D&D 5E Roundup: Check Out These Previews from D&D Celebration

Scribe · Sep 26, 2021

AcererakTriple6 said:
1) Horror, and Madness are already variant rules in the DMG. They're there if you want them.
2) Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft introcuded the Fear and Stress mechanics, which also work for the same purpose, while not being so problematic (due to most of the Madness effects being similar to real-life mental conditions and illnesses, like schizophrenia).
3) There are plenty of horrifying things in VRGtR, like the Unspeakable Horror, Relentless Killers, Nechrichor, Zombie Clot, and similar monsters. None of those are the sort of things that you'd see in the Scooby-Doo TV show, especially because the whole premise of Scooby-Doo is that the monsters are always fake, which makes them more horrifying in a D&D world where they're legitimately real.

This is what I thought, those options already existed, were added to, and in flipping through the book, there seemed to be quite a few 'adult' things going on?

(I didnt buy it, because I disagree with the approach on lineages, but the rest of the book looked fine after I mentally added 'Evil' to every Monster as an alignment.)

Levistus's_Leviathan · Sep 26, 2021

Scribe said:
This is what I thought, those options already existed, were added to, and in flipping through the book, there seemed to be quite a few 'adult' things going on?

Yeah. The options exist in the DMG, and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft has quite a few horrific/adult stuff in it (like Lamordia's whole Frankenstein-ish focus, the horrific ghost train Cyre 1313 where the riders don't know they're dead, the maddening realm of Bluetspur with a degenerating elder-brain-demigod that gets fed the minds of vampiric mind flayers, etc).

None of that seems "Scooby-Doo" or "childish" to me. That's all pretty horrific and mature.

Mind of tempest · Sep 26, 2021

Scribe said:
This is what I thought, those options already existed, were added to, and in flipping through the book, there seemed to be quite a few 'adult' things going on?

(I didnt buy it, because I disagree with the approach on lineages, but the rest of the book looked fine after I mentally added 'Evil' to every Monster as an alignment.)

you are correct as I bought it and read it, mostly I wanted the hopping dead but the rest was fine as well or at least fit for function.

GMMichael · Sep 26, 2021

Banish Into Dream.
Open trapdoor.
Laugh at victims.

Mind of tempest · Sep 26, 2021

GMMichael said:
Banish Into Dream.
Open trapdoor.
Laugh at victims.

elaborate please?

Dire Bare · Sep 26, 2021

Geoff Thirlwell said:
I think Strixhaven will be the first WotC 5e book that I won’t buy

Okay. Shrug.

Bird Of Play said:
Is it troublesome and offensive if I say this looks like utter poo?

I so miss when D&D was darker and more Tolkien-inspired. Now it's Harry Potter, but as an anime.
Makes sense however, since the majority of D&D players in general either choose to play as their favorite anime character or as their idealized waifu/husbando.

Offensive? Perhaps mildly so, in a childish manner. Tiresome, definitely.

Grimstaff said:
I can’t tell if Strixhaven is marketed towards teenaged schoolgirls, or middle aged dudes wanting to roleplay teenaged schoolgirls.

Or perhaps, you are simply out of touch with modern trends in fantastic literature, television, and movies. Strixhaven isn't marketing towards women, or even young women, but more towards a younger crowd than the always-complaining grognard crowd. It's definitely more light-hearted, takes influence from the magic school genre (of which, Harry Potter is only the most famous example, but far from only), and does take cues from anime (and anime-inspired) fantasy.

My god, the thread crap here is strong. Phew!

It's okay if Strixhaven doesn't look like it's going to match your tastes. It's okay to share that, and why, as long as you remember it's not all about you. But the histrionic complaining and thread-crapping is so tiresome. Really, who cares if you don't like the themes and style behind Strixhaven? No one, no one cares.

NaturalZero · Sep 26, 2021

Erdric Dragin said:
And then WotC takes those same settings and ruins them for the 5e crowd. Ravenloft book is a clear example, being dubbed more "Scooby-Doo" like than Gothic Horror, as it should have been. The fact it lacks Fear/Horror/Madness rules mechanics, which was literally the core of Ravenloft's playstyle, was stripped completely.

I just bought Stephen King's Night Shift on Kindle. To my surprise, there were no fear/horror/madness rules mechanics, so clearly the stories are meant for kids. Because you can't tell a horror story without a number that tells you how horrific it is, right?

GMMichael · Sep 27, 2021

Mind of tempest said:
elaborate please?

Sure:
Moonstone dragon greets potential adversaries on a "lonely peak," or more specifically, a zone of "settled" boulders.
After bantering in search of happy times fondly remembered (while actually probing to check for hostile intent), the moonstone dragon picks out the foe least likely to know Feather Fall, and casts Banish Into Dream on it.
On its turn, the moonstone dragon steps on the keystone, which gives way under its weight, causing a rockslide.
When the Banish Into Dream victim reappears in the space it left, there's no longer a boulder to stand on: just a treacherous fall down the mountain.
The "laugh at victims" part was for the DM, not the dragon

Keefe the Thief · Sep 27, 2021

I should let this thread inspire me, really. Time to go into a grocery store, stand before the fruit rack and loudly proclaim "Now THATS an apple I won`t buy".

Because anime or smth.

Professor Murder · Sep 27, 2021

While I am not in the market for a new setting in the foreseeable future, I am warming to Strixhaven, as its using the DnD Engine to tell stories that I wouldn't expect the system to be suited for. So my theory is that some new social systems will be baked in, which I am in the market for more of in DnD overall. So I may be snagging it just for that reason.