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There's really not. A bunch of people thought the same thing about Middle-Earth, and how very much Tolkien scribbled about it, with fill-ins in the appendices. And Iron Crown wound up writing thousands of pages of setting material in consequence. (Being one of those writers, I'll be happy to expound on that until your ears bleed.)

But sure, let's take on your presumption, and make the rather amusing assumption on top of it that you can keep a gaming group satisfied with NOTHING beyond the walls of Hogwarts for anything beyond a strictly railroaded one-off. The players are likely going to want:

* A complete list of what courses are taught;
* A complete map of the grounds;
* A complete list of professors;
* A good many more NPCs named and statted out;
* The magic system defined, in detail;
* A notion as to how many students are actually enrolled ...

How long are class periods? What kinds of magical herbs/potions/materials are there, in what quantities, and what do they do? What are the layouts of each House? What are the exact stats of Veritaserum -- duration, resistability, color, scent? How many unused classrooms are there? (And come to that, doesn't that suggest that Hogwarts used to have a lot more students, and therefore in consequence, a fair bit of empty dorm space?)

And good grief, how much precisely is in the Room of Lost Things?

Rowling didn't set out to write any of this. And in sober truth, she wasn't out in the first place to write a world that could resist deconstruction from hundreds of thousands of fanon-hungry fanfic writers or gamers. She was out to write an entertaining series of children's books.

IDK, man. WEG Star Wars was one of the most well regarded RPGs ever—not just licensed, but RPGs in general—and it didn't include half the level of setting details you seem to be expecting here. Most of it was stats for different types of creatures, weapons, vehicles, etc. But when it came to describing actual planets and such, it just included a handful of them, with just a couple of paragraphs each as "sample" planets and most of the info was guidelines on how to come up with your own planets. The bulk of the game was game rules, and they didn't even include details on what kind of materials you need to construct your own lightsaber.

So is there a possibility that some people would bitch that you didn't include the recipe for how to brew Veritaserum? Sure. Gamers are a whiny lot. But how many games include that level of detail anyways?

Some of the stuff you mentioned here seemed pretty doable, though. The biggest obstacle would be getting the OK from Rowling, which I didn't even dispute was an issue in my post. But you could add a bunch of teachers from the books, plus maybe make up a couple of new ones, along with guidelines for how to come up with more teachers, given that they tend to change a lot and some of them die.

A map of the grounds seems doable, given that people have done similar stuff for other games. And there's been HP video games, so people could use those as a starting point to get a general idea of the layout. Again, getting the OK from Rowling might be an issue, but in terms of actually drawing up a map it could be done. Same for the school interior, though, that would obviously be a lot of work. But people have done mega dungeons, so a map of Hogwarts shouldn't be an unsurmountable task. But you could also include guidelines for GMs coming up with their own secret rooms and such, given that characters in the books would sometimes find hidden areas, so there's precedent for unknown sections in the books.
 
I want an RPG based on the 1987 CBS Beauty & the Beast TV show. Not for any belief that it would be particularly gameable. It's just because I'd want to see it be a real thing.

Gah. Can you imagine what it would have been like had it been licensed back then? The good scenario would have had it be picked up by WEG which might have made something d6ish out of it, but just as readily might have Torg/MasterBooked it. The other option would have been Leading Edge Games doing it and giving it Phoenix Command rules.

Nowadays, if someone was insane enough to license it, they'd probably skew it to something narrative.

No matter what, I bet a standard game session would end up being like that one episode where Vincent fights ninjas.
 
I want an RPG based on the 1987 CBS Beauty & the Beast TV show. Not for any belief that it would be particularly gameable. It's just because I'd want to see it be a real thing.
Rolemaster Standard System Black Ops.

Oh well, anyhow, I swear there was a board game or something. Would it be like Herman's Head with each PC playing part of Vincent's personality? Or maybe you play the forces arrayed against them? Do you lose if they kiss?

I'm afraid it was on TV in a time where I had ten siblings to contend with for TV time so I only saw a bit of it and never really knew what was going on.
 
I want an RPG based on the 1987 CBS Beauty & the Beast TV show. Not for any belief that it would be particularly gameable. It's just because I'd want to see it be a real thing.

Gah. Can you imagine what it would have been like had it been licensed back then? The good scenario would have had it be picked up by WEG which might have made something d6ish out of it, but just as readily might have Torg/MasterBooked it. The other option would have been Leading Edge Games doing it and giving it Phoenix Command rules.
I'd pick Smallville.

But really you're talking about a furry RPG.
 
Isn't a lot of the basic premise of Hogwarts minus the magic, basically just life in an English boarding school? Probably any boarding school really, with just a change of accent, add some magic and Dead Poets Society could be "Not Harry Potter".
Yeah, it's pretty much standard Enid Blyton without the magic.
 
IDK, man. WEG Star Wars was one of the most well regarded RPGs ever—not just licensed, but RPGs in general—and it didn't include half the level of setting details you seem to be expecting here. Most of it was stats for different types of creatures, weapons, vehicles, etc. But when it came to describing actual planets and such, it just included a handful of them, with just a couple of paragraphs each as "sample" planets and most of the info was guidelines on how to come up with your own planets. The bulk of the game was game rules, and they didn't even include details on what kind of materials you need to construct your own lightsaber.

So is there a possibility that some people would bitch that you didn't include the recipe for how to brew Veritaserum? Sure. Gamers are a whiny lot. But how many games include that level of detail anyways?

Some of the stuff you mentioned here seemed pretty doable, though. The biggest obstacle would be getting the OK from Rowling, which I didn't even dispute was an issue in my post. But you could add a bunch of teachers from the books, plus maybe make up a couple of new ones, along with guidelines for how to come up with more teachers, given that they tend to change a lot and some of them die.

A map of the grounds seems doable, given that people have done similar stuff for other games. And there's been HP video games, so people could use those as a starting point to get a general idea of the layout. Again, getting the OK from Rowling might be an issue, but in terms of actually drawing up a map it could be done. Same for the school interior, though, that would obviously be a lot of work. But people have done mega dungeons, so a map of Hogwarts shouldn't be an unsurmountable task. But you could also include guidelines for GMs coming up with their own secret rooms and such, given that characters in the books would sometimes find hidden areas, so there's precedent for unknown sections in the books.

The recent Alien game from Free League shows how well a variety of media can be harvested for material. When it was announced many doubted they could put together a very detailed universe based on a few movies, but they pulled a lot from novelizations, technical guides, video games etc.

HP has 7 books / 8 films to draw on, a sequel (or is it a prequel) series of Fantastic Beasts films, theme park attractions, further elaborations of the HP-verse from the author in interviews, and a plethora of video games, so much more material than Free League had to work with.

Another advantage the basic premise that something like HP offers, is there is plenty just on the basics of Hogwarts and being a student of wizardry to fill a core book. Expansions can be used to cover (and sell books) on broader subjects, secret locations within the school, the expanded grounds around the school (the students seemed to be limited to a rather small part of the grounds), the muggle world, etc. Additional rules for running the various games / tournaments, how to guides on creating new teachers / threats, running PCs as staff instead of students.

It could easily be a very lucrative splat book rich game license.

Other than the threat of lawsuit (I suspect Rowling / WB are probably quick with the high priced lawyers for any perceived horning in on their golden goose) it could be a very lucrative and splat book rich, "not" license as well.
 
So is there a possibility that some people would bitch that you didn't include the recipe for how to brew Veritaserum? Sure. Gamers are a whiny lot. But how many games include that level of detail anyways?

Quite a few of them. I shouldn't need to run down the list of settings like MERP's, like Harnworld, like Pathfinder's, like Forgotten Realms, with the aforementioned hundreds of pages of setting detail. I appreciate that you might not want or need that much detail, but I'd hope that you'd recognize that many gamers do, and that game companies wouldn't keep providing it to them if they didn't.
 
Quite a few of them. I shouldn't need to run down the list of settings like MERP's, like Harnworld, like Pathfinder's, like Forgotten Realms, with the aforementioned hundreds of pages of setting detail. I appreciate that you might not want or need that much detail, but I'd hope that you'd recognize that many gamers do, and that game companies wouldn't keep providing it to them if they didn't.

But these fine details are great fodder for splat books, they don't have to be in the core. Splat books are great because companies can prioritize based on interest.
 
Quite a few of them. I shouldn't need to run down the list of settings like MERP's, like Harnworld, like Pathfinder's, like Forgotten Realms, with the aforementioned hundreds of pages of setting detail. I appreciate that you might not want or need that much detail, but I'd hope that you'd recognize that many gamers do, and that game companies wouldn't keep providing it to them if they didn't.

Most games don't, specially not in core books. Splat books, like Toadmaster Toadmaster mentioned? Maybe. But most games don't include that level of detail unless they're specifically setting books, or sourcebooks expanding on setting material. And even when its included, or if some people like that level of detail, they're mostly nice-to-have features, not stuff that's required to make a useable game product. And to the degree that having fine details would help, the HP books do include a lot of stuff in them that you could pick for ideas, and other resources you could use, like video games and such that include additional stuff.
 
Yeah, it's pretty much standard Enid Blyton without the magic.
Wasn't there an RPG that does Enid Blyton and similar stuff? I believe it was from Simon Washbourne/Beyond Belief Games... Ah yes, Lashings of Ginger Beer.

 
Wasn't there an RPG that does Enid Blyton and similar stuff? I believe it was from Simon Washbourne/Beyond Belief Games... Ah yes, Lashings of Ginger Beer.
It was pretty good from what I remember, although most players I know are way too cynical to play it as straight as the game does.
 
Yeah, that story came 20 years later. This was Bucky back then:

View attachment 44943

An embarrassing reminder of the sidekick trend of the Golden Age started by Robin The Boy Wonder
I hadn't looked at this thread for a bit, and came back to be confronted by this. I don't know whether it just show my lack of knowledge (I've only seen traditional long johns in movies) but my thinking went along the following lines.

OK so we're back to 'superheroes' wearing their underpants outside their trousers......

Hang on, his top is the same colour as his underpants, are they one piece of clothing?

If so, does that mean that he's wearing long johns?

But I've never seen long johns with no legs. Maybe he's wearing red stockings....

No, no they must be long johns........

But didn't long johns have a button fly?

The only buttons seem to be laid out on his chest. Is that where his fly is?

.....

.....

Just how well endowed is he? Now I know why they called him the Boy Wonder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Edited to be as polite as possible, I didn't use such polite phrasing in my thinking)
 
Still better than Hyperion's mega-diaper look.

iu
 
I hadn't looked at this thread for a bit, and came back to be confronted by this. I don't know whether it just show my lack of knowledge (I've only seen traditional long johns in movies) but my thinking went along the following lines.

OK so we're back to 'superheroes' wearing their underpants outside their trousers......

Hang on, his top is the same colour as his underpants, are they one piece of clothing?

If so, does that mean that he's wearing long johns?

But I've never seen long johns with no legs. Maybe he's wearing red stockings....

No, no they must be long johns........

But didn't long johns have a button fly?

The only buttons seem to be laid out on his chest. Is that where his fly is?

.....

.....

Just how well endowed is he? Now I know why they called him the Boy Wonder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Edited to be as polite as possible, I didn't use such polite phrasing in my thinking)

Onesie, they are not just for babies anymore :grin:

1652471783843.png

1652471828362.png
 
And it's not the worst Hyperion costume. In his original appearance featured giant diaper and naked legs.

Avengers%25281000%2529_069_22.jpg

I forgot to mention, diaper-clad Hyperion's teammate, The Whizzer.

All that said, Avengers #70 was a fun story, and generally any story with the Squadron Sinister/Supreme always felt a little special. A Whizzer, other than temporarily singled out as the father of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksliver, he wisely chose to change his name to Speed Demon and in more recent times make an appearance on the Netflix Jessica Jones.

Meanwhile Hyperion finally got grown up pants, but nothing could fix his personality.
 
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