D&D 5E Enhancing Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (+)

[pukunui]

It depends on your players. They need to be up for roleplaying cracking under the strain, so they are "fighting" each other. YMMV

I've reread it. It's not quite as bad as I remember thinking it was the first time I read it ... that is to say, it's salvageable. The thing is: as written, there's not a lot for the PCs to conflict with each other about. They all want the same thing (for the curse / quarantine to end) and there's only one viable solution. There aren't any red herrings / seemingly viable alternatives. With one exception, the NPCs just passively hang around "waiting to be clicked on", as Justin Alexander put it in his review.

Furthermore, I'm not sure how I'd work it into a Strixhaven campaign since the curse doesn't kick in until after the PCs have spent the night in the library cellar ... and on the Strixhaven campus, I can't really see the PCs needing to / wanting to spend the night in the library rather than their dorm rooms. I mean, I could probably make it work, but it would take some effort.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've reread it. It's not quite as bad as I remember thinking it was the first time I read it ... that is to say, it's salvageable. The thing is: as written, there's not a lot for the PCs to conflict with each other about.

"The only evil you will find here is what you bring with you." Most of us have lived through lockdown, and have first hand experience of the strain it puts on relationships. And in this case, the PCs are supposed to be younger/less mature.

They all want the same thing (for the curse / quarantine to end) and there's only one viable solution. There aren't any red herrings / seemingly viable alternatives.

Once suspects it was edited for space. Most of the adventures in Candlekeep/Radiant Citadel feel a little dehydrated, and need fluffing back up before use.

With one exception, the NPCs just passively hang around "waiting to be clicked on"

Well, NPCs have to be fairly passive, or they might resolve the problem without the PCs' help! But in this case one would assume Styxhaven NPC rivals/love interests would be added to the mix.

, as Justin Alexander put it in his review.

Ah, him.

Let's just say I don't hold a very high opinion of his views. He and I seem to interpret text very differently, and because he is on the internets, people are too quick to treat his opinions as Word-of-God.

Furthermore, I'm not sure how I'd work it into a Strixhaven campaign since the curse doesn't kick in until after the PCs have spent the night in the library cellar ... and on the Strixhaven campus, I can't really see the PCs needing to / wanting to spend the night in the library rather than their dorm rooms. I mean, I could probably make it work, but it would take some effort.

Technically, it's under the inn, not under the library. Waking up after a drunken binge would be a suitable start for the adventure in the Stryxhaven setting.

But one aspect of the PCs playing college students is there may well be NPCs telling them what to do!

 

[pukunui]

Since I intended for this to be a + thread, I’ll just say thank you for your contribution. However, I don’t think I will use Shemshine in my campaign.

Moving on, I only just saw that you expanded on your first post.

I intend to skip “Lore of Lurue” as it’s the worst of the lot. Not only is it railroady but the PCs have zero agency.

Not a fan of the goofy “Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion” and don’t really want to shift into a Spelljammer campaign as some have suggested, so I’ll skip that one too.

Since the main Strixhaven campaign ends at 10th level, all the rest of the CM adventures will have to be post-grad opportunities. (I do like a bunch of them, though.)

I’ll review the Radiant Citadel adventures next.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I intend to skip “Lore of Lurue” as it’s the worst of the lot. Not only is it railroady but the PCs have zero agency.

Definitely agree on that!

I’ll review the Radiant Citadel adventures next.

I haven't played any of them yet, but I think because the setting culture is a big aspect they are not so easy to just "drop in" anywhere. You can, of course, have planner traveling field trips.

 

[pukunui]

I haven't played any of them yet, but I think because the setting culture is a big aspect they are not so easy to just "drop in" anywhere. You can, of course, have planner traveling field trips.

Since Arcavios is very much a blank slate, I intend to slot the various cultures somewhere on the planet. I'm going to handwave a lot of the travel in this campaign. They can either visit these places via a magic portal or they can just travel there over the summer holidays or something.

EDIT: If I use “Salted Legacy”, I think it will just be as a fun diversion to the local night market. I’ll leave out the rivalry and sabotage and just have the PCs participate in the market games.

One of the suggested hooks is that a friend is from the area and wants to show the PCs the market. That should work just fine. Nora Ann Wu would probably be a good connection here.