So You Wanna Play a Dark Wizard? by Danton Thirroul

If you would like to play a Dark Witch or Wizard, please mention it on your character sheet and notify Vikkie Vuckovic, our Dark Wizards/Creatures RPO.

Dark Wizards: A Clarification for All

Understand - this is the Harry Potter universe and very few if ANYONE really ‘gets’ Dark Wizards in this game universe. They are crucially important and pivotal characters, but so often done badly I have been forced to clarify some things. Sit down - have a read.

Dark Wizards are not evil. Please cease that idea at once. Tolkien gave us ‘evil’ creatures- Orcs and Half-orcs etc. But he also gave us shades and grades of evil- the Pride of Boromir, the wretchedness of Gollum. Rowling never goes that far - except with ONE bad guy (who I will talk about later). NONE of her characters are evil. They are FLAWED. They are BROKEN. They are pathetic. Each and everyone of them has a flaw. Its like studying the government of Nazi Germany and you wonder you really wonder how such a bunch of screw ups could have ever taken power. But they did. Same with Rowling's Dark Wizards- they are a mess.
Tom Riddle? A neurotic little bully with Daddy issues - fact!
Bellatrix? A spoilt little self-harmer with suicidal tendencies?
Malfoy? A weak willed snob, a man who bullies his own family?
C’mon! The whole lot of them are flawed and weak.

Dark magic is not based upon POWER but upon MALICIOUSNESS! What is it Bellatrix Lestrange said when Harry tried the Killing curse on her and it flopped? “You have to MEAN it”? Harry may be angry a lot - but he is just hormonal and angry. Death Eaters were bullies. Proof of this can be seen in the way they acted.

OK, lets get this right. We all know the Death Eaters were the meanest baddest Dark Wizards around who TWICE came within a hairs breath of taking out Britain! Lets get our facts right?

They formed in the 50’s and they waited TWENTY YEARS before striking the first time! They remained in hiding for MOST of the first War! In BOTH wars they operated by OUTNUMBERING their forces at least three to one! In both wars they ONLY acted openly when they were secure. In both wars they only WON things when they had the element of surprise or were helped by allies (Giants and Dementors). In both wars once the Dark Lord was taken out they folded like a pack of cards! In the previous war (a certain German Dark Lord) the same thing happened as well.

So, with this in mind allow me give you the reality for how Dark Wizards are to be played in the World of Hogwarts. You wish to play a “Dark Wizzad” who is causing mayhem, is becoming the new Dark Lord, is the ‘baddest mo fo’ of them all? You have a life expectancy of two weeks. Then you will do something stupid - then an Auror will jump on your head.
And then you will die.
Do not pass go!
Do not collect $200!
Do not play a Dark Wizard here again!
Thank you for trying!
NEXT!

I have NO time for that and NO sympathy whatsoever when the players complain that their character has been pwn’d like that! And their character WILL be pwn’d each and every time! This is the Ministry run by Shacklebolt - the Auror department that VERY soon Harry Potter will join and according to Rowling change the nature of the Wizarding world forever. In short - the Aurors beat Dark Wizards - unless seriously outnumbered - they win. Dark Wizards lose. The end.

How to survive? Avoid the Aurors! Yes this limits your options - and guess what? Yes they will be. There was more freedom for Dark Wizards - there isn’t as much now - and why? WAY TOO MANY MORONS IS WHY!!! I make NO apologies for having idiot characters killed and then have you suffer for their mistakes. Wanna sneak into the school and terrorise the kids…? Err - no. It has been done before. Badly. That will result in you dying. Wanna attack people as they…? Err, no. been done.

The Challenge

Here is your challenge as a Dark Wizard - make the other Dark Wizards accept you as the boss. Then when ALL the Dark Wizards accept you as boss you can come back to us with your plans. How do you get other Dark Wizards to follow you? NOT VIA MAGICS. Roleplay it out - make a deal, get chosen! Get elected! But Dark Wizards are not elected? Sometimes. Sometimes otherwise - pirate captains were elected so deal with that.

But think about this - Tom Riddle was naturally powerful yeah? We are NEVER gonna allow you to play Tom Riddle- a.k.a. a naturally more powerful Wizard. Why not?

Why you over someone else huh? We get character sheet submissions one on top of the other which state “am or will become the most powerful and greatest Dark Wizard ever born”. If we allowed every single one to be the “MOST powerful”, they would kill each other rather quickly or there would be so much destruction, chaos and mayhem that the school would have to shut down. It would be beyond confusing. Not everyone can come in with a character that is the most and the best at any and all things, the Dark Wizard cannot just work alone to take control. He needs followers and you have to roleplay to get those followers. It isn't automatic because it was put on your character sheet :)

Get it? Be smart, no not SMART by your standards, but SMART by MY standards. In a previous campaign, there was a new Dark Lord. They were behind 90% of the stuff that happened. Did you see them? Nope. Did you hear about them? Nope. But guess what? They rang RINGS around the characters, yeah? Totally made fools of everyone - they murdered, they intimidated, they terrified and they RULED from on high. And they did it ALL behind the scenes.

Dark Wizards are secretive - or they HAVE AN ARMY! Please note - they only go open when they have enough to take on EVERYONE (and when they do that - guess what? They get killed - look at the last two Dark Lords who went open).

So, if you are a Dark Wizard understand you are now hunted and wanted - you want to survive? Be smart, be clever and find a side to be part of. Playing hard, fast and violent gets your Dark Wizard pwn’d hard. That’s not smart. Pretending not to be a Dark Wizard gets you more time play and creates mystery and suspense. Attacking someone every single day is rushing it and not taking your time to develop a story.

Remember - in J. K. Rowling’s books the conflict is about big bad guys coming to try and take over. In THIS campaign - the struggle is between a society reforming itself. The good guys won, OK. The bad guys LOST. SO what we have now is a post-Bellum settlement between the participants of the winning side. Dark Wizards - you guys can find power by joining the existing sides in the ongoing conflict.

Don’t like this? Then sorry - either (a) do not play a Dark Wizard, or (b) change it. Change the society the Wizards live in. Make it darker, make it scarier, make it more conducive to the society you want. Maybe by forming a secret cabal, slowly placing spies in important positions, slowly building up influence and power, until the time you are able to reveal yourself...

You know.
Just like the last Dark Lord.

From Star Trek the Next Generation:
“A villain twirling his moustache will be spotted right away, but one cloaked in good is hard to spot.”

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