The mysterious Harry Potter RPG currently in development (rumored to be titled Harry Potter: Magic Awakened) is still being kept tightly under wraps, but intrigued fans have a few tentative details to work with--one of which is the game's setting. Although unconfirmed, the current theory is that the Harry Potter RPG is set in a previously unexplored time period: the Wizarding World of the 1800s.

What could that mean for the game and its plot? Well, considering there's a whole century to work with there, it could mean a lot of things, but speculation can narrow down a few main points to touch on. Not much is known about the 19th century Wizarding World, which is probably helpful as far as the game's developers are concerned; it leaves more room for new Harry Potter canon.

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The 19th Century

As mentioned above, "the 1800s" is pretty vague as far as settings go. That's a hundred years, and as those who studied their world history will know, a lot went down during those times. At the very least the area can be narrowed down to Europe since the plot presumably involves attending the infamous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but that's still tons of ground to cover. A good chunk of 19th century England is encapsulated by the Victorian era, which is used as the setting for many a work of historical fiction. Officially ranging from 1837 to 1901, it's most likely that the Harry Potter RPG will at least borrow elements from Victorian England for its setting, if not use it outright.

Then there's the Wizarding World itself. Obviously, this is pre-Voldemort and even pre-Grindelwald; the Fantastic Beasts movies take place during the roaring 1920s. As a matter of fact, it's entirely possible that Albus Dumbledore won't even have been born yet in the upcoming Harry Potter RPG, as his birthday is recorded as being in August of 1881. So, that means players are looking at a more or less blank slate for the new RPG: no familiar faces, and if there are any familiar family names (such as the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black), the characters themselves will still be new.

fantastic beasts

Looking into significant wizarding events in the 19th century that could tie into the game, there really isn't much. The most riotous event of the early 1800s was snafu at the 1809 Quidditch World Cup in Russia, when a Romanian beater jinxed an entire forest to attack the stadium, killing several people (including himself) in the process. Beyond that, the 1800s saw the invention of the Dungbomb and the creation of the fearsome Shrake fish, but nothing that screams "this is going to go right into an RPG."

So, as far as the game goes, the options are pretty much open-ended. That's not to say that nothing huge happened, but rather that author J.K. Rowling just...hasn't really touched on that time period much. It could end up being a really refreshing thing for players since not even the most devoted of Potterheads will go into the game knowing exactly what to expect.

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The Educational Possibilities

Seeing as there's not much in the international history books to fuel the fires of the Harry Potter RPG plot, let's look at the options within Hogwarts instead. At this stage, some plot points for the RPG have been leaked: supposedly, players will fill the role of a late-comer to Hogwarts whose unique magical abilities manifest in time to attend with the 5th-year class. This includes the ability to choose the player's Hogwarts House, morality, and magic specializations while uncovering new secrets at the wizarding school.

While the characters that most people know and love won't be present, Hogwarts itself is an old building, so much of the scenery should actually be quite familiar. Places like the Room of Requirement, the Chamber of Secrets, and the Forbidden Forest would all very much be present at the school, as would activities such as Quidditch and the Wizarding Schools Potions Championship. Interestingly, the Triwizard Tournament won't be a possibility, as it was actually discontinued in 1792 until the events of the fourth Harry Potter novel.

By the early 1800s, Hogwarts had already been around for over 900 years, and the Ministry of Magic had been established about a century ago (with the Wizarding World in hiding for just as long). As such, plenty of movie features could appear in-game, and part of customizing player characters could be taking part in such pursuits as Quidditch and other extracurriculars. Funnily enough, the last first-year student to join a Quidditch team before Harry Potter himself did so in the 19th century.

quidditch

Fighting New Battles

While the leaked synopsis for the Harry Potter RPG says that players will battle "Dark Wizards," it's also clear that Grindelwald and Voldemort's respective evil campaigns aren't even a concept yet. That begs the question: what "good versus evil"-type struggle will the game get players involved in? The bare-bones history of 1800s-wizarding Europe doesn't offer up any major political debates--although the ban on underage magic outside of school was enacting in the 1870s--so it's unclear what sort of Dark Wizards might need to be defeated. Perhaps the game's dark forces will be an earlier (less-successful) iteration of Death Eater that shares Voldemort's ideals, or perhaps a new issue entirely will be brought to the table.

The synopsis also suggests that strange things will begin to happen in Hogwarts's Forbidden Forest and that the player character's unique magic powers will tie into the overarching plot. Those powers involve the ability to track a "potent ancient power," so it looks like whatever players deal with will be something original to the game. While some fans might be disappointed at the lack of familiarity, it seems like the best direction for the franchise to take right now.

At the end of the day, Harry Potter's story has been told inside and out, and so has just about every story even remotely connected to his. If the franchise is going to keep churning out compelling content, it's going to have to go somewhere totally new with its plot, characters, and even magic systems--and that's just what it looks like the new Harry Potter RPG is going to do.

The unannounced Harry Potter RPG is rumored to be in development at WB Games for unknown platforms.

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