Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos - First Party Review

[M_Natas]

The school story genre isn't about the academic side of education. The only lessons that matter are "life lessons" and they don't need rules. Which tends to be the case with social roleplaying - it is usually free-form, often ignoring rules even when they do exist. The difficulty is, it's not something you can explain how to do in an introductory paragraph. It tends to be something groups either do, or do not. I remember the first time I encountered social roleplaying back in the 90s. I bounced right off: "enough yacking, I just want to go and kill some monsters already!"

But sometimes it is. Like Crhsitopher Nuttals Schooled in Magic - Series or magical school LitRPGs where a big part of the story is the advancement of the characters in their magical skills.

I literally hoped for a School Simulation System where you go to class or to the gym or dueling club in order to increase your abilities.

If I do an RPG set in a school, the school need to have effects on the skills and abilities of the characters.

 

[Parmandur]

This is a side effect of building it off a MtG setting. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight it would have been better to locate the magic school in an established, and more grounded D&D setting. That way you are not trying to introduce quite so many new ideas at once.

I don't think anyone would pretend Stryxhaven is perfect, but first attempts to do something new and different never are. And heaping criticism on it just has the effect of making WotC even more reluctant to innovate. If you must criticise it, you should at least try and understand what it was aiming for, rather than criticising it for not being something it was never intended to be.

And this is correct, Bullywug PCs are easy should a player want one.

The lack of scalable player options is just my big beef with 5E, actually: it's behind 2E and 3E in that regard. I had a friend play a Hill Giant in one gonzo campaign of 3E, using rules from an official WotC product. Representing the variety of MtG charachters should be more doable, and this here just highlights the broader systemic issue rather than being a criticism of the book which overall I find quite interesting.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

school doesn't work the same when you're 18 as when you're 14.

This is very much a cultural thing, that varies from decade to decade, and country to country, and could be anything in a fantasy setting. Maturity is something that occurs based on life experience, not chronological age. I mean, I'm 55 and I still haven't grown up!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But sometimes it is. Like Crhsitopher Nuttals Schooled in Magi

Which is why you need to understand which particular stories inspired Stryxhaven.

 

[TwoSix]

This is very much a cultural thing, that varies from decade to decade, and country to country, and could be anything in a fantasy setting. Maturity is something that occurs based on life experience, not chronological age. I mean, I'm 55 and I still haven't grown up!

And yet, fantasy setting or no, the story and tropes of a mature adult in a school setting are going to be drastically different than that of an adolescent.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And yet, fantasy setting or no, the story and tropes of a mature adult in a school setting are going to be drastically different than that of an adolescent.

The story tropes of a child in a boarding school are very different from the experiences of most children these days (I was an exception). Styxhaven works for that.

And when talking about students "mature adult" is an oxymoron. The assumption is the students at Stryxhaven are not mature, whatever their chronological age might be.

 

[TwoSix]

The story tropes of a child in a boarding school are very different from the experiences of most children these days (I was an exception). Styxhaven works for that.

They assuredly are, but they're tropes that most players are going to be familiar with via popular media. They might not be accurate, but when has that mattered for a trope?

And when talking about students "mature adult" is an oxymoron.

That's kinda the point, you don't tell school stories about mature adults. But there's still a categorical difference between the stories you tell about a 14 year old compared to an 18 year old. (Unless you're the CW, of course.)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

there's still a categorical difference between the stories you tell about a 14 year old compared to an 18 year old. (Unless you're the CW, of course.)

Earlier, I said:

There are people who will react negatively about the idea of children in deadly situations, or killing. There are people who will react negatively to the idea of children in "romantic" situations.

I think you are probably amongst those people, and are projecting your own cultural produces onto others. Try telling Shakespeare he can't tell a story about a 14 year old falling in love, getting married, and killing themselves.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Earlier, I said:

I think you are probably amongst those people, and are projecting your own cultural produces onto others. Try telling Shakespeare he can't tell a story about a 14 year old falling in love, getting married, and killing themselves.

Isn't that exactly what WotC is doing with aging up the PCs in Strixhaven?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Isn't that exactly what WotC is doing with aging up the PCs in Strixhaven?

Indeed. But the only thing that changes is the number.