D&D 5E Strixhaven: Orientation

WotC has released an overview of the upcoming Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, as adventurers of levels 1-10 uncover a plot against the university. Teased are activities like tavern games, a magical frog race, an improv festival, and other social encounters. You can also take exams to improve your skills, join clubs, or get jobs.

Also included is a bestiary of over 40 new creatures.

The Bibloplex contains most of the information in the multiverse. Plenty of other locations fill the book, such as Captain Dapplewing's Manor, a mansion built for the university professors. One adventure has the PCs breaking into the manor. Another adventure involves the main Strixhaven student sport, Mage Tower.

 

[Stormonu]

There are differences, sure. But I don't think you'd be wrong to call this simply D&D Harry Potter. A bit reductive, maybe. But as a succinct summary, it works pretty well. The same way how it's somewhat reductive, yet accurate to call Shadowrun "Cyberpunk but with orcs".

Yeah, I don’t know why people are getting up in arms about it. It’s not like Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd wasn’t a blatant copy of Dracula & company. D&D is built on taking existing works of fantasy and making a generic copy you can plop you and your friends in. This one’s for new players and the folks who grew up after the 2E/3E days of D&D (though it’s got my attention as well).

And I’m glad that D&D isn’t just focusing on converting old 1E/2E campaign worlds, but is bothering to expand into new worlds, even if those worlds are borrowed from its sister game, MtG and more modern fantasy - not just the pulps of yore. It’s certainly helluva lot better than FR all the time.

Strixhaven is there for those of us who like and want to emulate the genre of magic schools and “young adult” fantasy. If you don’t like it, I’m sure if you wait five minutes WotC will have a new setting to check out that might interest you.

 

[Vael]

The main reason I'm getting this one is less about running Strixhaven than I'm hoping for some tools and insights into improving the social pillar of the game. It's a weak spot for me as a DM. And I like the idea of running a campaign in a magical school, if not necessarily in Strixhaven itself.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I want to say that, in one of the grimoires to come out of Europe during the Late Middle Ages, there was something about a secret university located below ground in an anonymous part of Europe. Every year, Satan himself would teach a class of warlocks the magical arts. At the end of the year, the last student to leave would have their soul snatched from them to serve Satan. IIRC Francis Bacon was said to have attended, but he knew about the soul-snatching, so he sprinted out of the school last, and the Devil only got his shadow.

 

[Jaeger]

I’m not investigating the depths of the product, but are you sure it’s an actual “prom”? Is that the word used?

Just like Strixhaven is totally not-hogwarts, I'm sure that they use some not-prom term like a 'ball' or some such.

Tomatoe, tomato. It's obvious what nostalgia vibe they are trying to tap with this one.

There are differences, sure. But I don't think you'd be wrong to call this simply D&D Harry Potter. A bit reductive, maybe. But as a succinct summary, it works pretty well.

Exactly.

Everyone knows what they are doing.

It's not like the WotC PR machine is out there playing up the differences...

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

College 4 of 5:



Note that Warsinger being named here, but pictured with a drum, may be an error, since the tweet for Lorehold also listed Warsinger and it has a pic of a microphone beside it in that post.

 

[Azuresun]

I want to say that, in one of the grimoires to come out of Europe during the Late Middle Ages, there was something about a secret university located below ground in an anonymous part of Europe. Every year, Satan himself would teach a class of warlocks the magical arts. At the end of the year, the last student to leave would have their soul snatched from them to serve Satan. IIRC Francis Bacon was said to have attended, but he knew about the soul-snatching, so he sprinted out of the school last, and the Devil only got his shadow.

A clear allegory for tuition fees.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A clear allegory for tuition fees.

Tuition fees where certainly high back then, but secret organisations of scholars who discussed things the inquisition would take a dim view of did exist.

 

[Yaarel]

Except you would be wrong. Both are magic schools, but stryxhaven has a lot of focus on teaching real life subjects, in fact all the colleges have a focus on a real world subject (math, history, biology, writing, performative arts) with a magical lense. All the students are adults. they don't need to hide magic from a real world.... if you go to stryxhaven expecting hogwarts, I'd bet you'd get frustrated, because that's not what stryxhaven was going for. When the MTG set was being previewed a lot of the same criticisms and reductionisms were happening, and now that it's been out for about a year, the comparisons stopped... Being a fan of both MTG and D&D, this all feels a little deja-vu for me

For me, the D&D "Potterverse" is the Eladrin in the Feywild. These Wizards (and Bards!) are nonhumans.

Strixhaven is something else.

 

[Yaarel]

As we all know, university is a very serious place, with absolutely no childish hijinks from anyone who goes there, ever.

Maybe the more serious the school is, the crazier the hijinks are.

 

[Yaarel]

It doesn't really matter if the word is used, since "prom" has lost much of it's original meaning, and could refer to any kind of formal dance for late teens.

"Is it appropriate" depends entirely on the culture of the setting. If you are being informed by some sort of pseudo-medieval context, then colleges should be single sex, with no officially sanctioned socialising. Something to consider if you wanted to drop it into the World of Greyhawk, but otherwise not really an issue.

Hmm.

Regarding "formal occasions", where I am, "prom" means highschool. Something resembling it in other contexts is probably a "gala". The term "ball" still happens, but is intentionally retro, and seems impossible to separate from "gowns".

A "party" connotes an informal celebration.

Something semi-formal might be an "event".