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Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos - First Party Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Shardstone" data-source="post: 9182179" data-attributes="member: 6807784"><p>Strixhaven the MTG set had some amazing implied lore. There were super cutthroat interactions between students who would have violent duels with one another or sabotage another student in order to get ahead or claim a discovery etc. The instructors were powerful mages who sometimes had to eliminate students that'd become hostile and dangerous to the entire school. These instructors would also leads student expeditions to different parts of the wider setting, and these expeditions were dangerous. Death was a known possibility for everyone who attended Strixhaven because studying magic, truly studying it, was a very dangerous affair. </p><p></p><p>This book has none of that flavor at all. Maybe they were afraid due to school shootings in America. As a professor and as someone who was involved in a shooting on campus, I think a mature note at the beginning of the book would have made this a fine theme to keep. It really does not feel at all like the stylish, somewhat-sexy, very artistic, and cutthroat Strixhaven the MtG set depicted. It feels like a PG-rated adventure book that is poorly supported. </p><p></p><p>WotC should have looked at games like Monster Hearts if they wanted to make Strixhaven a book about the mundane aspects of student life. There are many mechanics that could have been taken from Monster Hearts to help support the ideas in this version of Strixhaven, specifically Relationships. Instead, WotC as usual just didn't have any good mechanical ideas and tbh this book, like most (not all) of their books, leaves me feeling like they just don't know what they're doing. </p><p></p><p>They really completely changed the tone and idea of Strixhaven and the replacement was a child's version. I know a lot of D&D is for kids, but it's just so mid that they took this cool Arcane University that felt different from others (but relatable still) and completely transformed everything about it into the complete opposite. If you were interested in Strixhaven because of MtG, this book is not for you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shardstone, post: 9182179, member: 6807784"] Strixhaven the MTG set had some amazing implied lore. There were super cutthroat interactions between students who would have violent duels with one another or sabotage another student in order to get ahead or claim a discovery etc. The instructors were powerful mages who sometimes had to eliminate students that'd become hostile and dangerous to the entire school. These instructors would also leads student expeditions to different parts of the wider setting, and these expeditions were dangerous. Death was a known possibility for everyone who attended Strixhaven because studying magic, truly studying it, was a very dangerous affair. This book has none of that flavor at all. Maybe they were afraid due to school shootings in America. As a professor and as someone who was involved in a shooting on campus, I think a mature note at the beginning of the book would have made this a fine theme to keep. It really does not feel at all like the stylish, somewhat-sexy, very artistic, and cutthroat Strixhaven the MtG set depicted. It feels like a PG-rated adventure book that is poorly supported. WotC should have looked at games like Monster Hearts if they wanted to make Strixhaven a book about the mundane aspects of student life. There are many mechanics that could have been taken from Monster Hearts to help support the ideas in this version of Strixhaven, specifically Relationships. Instead, WotC as usual just didn't have any good mechanical ideas and tbh this book, like most (not all) of their books, leaves me feeling like they just don't know what they're doing. They really completely changed the tone and idea of Strixhaven and the replacement was a child's version. I know a lot of D&D is for kids, but it's just so mid that they took this cool Arcane University that felt different from others (but relatable still) and completely transformed everything about it into the complete opposite. If you were interested in Strixhaven because of MtG, this book is not for you. [/QUOTE]
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