student of small magic

Student of Small Magic is a single-player pen-and-paper RPG that I am in the process of developing. In a world where only a select few have the ability to use Great Magic, you play as a student of every-day spellcasting known as Small Magic. Tasked by one of your professors with delivering a mysterious letter to a childhood friend, the player will use the friends you meet and the magic you learn along the way to figure out the reason behind his sudden disappearance.

Below is an excerpt from the longer game.

Week One: Word

​

Monday

​

You sit on the train, excitement building inside of you. You haven’t been to the city yet, despite going to school just a train-ride away. Looking out the window, you see it just come into view as the train rounds a bend. Still distant, but growing closer every moment. The letter you are to deliver rests on your lap, Nicolas Delaney written in looping handwriting across its face. You turn the letter over and run your fingers over the wax seal that keeps the secrets of the message hidden safely inside its thick envelope. You had watched as Professor Linden heated the wax over a candle, dripped it onto the paper, and pressed in the seal of Highwood College of Greater and Small Magic, all the while explaining to you that it was very important that you gave it to Nic directly. 

          Linden: Every letter we’ve sent there so far has been returned unopened. I thought perhaps if a familiar face delivers it, it will be received differently. 

          PC: How did you know I knew Nic?

He continued to work as he spoke to you, pulling the stamp away from the wax seal and blowing on it a bit to dry the wax. He then waved his hands over the letter, his fingers tracing intricate patterns of light in the air. They floated there for a moment after he lowered his hands, and then they slowly drifted down to the envelope in a glittering cascade before disappearing into the material.

          Linden: There’s a lot of information floating around down in the library archives. You just need to know where to look.

He picked the letter up from the desk and held it out to you.

          Linden: It is imperative that he receives this before the beginning of the next semester. Give it to him and only him, understood?

You nodded silently as you took the envelope and tucked it safely between the pages of one of the books in your bag.

Now, sitting in a mostly vacant train car, you place the letter on the small table in front of you, and then pull out your bag from beneath your seat and fish out a few more items: a key, a photo, and a notebook.

As a student of Small Magic, you don’t go anywhere without a notebook. You were surprised on your first day of class when Professor Linden told everyone that a notebook is the most powerful tool in a Small Mage’s arsenal, but he was right. You’d filled two in the last semester alone.

The key is for a small apartment that the school has provided for you for the summer. You don’t know much about the place, but you do know it is located downtown, right in the heart of the city. The key looks old and beautiful in its simplicity. 

And finally, the photo. It shows two smiling children, both half-covered in mud, their arms thrown around each other’s shoulders. You are laughing on the left side of the image, your eyes closed and your smile wild and free. Nic is on the right hand side, looking at you and proud about whatever he just said that cracked you up. You both couldn’t be more than eight or nine years old. It’s the only picture of Nic you have.

You flip open your notebook to the first blank page, feeling nostalgic for that time, and perhaps just a little homesick. You consider writing a letter home. 

Write a letter home to your family, whoever you consider that to be. You can talk about the end of the semester and about the task ahead of you. Are you nervous to see Nic again after so long? Excited? You can touch on all, some, or none of these topics. Try to keep it to one page long at most if you can. 

At the end of the letter, draw a small symbol or shape that represents whoever you are writing to. This is a spell of sending. Your letter will soon appear just as you wrote it in the notebook or on the desk of the person/people it is intended for.

The sun sets as you write and the train completes the last bit of its journey. After a long day of travel, you decide to head straight to the address of the apartment that was given to you, get some rest, and leave exploring the city for tomorrow.

You head down a street lined with shops and restaurants—all bustling with activity—and find your destination at the dark windows of a cozy-looking coffee shop. Even in the dim evening light, you can see the colorfully hand-painted sign over the entrance: “Carmella’s Brew.” There’s a piece of paper taped to the front door with your name written at the top.

“The stairs up to your housing are inside. Make sure to lock up! Can’t wait to meet you in person tomorrow. –Laurel and Ash”

Your key works on the front door, and the stairs up to your home for the summer—blocked off from the public simply by a rope and a sign that reads Employees Only!—are easy to find. The space upstairs is small, but there’s a bed, a small kitchen, a desk, and a chair set up by the window that’s the perfect spot to read. What more could you need?

You dump most of your things near the door and head straight for the bed. On the bedside table, you place the letter, the key, the photo, and your journal.  Exhaustion finally overtaking you, you fall asleep as soon as you hit the mattress.