To Catch A Wizard - questexperiences.com Introduction Welcome Adventurer! This packet has everything...

2

To Catch A Wizard

An e-book/adventure hunt by Joe Dean Published 2009

Published by Joe Dean, 6724 Ravenna Court, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 Joe Dean. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without

the prior written permission of the author. Manufactured in the United States of America.

3

Table of Contents Introduction Page Part I – The Adventure 7 Part II – Setting Up The Adventure 9 Part III – Making It Even More Amazing 15

Sound Scenery Costumes Extra Characters PostShow

Part IV – Making Room For More Guests 21 Part V – Reproducibles 23

Character Bios Clues

4

Introduction Welcome Adventurer! This packet has everything you’ll need to set up a fun and exciting wizard themed party adventure. Your party guests will work together in teams to solve a mystery at The Wizard Academy. It seems that a spell book has been stolen from the Wizard Academy Library Archives and Professor Thundara (played by you, or whomever else will be facilitating the adventure), is wrongfully blamed for the theft. The teams must figure out which professor stole the book before the academy’s Grand Wizard fires the wrong one! If you are setting this up for younger guests, this adventure will also work equally great with a leader guiding them. Allow the children to make as many decisions as they can, reading all of the clues aloud to the group participating. It’s versatile, so have fun with it! Often times, these types of activities are very age specific. Great effort was taken to create an adventure that would appeal to children as well as adults. The key was to learn where to be specific and where to leave room for versatility within the design itself. The volunteers you choose to play the three wizards in the adventure will treat the participants age appropriately. Teens would have just as much fun, if not more, with only minor adjustments (largely in how the characters interact with them.) Everything else works with all ages! This packet is organized in such a way to make set up and facilitating as painless as possible.

5

Please note how this packet is organized:

Part I – The Adventure – Here you can read the story itself. This is what your adventurers will be experiencing as they progress through the adventure

Part II – Setting Up The Adventure – This is where you’ll find all

of the details to make the adventure happen. Part III – Making It Even More Amazing – For those who have

the inspiration and the energy, we’ve also provided some EXTRA ideas for making the adventure over the top! They aren’t required to make the adventure ‘work’, but they do add new levels of fun to really impress your guests!

Part IV – Making Room For More Guests – Have a lot of people

participating? With these added suggestions and guidelines, you shouldn’t have trouble facilitating this same adventure for larger groups.

Part V – Reproducibles – In this final section is where you’ll find

all of the clues, individual Character Bio Sheets and other things to print out for the adventure. None of the clues require the use of color ink, so if you only have access to a black and white printer, don’t be discouraged. Instead, you might consider reproducing them on parchment paper! It is highly advisable that you read the ENTIRE packet BEFORE you begin your planning. There are several options and alternatives that are at your disposal, so do some exploring before you begin deciding.

6

We sincerely hope that you have as much fun setting up the adventure as all your guests will having participating in the adventure! If you ever have any questions regarding the set-up or playing of To Catch a Wizard, feel free to email us at:

[email protected]

Have a great time planning the adventure! Joe Dean Designer Quest Experiences

7

Part I – The Adventure The following narrative describes the entire adventure that your guest(s) will enjoy. As mentioned before, this adventure could be set up for a group of children with an adult to guide them (playing Professor Thundara) or for a larger group of people broken out into teams of four (or other sizes according to your needs and desires.) Once you pull all of the party guests together, in character you’ll explain to them that you are a professor at the Grand Wizard Academy (PLEASE NOTE: We’ve INTENTIONALLY left off the name of the wizard school throughout the materials so that you can create your own or use a copyrighted name from a well known source – therefore you can replace Grand Wizard Academy with any other name you choose for your intro.) You’ll hand out to each of them a piece of paper that explains in detail what they will be doing (the Starter Sheet found in the Reproducibles section.) You’ll tell them that you (Professor Thundara) are being blamed for stealing a very powerful wizard’s spell book, The Spells of the Griffin, and will be fired from the school unless everyone helps out. You see, once you found out your were accused of stealing the book, you made a trip the archives yourself to look for the book. There, on the shelf, you found a small piece of paper with the title of the book handwritten on it. You’re positive that if you can match the handwriting on the note to another professor, you’ll find the thief. Your guests will then form into teams of four (or other according to your desires) and they are sent out to figure out which professor at the academy REALLY stole the book. Once the teams read the summary on the starter sheet, they begin looking for professors. They finally come across Professor Lumbly, the potions professor, first. Professor Lumbly has a rigid and overly analytical personality and agrees to write something down for them if they run an errand for him. After collecting several items for making a special potion that they find hidden throughout the party area, the

8

professor writes down something at the request of the team, in his/her own writing. Next, the team chose to visit Professor Bomberbat, the authority on magical creatures. Although very loud and impatient, Bomberbat agrees to write some information down for the team if they will agree to solve a problem he has. It turns out that one of the other wizard professors was in his office snooping around while he was away. He’d like to know who it was, but he’s not liked much among the other wizards so he’ll need the team to go around to find out what they can. They must find out which professor at the academy has office hours during the time of the break in to the office. Once exploring around the academy, they find several professors’ office hours posted outside their doors and figure out which one was free at that time. Once they give this information to Bomberbat, he writes something down for them. Finally, the team decided to visit their last professor, Professor Astroth, the authority on divination and prophecy. Although Astroth is a bit forgetful, he is quite friendly. He agrees to do anything the team asks, as long as they complete a few tasks for him, including stealing back an ancient writing code from Professor Bomberbat while he isn’t looking, making a delivery to another teacher and finding a lost phoenix feather. Once those three tasks are done, the professor writes something down for them. Now the team has a writing sample from each of the three professors and returns to you, Professor Thundara, to see the clue you found in the library. They easily match up the writing, incriminating the wizard you’ve previously selected from the three to be the thief! Sounds pretty incredible? It sure does! And YOU are going to pull it off! Here’s how…

9

Part II – Setting Up The Adventure

This section will lead you from beginning to end the entire process of setting up the To Catch A Wizard adventure. As a helpful tip, you might want to read this section in its entirety first, before actually making any decisions. The adventure itself can be summarized in the following way: The team’s are sent out and must meet three different professors of wizardry at the academy (volunteers you have playing different characters as described later.) Each professor will have a series of tasks for them to complete before they will help the team by giving them what they need. Once all three professors have been met and their tasks completed, they are to come back to the person who sent them out, Professor Thundara, to turn in their materials and solve the mystery. The set-up order goes as follows

1. Decide who will be going on the adventure and how many participants you anticipate

2. Choose a location that will allow enough room for the number of participants you planned for, keeping in mind the locations needed for each of the three characters described later

3. Decide how long you’d like the adventure to last (this may affect the locations you choose)

4. Make copies of all reproducibles and gather all props 5. Cast your characters 6. Pulling it all together

10

Who will be going on this adventure? This, before anything else, needs to be decided on first. An adventure for an individual would be planned entirely different than one planned for a group of 60. If your group size is larger than 25, I’ve provided a small section that includes enhancements and alterations available to facilitate larger groups (Part IV.) Where will the adventure take place? Once you know who will be participating, it’s time to decide on a location, or perhaps even multiple locations. You will need a separate location for each of your three characters. Here are the three locales and the respective character the teams will find at each:

* Professor Lumbly – at his lab, mixing potions intently * Professor Bomberbat – either in his office with books of

mythical creatures or outdoors looking for a lost animal. * Professor Astroth – in his office trying to prophecy

Where each of these characters will physically be is up to you and the location(s) you choose. Is it taking place in a high school gymnasium? Inside someone’s small house? The settings can be anywhere that the teams can travel to. The trick is utilizing what you have to its fullest potential. When choosing each location, try to keep in mind foot traffic (if there are several teams participating at once and the playing space is small.) Make an attempt to create as much space as possible in between each character location. Also, choose a location that would best fit the atmosphere of the experience. Right now it is only important for you to know where each location will be. Some of the locations may be difficult to make look ‘movie-real.’ Most of us aren’t working with huge budgets. The suggestions provided are only given as a direction to head yourself. Be creative and have fun with it.

11

NOTE: Keep in mind the distance between each location and the amount of time you will want the adventure to last. This is an especially crucial point if you chose to spread the locations throughout a larger area. Take some time to walk the route you chose to see how much time your adventure will require. Time It’s difficult to say exactly how long the adventure will take because of the flexibility built into its design. You can choose to make the locations far apart (making the adventure last longer) or closer together (speeding it up). You can also choose how difficult to physically hide some of the clues, which will either shorten or lengthen the adventure. However, assuming all of the locations were held inside a single house with minimal traveling, the adventure typically takes about 45 minutes (of course, this also depends on the age of the participants.) The best way to judge how long your traveling time will be is to take the narrative example in Part I and actually walk it with respect to the locations you chose. Attempt to move at the pace/speed that you believe your participants will be moving. Make copies of all reproducibles and gather all props Per the instructions in Part V, make the needed copies of all clues, Character Bio sheets, etc. PROFESSOR LUMBLY’S POTION INGREDIENTS LIST: One of the tasks that the adventurers must complete is to find some items on a list provided by the character playing Professor Lumbly. Some versatility was built into the design of this portion of the adventure. Depending on how long you’d like the adventure to last, you can require the teams to find any number of the items on the list. The teams do NOT need to know which items can be found and which can’t. Unless you are having the teams find EVERY item on the list, it’s generally a good idea to have more items available than they will need.

12

Here are some suggestions when deciding which items to have the teams find:

• If there is more than one team participating, consider how many of each item to supply for the teams. You can either hide clumps of potion items in different spots (i.e. all flower pedals in a pile in one place, etc.) or you can hide each item in its own unique spot (not ideal for larger groups with many teams, though.)

• If using the potion item cards found in the Reproducibles section, be sure to have a spare card for Professor Lumbly to show what a sample potion item looks like.

• Although there are potion item cards available for printing in the Reproducibles section at the end of this packet, it could be a lot more fun to have physical items to find. The items you choose from the list would therefore reflect the physical items that you are able to find/make for the adventure to make available to the adventurers.

• If only some of the items are to be found, you can instruct Professor Lumbly to say either:

o “I already found some of the items” – with the items NOT to be found already crossed off

o OR – “I need five (for example) items from the list. Any five will do” – this adds a degree of difficulty for the teams as they won’t know WHICH five (or more) are available to find.

Casting Your Characters Your next task is to choose/find three guests/volunteers that will play a character in the adventure. Make an attempt to assign your volunteers to a character that you feel would convincingly portray. Your guests, as they get engrossed in their adventure, are going to have a lot more fun if the characters are true to the adventure. You can either use the personality descriptions listed with the Character Bio sheets or have fun coming up with your own personalities based on the volunteers that are playing them. At this time, it is also good to choose which of the three professors you’d like as the thief for the adventure (the one that the teams will discover stole the spell book at the end.)

13

Give each character their respective reproducible bio sheet from Part V. You’ll need to make sure that your volunteers have time to study their assignments BEFORE THE EVENT. Do not simply hand them out minutes before the adventure is to begin. Although the adventure might still go off without a hitch, it is far better (and a lot more fun for the participants) if the characters are prepared and polished. On each of the bio sheets, the volunteer is explained ONLY THAT WHICH THEY NEED TO KNOW. By this, I mean to say that they are told very little save their own small part of the bigger picture. This way, they have very little to remember and you don’t have to worry about one character revealing too much too soon or misinformation being spread. Resist all temptation to tell the volunteers anything beyond what they NEED to know before the adventure is over. Allow all the volunteers some time AFTERWARD to chat and compare funny stories. Each professor has clues that they will need at the time the adventure takes place. At this time, show the character what they will be working with or looking for from the adventurers (everything is written down on their Character Sheet.) Stress to your volunteers the strong need to have fun and play their parts enthusiastically. The more they get into it, the more the participants will as well. Help them to dress the part, as well, if at all possible (see Costume Ideas in Part III.) Finally, make sure that each of the professors have something to write with for when the teams ask them for a writing sample. Putting It All Together Before the adventure is to begin, pull all the participants together (even if just one person) and explain the situation (the fact that the book was stolen and you are being blamed for it) as well as the ‘school’ rules. The following represents a sampling of rules to suggest: • Cheating is never permitted (this includes tampering with any clues or props that might impair another team in their Quest.) Cheating can also take the form of listening in on

14

other team’s conversations. • Only one team is allowed to speak to any professor at any given time • No physical contact with the professors are allowed. This is a battle of wits, not of brawn. • Teams must stay together at all times. Professors should not speak to incomplete teams. Other rules might involve physical boundaries (where they can and cannot go), time frames and speed (running and walking for safety issues). Allow those who have questions to ask them, then pass out the Starter Sheets and let the adventure begin. Remember to hold onto the Starter Sheets until the last moment. If you pass them out too soon (i.e. during the time you are explaining the rules) you’ll find that many, if not most, will tune you out in favor of reading the paper.

15

Part III – Making It Even More Amazing

In this section you’ll find your fill of great ideas to enhance your adventure. None of the ideas presented in this section are necessary for your participants to actually finish the adventure, but rather they are ideas to make it a lot more fun along the way. Sound Sound can be a powerful tool when creating atmosphere for a particular scene or theme. The budget may be tight, but you do not need to compromise the effect. Here are some different creative uses of sound: One option is to have music in the background over the entire playing area (if the entire adventure is at one location.) This can be easily achieved if the entire adventure is contained within a house, but would require a nicer sound system if your adventure is located within a large gymnasium or other such facility. Be mindful of the volume. Remember, your friends/guests will be doing a lot of talking and thinking. It can be very frustrating trying to talk when there are competing noises (even if pleasant noises.) A bit on technology. Not all of us have access to a great sound system. Perhaps your entire adventure will be outside where you will not even have access to a power source. As a rule of thumb, I only include sound if I am able to do so in a non-obtrusive way. I only use it if it supports the scene. I am always asking myself “Is this sound distracting?”

16

It is possible to have separate music for each professor. The right music can set the mood and location in ways when props and scenery might not be available. Just make sure that the two sets of music are not competing against each other. For some of the scenes, you might opt to not use music at all, but rather carefully chosen sound effects. Where can you go to get the music you need? Here are some great options

• First, and foremost, see what you have in your own home (or what you can borrow from friends)

• A very close second is your local university library. You will be amazed at the enormous selection available with just about every kind of music available. Be aware that some universities require you to be a student before you are able to check out any materials, others do not. Also note that these universities have sound equipment to create your own audio tapes of the music you choose. They have it all there and it’s free! If the university requires you to be a student, simply ask your local college student to go with you.

• Public libraries might be your next option if you aren’t able to take advantage of a university library. They can have some great selections as well, but usually without the available audio equipment.

• Peruse the discount racks at regular music stores. This is a great place to find some sound effects resources.

• If you are computer savvy, you can download just about any sound off the internet. The internet can provide just about anything and everything you might be looking for, as long you have the means to burn the sound/music onto a CD for easy playing.

• Ask around for soundtracks to different appropriate movies (i.e. Harry Potter, Excaliber, First Knight, etc.)

It may take some time and effort to come up with some great sound effects, but you won’t be sorry, especially if you are working with a narrow budget.

17

Scenery/Props Although with an unlimited budget the possibilities are endless in setting the mood with period props and set pieces, I don’t know of too many people who have one at the their disposal. So, where does that leave the rest of us? Usually scrounging around looking for whatever we can find. Here are some suggestions for all you scroungers… You can do an awful lot with lighting, usually in the form of omitting it. Sometimes you can do a lot by HIDING the things you don’t want to be seen (such as modern items like TV’s, cars, etc.) Utilize candles wherever you can. For extra fun, try using colored light bulbs. Colored light bulbs can be bought inexpensively at most hardware stores and your local Wal-Mart. Another trick I’ve been known to use is using a lot of fabric material. Fabric can be used to simply drape behind the characters – in a way, framing them. You can find some fantastic tapestry patterns that would really fit this theme. It is also great for hiding things that you don’t want to be seen or making fake walls. Tall rows of fabric, when sewn side by side, make great fabric banners that can be hung vertically from the tops of staircases or windows. There are also prop companies that do nothing but rent period set pieces and props for theatrical events. Although it may be exciting to see some of the great collections, I have found most of them to be very much overpriced and many of their products to be of poor quality. You can do a lot by going to thrift stores and garage sales instead. What’s one person’s trash can be your treasure. Don’t underestimate what other people are willing to give away for a quarter what they’ve had in their garage for decades! Another great resource is to utilize natural surroundings. Don’t try to create walls if you have access to a room.

18

For more ideas, consider our Ultimate Wizard Theme Party filled with page after page of decorating, games, invitations and food ideas for a fantastic wizard theme party! Costumes Costumes can sometimes be a real trick. Of course one can always go to the local costume shop and spend an easy $500 for the needed costumes. However, this isn’t always an option. So, what can one do? First of all, it is always a good idea to take inventory of any and all costume pieces already in your possession. Second, hit up friends and family. Everyone has a box in their garage filled with costume odds and ends pieces from past Halloweens. Thirdly, hit up thrift stores. Sometimes you can find some great pieces here. You may not find ‘costumes,’ but you might find some missing clothing pieces that would go well with some of the other costume pieces you were able to get your hands on from friends, family and your own garage. If your event is large enough and you are expecting your guests to come in the appropriate costumes themselves, you might be able to hit up a larger costume shop (one that has several costumes available for rent in this period theme) to see if they would be willing to donate some costume pieces in exchange for advertising to your guests for costume rentals for the event. This would be a great way to get those perfect missing pieces that would really make the character. If you are stuck trying to even envision what you’ll need in the way of costumes, take advantage of the fact that wizards are mythical/ legendary. No one knows EXACTLY what they look like. Check out picture books from the library to get different images to work from, that is always the best place to start, then start assembling each costume based on the size the person playing each professor. Extra Characters The three characters previously mentioned (Professor Lumbly, Professor Bomberbat and Professor Astroth) are all necessary

19

for your guests to complete their adventure. However, there is no rule that says you are limited to these characters only. First and foremost make sure that you have properly assigned these first three roles. After that, you might want to have fun populating your wizard academy with other characters that your guests may bump into. These additional characters would not necessarily posses any real information that would help the adventurers significantly, but they can add a lot of depth to the fun! The following are some potential ‘extra’ characters you might cast:

• Other professors at the school (they can roam the adventure playing area distracting the teams from their tasks…or helping, if need be.)

• Other students at the school (roaming the halls, playing tricks on the adventurers)

Postshow After your adventurers finish their exciting quest, they will want some time to talk to the other teams about some of their individual experiences. It is always a good idea to allow time for this. Additionally, at this time, you might want to allow the characters to come and join in on this fun as the adventurers will thoroughly enjoy talking to the characters and expressing their ‘job-well-dones.’ As closure for the entire adventure, it would be exciting to have your character who you chose as the thief to come out and get exposed for their deeds in front of everyone! A hearty show of thanks from you, too, might also be in order for clearing your name!

20

PART IV – Making Room For More Guests

As stated in the beginning, this adventure can easily be set up for 1 to 25 Adventurers. However, there are several ways to expand this adventure to make room for more participants. Why not just make more copies? Well, you’ll find the following will happen:

* First and foremost, you’ll find horrible lines beginning to develop at each character. Teams will quickly get annoyed at their constantly having to halt their adventure while standing in line to speak to a character.

And…

* Too small of a playing area makes it difficult for teams to move around and have private conversations. Teams could easily listen in on other’s teams’ conversations and capitalize on information they did not gather themselves. The following are some ways to keep the two above problems OUT of your adventure: Make the playing area larger. Now, this might at first seem the easiest and most straight-forward – solving all the problems. However, keep in mind that as you enlarge the playing area you are also simultaneously increasing the overall completion time of the entire adventure. This option can definitely be utilized, but in moderation. Remember, it is very important that you take the time to walk the path of the adventure to measure the amount of traveling you will be asking of your adventurers.

21

Have multiple characters. By this, I am referring to the possibility of having TWO of each professor (as needed), etc. Teams could go to either as they are made available. Reduce the amount of time each character spends with each team of adventurers. You’ll find that your guests will quickly get taken in by the story and thoroughly enjoy the conversations with the characters. Sometimes it is necessary to make sure that no one character is spending a very long time with any team, that they are moving the teams along as quickly as they are able (when other teams are waiting, especially.) You could increase the size of the teams. If originally you had planned to team up your guests in pairs, by creating teams of four you’ll be cutting your teams down in half. Be careful, though, with teams larger than four. They can quickly create a horrible ‘committee’ effect where a few strong personalities end up making all the decisions for the entire group. A final way to make room for more people is to stagger the starting times. If you are working with a short window of time, this option may not be possible. This involves not starting all the teams off at the same time. I’ve been known to, at times with larger groups and smaller playing areas, start HALF the teams first. Once teams start ‘coming in’ and finishing their adventures, I’d release more teams into the playing field. It stretches out the entire playing time of the event without lengthening any one team’s adventure. Of course, this way won’t work if you are wanting a first place team to be awarded (without utilizing a timecard of some sort, writing down the starting and ending times of each team.)

22

PART V – Reproducibles The pages in this section are to be photocopied according to the directions provided below for each reproducible. Please note that some clues come two on a sheet to cut the cost down on printing/photocopying. Also please note that where indicated, there are two different versions of a clue (one with black letters against a white background and the other a color image.) We’ve supplied both so that in the event you want to print the images in color, we’ve provided fun looking clues. If you are printing in black and white, you’ll find the other to be handier – leaving you the option to print them on your own parchment style paper! Character Bio Sheets (Pages 25-27) Print out each bio sheet for each of your characters. These are to be handed to those that will be portraying each of the three professors. Other Clues Pages Starter Sheet 28 Professor Lumbly’s Potion Ingredients List (Black/White) 29 Professor Lumbly’s Potion Ingredients List (Color) 30 Professor Astroth’s Encoded Message (Black/White) 31 Professor Astroth’s Encoded Message (Color) 32 Professor Astroth’s Encoded Message (Translated) 33 Decoder for Professor Astroth’s Message 34 Professor Astroth’s Task List (Black/White) 35 Professor Astroth’s Task List (Color) 36 Office Hours Sheets (4 total) 37-40 Potion Item Cards (11 Cards) 41-43 Astroth Prophecies 44 Phoenix Feathers 45 Starter Sheet – If you are having different teams going through the adventure, be sure to hand out one copy of the Starter Sheet to each

23

after all teams are formed, you’ve explained the situation (as Professor Thundara) and you’re ready to send them off on the adventure. Professor Lumbly’s Potion Ingredients List – This list will be handed to the adventurers by Professor Lumbly. It details items that they must return to Professor Lumbly in order to obtain a writing sample from Professor Lumbly. More details on how to use this are provided in the Make Reproducibles section in Part II. One copy of each needs to be made for each team participating. Professor Astroth’s Encoded Message – This is the paper that Professor Astroth will need decoded by the adventurers. He will keep these and them to the teams when instructed per the Character Bio sheet. One copy of each needs to be made for each team participating. Translation of Professor Astroth’s Message – This will be given to the volunteer playing professor Astroth. They will need the translation to see if the teams translated the note correctly (of course, they’ll have it hidden so that the teams won’t see that they have the answers!) Professor Bomberbat’s Secret Decoder – These vertical strips of paper (five on the page) will need to be individually cut out and given to your Professor Bomberbat volunteer. These are papers that the teams must ‘steal’ from Professor Bomberbat in order to solve the encoded message from Professor Astroth. Professor Astroth’s Task List – This list will be handed to each team as they visit Professor Astroth. One copy of each needs to be made for each team participating. These will be kept with the volunteer playing Professor Astroth, ready to hand to the teams. Office Hours Sheets – These are postings by different teachers of their schedules. Ideally, these are best placed on closed doors that aren’t being used within the adventure playing area. There are four total that must be posted. Potion Items Cards – Professor Lumbly will send the teams out looking for different items for potions. These cards are to be printed

24

and cut out individually. For instructions on using these cards (or props to replace them) see Page 11. Astroth Prophecies – These are to be given to Professor Astroth. Cut each one out along the dotted lines and roll up like a scroll. They will be given to the teams at the time they are given the errands list. The prophecy must be delivered to Professor Thundara to complete the errand. Phoenix Feather – Professor Astroth will send the teams looking for a Phoenix feather. Although it will be much more fun to use a real feather (found at your local craft store) we’ve also provided an image of one to use. Make sure to have at least one available for each team participating. These are to be hidden somewhere within the party area (preferably all together) One clue is intentionally not included. This one you must make on your own because the handwriting must match the person playing the professor you’ve chosen to be the culprit. Remember, the goal for the adventurers will be to match up the handwriting of each of the three professors against the note that Professor Thundara found at the library. We’ve built into the design of the adventure to allow YOU to choose which professor stole the book. Whichever volunteer is playing that professor (Lumbly, Bomberbat, or Astroth), have them write the following five words on a small piece of paper:

The Spells of the Griffin This will be the paper that Professor Thundara will hold onto, waiting for teams to come back with the three writing samples to compare against. In this way, they’ll know who broke into the library archives! PLEASE NOTE!!! – Make sure to personally compare the handwriting of your three volunteers to make sure that each are writing in distinguishable ways. Typically, this isn’t an issue, however it’s CRUCIAL that the three handwritings are distinctly different in order for the adventure to be completed!

25

Character Bio Sheet:

Professor Lumbly

You are a very studious and serious wizard, with no time for frivolities or merriment. Your specialty of instruction at the wizard academy is in potion making. You will be stationed in your ‘office’ or classroom, fiddling with your bits and bobs of wizardry and potion making. Teams will be coming to you for the following: 1. They will be wanting a writing sample of some sort. What exactly that will be is up to the creativity and imagination of the teams that approach you. When they ask for something, tell them you are too busy to be bothered…but if they will help you get ahead on your research that perhaps you’ll have time to fulfill their request. At this time, hand them a copy of your list of potion ingredients (the first item on the list is Dragon’s Tears.) The exact NUMBER of items that they must find from the list will be given to you by the facilitator of this adventurer (the person who recruited you to play this role!) Once they return with the items required from them, write what they needed on the back of the potion ingredients list. 2. Teams will also need to know at another time when your office hours are each day. This time is daily between 2:00 and 3:00 pm.

26


Professor Bomberbat

You are a gruff wizard with a hot temper. You aren’t the friendliest wizard at the academy and do well when others just leave you alone. You teach all classes pertaining to magical creatures at the academy. Teams will be coming to you for the following: 1. They will want you to write something down in your own handwriting (what that will be is up to the imagination and creativity of the teams.) Act annoyed at their request and ask them ‘what’s in it for you.’ At this time, tell them that someone broke into your office around 3:30 yesterday looking for something. Tell them that you’d like to find out who broke in…that it had to be one of the teachers that didn’t have class during that time, that they HAD to have snuck away during their office hours. Tell them that it could have been ANY teacher at the academy. The best way to snoop about is to either ask the teacher directly or find a posting of their class times and office hours (these will be sheets of paper posted around the adventure playing area…the teams will need to search them all until they find the one teacher that could have snuck into your room at 3:30 – PROFESSOR WUZZLY.) Once they tell you this professor’s name, thank them and write on a piece of paper what they need you to write. 2. They will want to steal a decoder slip from you. You’ll have a bunch (enough for one for each team.) Make sure only ONE is out at any given time (as a bookmark, under your hand, etc.) Just make sure that it is someplace that the teams could actually SEE it first, then able to steal it from you (make it harder for them at first…but then make sure to ‘fall’ for whatever trick they send your way in their efforts to get the decoder slip.)

27


Professor Astroth

You are an elderly and absentminded professor who gets great revelations, but then quickly forgets them. Often times you lose your train of thought, making it difficult sometimes to communicate with. Teams will be coming to you for the following: 1. Teams will need to know when your office hours are each day. This time is daily between 1:00 and 2:00 pm. 2. The teams will also be asking you for a writing sample of some sort. What that exactly will be is up to the imagination and creativity of the adventurers. Tell them that you’d be happy to help them, if only they would complete a few lingering errands that you to be done. At this time, you’ll give them a copy of your errands list (there will be three things to do) along with a rolled piece of paper and a message to encode Once they come back with the three tasks completed (they should bring back a feather, or picture of one, and the message encoded), write down what they ask for.

28

Professor Thundara needs your help!

In order to discover which professor stole the ancient spell book, The Spells of the Griffin, you must first obtain a writing sample from three of the other professors at the school. Once you have a writing sample that you’ve PERSONALLY watched them make, take the three writing samples back to Professor Thundara to compare them to the note found in the library. The professor who’s handwriting matches the note is the culprit! HOW you get the professor to write something down and WHAT they write are up to you…just make sure that the sample is long enough to compare. In order to find the professors, you must explore the school grounds. The three professors in question are Professor Lumbly, Professor Bomberbat and Professor Astroth. Please keep in mind and observe all wizard school rules: 1. Only ONE team may speak to a professor at any given time. While waiting for your turn, please give the team ahead of you ample space to speak in privacy. 2. Any tampering of clues are grounds for immediate expulsion! 3. Teams MUST stay together at all times. A professor will not speak to a team if everyone isn’t present! 4. If there is more than one copy of a clue or item found, only take ONE.

GOOD LUCK!

29

Dragon’s tears

Bat’s blood Fangus root

Darkmus flower pedal Snake venom

Frozen sea water Sand from an Egyptian tomb

Wrapping from an Aztec mummy Bark from the Cat Breath tree

Mud from a troll swamp Jumble Weed

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dragon’s tears

Bat’s blood Fangus root

Darkmus flower pedal Snake venom

Frozen sea water Sand from an Egyptian tomb

Wrapping from an Aztec mummy Bark from the Cat Breath tree

Mud from a troll swamp Jumble Weed

33

Youth Potion

Fairy wings Hair clippings from a young

faun Sparrow weed

Water from a bubbling brook

35

Professor Astroth Tasks

Deliver the prophecy to Professor Thundara

Find Professor Astroth’s lost

phoenix feather

Professor Bomberbat stole an ancient writing

decoder from Professor Astroth. You must

sneakily take this back. Although it is not

complete, it will help you translate the

encoded message.

37

Office Hours and Class Schedule

Professor Wuzzly Class Times: Transfiguration 101 9:00 am – 11:00 am Transfiguration 101 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Transfiguration 101 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Transfiguration 101 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Office Hours: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

38


Professor Krobble Class Times: Levitation 101 9:00 am – 11:00 am Levitation 202 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm Levitations 305 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Office Hours: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

39


Professor Zenobyte

Class Times: Herbology 101 9:00 am – 11:00 am Herbology 102 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Herbology 205 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Herbology 301 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Office Hours: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

40


Professor Argonute

Class Times: Encantations 101 9:00 am – 11:00 am Encantations 201 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Encantations 301 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Office Hours: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

44

Within the week you’ll meet up with someone from your far distant past…

---------------------------------------------------------- Within the week you’ll meet up with someone from your far distant past…

----------------------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------------


To Catch A Wizard - questexperiences.com Introduction Welcome Adventurer! This packet has everything...

Documents

Transcript of To Catch A Wizard - questexperiences.com Introduction Welcome Adventurer! This packet has everything...