100 Sights To See At An Arcane Academy

Magic is no easy art to learn, and even those born with a talent for it need to be able to refine that talent... preferably with the aid and assistance of experienced instructors. This is where the idea of the arcane academy comes in! Perhaps it's a place hidden by illusions and secrets, lurking in plain sight in a modern fantasy setting, or it's an imposing edifice of stone where the finest wizards are produced before going out on quests with ironclad knights and faith-bound clerics in a more traditional high fantasy world. Whatever form your arcane academy takes, though, the following sights can make it feel like a place where magic is commonplace, and there's enough danger present that those who make it to graduation without scars really are at the top of their class. While many of these happenings can be used as set dressing, others can easily be turned into encounters, or even used as plot hooks for a campaign arc set on the grounds of an arcane academy. How you use these incidents, though, is entirely up to you! This PDF supports Adobe layers and the page backgrounds and images can be disabled to make printing easier. Here are some sample results: A gilded painting on the top floor of the main academy building depicts a woman in an elegant black dress and a black mourning veil. It's said that if one speaks their secrets to this painting, unburdening themselves of the terrible things they're dealing with, that she will listen. And in the case where someone has been a victim, the woman in black may even attempt to take vengeance on their behalf. When that happens, the woman disappears from her frame as she seeks to balance the scales. When that happens, it's best to stay out of her path unless someone knows how to assuage her wrath. Letter fires burn in particular niches throughout the main hall, and there's one on every floor of the academy. These fires burn bright green, and the wisps that curl from them rise in plumes that resemble peacock feathers. Letters fed into the fires are whisked away to the destination either written on the envelope, or clearly spoken into the blaze before the letter is consigned to the fire. If the destination isn't reachable, though, the letter fire will spit the missive back out again with some charring around the edges to show it had already been sent through once. Sitting in a lounge on the third floor is a game board with a set up for a fresh round of Regicide. Any time someone sits down in one of the chairs, two knocks sound from the table, and the game begins if the person returns the knocks. The pieces move on their own, and a distinct chill fills the space as long as the game is going on. Those who lose the game (which seems to be a majority of those who play), always find their invisible opponent is willing to play another round on subsequent days. Those who manage to defeat the force that plays the game are said to receive a secret boon... but no one has claimed to have won a game of Phantom Regicide for generations, and what the boon supposedly is has been lost to time. The creeping ivy along the walls of the main building crawls across the bricks a few inches at a time. The flowers that peek out from the green are bright red, and their perfume fills the spring and summer night air when they're in full bloom. The ivy has a nasty habit of reaching in through open windows and stealing trinkets from the students’ bathrooms, and bedside tables. Most put up with the ivy and its shenanigans, though, because it voraciously devours the insects that would otherwise buzz through the grounds in the warmer months. A little bit of petty thievery is just the price one pays to keep the academy free of blood biting flies, and all their ilk. A huge teapot on mechanical legs wanders the halls during the early parts of the day (and occasionally during the late evenings). Those who approach the kettle steamer and hold out a cup find that it pauses, turns toward them and tilts itself, pouring a steady stream of strong, dark tea. A small set of pouches are strapped around the central pot like a pair of saddlebags, and inside them are sugar cubes. No matter how many cubes have been used, though, the bags never seem to be empty. Considered a necessity during exam weeks, the strangest thing about this unusual automaton is that no one seems to know precisely where it comes from, or where it returns to when it's finished serving those in need of a little wake up. One page is the front cover, three the front matter and half is ads. Play YouTube Preview