Night-Haunted Hogwarts: Downtime Draft

Belly up to the bar between adventures

 Josh of Rise Up Comus recently asked me if I had posted my Hogwarts downtime action rules and I said that I had put the the proof-of-concept version that I'd used in the playtest session report that I posted back in September. This, it turns out, was a lie. I referenced the downtime actions in the write-up but I didn't actually post the rules! Well, here they are:

The Inn At The Crossroads

1) Perform a Town Action

1. Visit the Market: Roll for a Random Item

2. Gather Rumors

1. A wealthy young witch in lavender robes: The Lady is served by the most puissant warlocks in shining armor!

2. Three brothers selling pumpkins from their farm: A huge knight, big as a house, guards the Lady’s door. We seen ‘im lumbering across the meadow once, carryin’ a cow over ‘is shoulder.

3. An old long-nosed witch swathed in grey silk rags: The Lady is the ghost of a murdered witch, singing songs of grief for her lost love. Fools are drawn to her tower to beg for her favor, but she spurns ‘em all.

4. A little girl selling chains of singing daisies: Strange flowers grow in the woods around the Lady’s tower, but Mum says never to go there or I’ll get snatched up and carried off to her tower to serve her forever and ever. My flowers are pretty good too though!

5. A hairy old warlock in a patched brown coat: The “Lady’s guards” are nothing but a pack of thieving marauders and the tales of hauntings are just pixie pranks.

6. A group of goblins with fox-fur hats: The last hero to ride to the Lady’s tower carried Firebane, a goblin-made sword. Doubtless it molders amongst his bones even now… We’ll never get it back.

3. Take in the Sights: Roll on the Food & Drinks and Entertainment tables. Then roll 1d6. 1–2: +1 Luck, 3–4: +1 HP, 5–6: –1 Luck, lose all your money

4. Brew a Potion

5. Gather Herbs

6. Perform a Divination

2) Pay for Lodging

1. Sleep in the Stables: 1d6 Knuts, begin the next expedition without Inspiration

2. Sleep in the Common Room: 1d6 Sickles

3. Rent a Chamber: 1 Galleon, begin the next expedition with +1 Luck 

3) Begin Your Adventure!

The tables that I used to generate Potter-style food, drinks, and entertainments are reproduced below.

Food

1-2	3-4	5-6
1. Boiled cabbage	1. Hot pea soup	1. Pumpkin pie
2. Eggs	2. Hot plimpy soup	2. Roast chestnuts
3. Fried Pork scratchings Sausage rolls Cucumbers Fish  Chips Sausages	3. Ice cream Blackberry Beetroot Ginger & orange Rhubarb  Strawberry Walnut	3. Sandwiches Fried egg Corned beef Chipp Ham & cheese Marmite  Watercress
4. Frog kebab	4. Jellied eels	4. Sheep’s trotters
5. Haggis and chips	5. Lamb curry	5. Shepherd’s pie
6. Hot gruel	6. Popcorn	6. Water snails

Drinks

1. Pumpkin Juice

2. Hot chocolate

3. Gin, sold by the cup

4. Mulled wine/dandelion wine (as seasonally appropriate)

5. Cups of ale

6. Tea

Entertainment

1. Puppet or Theater Show

1. "Boggart Cabinet": a comedy act where various grotesques pop out from behind a curtain. Often includes elements of insult comedy and audience participation (calling out requests, trying to guess what the Fear is, etc.)
2. "Luckless & Amorata": the tragic love story of a foolish muggle knight and a beautiful witch whose tyrannical father will not let them wed. Sir Luckless is traditionally set a series of tasks that the wicked father believes will be impossible without magic, which he accomplishes through bravery, kindness, honesty, and unbelievable good luck. May be told in whole or in part.
3. "The Boy Who Lived": a mystery play in which troops of traveling players instruct the audience in the central miracle of the faith, interspersed with topical humor and dirty jokes.
4. "The Tail of Mr. Moony": a series of comedy skits in which the hapless main character doesn't realize that he is a werewolf. Mr. Moony is typically depicted as a henpecked husband with some type of menial job and is constantly taking the blame for things he doesn't know that he's actually done, followed by a final act where he misses out on his own revenge (frightening his boss, eating as much red meat as he likes, sexually satisfying his wife, etc.). Players usually compete to see who can adlib as many puns as possible.
5. "Tales of Beedle the Bard": classical fairy stories such as "The Hopping Pot," "The Fountain of Fair Fortune," or "The Warlock's Hairy Heart". Usually aimed at a younger audience, although highbrow versions done in the Olde English occasionally circulate.
6. "The Cobbler and the Elves": a morality play in which the elves take pity on a poor cobbler, help him to obtain great wealth, and abandon him when he inevitably grows proud and lazy and insults them in some way. Typically ends with the cobbler in the exact situation he was in at the start of the play.
2. Street Performer
1. Photographer: "A wonderful keepsake, Madame, to remember the occasion? 'Arf a galleon, a bargain at any price!" Photographers usually offer a selection of development potions to choose from which influence the behavior of the photograph - serious, silly, etc
2. Conjuror: displays of lights, jugglery, fire-eating ("you pick the color, flavor, and smell! Why not try a taste yourself, if you're brave enough?"), and transfigurations (coins into goldfish, producing bouquets of flowers, pulling strings of flags from a child's nose or a dog's bottom, etc.)
3. Toad Choir: typically groups of young witches and wizards, with the toads taking the bass notes.
4. Animal Acts: vanishing rabbits, dancing cats, fortune-telling birds, and displays of "parselmouth".
5. Mock Duelist: a trick act where the duelist invites an audience member to duel with a fake wand and then makes them look foolish.
6. Grotesquerie: "See the giant's toenail! Wonder at this slug! Have you ever seen another so large? Notice this barb? From the tail of a manticore - careful not to touch! Observe the squelching grindylow, safe behind glass! Notice this strange creature: a genuine London muggle!"
3. Game
1. Ring Toss: the rings are enchanted to fly and bounce in contrary ways and provide color commentary. Sensible showmen keep a set of gentler rings for children to use.
2. Quidditch: traveling teams will usually put on a show of some kind and then invite audience members with their own brooms to participate in various feats like racing a chaser around the pitch or trying to score a goal against the team's keeper.
3. Dunk Tank: traditionally performed with a selection of gnomes and a beer barrel. Less savory practitioners may provide a goblin or a comely young witch instead, while more elaborate acts might use a vat of some weak potion for comedic effect.
4. Shooting Gallery: either with provided pistols or the customer's own wand. Pistols may be rigged with bullets that curve or targets that run away. Where a wand is used the object is often to fill a bottle with a stream of wine or to successfully transfigure thrown beanbags. A variant for young children has the player purchase three balls to toss at a row of giggling coconuts.
5. Kissing Booth: a witch (or occasionally a handsome wizard) at a curtained booth offers a kiss to paying customers, who must put on a blindfold. At periodic intervals a gnome, pig, or large male assistant in a costume and wig is substituted at the last minute to the audience's delight.
6. Niffler Racing: players select their niffler (or bring one of their own) and compete to see which one can dig up the most gold from a plot within a specified time limit. The gold in the plot is fake; protestations that any valuables placed in the provided lockbox for the duration of the game must have disappeared "by accident" may not be.