A Deadly Education

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+[za3k](/) > [games](/mygames.md) > deadly education rpg
+
+written 2021-02-12 by zachary "za3k" vance
+
+This a simple RPG system based on the magic system from "A Deadly Education" by Naomi Novik. You don't need to have read the book--in fact I picked it because it was a little vague and independent of the book.
+
+The only thing you need to know is that you're at a school to study magic. You have just arrived and have no idea what you expect. You want to learn magic and make it out alive. The school itself is magical and deadly, but it will try to help you learn new spells.
+
+## Character creation
+- Describe your character's physical appearance and personality in a paragraph or so.
+- Most importantly, each character has a magic specialty. Describe what their specialty is in 1-2 sentences. They will be very good at casting spells inside their specialty, and worse the further a spell is from their specialty.
+- Select six subjects. This is your daily class schedule. You are getting an A, A-, B, C, C, and F in them right now.
+- Determine your maliciousness. Pick a starting value between 0 (no malice) and +100 (lots of malice). This should roughly correspond to how nice or vicious your character is to fellow students. It's common to hide malice use. 
+- Every session you get heroic actions--any you have left at the end of the session are wasted, you never get more than 3. Heroic actions can be used to improve spells, skills, or in the GM's discretion anything else.
+
+## Subjects
+The subjects are: foreign language, wood shop, machining, alchemy, chemistry, artificing, biology, physics, english lit, health, and gym.
+
+The grades are: F, D-, D, D+, C-, C, C+, B-, B, B+, A-, A, A+(, S, SS, SSS).
+
+When you need to use a skill, there will be a set difficulty (ex, "You need an A in chemistry"). You can use a heroic action to do something that needs a letter grade up to two full grades higher than where you are.
+
+## Spells
+Each character has a number of *spells*. Your spell will have a set MP cost, and may have special conditions or a casting length. You can cast a spell whenever you like. 
+
+You can cast variations on a spell, or the same spell at higher or lower power levels, with the GM's approval. Major variations on a spell (like changing a fireball to an cold ball) require *study*. Using a heroic action, you can instantly gain a variation that would otherwise require *study*, even in the heat of combat.
+
+Whenever you cast a spell, you can spend malice, which is free, or mana, which you track on your character sheet. If you spend 50 malice on a spell, you gain 50 maliciousness on your character sheet, and something bad happens in the world.
+
+## Malice
+High maliciousness gives you random body mutations or mental effects. The GM determines what effects you suffer as your maliciousness increases.
+
+## Phases
+Gameplay operates in two phases: Study and Action. A study phase is always followed by an action phase. An action phase can be followed by a study phase or another action phase.
+
+### Study Phase
+During the study phase, you take three downtime actions. You can spend a heroic action to pull an all-nighter and take 2 additional actions.
+
+The available actions are:
+- Gain 10 mana
+- Improve any three skills by a third of a letter grade, or one skill by one letter grade. S is one letter grade above A+.
+- Get supplies. You describe what you want, but the GM determines what you get. You may get a choice.
+- Make a request of the void library for a new spellbook. You specify the subject of the book. The school will try to give you a book which matches both your specialty and the subject--word your request carefully to get what you want. You may only borrow one book at a time--returning one can be done at any time, for free. A spellbook has 1-3 spells--usually 3.
+- Copy a spell into your notes.
+- Invent a variation on an existing spell, or combine two existing spells. Talk to the GM.
+- Take one story or preparation action not listed above (limit 1 per study phase).
+
+### Action Phase
+
+During an action phase, the characters face a challenge. The challenge often relates to demons invading the school, but it could also be a final exam, a gang of upperclassmen bullying freshmen, or the school dance.
+
+The school is sentient, and it will sometimes offer you choices between goals you want to achieve, and things it can offer (like spells or equipment). If you help the school, it may reward you.
+
+## Years 
+At the end of a school year, if you have an F in any subject, you are expelled. All your grades drop one letter grade, representing the more difficult expectations you face. You may enroll in 0-2 new classes, dropping existing subjects. You have a C in the new subject, or your dropped grade, whichever is worse.
+
+The recommended pace is to play four study phases per year. After four years of study, the players graduate.

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 | game                                                                     | date       | type                 | complexity | players      | tested?  | recommended?  | description |
 |--------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|----------------------|------------|--------------|----------|---------------|-------------|
+| [deadly education rpg](/archive/deadly.md)                               | 2021-02-12 | roleplaying          | mid        | 2-6, plus GM | no       | no            | a traditional pen-and-paper roleplaying game based on the affinity-based magic system from Naomi Novik's "A Deadly Education"
 | [loot boxes](/archive/lootboxes.md)                                      | 2021-02-08 | storytelling         | low        | 2-4          | yes      | maybe         | "Car trip" game. Players have an inventory of random items. They must use the items to solve a series of challenges.
 | [no, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!](/archive/invincible.md) v2        | 2021-02-08 | storytelling         | mid        | 2-8          | no       | maybe         | Villains send wave after harder wave of enemies at the Heros, until they kill the Villains.
 | [ninjas ninjas ninjas!](/archive/ninjas.md) v2                           | 2021-02-07 | storytelling         | mid-high   | 3            | no       | no            | Fast, diceless storytelilng game about how cool ninjas are.