Roleplay / MAHOU Project

"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already."

The M.A.H.O.U. Project is a submission-based Danganronpa + Harry Potter crossover roleplay group hosted over Tumblr. In a cultural exchange between the magical and non-magical worlds, a group of mahounashi, muggles, are taken to the Japanese wizarding school Mahoutokoro to spend a semester and experience a snippet of the wizarding world.

However, once there, things go differently than planned...

The magical tropes in this magical roleplay include:

• Amusing Injuries: On very bad RNG rolls, the students tend to cause misfortune or injury to themselves. This is often taken seriously depending on the context and the severity of the wound, but sometimes it's played for humor instead.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Chapter 4 saw a lot of these, due to the motive of potentially being forgotten forever. To wit, this happens with three different people: Holy, Shinobu K., and Airi.
• Anyone Can Die:
  • Even being a roleplay, any of the characters can be a victim or culprit.
  • Even extends to deaths outside the norm, as demonstrated with Subaru and Deborah during the third motive.
  • NPCs aren't safe, either. Seiji's death at the end of the prologue marks the beginning of the main plot. And in Chapter 5, Zoya and Yukie are both executed as a result of a mistrial.
• Are You Sure You Want to Do That?:
  • Done out-of-universe by the mods towards the players whenever a character is about to take an action that is likely to result in injury. Sometimes the character actually succeeds without a hitch, but other times it ends in disaster.
  • Said in-universe by an NPC during Chapter 1. Zoya, knowing that the class will have to execute someone if they hold an official trial, warns them they're about to get blood on their hands and asks if they're absolutely sure they want to do this. The votes narrowly swing away from that choice after she says that.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: At the beginning of Chapter 1, several students wish that the people associated with Mahoutokoro would sacrifice themselves to protect the HPA students. Come the first "trial", the clan founders do exactly that, falling in their battle against Ouryuu... who still isn't satisfied and continues to torment the students, now unimpeded.
• Blood on the Debate Floor:
  • This can happen when tensions boil over during or after a trial, or if a suspect decides to fight back anyone trying to do a physical check on them, prominently seen in Chapters 3 and 4. Even without punches being exchanged, numerous death threats also get thrown around, some of them quite graphic. Takako treats these situations like a soap opera.
  • The mastermind trial in Chapter 5 outshines the quick scuffles of previous trials, after the class fails to identify Joon-young's murderer, just for several people to realize it's most likely Takako. Reiko goes over to attack the already-injured Takako... and gets beaten back so badly that she's left limping from a bite wound on her leg. Clove comes in right afterwards to avenge her girlfriend, and this time Itona gets involved and manages to break up the fight, though not before Clove takes some serious blows as well.
• Body of the Week:
  • Every chapter results in at least one death that the remaining students have to investigate.
  • Subverted for the first chapter. The apparent victim turns out to have barely survived, and the other students narrowly vote not to have a trial, sparing the attacker from execution.
• Born Unlucky: Evidently, Clan Byakko. Three of the first four dead students hail from them, leaving the clan at half-strength only three chapters in.

• Clothing Switch: Featured during the Chapter 5 event whenever two people enter the aesthetic tents. Whether it's their usual clothing or the outfits they obtained during the event, their clothes are switched and tailored as needed. Even their hair and eye colors are temporarily swapped.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Many details of the setting match the representative colors of the Clans: Blue for Seiryuu, red for Suzaku, white/green for Byakko, and black/purple for Genbu. The roster even depicts each student with Glowing Eyes in their Clan's color. Yellow/gold is also the signature color of Ouryuu.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The executions, which are tailor-made for each culprit. Usually, they either mock their Super High School Level talent or exploit their deepest fears, ensuring their punishment is as terrifying as possible. Occasionally, a murder victim also dies in a particularly horrible manner, or a Labyrinth hazard gives an especially painful or drawn-out death.

• Dragged by the Collar: A variant done with the obi, which glow and pull students around under certain circumstances such as for punishment or to get them out of danger. During the prologue, most of the Suzaku students are seen getting dragged by their obi back to their dorm, effectively grounded. This usually only drags people around by the waists, but if a student is wearing their obi in a nonstandard way such as as a scarf...
• Dwindling Party: The game began with 24 students, and people have steadily begun to die as the chapters go on.

• Everyone Is a Suspect: The objective of each trial is to find out who is the most suspicious.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Unlike the source material, these students remember their times together at Hope's Peak. The difference is that many of them were not in the same class and only a handful had spoken sparingly before.
• Evidence Scavenger Hunt: Once a body is discovered, the surviving students, culprit included, are expected to investigate for evidence to prepare for the class trial where they will attempt to find the person behind the crime.
• Expecting Someone Taller: When Zoya first meets the HPA students, she says that she thought people with such important titles would have been taller. It should be noted that both Zoya and her sister are over six feet tall.
• The Famine: Forcefully engineered as the Chapter 3 motive. Not only has all food been confiscated, not only have all water sources been dried up, but the temperature on the campus is steadily increasing. The effects are so devastating that two people die to this before a murder is finally carried out.
• Festival Episode: Several events are held throughout the game to try and help ease tensions. Some of these offer the usual festival activities, while others are tailored to Mahoutokoro's history. Zoya admits that the fashion show isn't even a school tradition, but insists on holding one anyway.
  • Chapter 2's event is a dance battle tournament between pairs, in which they must keep their obi touching throughout the entire match. Sabotaging the competition is not only allowed, but encouraged.
  • Chapter 3's event is a summer festival, complete with games, dancing, and cherry blossoms (altered by magic to bloom out of season).
  • Chapter 4's event is a sports festival. Alongside the traditional beanbag-throwing game and team events, there's also a trivia game that ends up leaking a lot of dark personal secrets, and even predictions of future incidents.
  • Chapter 5's event is a fashion show, with two contests to partake in (a traditional, if magical, runway event, and a "talent show" that showcases skills the student is bad at). Magic-enhanced makeovers are provided to any student that wants one.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Often, relationships (both platonic and possibly romantic) are formed due to the stress everyone is put under and the bonds created thusly.
• Flower Motif:
  • Ouryuu's signature flower is a golden chrysanthemum, which is a recurring symbol. The center of the trial room features its image on the floor, which opens up to reveal the Labyrinth. Students receive temporary petal markings after going on a Labyrinth trip, as well as unfading ones after sentencing someone to execution.
  • The Majo Matsuri event in Chapter 3 includes a lot of flower symbolism: The students are given hairpins with flowers representing their respective clan, they send flowers with special meanings amongst each other to send messages, and there's even an OOC section on the event document asking what flower represents each character individually ...the last of which comes back with a vengeance in Chapter 4, when the motive involves those same flowers blooming and withering on each character's head, symbolizing the memories they've left on other people.
• The Four Gods: The four Clans (equivalent to the Houses of Hogwarts and Ilvermorny) are based on these, from name to mascot to overall aesthetic. The Yellow Dragon is also represented in the story as a major villain.
• From Bad to Worse:
  • Used as the title of one of the event posts in Chapter 1, signifying that Ouryuu is furious that a student thought dead was actually still alive. It culminates in her trying to kill all of the students at once, the clan founders waging a futile battle to defeat her, and Ouryuu demanding extra sacrifices in retribution for this "trickery" (becoming the in-character justification for executions).
  • The aftermath of the Chapter 2 trial: While awaiting punishment for the mistrial, tensions rapidly escalate between the students, peaking when a knife gets involved. What really tips it over the edge is when the randomizer settles on a target: It's someone from the same clan as the victim, leaving Byakko with a third of its students dead in less than a day. As if that's not bad enough, the students actually get to experience the execution through Jinzaemon's eyes, feeling his pain. Their bodies are marked with chrysanthemum petals as a permanent reminder of his death.
  • Chapter 5's trial marks a low point for many characters, and they spend much of their time on arguments and denouncements. The ending of the trial manages to make things even worse: Being unable to identify one of the killers leads to the remaining two chaperones being executed. Being unable to identify the Mastermind leads to Ouryuu herself manifesting in physical form, allowing her to exert more influence on the castle.
• Fun with Acronyms: M.A.H.O.U. turns out to be a hint towards the true names of several major NPCs who are initially only known by their titles: Mikage, Ake, Haru, Otohiko, and Ushiro. (Previously, they had been respectively referred to as Genbu, Suzaku, Seiryuu, Ouryuu, and Byakko.)
• Gorgeous Garment Generation: Featured during the Chapter 5 event whenever a single person enters the aesthetic tents. They get a whole new outfit created just for them, whether it's a formal ensemble or a detailed cosplay. It even comes with a new hairstyle for some characters. Of course, whether or not the outfits are actually gorgeous is left to the whims of RNG...
• Hidden Depths: There are more to every character than meets the eye - it's just that some of them are rather open to telling others their backstories or feelings, and others keep it under such a careful lock and key.

• Irony: The first chapter, and the rest of the story in comparison. Airi nearly murders Miyu; later, Miyu is the murderer of Chapter 3, while Airi is murdered in Chapter 4.

• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Chapter 4 motive. As each petal falls from a student's flower, more and more people will forget they ever existed — classmates, family, enemies, fans, etc.. The amnesia is reversed after a murder takes place — unless that student loses all of their petals, in which case it's permanent.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Considering its premise and the fact that it's a roleplay, the characters are not above poking fun at the supposed absurdity of their circumstances.
• Malevolent Architecture: Ouryuu's Labyrinth is a dangerous location to explore. Between all the hazards set up in each section and how most actions are subject to the whims of the Random Number God, students can be seriously injured or even killed in the Labyrinth — although they're returned to the entrance alive and unharmed, save for any psychological trauma.
• Miscarriage of Justice:
  • The end result of Chapter 2: Tenpō's killer can't be identified, with the only certain fact being that it was someone from Suzaku, but not Tsukuyomi. Jinzaemon is then selected at random to be executed.
  • This is also the outcome of Chapter 4: Almost every vote piles onto Mitsuo, mainly because of the fear that this is his second murder (having been discovered to be Tenpō's killer). It isn't, and it was Joon-young who killed Airi. Mi-ke is then selected to be executed.
  • The outcome of Chapter 5. A lack of confidence in any one theory leads to a last-minute shift in votes against Outa, accusing him of Joon's murder. It turns out to have been Takako, and Yukie and Zoya are both executed as punishment for the partial mistrial.

• Mystery of the Week: There's a new murder every two-three weeks in real life, and every half a week or so in-game.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: The HPA students are given Mahoutokoro uniforms, but they're allowed to customize certain aspects to their liking (sleeve length, pants and/or skirts, optional color-shifting robes, etc). They can even ignore parts of the uniform and wear their own clothes. The only thing they're actually required to wear is the obi because of the vital functions it carries out... and there's no rule saying they have to wear it properly.
• Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!:
  • Some of the celebrity students are aware of the existence of real-person fanfics about themselves. A few even deliberately seek them out and read them.
  • During one group's Labyrinth run, they find a scrapbook filled with photos from "Nondespair AU": An alternate universe where they're able to lead peaceful lives at Hope's Peak Academy.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as there are two students named Shinobu and one student named Shino. Played with for student aliases: Two students actually go by the nickname Shiba. One of them, however, is not openly known as that name and only uses it in certain criminal communications; it's rarely brought up due to lack of relevance.
• Our Ghosts Are Different:
  • Deceased students persist as ghosts and can rather freely interact with the rest of the cast, even participating in trials and having access to a special section of the Labyrinth. There are some limitations, however: They are intangible to living people and most objects, and even the few items they can touch are only temporarily tangible. Ghosts who have very recently died also cannot attend a trial and murder victims initially recall little to nothing about their deaths, preserving the integrity of the mystery.
  • After Chapter 5, ghosts are given a fully physical form in the normal world, though their eyes are always glowing gold. They can interact with their surroundings as normal but cannot be killed again.
• Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: The center Labyrinth is different from the others, in that it can leave permanent golden markings on people, usually in the shape of an injury they sustained while in the Labyrinth. This area also directly targets a chosen student by exploiting their fears and insecurities.

• Poor Communication Kills: During Chapter 3, the murderer and one of her accomplices hatch up a dual-gambit plan to protect the former — and neither of them warn the second accomplice about this. As a result, in the trial the third person is devastated by watching their boyfriend act so cruelly to gain the class's hatred, and in their breakdown they implicate the true killer.
• The Power of Hate: The Dark Arts are fueled by intense negativity, as Zoya warns the class during the chaotic fifth trial. Otohiko specifically credits the violence and animosity between the class as a reason why she's gained so much power.
• Public Execution: If a killer is caught or if someone is randomly chosen as a scapegoat, they are dragged away to a cruel execution that usually causes them a lot of emotional and physical suffering before they are finally killed. In a twist on the standard executions of the genre, the remaining students view and experience the entire execution from the condemned's perspective, and afterwards they're left with markings on their bodies that mirror the late student's wounds.
• Random Number God: Many events in the game, such as the results of area explorations, are determined by a roll between 1 and 20; the numbers can be further weighted by factors like Clan affiliation and current character health. This can quickly build up into a lot of chaos if characters get multiple bad rolls in a row.

• Shout-Out: May contain references to popular culture, internet phenomena and call-backs to previous games the muns and their muses have been in.
• Staircase Tumble: The entryway to the Dungeon and Labyrinth area is a long staircase leading into darkness. And walking up or down these stairs requires a roll. Accidents have become so frequent that it borders on a Running Gag, although as of late the staircase rolls have been skipped.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Happens to various characters and entities, often as a sign that there is some link to Ouryuu. Yukie is the earliest example, but over time other NPCs also grow vulnerable to Ouryuu's influence, and the dead students' eyes start glowing yellow after her magic is fully restored.
• Synchronization: Used as part of Chapter 5's motive, though the link is one-way. Students in Seiryuu and Genbu have their suffering linked to the most important person in their lives. Every physical pain they've ever felt is transferred over to that person, lingering until the motive is ended. This results in several students having to endure a classmate's pain; at least one person ends up with two classmates' worth of suffering.
• Teen Genius: All the students to some extent. They were initially accepted into Hope's Peak for being the best in their age bracket at what they do.
• Tonight, Someone Dies: Specifically, every couple of weeks, someone will be murdered.
• Translation Convention: All characters are presumed to be speaking Japanese unless otherwise noted, even though the game is written in English.
• Welcomed to the Masquerade: An exchange between Mahoutokoro and Hope's Peak Academy sees the latter sending two dozen students to the magical school.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 3 becomes this during the second half, beginning with the reveal of the motive: A heat wave has begun, and all sources of food and water have been removed. On the second and third days of the motive, Subaru and Deborah pass away from heat stroke. Mio is murdered on the third night, and during the course of the trial it becomes clear that three people worked together to kill them — Mi-ke, Kris, and Miyu. The latter two are also revealed to be lying about their talents and are the Hitman and Art Forger respectively, while Jinzaemon and Tsukuyomi are revealed to be the Vigilante and Phantom Thief. The class is nearly led into a mistrial before pinning Miyu as the true culprit, and this destroys the reputations of her and her accomplices. At the end of it all, many students find it difficult to trust one another again.
  • Chapter 5. Two words: Three victims. And after a very messy trial filled with lots of physical and verbal fighting, the chapter ends with a partial mistrial on the murder case, an unsuccessful mastermind vote, the execution of two NPCs, and the appearance of Ouryuu's true form as she thanks the class for letting their hateful emotions give her strength.
• Win Your Freedom: Students are informed that escape is possible; they just have to get away with murder twice as an individual, or three times total between them and their clanmates.
• World of Snark: Many of the students and NPCs have sharp tongues. Snark-to-Snark Combat is inevitable.