Editing Afterschool Activities (section)

== The Students ==
Each player's character is a student that resides at the boarding school, with access to everything a boarding school student could have except working light fixtures.  Student attributes are their grades in six school subjects (Art, English, Maths, Phys.Ed., Science and Social Studies), as well as Popularity and Wakefulness.  Attributes are generated randomly by rolling a d6 for each except Wakefulness, which is 90 + d10 to start.

The school subject attributes are used in contests for rolling dice.  They are graded F(1) to A(6). Better performance in a subject means an easier time overcoming obstacles related to that subject.

*'''Art''' - How imaginative are you? How well do you understand your environment, and thus spotting things other people miss?  Especially things you wish you didn't see?
*'''English''' - How good is your vocabulary, your comprehension, your communication?  Also used for understanding difficult books like tomes from the restricted area of the library.
*'''Maths''' - How good are you with spatial relationships and numbers?
*'''PE''' - How strong are you? How fast can you run? How sturdy are you?  How ''fast'' can you ''run''?
*'''Science''' - How much do you remember about chemicals, the mechanical and electrical workings of the school?  How good are you with complex instructions like rituals?
*'''Social Studies''' - How much do you know about the supernatural? How good are you at telling that something is wrong with someone? How good are you at making people think that there's nothing wrong with you? 

Contests are usually rolling a d6, with 4-6 for success.  Having a Failing grade in a subject is a -2 penalty, and a barely passing grade of E is a -1 penalty.  A high mark of B gives a +1 bonus, and an Ace student gets a +2 bonus.  Even failing students succeed sometimes, and even ace students make mistakes.

'''Popularity''' is the student's charisma, reputation and (apparent) confidence.  Students are more likely to listen to someone with high Popularity. This stat mechanically is exactly the same as the other stats but flavorfuly is quite different.

'''Wakefulness''' is how much longer the student can stay awake in this unnatural nightfall.  It decreases by 1 every 10 minutes of game time (or just use a timer, such as the one from Space Hulk, and decrease it when it runs out), and a Wakefulness test is rolled for every hour of game time (or for every 6 Wakefulness points lost with the timer method of doing things). If you roll under, you stay awake. If you roll over, you fall sleep and will not wake up unless certain actions are taken (determined by the GM). Wakefulness can be restored by drinking tea, coffee, or energy drinks, by splashing cold water upon your face, or by some other means such as being frightened (by the GM's discretion).  Students that exhaust their Wakefulness, or fail to stay awake, are unlikely to wake up again, and certainly won't avoid the encroaching darkness.

As an optional rule, students may also have merits or flaws called "'''Teacher's Notes'''", described below.

=== The Teacher ===
The Teacher is a [[NPC|DNPC]] ally for the players.  The Teacher could be a groundskeeper, guidance counselor, or school nurse, but always (starts as) a trusted authority figure at the school. The Teacher has a working flashlight, keys to almost every door in the school, physically stronger than the players, somewhat smarter, and familiar with both the student areas and off-limits areas of the school. 

Teachers usually have high marks for their school subjects, but not all teachers have "A"s across the board. The Teacher may have an "A+" mark in a subject, giving them a +3 bonus (automatic success). The Teacher does not lose Wakefulness over time as students do, but they could still lose Wakefulness from being terrified, or pass out due to circumstances.

The Teacher is a crutch for implementing plot armor for the characters while the players get settled into the horror scenario. The GM is expected to incapacitate, kill off, or subvert the Teacher early in the story. The loss of the Teacher should be a severe and frightening thing, like the loss of the only adult in a crisis situation to a bunch of children SHOULD be. It shouldn't happen too early as you want the PC's to feel somewhat dependent on the adult... but not too late as you want the children PC's to gain responsibility for their actions for most of the game. When the players lose their Teacher, that's the GM signalling "the training wheels are off, all aboard Mr. Bone's Wild Ride."