Title: Harry Potter and the Natural 20
Author: Sir Poley
Rating: T
Genre: Action/Humor
Status: WIP
Library Category: AU
Pairings: None
Chapters: 29
Words: 141,224
Updated: January 3, 2013
Published: May 7, 2012
Summary: Milo, a genre-savvy D&D Wizard and Adventurer Extraordinaire is forced to attend Hogwarts, and soon finds himself plunged into a new adventure of magic, mad old Wizards, metagaming, misunderstandings, and munchkinry.
Link: FanFiction.Net

This was posted in the Almost Recommended thread and it's one of the most hilarious fics I've read. I went into this with no knowledge of D&D rules and no expectations but the author handles it really well. Harry is not the major character but the protagonist is really just a plug-in for what other fics generally use Harry as.

About the story, the best part has to be the complete dissonance between the HP and DnD worlds. The author does not pretend to have the magic mix in any way and simply accepts them as completely separate. Although at the point that the story is in, they are starting to mix and it might jump the shark soon. The protagonist still follows the laws of his old universe and this often leads to hilarious outcomes.

Bad qualities would be that the HP characters are a bit out of character sometimes. But for what it sets out to be, it accomplishes perfectly. Some of the meta DnD stuff applied to the HP world is really inspired.

5/5.


Checked by Minion, February 4, 2013

 

To expand on what I said in the Almost recommendable, I really hate Milo as a character. He's annoying, stupid and isn't trying to fit, but rather waiting for the world to accommodate to him.

It is hilarious at some points, out of sheer stupid stubbornness that Milo is using to solve the challenges.

All in all, trying to rate this thing, I have come up with 3.25/5. Good enough to be worthy of a read, but don't expect much beside the goofiness and the fun from implausibility.

(Gifts to NPCs are were really funny, though.)

Also, I guess a background in RPG can help until a certain point, too much will make some of the jokes tiring. That also might be my opinion and other RPG players might enjoy it a lot.

 

It's a good but niche fic. At first, the description made me think it would probably suck, but I gave it a chance and it had me laughing several times. I'm going to keep following this fic for updates, not just because I think it's funny but because I'm somewhat curious how everything will turn out.

I think most people probably won't enjoy this fic as much as I did, but I'd say give it a chance- especially if you're familiar with RPGs. You don't need in-depth DnD knowledge to appreciate the fic, but it might help.

4/5

 

Pretty funny. Worth a read at least.

3.5/5 rounding up, for me.

 

I agree with the others about this being a niche fic, but it's very much my niche, so I've enjoyed the ride. I already discussed this fic in Almost Recommended, so that's all I have to say about it at the moment. The humor is top-notch, and the incompatibility of the two universes is played to the hilt: "If Gringotts' security is so good, why is it overrun with goblins?" Brilliant.

All in all, I think I'll give it 4.5/5, but rounded down because it does have some issues I mentioned in the other thread and is pretty slowly paced besides. Still, I'd wholeheartedly support putting this into the Library.

 

I think this story is hilarious. Chapter 7 (I think?), when Milo is given a potion by Professor Snape, in particular had me nearly in tears.

It's interesting, clearly well-thought-out, and is written such that you can understand what's going on even if, like me, you don't know anything about D&D starting out.

4/5

 

I read this yesterday and although I only have a very brief understanding of D&D, I loved it. The characterization is spot on, the humor to story ratio is smooth, and the comedy is gold. The plot's moving quickly and doesn't seem forced, and I'm really looking forward to the next chapter.

 

I read this and it had genuinely funny parts. But Milo just feels lacking in the assimilation part of a "Putting character X into world Y". Also it feels like if he's reading through half of the library he should have run into Arithmancy, which can easily help him with spell creation. Overall a good read though 4/5.

 

This is a pretty fun fic. 4.5/5 for me thus far, out of sheer enjoyment. One slight nitpick: I'm sure how I feel about the apparent Milo/Hannah pairing. I think it would have been better to wait later and set up a Milo/Luna pairing instead.

 

The author seems confused as to whether he is writing from the perspective of a character, or the player of a character, or simply an observer. Be nice if he stuck to a single style.

Other than that, no more than mildly amusing, every so often.

 

There are times when the humor gets a bit overboard and extra-narrative, but I am otherwise absolutely in love with this story. It's not perfect, though so 4/5

 

This is a pretty standard style for RPG-based humor that's been around for a long time (the original well-known example is The Intercontinental Union of Disgusting Characters, from 1986). It's a fairly natural route to take when writing a story that follows an RPG's rules literally; most RPGs do such a poor job of modeling reality that the only alternative to self-aware characters is an insane mess.

 

With the conclusion of the first year of the story there was a resurgence of fun in the last chapters that sort of faded a bit before short hiatus.

Some of the humor in this story has general appeal, while other parts are very much limited to people who really have a grasp of PnP roleplay concepts and can get how it's being used (or abused!) in the story. So, I really understand the mixed ratings this story is getting here.

I enjoy it immensely. There are a few duller chapters, but for the most part it is brilliant and definitely a breath of fresh air.

A few things I think can help readers appreciate the story:

1. The characterization is mostly from the perspective of how Milo views the characters.
2. Milo views everything the way a player playing a character views things.
3. There is a lot of lampooning and lampshading. What may seem like a poor characterization is most likely an intentional magnification of one aspect of the character done for comedic purposes. If you take it seriously it isn't good characterization. If you take it as caricature it is more enjoyable (and what the author intends).

 

Exactly.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this story. It was laugh-out-loud funny at times (and I don't know DnD but I do know game RPGs so the references worked).

A few chapters before the end though the story became a bit boring (the voice or style changed). Then it suddenly picked up again and ended really well making me look forward to the next year.

Milo utilizing Harry, Hermione and even Ron as his party\companions was a good move and I hope there's more mixing of the two types of magic systems. Also what's a good RPG without the side characters? I'd love for him to assign roles to them mentally (the tank, the healer, etc.).

 

Who needs tanks and healers? All mage parties are the way to go. Healers are for the weak!

 

One of my favourite stories and an example of perfectly handled crossover.

But I am not fan of recent police subplot, Obliviators were the only competent part of government in the canon.

 

the characters are flanderised for humour value sometimes, but i don't mind that. i like how quirrelmort and lockhart are better than in canon, but the police subplot isn't great (unless it's trying to create a broken masquerade) . 4/5

 

It's pretty funny, and nothing else. The beginning of the story is confusing in a really annoying way, Milo isn't Genry Savvy, he is delusional, the author should reread the definition of Genre Savvy. He does have moments where he is, but he is mostly delusional. But the biggest flaw? Milo, he is unlikable and mainly because of him I'm giving a 3,25. I agree completely with Nauro on him.

 

I like this story. It's funny, and for the most part a fun form of the "insert character" fic. There are a few chapters where the author seemed to be less inspired or perhaps didn't have time to revise.

I want to keep reading and am following the sequel so I'd give it 4/5.