Work continues ever more on Grimoire Hart Academy, my university-based fantasy RPG campaign. Recently, I've been playing around with what sorts of things students are bound to get up to in their off-time, which they will likely have a significant amount of.
To some extent, I'm happy to let students wander around the campus, take trips into town, or go on outings into the wider world. However, there also exists some need to keep people close to home as well, so that things don't go too far off the rails and players don't (intentionally or inadvertently) get their characters wrapped up in affairs that threaten their studies.
Or rather, I don't want to have to straight-up tell players that. So the best way (I think) to fill people's time is to give them an overwhelming amount of things to do or become involved in, closer to where I want them. In any other adventure-style game, a DM could do that with a simple quest board or a significant overload of NPCs pleading for help.
But this is academia, and what better way to make a student around than with extracirricular activities?
First, there are the clubs. If you're into anime at all, then the concept of after-school clubs might be familiar. Growing up in the US, my school didn't have things like this, but I think I certainly would've been interested in them!
Each club touches on a media that is either beyond what the school curriculum covers, or a more focused topic within a broader discipline. I tried to pick things that I would be interested in role-playing first, and as a lover of shows like Laid-Back Camp and similar cozy titles, I think the influence is obvious.
Student organizations and 'sports', on the other hand, were something I was a little more exposed to. Drama club, in particular, played some part in shaping me post-high school, and there was the ever-looming presence of sports, which I never found myself interested in.
To that end, I didn't really want this game to have direct rip-offs of popular competitive sports, but rather something that was more suited to a school that teaches dungeoncraft. Thus, the Mythic Raiders were born, and alongside that, the Mystic Masquerade took the place of the drama, band, and similar 'arts' clubs.
And of course, what academy is complete without a student council to loom over everything and meddle in the affairs of the average student?
All things considered, I think it came out well! What do you think? Would you be a part of any of these extracurricular groups? Or if you could start your own after-school club in a fantasy university, what would it be?
