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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 8497717" data-attributes="member: 42856">Hi,Recently, [USER=7026314]@!DWolf[/USER] made a very interesting post contrasting the first parts of Strixhaven and the Strength of Thousands Paizo adventure path. It convinced me to get the AP, as I was interested in running a wizarding academy adventure, with more grown-up heroes than Hogwarts, and both WotC and Paizo put out material in this vein. My group, without consultation, got me Strixhaven for Christmas, so I am back to my original idea of making a mish-mash of the two to get a longer running campaign. It's as much relevant to Paizo (especially the first few posts I intend) than WotC, but I needed to  chose, so here it is.I thought some might be interested to read my musings as I peruse the products and start preparing and arbitrating things (I have ample prep time as I'll play instead of run in the next few weeks). It will also cover the convertibility of university experience from a European point of view.It will of course be spoiler-plentiful.Part 1 : reading Kindle Magic (SoT part 1, chapter 1)I will largely echo what !DWolf wrote in his <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/strixhaven-campus-kerfuffle-and-sot-kindled-fire.684839/" target="_blank">thread</a> regarding the impressions I have for this part. I will add a few elements. First, there is an overview of the whole series: over the course of six adventures, the PCs will go from level 1 new students arriving to take their first lesson to save the world. Which is great, but I I have a worry about the pacing. First adventure is describe as the PC having "new student" status and have them engage in adventure and student life, but the second adventure have them at "conversant" status, where they have a side job as university representative to the city next to it. While it's not unheard of in real life to hire students, it happens only when they are at thesis level, not second year. And starting at the third adventure, they are full professors. I know people who waited 20 years to get a tenure, OK PCs are heroic but that's happening pretty fast. From reading just the overview, I see the AP seems more to be a university-centered campaign than a student campaign. Which is great, since it leaves room for expansion, between/parallel to the first episode of SoT, to dwell on these topic and make the players more invested into the setting. For regular players in the Mwangi Expanse area of Golarion, it's not a problem because they'd connect to the area. But if your players, as in mine, have never set foot there, I feel that a single episode devoted to discovering the university would be short. It hasn't the same emotional charge than saving Sharn or one the nations we've been playing in, on and off for decades (litterally...)The speed is confirmed by the pacing of levelling: the PCs reach level 2 at the end of their orientation week, then level 3 after a period of community service, and their 4th level at the end of the adventure. It's... quite quicker than my usual pacing -- even though I recognize that the first levels go by quickly. This is addressed in a sidebar, though (saying it's a design goal, which is cool, but doesn't address the quick responsabilities increase...)The adventure start with the welcoming speech by a teacher. Who obviously has never met a real-life first year student, since he finds in them "intellect, passion, and judgment", even before offering them a few chalenges in creativity, that are kicking off the adventure, where PCs are given a little opportunity to explore before embarking into a public service quest. The heroes are told from the opening speech that with great power comes great responsability, so they are expected to do some chores (bringing chicken from a market, getting a storeroom rid of gremlins, gather a few magical components from live creatures, delivering mail, and recounting their adventure. Each is supposed to rely on the qualities emphasized by the school's colleges. While the task can be fun to play, more than the description I made of them, it's... quite mundane and does more feel like service to the school than public service, except the mail delivery one. I am wondering if the task wouldn't be more fitting as a series of challenge part of their, hum, how does that translate? Hazing seems a little rougher than what we have: the time where young students are tasked with time-honored tradition to gather money, usually by mendicity or selling absolutely stupid rubbish like old exam copies to passers-by, in order to buy alcohol for the get together party, or have silly accomplishment to do like "every team starts with an egg, you can only exchange it for something else, the winning team is the one who bring the best item at the end of the day -- strong alcohol is a very great item"). -- I guess there might simply not be something like that in the US where the drinking age is 21. Since the gremlins disposal incurs a potentially deadly retaliation from the gremlin boss (and a hint about the adventure bad guy), it would be unwise to have faculty let this task on young students (ie, nearly children by our standards...) while a goofup from elder students is more credible (even if the teachers don't now about the BBEG of the adventure).The second part is intertwined with a few terms of dowtime as students attend school, which will prompt me to read the relevent chapter next.</blockquote>

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