WORD WIZARDS

Setup

You are WORD WIZARDS, champions of your respective regional spelling bee tournaments. You have all traveled some distance to the state championship, where you’ll compete to secure a seat at the national bee. One person should be the GM, and all others will be player.

Players: As a group, answer the following:

  1. How old are your contestants, roughly?
  2. Where is the state championship taking place?

Players: Individually, answer the following:

  1. What is your character’s name and pronouns?

  2. What is your character like? Pick a couple of adjectives from the list:

    unassuming, precocious, magnanimous, conniving, eloquent, imperturbable, accommodating, cosmopolitan, self-aggrandizing, disaffected, exasperated, impudent, laconic, nonchalant, perspicacious, resilient, solipsistic, truculent, venerable, haughty, fastidious

  3. What was the winning word that made your character a regional champion?

The Situation

Unfortunately, due to some sort of logistical error, the head judge’s notebook (containing the chosen words for this competition) was quietly swapped with a monstrous and ancient spellbook. During the first round, all of you were unceremoniously eliminated by eldritch utterances you’ve never even heard of.

The error has been corrected and you’ve been called back in to redo the round. However, by speaking aloud the words of the incantation, you collectively intoned a malevolent spell and summoned a nightmarish beast into the auditorium. As your characters emerge onto the stage to compete once more, they’re met with a scene of wanton chaos and destruction as the monster rages and onlookers flee in terror.

GM: Take a moment to describe an eldritch monster of any sort you like, using the words that each player chose in response to question 3 as inspiration for the monster’s appearance, behavior, and motivations.

Not to worry, though, because in doing so you’ve also awakened your own latent magical potential. You now have a budding grasp on the archaic art of SPELLCASTING. Now you’re really WORD WIZARDS.

Playing the Game

The champion spellers must accomplish a few goals before they can resume their spirited competition:

  1. Rescue the head judge from the monster’s clutches
  2. Defeat the monster by whatever means they can
  3. Close the nightmare portal from whence it crawled