D&D 5E Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos - I have no clue what this is about

[HawaiiSteveO]

Not a lot of previews, teasers etc as of yet but still a month out.

So for someone who has no clue about MTG etc what's the general idea of this?

It has YA (young adult) vibe to it? Hogwarts meets D&D? Not sure (once again but cool with it) I'm target audience for this.

THE SCHOOL OF MAGIC IS IN SESSION

The greatest minds in the multiverse meet at Strixhaven University. Professors convey fantastic secrets to eager students, and life on campus is frenetic. But danger lurks even here. Campus hijinks mix with mishaps and sinister plots, and it’s up to you to save the day.

Strixhaven™: A Curriculum of Chaos introduces the fantastical setting of Strixhaven University, drawn from the multiverse of MAGIC: THE GATHERING, and provides rules for creating characters who are students in one of its five colleges. Characters can explore the setting over the course of four adventures, which can be played together or on their own. Each adventure describes an academic year filled with scholarly pursuits, campus shenanigans, exciting friendships, hidden dangers, and perhaps even romance. This book includes a poster map that shows Strixhaven’s campuses on one side and location maps on the other.

 

[darjr]

It’s kinda superficially hogwarts in D&D at a Magic university. With a lot of Real Genius and a dash of Pitch Perfect.
But think college, not high school.

But of coarse your mileage may varry.

 

[NotAYakk]

The MTG university was a school for mages. It was founded by 5 dragons (using MTG-hybrid colors). Each of the schools has two deans, who are each a legendary mage. One of them is a famous MTG planeswalker in disguise.

There is an implied story involving a school-destroying magical disaster told in the cards' flavor text.

Each school has a different take on magic; mathemagics, biomagic, archeology, artistic expression, and eloquence. In each school there are sub concentrations.

The setting is pretty full of classic boarding-school tropes. You arrive as a 1st year and take a general curriculum as the schools convince promising students to join them. The school sport is mage duels at the top of a tower. There are mascots (different summoned creatures for each school), faculty members trying to take over the universe (or worse; the school!), forbidden corners of libraries, 2 school councilors giving opposing advice for each student, etc.

The MTG cards provide more than a half-dozen interesting NPCs for each of the schools, a bunch of interesting spells or rituals, artifacts of importance, etc. Direct mechanical translation isn't really needed, but there is fertile ground to grow some stuff on here.

Like many MTG sets, the writers wrote a story about what happens, then cards sample from events in that story (or cards inspire a story). Here is a link to it written out in prose: Strixhaven: School of Mages

 

[Cadence]

The story they released with it is a few rows down at MAGIC STORY. (Will and Rowan are planeshopping twin mages from the fairy tale world Eldraine, one fire one ice; Liliana Vess is a very powerful necromancer and planeswalkers, and on the run for seemingly working for the evil Nicol Bolas - one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse - before he was recently imprisoned after killing a multitude of planeswalkers he lured to Ravnica).

Overview of the five colleges is at: The First Lesson: Introduction to Strixhaven

The cards are at: Strixhaven: School of Mages (STX) Card Gallery

 

[HammerMan]

I am hopeing to mine it for mage guilds/xmen rip off's

part of me also wants to watch the look of horror on MY PCs faces when I have them get to a guild/school and I force them to find the villainy shape shifter at the prom... "Don't worry, you can be guest chaperones"

 

[Hexmage-EN]

The most noteworthy thing I've heard is that it apparently has some kind of new framework for DMs to manage NPC and faction interactions or something like that.

Found it:

• Through the book’s multiyear campaign, players begin as first-year students who study, socialize, and adventure their way to graduation.
• Experience D&D in new ways through the academic challenges, extracurricular activities and jobs, and relationships explored on campus.

 

[HammerMan]

Each school has a different take on magic; mathemagics, biomagic, archeology, artistic expression, and eloquence. In each school there are sub concentrations.

oh man flavor text or mechanics I would totally LOVE those to be written out so i could pillage it.

 

[Scribe]

• Through the book’s multiyear campaign, players begin as first-year students who study, socialize, and adventure their way to graduation.
• Experience D&D in new ways through the academic challenges, extracurricular activities and jobs, and relationships explored on campus.

I can imagine no punishment in the Hell's, or infinite Abyss, worse than reliving school.

 

[HammerMan]

I can imagine no punishment in the Hell's, or infinite Abyss, worse than reliving school.

yeah... I'm old. Too old for that BS... but again, I can imagine having more adult players interact as teachers, alumni and advisors

 

[Parmandur]

Not a lot of previews, teasers etc as of yet but still a month out.

So for someone who has no clue about MTG etc what's the general idea of this?

It has YA (young adult) vibe to it? Hogwarts meets D&D? Not sure (once again but cool with it) I'm target audience for this.

THE SCHOOL OF MAGIC IS IN SESSION

The greatest minds in the multiverse meet at Strixhaven University. Professors convey fantastic secrets to eager students, and life on campus is frenetic. But danger lurks even here. Campus hijinks mix with mishaps and sinister plots, and it’s up to you to save the day.

Strixhaven™: A Curriculum of Chaos introduces the fantastical setting of Strixhaven University, drawn from the multiverse of MAGIC: THE GATHERING, and provides rules for creating characters who are students in one of its five colleges. Characters can explore the setting over the course of four adventures, which can be played together or on their own. Each adventure describes an academic year filled with scholarly pursuits, campus shenanigans, exciting friendships, hidden dangers, and perhaps even romance. This book includes a poster map that shows Strixhaven’s campuses on one side and location maps on the other.

It's a mix of Setting book and campaign: apparently about a quarter of the book is a four academic year adventure campaign for students, with the rest being crunch and School Setting fluff.