Hogwarts School: A Harry Potter RPG

Miss Medici,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School has been accepted. Term begins 01 January 2015. Currently, students have gathered for Summer at Camp Loki. Your admission is joint for both the school and Camp Loki, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the School.

Mr Razi,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School has been accepted. Term begins 01 January 2015. Currently, students have gathered for Summer at Camp Loki. Your admission is joint for both the school and Camp Loki, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the School.

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Gérard Monceaux
Gender: Male
Age: 48

Education: 
Beauxbatons (Humanities - Philosophy), class of 1912

Residence:
Residential Wizarding London

Occupation
Department of Magical Accidents & Catastrophes (Obliviator)

Do you plan to have a connection to a particular existing place (for example: the Ministry, Shrieking Shack) or to take over an existing shop in need of new management?
Ministry of Magic

Requested Magic Levels:

• Charms: 11
• Divination: 9
• Transfiguration: 10
• Summoning: 12

(Levels = admin approved!)

Do you wish to be approved as a group with any other characters? If so who and for what IC reason?
Nope, I'm good.

Please list any other characters you already have at the site:
IzVal, Leon "I'm Smarter Than You Monceaux", Daphne B, Horace "Crankypants" Stufflebeam, Dorian "Big D" James, Ophelie "How Shady Can I Get" Lecuyier, and Joséphine "I Should Have Been Retired Two Years Ago" Delaveau. Oh, and Poppy.

Biography: (300 words minimum.)
"It is an opportunity, Gérard," said the woman across from him. "A little unorthodox, perhaps, but it is an unparalleled opportunity."

She was right, of course. It was truly the opening of a door, but somehow the premise felt wrong. Gérard Monceaux was not necessarily above wrong (although he preferred to refer to it as a circumvention of the system), but he would need to be convinced. The proposition was not what he had expected.

"I think," he replied slowly, as he swirled the brandy snifter in his left hand, "that what I struggling with is...'ow you say?" Gérard had been a resident of Wizarding London for the last fifteen years, at least, maybe more, but his French accent was deeply ingrained. It took him a moment to search for the word.

"Logistics." He smiled slightly, having chosen correctly, and sipped his brandy.

The woman nodded and drummed her nails on the arm of the chair in which she was sitting, right leg crossed over left. "Yes. I cannot pretend it won't be tricky, Gérard. Merely acquiring the...materials in sufficient quantity presents a substantial challenge in and of itself."

Gérard pursed his lips. Of course. He had been in business long enough to know that, in negotiations, the word challenge often equated to financials. He waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, of course, you will be compensated 'andsomely."

The woman leaned forward and smirked. "I expect so," she replied. "But money is not the only challenge. In fact, it is the least worrisome of our problems, as it is the easiest to fix."

There was something about her that made Gérard uneasy, but he couldn't put his finger on what, exactly, or why. Perhaps that was what unsettled him. He was not used to taking direction from a woman - let alone a woman about twenty years his junior. A long pause lapsed as he studied her. Finally, he asked, "What is it you need?"

The woman blinked, then held his eyes. "Complete control."

Gérard's head spun, and he fought hard to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head. "Absolutely not!" he growled. As he responded, his body lurched forward slightly and his brandy sloshed in its glass. He would not be dictated to by this woman, or by any woman.

"Careful, Gérard," the woman cooed. She had not moved from her spot, and her right leg bobbed up and down as though she were idly killing time in a waiting room. "Think very carefully before you respond. Consider all of the doors that will open to you. Consider all of the respect that you will garner. Think, most of all, of the minimal effort required on your part."

He sat back, nostrils still flaring. Once again, she was right. It was simple. He merely had to let go. For a long, interminable time - it could have been minutes, or hours, though probably not days - Gérard sat in his chair and considered both the woman and the offer.

Finally, he sighed.

"Agreed."

Roleplay: 
You come across one of these posts on the site. Please select one & reply as your character:

Option Two -
The snow had been falling steadily all morning and it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon. Joshua Campbell scrunched his face up in a frown as he lifted his gaze to look to the sky. Snow. It really was quite a bother.

And it certainly didn't make it better that Diagon Alley seemed to be getting more and more crowded. Joshua sighed and pointed his wand at the large box that was currently placed on the doorstep of his shop. He had to get going. He had an order to deliver.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The elderly man muttered and watched the box hover in the air for a moment. Honestly, did St. Mungo's really need that much tinsel? And with glitter of all things? He sighed again. If it hadn't been for the rather convincing stamp on the order, he would have been likely to believe it had been a prank by one of those orphaned rascals living up there. 

Oh well, there was no point in waiting. Joshua deftly stirred the box down the doorstep and out onto the street, carefully levitating it above the heads of the crowd.

"Coming through! Coming through!" His voice sounded over the chatter of the crowd. "Keep out! Move ahead! Go on!" This was going way too slow. People were in the way and walking like they had all day! He huffed. Luckily the road was down hill.

"Coming through! Coming th--- arrrgh!" Joshua let out a loud shout as his feet suddenly slipped in the snow and sent him, the box, and several long strands of tinsel tumbling into the person who had been walking in front of him.

"For Merlin's sake!" Joshua muttered angrily as he hurried to his feet again, red and gold tinsel now decorating his black coat. "I am so sorry! This blasted snow!" He looked apologetic at the person he had crashed into.

Roleplay Response:
Gérard had markedly little patience for holidays, on a personal level. It didn't seem practical to celebrate them, although Amie certainly liked to put on a party. The holiday season was really more her show; Gérard merely smiled and nodded and went along with the festivities because it was good diplomatically, and his colleagues did seem to enjoy a proper fête.

It was not, he supposed, as though they could not afford it.

That having been said, Gérard did not take his time as he walked toward his home, as so many of the others did. He did not stop to gawk at the decorations in the square, or to incline his head at the spectacle of the three in the center of the street. In fact, the throng of holiday merry-makers was one of the primary reasons that Gérard had no patience for holiday celebrations: they made it considerably more difficult for him to get where he was going.

"Coming through!"

Ah. A perfect example, he noted with some degree of amusement.

"Coming th--- arrrgh!"

The man - who was not, it appeared, an insipid tourist, but a courier of some sort - had gone arse over teakettle, as they say, and so had his package. Gérard groaned with the force of the impact, and found himself covered in black and red tinsel. Gingerly, he peeled a strand of the red off of his coat lapel.

"I am so sorry! This blasted snow!"

"Quite alright," Gérard replied, his tone cool and imbued with a congeniality he did not especially feel. "Though you might do well to find another way to carry your cargo, my good man."

OTHER
How did you find us? I live here. In the cupboard. Under the stairs.

Miss Chavalier,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School has been accepted. Term begins 01 September, 2014. Currently, students have gathered at Camp Loki. Your admission is joint for both the school and Camp Loki, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the School.

Hi Darasu, and welcome to HS.net! Your application looks like it's off to a really great start, but there are a couple of points I'd like to address before we can get you all accepted.

First, your RP response, while well-written and generally looks good, contains a bit of powerplaying. Powerplaying is when your character attempts to control the actions of another, or locks the other character(s) in a thread into a response. This line in your RP response:

By the time James had come to a full spin to face him, Darasu had already grabbed the robes of the boy with his left hand, and pushed him back against a wall with enough strength to make a point, but not to hurt him.

Would lock James into responding as though he had been shoved, which may or may not be okay with James' writer. To avoid powerplaying, you could either remove the reference entirely, or say something like:

Darasu attempted to grab the robes of the boy with his left hand, and tried to push him him back against a wall with enough strength to make a point, but not to hurt him.

The slight change in language gives James' player an out to avoid the action if s/he so chooses. If you could please edit your RP response to remove the powerplaying and post the revision, we'd be happy to take another look.

And finally, the last thing is a minor thing - your user name should be your character's first and last name. We're happy to change this for you; please just submit a helpdesk ticket and we'll get you all set.

Thanks! Please let one of us know if you have any questions.

- Izzy

Hi Eyan, and welcome to HS.net! Your application looks like it's off to a good start, but there are a couple of things I'd like to address before we get you all accepted.

Your RP sample is a bit short, and isn't in response to either of the samples on the application. Rather than make up your own sample, we ask that pick either option 1 or option 2, and treat it like a post in an open thread that you might join on the boards - how would your character respond?

If you could fix your RP response to be in line with either of the options on the application, and repost it below, we'd be happy to take another look.

Thanks!

Ooh Squibs! I love Squibs.

1. Squibs are absolutely playable characters on the board. We have one or two (although I think they're largely inactive now) on the Elsewhere boards. Because Squibs have no magical ability - they're essentially Wizard-born muggles - they generally aren't admitted to Hogwarts, but the Squibs who have been created and played so far are still able to reside in the magical world, a la Argus Filch from canon.

2. In general, Squibs would be subject to the same laws and regulations and restrictions as Muggleborn wizards. That said, some establishments may be willing to employ them in roles that don't require much magic (such a receptionist or something), and they aren't exempt from treatment at Mungo's. However, as most careers in the Wizarding world require at least some magic to perform the required job functions, I expect it would be incredibly hard for a Squib to find employment.

That doesn't mean, of course, that a Squib couldn't employ himself in...whatever manner or legal or illegal means are available to him. (But you didn't hear that from me.

3. I think I've pretty much covered this above, but as Squibs have magical blood, they are able to view and interact with the magical world. Think again of Argus Filch or Arabella Figg from HP canon - Mrs. Figg, in particular, was quite helpful to Dumbledore. Their restrictions are mainly self-imposed, as they can't perform their own magic, and Squibs need to be transported through assisted means, like Side-Along Apparition.

We don't actually have an 'S' badge (although maybe we should!) because there is so little call for Squibs. Instead, we put it in your subbie - where students display their year and levels, Squibs just say 'Squib'.

Hope that was helpful! Please let me know if you have other questions, or if I missed anything.

Ms Lancaster,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School has been accepted. Term begins 01 September 2014. Currently, students have gathered for Summer at Camp Loki. Your admission is joint for both the school and Camp Loki, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the School.

Ms Luminous,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School has been accepted. Term begins 01 September 2014. Currently, students have gathered for Summer at Camp Loki. Your admission is joint for both the school and Camp Loki, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the School.

Hi Esther, and welcome to Hoggies! Your application looks like it's off to a good start. There's just a couple of quick things I'd like to address before we can get you accepted.

The first and most important thing is that your roleplay sample, while generally good, includes some mild powerplaying. Powerplaying is when you attempt to control another character's thoughts, speech, or actions within your post. Things like this:

She smiled once again at Astrid, whose quill was scratching her parchment.

and

Esther was surprised to see the look of shock on Astrid's face, obviously caught off-guard.

were never stated in the post/RP option that you replied to. By adding them to your reply, you're forcing Astrid into an action and an expression that maybe her writer wasn't intending to portray, and that's going to make it harder for her to respond. If you could edit your RP response to remove or reword the powerplaying, we'd be happy to take another look! If you have any questions about what powerplaying is and how to avoid it, please feel free to check our RP guidelines and/or PM a staff member. We're happy to help!

Thanks!

- Izzy