Ever imagined getting your Hogwarts letter? Choosing a wand at Ollivander’s?
What about being a more terrible dark wizard than Voldemort? The next Minister of Magic?
You can do all that and more at Vault 713! We’re a play-by-post role playing game set in the Harry Potter universe for players of all ages and experience levels. Here you can take on the persona of a character from the Harry Potter series – one that appears in the books, or one that you’ve made up yourself! You can create students at one of several magical schools, adults with any career imaginable, muggles, witches, wizards, goblins, giants, vampires – if you can dream it, you can play it!
Once you’ve created your character, enter one of our many forum sections that represent the vast Wizarding World and the muggle world beyond, where you can start a new story or join one of your own. Relive the magic of the Harry Potter series as if your character was a part of the books, meeting awesome new friends and discussing your favorite parts about the series along the way. We’re more than just a game, we’re a community - and we love making new friends!
Use the links below to explore what Vault 713 has to offer.
When you’re done, jump to “Get Started” to begin creating your first character!
role playing intro • world overview • creating characters • our community • get started
What is a Play-By-Post Role Playing Forum?
Games that allow players to “Play-By-Post” refer to the act of participating in a role playing game across a forum, where each post you make tells part of the tale of your character. Think of it like interactive storytelling where each character’s actions are described by a different person – Player A might start a story or thread by describing their character’s trip to Diagon Alley. Your character, Player B, could join in and interact with that character by greeting them, stumbling into them, yelling after them…you get the picture. Each person takes turns describing their character’s actions like this as the story is played out. You might have as few as two characters or as many as twenty (or more!) in a single thread or story at any given time, and while some players like to plan out their stories in advance, most players enjoy just throwing their characters into a situation and watching the story unfold.
The World of Vault 713
Harry’s Story Becomes Your Story
With our unique Timeline set up, you can choose one of three eras to play in – or even all three, if your character is old enough! Play alongside Harry in the Golden Era where we’re following along with the books one at a time, venture back to the seventies with the Marauder Era, or join the next generation of Hogwarts Students – including the Potters, Weasleys, and Malfoys – in the Legacy Era in 2016. With so many options and time periods, there’s something for everyone. You can even explore your character’s past or future in the Exploratory Roleplaying Forums if you really want to get a feel for how they have changed over time!
Discover The World Beyond Hogwarts
Here at Vault 713, you don’t have to stick to just Hogwarts – the whole world is yours to explore! Attend lessons or teach at Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Hogwarts, or one of three original schools across the globe. Venture into the Ministry of Magic headquarters, discover a country you’ve never visited, or take your character on the vacation of a lifetime. With portkeys and apparation, there’s no place that’s off limits!
Play On Your Own Time
Not only do we check out your character sheet quickly so you can get into the game faster, but we also don’t hold you to any activity requirements like making you post a certain number of times each week. Role playing is a game, not a job! Canon characters are held to flexible activity standards, while regular characters are made inactive after 6 months. Even inactive characters can be brought back, so no stress if you get busy for awhile.
Creating Characters
Be Who You Want to Be
Here at the Vault, we allow both Canon Characters and Original Characters. Canons being the ones you see in the books like Harry, Ron, and Hermione; Original Characters are of course the ones that you create yourself! If it’s your own unique character you’re after, you don’t have to stick to just students and professors, either – your character can be of any age, and have any career you can imagine. Work for the Ministry of Magic or Flourish & Blotts, be a dragon tamer or a beast breeder, attend one of six magical schools – if you can dream it, you can play it! There’s no limit to the number of characters you can have, either – whether you want one or ten, you get to play what you want.
Beyond Witches and Wizards
If being a plain old witch or wizard doesn’t interest you, don’t fear – we offer a variety of other character types to choose from! Try playing a squib with magical relatives or an ordinary muggle who knows nothing of magic if it’s “real life” type role playing you’re after. If your’e looking for something a little more beastly, try a looming giant, a daring werewolf, a merperson, centaur, or one of a number of other creatures. We even have our own unique Vampire clans to give your undead character the most possible options.
Characters That Grow
Not only is there no limit to how many characters you can have, but they can grow as you play them, just like people. Your original character sheet only needs to be an outline of your character, because you’ll be posting a more detailed profile afterwards that you can expand on as you play. You’ll also have the opportunity to have your character learn new and interesting special abilities as their story continues, or even have them suffer from a “Magical Mishap” if you’d like to wipe their slate and start fresh!
Our Community
We’re Already Excited to Meet You!
Vault 713 has been running since 2001, and while many of our original members still play here today, we’ve always had open arms for those looking to join our community. Here you’ll meet friends that will last a lifetime, be there for you to chat with while you’re not role playing, and a great place to spend your time while flexing your writing skills. What’s not to love?
More Than Just Role Playing
In addition to our expansive role playing zones, we also have a variety of “out of character” areas for you to get to know your fellow players, chat about your favorite moments from the Harry Potter series, and share your fan art and stories. Once you join, you’ll also be placed in one of four Dragon Lair groups that are not terribly unlike the houses of Hogwarts: there you can participate in challenges, play games, and get to know a tighter-knit group of people. Just because our site is larger than some doesn’t mean you need to get lost in the shuffle! Of course, if all that’s not enough for you, you can also hop on over to our sister site, Roleplay Hub, for all kinds of community fun and chat areas.
The More You Play – The More You Get!
At Vault 713, we like to reward players who are involved in the game and the community. That’s why the more story threads you complete, the more characters you can create, and the more rewards you get! Roleplaying gives you the chance to earn Credits, our own board currency, that you can exchange for special abilities for your character, unique graphics to put on your account, and more!
Ready to Jump In? Here’s How!
- Register a New Account – Don’t worry about your username, we can always change it for you.
- Read the Site Guidelines and Grammar Policy
- Fill Out a Character Sheet – Post in the appropriate area to be looked over by a staff member.
- Find an Open Thread – Look for a story to join once you’re approved, and jump right in!
Once you’ve registered, a box of helpful links will appear at the top of the site, too!
Don’t worry, this disappears after you’ve had time to get a feel for the site,
and helps you navigate your way around while you’re getting started!
Have more questions? Visit the Help Desk for assistance!