: Is Caroline the wimp Rafa says she is? Or is she ready to take every advantage possible against her arch-nemesis?

I wonder what a real Slytherin would do. Hmm!

By the way, Ava, Rafa would love to hear you validating your BFF status with Scrivener.

(🤣) Also, dudes, it's been more than a week since aphelion checked in. I hope he's aight...

Yeah, Caroline's player and I were talking about that yesterday. I really hope all is well. I very much enjoy working with all of you, and I hope we can continue in some form. Ideally, that's aphelion being able to GM, because... wow. It's been a pretty fantastic ride just to this point.

I feel the same. I hope everything is alright

Me three. He's an amazing GM and you guys are all super amazing as well.

It's strange, though, because more than once I asked him his thoughts and opinions on the current state of the game and he always sounded so enthused, you know? Which leads me to believe something prolly happened. Let's hope it's nothing too serious.

Has anyone kept an eye on the Absences thread? Maybe he posted there at one point? I usually tend to ignore it

I click on it whenever it shows up in Latest Posts and I don't recall him saying anything. Maybe his computer broke down or something? I dunno... I really hope he shows up again though.

Everyone, great news! I was able to talk to aphelion and checked if everything was okay! I'm just gonna copy and paste the whole thing because of laziness tho tbh.
(Start reading from the lowest)

Re: Come baaaaack
FROM
Lux001
WHEN
April 23, 2019 1:01 am
"Oh wow, first of all, I'm super sorry about that spelling. I'm not sure what happened to me there, I guess my brain just kinda stopped working while I was typing.

Anyways, dude, yay! I mean, I'm super glad that at least you're kinda okay. And hey! Don't worry, depression sucks, you do you. It's just great to know that you're still around and planning in continuing everyone's misadventures.

As for what I've said, well, they're not really words of encouragement. I mean, I obviously want you to be super okay but like, I'm being very genuine. I know we haven't been playing for long but Tales of Hogwarts has been my best PbP experience to date. So you do a kickass job in dealing with your stuff. Meanwhile, I'm sure everyone's gonna be waiting. And don't worry, I'll let everyone know that you're still around."

Re: Come baaaaack
from aphelion on April 23, 2019 12:25 am
to Lux001

"Hey! Sorry about the disappearing act. Aside from getting over that stomach bug work's been really rough on me and the ol' depression's been acting up. I fully intend to get back to it once I get myself out of this rut, but I just get home from work and barely have the energy to open my laptop, let alone get creative.

I'm really sorry I left you all in the lurch, I'm having a really fun time running the game and want to continue the story. I should've posted something to let everyone know, so feel free to pass along to the others that I really want to get back to it, I'm just working through whatever's going on at the moment. Thanks for your encouragement, though. It means a lot to know that you're enjoying it."

Come baaaaack
from Lux001 on April 22, 2019 7:36 pm
to aphelion

"Hey dude, you're probably not gonna get this but it would be really great to know if you're coming back. I'm not sure what's going on and I absolutely wish super you're fine buuut I'll be honest and confess that I really really loved your game. Soooo... Idk. I hope you figure everything out. If you do check this, please let me know what's up if you can, and what are your plans. If for some reason you don't plan on continuing the game I'd be just happy to know that as well, so feel free to be honest!"

And yes, I am pushy. If you're reading this, aphelion, sorry about that!

That’s terrific to hear. This has been such a great game so far with great characters and an amazingly amazing GM.

Depression sucks. If you talk to aphelion again, please let him(?) know that I’ll be here whenever he’s ready, and that there’s no pressure. Just wishing him the best.

Seconded. Depression is the worst. Glad our GM is otherwise OK. Feel better, I've been there, and we are here whenever you are ready

Have we had any updates?

Not from me...

We ain't dead yet, right?

Right?

Please rise from the dead everyone I don't wanna let this go. 😭

I'm not dead yet! I will happily start up again at any time!

I know Spinach and Librarian are still out there too -- I'm in at least one other game with each of them. Hopefully they're still on board!

I'm still here!! And want to continue

SO I had an idea.....did we want to continue this in some way shape or form while we wait for aphelion to come back? Maybe take turns running for each other and do this more troupe style? I don't want to take away anyone's thunder, so it's just an idea...

I'd be up for something like that. I've been kicking around some ideas for how to bring this back, but this is better than anything I had come up with so far.

I've just sent aphelion another PM, at least to check if everything's alright.

But I would be up for it! How would that work, though? Assuming it's the four of us, do we just... Pair up? Or maybe a willing soul may step up to GM for the rest for a while?

We could all announce scenes we would like to play and then volunteer to gm scenes for others or something

I could see us each running short scenes like the train mystery for the others, and then trading off to another GM. I'd need to familiarize myself with the game system mechanics a little better (okay, a lot better), but I'm game for trying it! I just want an opportunity to keep playing Ava from time to time. :D

That's exactly what I meant bowlofspinach