Murder At Hogwarts

[AvatarVecna]

Voldemort had won. Harry Potter was dead, the remnants of Dumbledore's stooges had been eliminated or forced into hiding, and Hogwarts was his own personal fortress. This, Tom reflected, was what he had been building towards for nearly fifty years. True, he'd lost many loyal followers over the years, and was left with a rather motley crew of low-level Death Eaters, some of whom were probably spies...but who cares, it's not like he had to worry about them banding together, infiltrating his organization, and taking him down, right? He was invincible, immortal, now that the accursed Potter brat was dead and buried somewhere in the forest.

---

Voldemort's body was found the next morning, blackened by burns and riddled with strange holes. Some of the gathered teachers exchanged worried looks, while others schooled their expressions into the appropriate horror and disbelief to avoid tipping their hand. A message on the wall made their fate crystal clear:

THE DARK LORD YET LIVES. UNTIL HE HATH BEEN THRICE MORE DEFIED, WE SHALL SEARCH TO PURGE HIS SPIRIT BY RIDDING HIM OF PROFESSORS TO POSSESS

Spoiler: Mechanics overview

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All players have four important statistics: their alignment, their specialty/specialties, their Magic score, and their number of spellbooks. Alignment determines win condition, you get bonuses related to your specialties, your Magic score determines both your health and your voting power. Each character starts with a Magic score of 9 (which includes the bonus from spending your first "day phase" teaching classes), and 4 spellbooks (2 on their person and 2 in their classroom).

There are three phases to this game: day phase, meeting phase, and night phase, each of which will last for 48 hours.

During the day phase, you will have four slots in which to either teach class or visit a location; teaching class increases your Magic by 1, and visiting a location can have other benefits (some known, some not--see the Location spoiler for details).

At the beginning of the meeting phase, it will be declared who taught how many classes that day, as well as who visited certain publicly known locations. After that, each player will cast two votes: one vote electing a lynchee and another vote electing a deputy. Your vote counts for a number of votes equal to your Magic score. Whoever has the most votes for lynchee is lynched; whoever has the most votes for deputy gains 5 Magic and all the spellbooks the lynchee had on their person.

During the night phase, players can visit one location, use items, and assign spellbooks to spells. A player can assign one, two, or three spellbooks to a particular spell; a spell's power is equal to the number of spellbooks assigned to it plus any possible item/specialty/alignment bonuses; you cannot exceed a spell's maximum power by any means. You cannot cast a spell if you are incapable of meeting the minimum power requirement in some fashion. Determining what spell occurs first takes three factors into account: first, it looks at power (the more power behind the spell, the sooner it goes in the list of spells); second, the type of spell (Switch before Void before Bane before Scry before Kill); third, if two spells are of the same power and spell type, and the order in which they take place matters (such as switch spells of the same power sharing a target), the one that was submitted first will be executed first.

Spoiler: Roles

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Spoiler: Alignment

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Death Eater (Good)
You're just a regular DE-turned-professor; you could care less about whether Voldemort lives or dies as long as you get survive this killing spree. You win if you are still alive when Voldemort finally dies, or if you are still alive when the last Order member finally dies. You start with an additional specialty.

Inner Circle Member (Good)
You are a devoted member of Voldemort's Inner Circle. You've seen him die before, and you've seen him come back; you have faith that he'll return again and reward your loyalty. You win if Voldemort is still alive when the last Order Member finally dies, regardless of whether you yourself are alive or dead. Circle Members start out knowing each other (but not knowing Voldemort's current possession target). At the beginning of a new phase, you are collectively informed of any players that entered the Headmaster's Office location. You may not visit the Headmaster's Office, for that is your Dark Lord's domain and property.

Voldemort (Neutral)
As far as you're concerned, every one of these brain-dead morons could bite the dust as long as you're still alive when the dust settles. You win if you are still alive when the last Order Member dies. Any spell you cast has +1 Power on top of your specialty bonus. You start out knowing each of your follower's specialties, including the spies; if a follower has multiple specialties, you only know one of them. You do not know the Order Members at the start of the game, but you do know the Inner Circle Members. If you die (whether by reduction to your Magic score or lynching), you cease playing Voldemort, but a new non-Order Member player finds themselves possessed by his spirit (gaining his powers and access to the Voldemort QT); if Voldemort dies three times during the game, his spirit does not move onto a new target and the game is over. Voldemort starts with the "Elder Wand" item.

Order Member (Evil)
You're one of the best spies the Order Of The Phoenix has to offer, and you're risking your life to try and end the Dark Lord once and for all. You win if any Order Members are alive by the time Voldemort finally dies, whether you yourself are alive or not. Order Members start out knowing each other.

Spoiler: Specialty

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Ancient Runes
Any "Ancient Runes" spell you cast has +1 Power

Care Of Magical Creatures Expert
Any "CoMC" spell you cast has +1 Power. At the start of a new phase, you are informed of each player that entered the Forbidden Forest location during the previous phase.

Charms Expert
Any "Charm" spell you cast has +1 Power

Dark Arts Expert
Any "Dark Arts" spell you cast has +1 Power

Divination Expert
Any "Divination" spell you cast has +2 Power. One "Divination Expert" in the game is actually a fraud; they know the theory well enough to use the standard powers, but any attempt they make to use the "Visions" power returns accurate results for a randomly determined target rather than the intended target.

Herbology Expert
Any "Herbology" spell you cast has +1 Power. At the start of a new phase, you are informed of each player that entered the Greenhouses location during the previous phase.

Potions Expert
Any "Potions" spell you cast has +1 Power. At the start of a new phase, you are informed of each player that entered the Potions Closet location during the previous phase.

Transfiguration Expert
Any "Transfiguration" spell you cast has +1 Power

Spoiler: Locations

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Forbidden Forest
In this location, you can gather Acromantula Venom (two-time +1 Power to a Kill spell), gather various rare potion ingredients (two-time +1 Power to a Potion spell), drink Unicorn Blood (+8 Magic and no other effect), or just hide out (+3 Magic, and your vote doesn't count during the next meeting; multiple uses of this bonus in the same day phase extend the "no voting" duration an additional meeting).

Divination Tower
Entering this location requires two class periods worth of time...because you've gotta get sober before returning to the classroom/meeting. You partook in the diviner's pipe, and you opened up your mind to the cosmos, and something otherworldly moved in and started paying rent. Free use of the "Visions" power if you come here! 50/50 chance of using Visions power as if you were a fraud/legitimate seer.

Headmaster's Office
Entering this location requires two class periods worth of effort, but contained within...well, you're not sure, but there's probably tons of spellbooks and magic items and stuff like that. Surely you could knick something before whatever guard dogs are watching it come after you?

Herbology Greenhouses
Plants everywhere...and so many of them so valuable and useful! In this location, you can either gather exotic plants for Herbology (two-time +1 Power to a Herbology spell) or Potion (two-time +1 Power to a Potion spell) purposes.

Library
Visiting this location during the Day Phase is made publicly known during the meeting phase. That said, a professor can check out three books for a day, which is pretty cool if you're willing to let everyone know (although you have to return the books the next day and re-check them out to continue gaining the benefits). If you instead visit during the night, you can permanently gain two spellbooks, although at the start of the Day Phase, it's publicly announced how many books have been stolen from the library that night (though not who stole them).

Offices
Each player has a personal office, where half of their current spellbooks are stored. Visiting someone's office allows you to steal a spellbook from them. The player whose office is visited is informed of how many people visited their office, but not their identities; this information is not made public, although it can be announced by anyone if they wish.

Potions Closet
This location contains all the best potion ingredients. Visiting this location gives you two rare potions ingredients (each of which is a two-time use +1 Power to a Potion spell).

Room Of Hidden Things
Students up to no good have been hiding crap here for centuries, who knows what kind of cool stuff you could find? I will roll (IRL, so completely private) on a list of 100 items I came up with for this location (the room regenerates this item when it's taken, so tons of visits won't rid the room of items). These wonderful items could do anything from make you immortal to instantly kill you! Come on, take a chance!

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There are at least two secret locations, with many possibilities for additional secret locations. To locate a secret location, a player must inform me what location from the setting they wish to look for, and how many class periods they'll devote to searching for it, and I'll tell them if the time they spent was sufficient to locate the area they were looking for, and what effects that location can have on them for visiting.

Spoiler: Spell List

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Name	Specialty/Type	Min/Max Power	Description
Avada Kadavra	Dark Arts/Kill	4/5	Choose one player; their Magic is reduced by twice this spell's power. If this would reduce the target's Magic to zero or lower, they are dead.
Avis Charm	Transfiguration/Kill	1/5	Choose one player; their Magic is reduced by this spell's power. If this would reduce the target's Magic to zero or lower, they are dead.
Confundus Charm	Charm/Void	1/5	Choose one player; any powers they use after this power affects them are unsuccessful. They are not informed of this power failure.
Create Cover	Transfiguration/Bane	4/5	Choose two players; their Magic is increased by twice this spell's power. Non-Kill Powers that target them later in the same night are unsuccessful.
Crucio	Dark Arts/Void	1/5	Choose one player; any powers they use after this power affects them are unsuccessful. Their Magic is reduced by 1. They are informed of this power failure.
Devil's Snare	Herbology/Void	1/5	Choose one player; any powers they use after this power affects them are unsuccessful. Their votes in tomorrow's meeting are not counted. They are informed of this power failure.
Draught Of Living Death	Potions/Kill	1/5	Choose one player; their Magic is reduced by this spell's power. If this would reduce the target's Magic to zero or lower, they are dead.
Felix Felicis	Potions/Bane	5/5	Choose one player; their Magic is increased by this spell's power every night for the next three nights. Non-Kill Powers that target them while this spell affects them are unsuccessful.
Herbalism	Herbology/Bane	1/5	Choose one player; their Magic is increased by this spell's power. Non-Kill Powers that target them later in the same night are unsuccessful.
Imperio	Charm/Void	4/5	Choose one player; any powers they use after this power affects them are unsuccessful. Their votes in tomorrow's meeting count for your vote instead. They are informed of this power failure.
Kidnapped	CoMC/Void	4/5	Choose one player; any powers they use after this power affects them are unsuccessful. Their votes in tomorrow's meeting are not counted.
Mandrake Trap	Herbology/Kill	4/5	Choose two players; their Magic is reduced by this spell's power. If this would reduce a target's Magic to zero or lower, that target is dead.
Monster	CoMC/Kill	1/5	Choose one player; their Magic is reduced by this spell's power. If this would reduce the target's Magic to zero or lower, they is dead.
Obliviate	Charm/Switch	1/5	Choose two players; any powers after this one that target one instead targets the other.
Palm Reading	Divination/Scry	1/5	Choose one player; both you and they learn the last (twice spell power) powers that targeted the target in the last two nights, and the name of who used that power. The target knows that you used this power on them, as well.
Polyjuice Potion	Potions/Switch	1/5	Choose two players; any powers after this one that target one instead targets the other.
Recording Rune	Ancient Runes/Scry	1/5	Choose a number of locations equal to this spell's power; you learn who has entered these locations within the past two day/night cycles, what phase they entered that location during, and one random specialty they possess.
Reducto	Dark Arts/Kill	1/5	Choose one player; their Magic is reduced by this spell's power. If this would reduce the target's Magic to zero or lower, they are dead.
Rune Trap	Ancient Runes/Kill	1/5	Choose one player; their Magic is reduced by this spell's power. If this would reduce the target's Magic to zero or lower, they are dead.
Seal Of Protection	Ancient Runes/Bane	4/5	Choose one player; their Magic is increase by twice this spell's power. Non-Kill Powers that target them later the same night or the next night are unsuccessful.
Switching Spell	Transmutation/Switch	1/5	Choose two players; any powers after this one that target one instead targets the other.
Tea Leaves	Divination/Scry	1/5	Choose one player; you learn a number of the following things equal to this spell's power: the number of spellbooks they possess, one randomly determined specialty (no repeats), what powers they used last night, what their current Magic is.
Visions	Divination/Scry	5/5	Choose one player; you learn their current Magic, what powers they used last night, what powers targeted them last night, the number of spellbooks they possess, every specialty they possess, and every location they visited during the last day/night cycle.
Watchful Eyes	CoMC/Scry	1/5	Choose a number of players equal to this spell's power; you learn every location they visited during the last day/night cycle and how many spellbooks they possess.

Spoiler: Player List

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Player	Status
Anonymouswizard	Blown to pieces by Tanar's Contingency
Black Socks	Overdosed from spray paint fumes
Disc Lorde	Beaten in contingency chess by Narrator
Duck999	Computer got hacked...into pieces
Duneyrr	Crushed by slam poetry
Eggel	Served over hard
Elenna	Stabbed by Xihirli
Eternis	Trapped in amber forevermore
flatfooted	Ganked by a passing rogue
Fleeing Coward	Eaten by a basilisk
Garraban	Crushed by falling adventurers
Generic-Guy	Claimed by WearingARedShirt disease
GrayDeath	Hung for refusal to pay bad joke tax
igordragonian	Dropped out due to insufficient pony quantities
ImperatorV	Soul Splice gone wrong
Kish	Kishkabobbed
Lex-Kat	Cancelled due to scheduling error
Murska	Lynched before the game even started
Orbital Panic	Crushed by falling meteorite
Qwanch	Signed up for too many games
Ramsus	Crushed by rejected homebrew
Sniccups	Trusted the wrong person, got backstabbed
Strigon	Got Vamped...and then ran into Buffy
Tanar Aerdoth	Killed via...well, a wizard did it
TBFProgrammer	Overcharged a spell and exploded
Thematthew	Autolynched for being too quiet
ThePhantom	Dead man walking
Tom The Mime	Taken out by a silent-but-deadly sniper
Xihirli	Stabbed by Orbital Panic

[Xihirli]

ME! I want to be in! I will win!

[Duck999]

In!!!!!!!!

[Generic-Guy]

I am IN.

...
Also, i am now going to read the mechanics...
"This is going to be so much fun!"

[ThePhantom]

Well now, this looks fun. No way for someone to get a win by zapping everyone when they said they wouldn't.

I'm in.

[Black Socks]

In.

"Avada Kedavra, what a wonderful phrase...."

[OrbitalPanic]

I would like to be in. Looks like a fun game to be my first.

[AvatarVecna]

OP has been updated with both a player list and some slight changes to some of the locations. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[Murska]

I'll join. Maybe even read the rules at some point.

[Ramsus]

I'm in.

How are lynch ties resolved?

Do dead Voldemorts win if the current one does?

Can dead Voldemorts talk in the Voldemort QT?

Man that's a lot of kill spells. And not a lot of ??? spells.

[Tris]

I'd like to be in.

[AvatarVecna]

How are lynch ties resolved?

A wizard's duel. The loser of a tie is whoever has the least Magic. If everyone in the tie has equal Magic, everyone in the tie dies.

Do dead Voldemorts win if the current one does?

Yes, Voldemort wins if Voldemort wins. Which Voldemort wins is irrelevant.

Can dead Voldemorts talk in the Voldemort QT?

I was gonna immediately say no, but that sounds hilarious. I'm at least considering it at this point.

Man that's a lot of kill spells. And not a lot of ??? spells.

Indeed it is. Banes are generally more powerful than kills (in that they usually give twice their level in protection, or more if they're a top-tier bane), but this game could very well be basically over after night 1, since a lot of these kill spells are weak enough that anyone can use them.

Also, not sure what you mean by ??? spells.

[Ramsus]

Dead Voldemorts talking to each other would certainly be more fun.

By ??? I meant spells that we don't know the exact mechanical effects for.

[AvatarVecna]

Dead Voldemorts talking to each other would certainly be more fun.

By ??? I meant spells that we don't know the exact mechanical effects for.

Particularly if it's all in-character.

Yeah, all the spells are currently mechanically defined, so I guess you're right; there's not a lot of those undefined spells at all. Unless I'm missing something?

[Thematthew]

Absolutely interested.

[Generic-Guy]

Particularly if it's all in-character.

"Can any of me remember how many horkrux are left?"

[AvatarVecna]

"Can any of me remember how many horkrux are left?"

I will be particularly pleased if the person who murders Voldemort ends up being the new one.

"New host! You killed me!"

"It was an accident, milord!"

"You used the Killing Curse!"

"Well the murder part wasn't an accident, but I didn't know it was you!"

*This joke partially stolen from Seventh Horcrux, a wonderful Voldemort-protagonist fanfic

[igordragonian]

May I join in?

I was almost opening such game, at my homeland's forums!

[Kish]

I'm interested in this.

Also, I do note that the Elder Wand item is an ??? currently.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm interested in this.

Also, I do note that the Elder Wand item is an ??? currently.

Ah. In the sense that it's not publicly stated, yes. It has a stat already assigned, though.

[flatfooted]

My Invisibility Cloak has been saved for just such an occasion!

[Elenna]

In!

[Sniccups]

Oh, a new game! I'll play!

[Strigon]

This. Looks. Fantastic.

In, just in case it wasn't clear.

[AvatarVecna]

There are two major elements to Voldemort's abilities that I forgot to include in the initial write-up despite intending to include them, but they are there now. To summarize, Voldemort starts out knowing one specialty of each player, including the Order Members (although he's not told who the Order Members are, and he does not learn both specialties of the standard Death Eaters); additionally, Voldemort starts out knowing the identities of the Inner Circle Members.

[Eggel]

This looks fun.

In.

[ImperatorV]

Oh yes. Those mechanics... Yes. In.

[Duneyrr]

I'd like to be in, please!

[Lex-Kat]

I'll join to give a nice 20 players.

[Tom the Mime]

Been away from ww for a while but I'll give it a go.