Goals:

• To restructure HP canon so that the horcruxes are found in the Marauders' era instead of trio's.


• Make finding and the destruction of the horcruxes more of a challenge than it was in canon.


• Create wizarding world cultures around the world based on the clues provided by Rowling in canon as well as myths, legends, and folklore from around the world.


• Get together a community of players who are friendly, active, fun to play with, and know their stuff.


• Encourage player activity by posting in depth posts for each location, prompts (that include recaps of what's just happened in game, interesting facts about the culture, and even major plot advancements) twice every week, and keeping a calendar so players who have fallen behind or are new to the game won't get left behind.


• Create an action-packed game with regards to canon that still has the lightheartedness that the books and movies do -- not crack game, but a game where players are allowed to have a sense of humor.


• Expand on the characters' choices (enabling them to potentially become very different people and perhaps even switch sides over the course of the game) by giving them choices and opportunities they never had in the books. This includes placing them among characters they usually don't interact with much and in locations they would usually never go.


• Give Death Eaters a vital role in the game instead of making them stand around looking fierce.

Resources plumbed in the course of research:

• A Wikipedia article about a famous natural wonder (among others) whose location is undisclosed for its protection.


• A lost city or three.


• A slightly terrifying account of a Hungarian noblewoman who liked to bathe in young women's blood.


• A video of Gordon Ramsay throwing up.


• Two medieval bestiaries.


• An article on the Candiru, sometimes called the 'penis fish'. (Truly not for the faint of heart.)


• Hay in Art: a collection of great works of hay.


• The travel channel, particularly Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations


• The winners of the 2007 World Beard and Moustache Championships, which we ultimately decided not to use, but which did lead to us finding the most awesome wallpaper ever.


• The homepage for Bush's Baked Beans. Looking back now, this one got seriously out of hand.


• (Warning: probably NSFW) These slippers. In this case, we have no excuse to offer.

Put it all together and you get an AU Harry Potter RPG set in 1979, with the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters racing each other all over the world to find the Horcruxes. No, honestly. You really do.