Historic Arcs

Godric Gryffindor and the Forge of Spells

Actual Harry Potter story:

“One (unsubstantiated) legend says that the founders discovered the Pensieve half-buried in the ground on the very spot where they decided to erect their school” - Pottermore

Gryffindor D&D Campaign:

There’s a time turner incident in the hallways of Hogwarts, and our heroes are thrown one-thousand years into the past. Hogwarts is still under construction, and is nothing but a simple schoolhouse for the local city of Hogsmeade. Godric Gryffindor finds them, and he’s an unremarkable dude in his 20s. He reveals that he’s discovered the location of a legendary artifact which can bend “space and time”. He thinks the artifact could help them get back to the future. (Alternative title Back to the Future: HP Edition)

Upon completion of the campaign, and finding the artifact, it turns out to be the Pensieve. Godric uses it (with the help of goblins) to craft the legendary Gryffindor Sword. It’s moved to Hogwarts, and gives the castle it’s amazing shape-shifting properties (bend space). It is used to craft the first time-turners (bend time). The Pensieve memory-vision is also a time-bend ability. Our heroes can return back to the future.

[They're] running this plot using the “Lost Mines of Phandelver” campaign in the D&D starter set, but it could be used with anything that involves retrieval of a magic artifact.

[Google Doc]

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Helga Hufflepuff and the Goblin Curse [[1]]

Actual Harry Potter story

“Gringotts Wizarding Bank is the only bank of the wizarding world, and is owned and operated by goblins. It was created by a goblin called Gringott, in 1474.” - [Potter wiki]

D&D Campaign

In this universe, D&D Dwarves are Harry Potter goblins. But sometimes, civilized goblin societies collapse, losing their intelligence, becoming evil and aggressive. (They become typical D&D goblinoids). Their skin turns green and their eyes red. They’re called “Green Goblins” or “Groblins” for short.

The largest goblin society has collapsed, and it’s right under London. Groblins are attacking muggles, and muggles blame evil wizards for the attack. Wizards have always lived out in the open, allied with muggles against the forces of evil. But these and other recent events have instigated hatred and violence between muggles and wizards. The King of newly-unified England has executed all his magical staff (diviners, goblin treasurer, etc.) and is war is imminent.

Whether the goblins are cursed or sick, (or they dug too greedily and too deep), nobody knows. But Helga Hufflepuff wants the players to find the cause of the sickness, and to try to cure it.

The location becomes the future Gringotts Vaults. If they find a cure and save the goblins, the goblins swear to lend their magic to wizards for all time, and they craft the Hufflepuff Cup for Helga as a thank you. If they kill them all, the Cup is looted from the mine, and the rest of goblin-kind will use the Gringotts Bank to manipulate wizards out of money and power, secretly plotting to someday destroy or overthrow them.

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Salazar Slytherin and the Chamber of Secrets[[2]]

Actual Harry Potter story

“Salazar Slytherin was one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the former best friend of Godric Gryffindor, a fellow founder. Slytherin didn't trust Muggle-born students, and he expressed his opinion by proposing that they should not be accepted at Hogwarts. However, when the other Hogwarts founders didn't agree, Slytherin created the Chamber of Secrets, concealing a basilisk inside. He left the school soon afterwards, never to return and died at some point in the Middle Ages.” - [Potter wiki]

D&D Campaign

Salazar is roleplayed as a sympathetic and likable character, whose family means everything to him. He keeps an image of his wife and child in a locket. He firmly believes that wizards need to go into hiding to protect themselves. (He’s on the “right side of history” on that issue.) He also believes that if any Muggle has knowledge of Hogwarts, the safety and secrecy of the wizarding world will be jeopardized. This is why he wants only purebloods to be admitted to Hogwarts. All of the sophisticated “monitoring technologies” (like the Trace) which allow the secret to be kept in plain sight in the modern world don’t exist yet, and are impossible for him to fathom. It’s like asking a person in the middle ages to envision the internet.

The muggle crackdown on magic and witch hunts has led to the first ever Obscurials, who are all muggle-born. Many wizards begin to hate and fear muggle-borns because of the immense devastation that an Obscurus leaves in its path. Helga wants the players try to save an Obscurus, and Helga starts a secretive underground support network for abused muggle-born kids at risk of developing one.

Godric and Rowena are desperately trying to maintain the unity between wizards and muggles. The players can ally with either side - Godric and Rowena (unity) or Salazar and Helga (secrecy). Insert political intrigue, muggle warrior horde-vs-mage battles, and an Obscurus boss battle.

Salazar is backed into a corner, his wife and child are in danger, and the wizarding world is on the brink of extinction. Desperate, he seeks the aid of a powerful creature who has also foreseen their own species’ inevitable downfall: the chromatic dragons. He makes a deal: He swears allegiance the chromatic dragons, and binds Draconic magic to himself and his bloodline for all time, thereby ensuring that both wizarding and draconic magic will exist in some form forever (Parseltongue is dragon language. The locket features in the ritual in some way.)

Salazar is overwhelmed by dark power, slaughtering innocent muggles in violent rage. (Hopefully, his turn to evil is a surprising or devastating twist for the players even though they probably expect it). His family is saved, but at a great cost - he is barely recognizable to them. At some point Salazar creates the Chamber of Secrets and there’s a big boss battle between him and the players.

The ritual is a monkey’s paw: Salazar’s bloodline continues, but is cursed with evil and madness forever (a line of dark Parselmouth wizards including Voldemort). The slaughter has guaranteed there can never be unity between muggles and wizards. The evil pact has angered and alarmed the metallic dragons, ensuring the very extinction the chromatic dragons were trying to avoid. The founders’ stances in the Salazar chapter Salazar and Helga are working together against Rowena and Godric.

Hogwarts should be pureblood-only Hogwarts should permit muggle-borns to attend Secrecy: the wizarding world should be separate and hidden from the muggle world. Salazar Slytherin Believes the only way the secret can be kept is by restricting Hogwarts to purebloods. Helga Hufflepuff The other founders see her view as idealistic and naive. In the end, Rowena and Godric agree with her and work together to create the modern wizarding world. Unity: wizards should live openly among muggles, together as a human race. Rowena Ravenclaw Believes unity is economically optimal for trade. Muggle-borns could be an Obscurus that kills all the other kids the first year. Godric Gryffindor Believes Hogwarts should be available to everyone. Sees that unity has worked so far and wants to maintain the status quo.

Hogwarts should be pureblood-only Hogwarts should permit muggle-borns to attend Secrecy: the wizarding world should be separate and hidden from the muggle world. Salazar Slytherin Believes the only way the secret can be kept is by restricting Hogwarts to purebloods. Helga Hufflepuff The other founders see her view as idealistic and naive. In the end, Rowena and Godric agree with her and work together to create the modern wizarding world. Unity: wizards should live openly among muggles, together as a human race. Rowena Ravenclaw Believes unity is economically optimal for trade. Muggle-borns could be an Obscurus that kills all the other kids the first year. Godric Gryffindor Believes Hogwarts should be available to everyone. Sees that unity has worked so far and wants to maintain the status quo.

Rowena Ravenclaw and the Statute of Secrecy

Actual Harry Potter Story

“The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy … was laid down by the International Confederation of Wizards to safeguard the wizarding community from Muggles and hide its presence from the world at large.” - [Potter wiki]

Ravenclaw D&D Campaign

Rowena originally agreed with Salazar that Hogwarts should be pureblood-only (see chart above). When she begins to research a captured Obscurus, she discovers that purebloods can develop one too. This changes her mind on the issue. With the hope of unity dashed, this finally puts the remaining three founders on the same page: they need to figure out how to maintain magical secrecy while allowing muggle-borns to attend Hogwarts. Rowena begins researching and has a breakthrough - she invents a primitive version of the Trace (http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Trace) by enchanting her diadem, Professor Xavier style. (Alternate title: Rowena invents the Internet)

There are two plot threads running here. One is a political plot, where the founders stage a coup to overthrow the current pro-unity Wizard’s Council, and institute a new pro-secrecy Ministry of Magic. (Technically the Ministry overthrew the Council 600 years after the founders era in the official HP lore, but I’m bending the timeline here)

Simultaneously, the metallic dragons are doing Something Epic, that results in the dragons you see in the modern-day wizarding world: beasts with no magic powers or language. One idea is the metallic dragons could sacrifice their own lives to nerf the chromatics. The players could come up with some other more interesting solution. Either way, it’s big, it’s epic, it’s insane, it involves Tiamat and Bahamut, it’s the final countdown.

[Doc Source]

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The Trouble With Muggles

For the adventure itself, my players had to investigate some use of magic witnessed by muggles. Turns out it was a young wizard prodigy who was trying to better understand the roots of magic by using high-tech equipment. But his shenanigans had attracted the attention of another powerful, dark wizard. This somewhat bad guy wanted to recruit the prodigy, promising more resources than the Ministry would ever give him. He also said under veritaserum that he was born a muggle and latter acquired magic abilities, but would say how only if the prodigy came with him (he was simply a warlock). It ended with the players fending off the bad guy's goons and bringing the magic-scientist to London.

Of course the bad guy escaped.

[reddit]