D&D 5E Strixhaven Previews Start to Appear

It's that time in the D&D pre-release publicity phase where previews of the upcoming book start to appear across the web on various sites. It looks like each site is getting a different college to preview -- Screenrant has Prismari, and Polygon has Silverquill, for example. There are 5 colleges in total, so if the other three (Lorehold, Witherbloom, and Quandrix) show up I'll post here. Be...

It's that time in the D&D pre-release publicity phase where previews of the upcoming book start to appear across the web on various sites. It looks like each site is getting a different college to preview -- Screenrant has Prismari, and Polygon has Silverquill, for example. There are 5 colleges in total, so if the other three (Lorehold, Witherbloom, and Quandrix) show up I'll post here. Be sure to click through to each site to see the full articles and all the previews.


Strixhaven's release date was pushed back a month or so from November 16th, presumably due to the global production and shipping issues, and should begin showing up in mid-December.

Screenrant has a number of pieces, including a page describing the Prismari college faculty, the prismari student background, and art piece showing an NPC. In that article WotC's James Wyatt described how the "Relationship mechanics and the rules around Extracurricular activities and Jobs ensure that players keep their attention on how they’re relating to other students"; 18 NPCs form part of that Relationship system, and you are a friend or a rival of each: "For example, if you’re friends with Greta Gorunn, an affable, fun-loving, bodybuilding dwarf, members of the Iron-Lifters Society might show up to help you with any tough physical tasks you encounter. If you’ve annoyed her, one night when you return to your dorm you’re likely to find a bunch of heavy furniture blocking your way to your room."

strx1.jpg


Polygon gets the Silverquill college, again along with its related background and an NPC.

strx2.jpg


Amanda Hamon talked to Polygon and describes how the book is comprised of four 'arcs', one for each college year. She also talks about "gamifying romantic relationships with non-player characters, a system for taking exams, and a vaguely Quidditch-like ruleset for the popular intramural sport of Mage Tower."
 

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Tales and Chronicles

Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
Those games feel like having to fight attractive (but rather dull) people off with a stick.
ahaha so right!

I remember Dragon Age 2...

''c'mon guys! No I dont want to f*** any of you, can we just focus of trying to avoid a plague of demonic possession? pretty please?''

''but-but-but...you gave me a cat!''

''Yeah. As friend. Because we're buddies, right? (and because I dont want to be the one to carry the damn cat)''

''Well...you dont want to sleep with me?! Then I'll destroy half of the town and start a civil war. That'll show ya!''
 

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ahaha so right!

I remember Dragon Age 2...

''c'mon guys! No I dont want to f*** any of you, can we just focus of trying to avoid a plague of demonic possession? pretty please?''

''but-but-but...you gave me a cat!''

''Yeah. As friend. Because we're buddies, right? (and because I dont want to be the one to carry the damn cat)''

''Well...you dont want to sleep with me?! Then I'll destroy half of the town and start a civil war. That'll show ya!''
DA2 is an odd example because it has some of the less-gamified relationships, in that you don't have to "score points" to get the relationships. In fact you can have relationships with people who dislike you, if it makes sense for the personalities involved - DA2 is unusual in that making people hate you changes your relationship with them rather than leaving the party.

As for your example, you either misremembered or are misrepresenting for the sake of amusement. Anders is poorly-written so does seem to come on to you a bit easily (which lead to a whole bunch of sad homophobia at the time), but he absolutely doesn't take his actions because of you. In fact it's the precise opposite. No matter how kind you are to him, no matter how much you help, he lies to you and "does a terrorism".

Also far from fighting people off, people endlessly complained about how hard it was to romance Fenris and that it was literally impossible to romance Aveline.

Source: I've probably played DA2 too many times lol.

DA:O is the worst for this as you do literally have to score points with decisions (often unrelated to the character) and gifts, rather than romance, and can romance people whilst being very unsuitable for them with enough gifts. Not a great message.
 

Bolares

Hero
ahaha so right!

I remember Dragon Age 2...

''c'mon guys! No I dont want to f*** any of you, can we just focus of trying to avoid a plague of demonic possession? pretty please?''

''but-but-but...you gave me a cat!''

''Yeah. As friend. Because we're buddies, right? (and because I dont want to be the one to carry the damn cat)''

''Well...you dont want to sleep with me?! Then I'll destroy half of the town and start a civil war. That'll show ya!''
Try and play the witcher and not f*ck anyone. That game is horny!
 

Tales and Chronicles

Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
As for your example, you either misremembered or are misrepresenting for the sake of amusement. Anders is poorly-written
I'd say it's a fine mix of all three! :LOL:

Yeah Anders was a little heavy-handed in his writing. Cool character though. And I still think despite all the bashing, DA2 is probably my favorite DA.

EDIT: Anyway, tangent. On the subject, I think they probably either use the Loyalty or Piety/Renown rules to make the relationship rules. I think it can be done well, especially if the ''higher rank perks'' are a possibility of romance decided by you and the DM and not an automatic result when you reach a high ''score'' with someone.
 
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TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
I would say regardless of the opinion of whether gameplay focused on relationship building has been handled well or poorly in the past, it's such an established trope at this point that it only makes sense to move it into the TTRPG square. I don't think it becomes inherently more problematic in a TTRRG than a computer RPG.
 

Bolares

Hero
I would say regardless of the opinion of whether gameplay focused on relationship building has been handled well or poorly in the past, it's such an established trope at this point that it only makes sense to move it into the TTRPG square. I don't think it becomes inherently more problematic in a TTRRG than a computer RPG.
Yeah, I think it's cool to have a system for those who want them. And I don't think romantic relationships are problematic. HOW you do them can be problematic.
 

Try and play the witcher and not f*ck anyone. That game is horny!
Total side question, because I don’t comment here as often as I did a decade ago:

Does ENWorld not still have a No Profanity rule? The rule used to be something like “This is a family-friendly site, so don’t use language you wouldn’t use in front of your grandma.”

I’m not judging, just curious if the rules here changed.
 

SkidAce

Legend
Supporter
Total side question, because I don’t comment here as often as I did a decade ago:

Does ENWorld not still have a No Profanity rule? The rule used to be something like “This is a family-friendly site, so don’t use language you wouldn’t use in front of your grandma.”

I’m not judging, just curious if the rules here changed.
I still assume the grandma rule is in place.
 

Parmandur

Book-Friend
Total side question, because I don’t comment here as often as I did a decade ago:

Does ENWorld not still have a No Profanity rule? The rule used to be something like “This is a family-friendly site, so don’t use language you wouldn’t use in front of your grandma.”

I’m not judging, just curious if the rules here changed.
The Grandma rule is by it's nature a moving target. I wouldn't use the language my grandmother used when playing Scrabble on this site, for instance.
 
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I can't imagine how gamifying is going to piss people off... I mean Mario can't get a kiss from his canonical girlfriend for saving her, because it makes woman a prize to be won... but sure lets see how you "Game up" relationships...
wait... what? I know it isn't the purpose of of your post but did I miss something, is that why Princess toadstool just stands there in mario maker? did someone complain about a kiss being bad?

ugh I am really going to get together my whole 'charm' spells shouldn't exist in PHB post one of these days, but I think this will side trek me for a while...
WHere I don't think that charm spells need be removed (except friends) I will agree they are... problematic at best.


but yeah put me down for no gamifying relationships of a romantic type.
 

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