Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (2024)

My first D&D disappointment. Not that the book is really bad, but given the setting, they could have done so much more with it. While I understand the move towards giving the DMs more freedom with the world and the adventure, not giving them every character's relationship and the details of every nook and cranny, I don't think that getting only the main points, with little to go on in between, is the completely right choice. Moreover, while it maybe could have worked with a more solid adventure, Strixhaven's campaign feels... a bit bland. During the first two years, almost every event follows the exact same pattern - and sure, I can make it work if I spend some time reworking the event, but that should not be the case. The third year was the most interesting of them all - perhaps because the threat finally felt meaningful and some real backstage machinations could be seen, but that was the only exception - otherwise there's too much open-endedness, and while it might have been intended as inspirational to the DMs, it does leave a lot of things open in a way that is kind of hard to make believable and/or fun. While I definitely thing that the fun of D&D is coming up with one's own story, if one purchases a pre-made adventure, they clearly do not want to do that. So while I personally don't want to throw the entire book out the window - I think there's a lot a DM can expand on, reworking the initial story into something enjoyable - I can't help but be disappointed at how little thought seems to have went into the adventure.

Beautiful alt cover to a great module. I personally love this book. It's definitely one for experienced DMs who come to games ready to answer questions and have meticulously pre-read the module. It's also great for DMs who like to do their own world building. My group, for instance, loves to focus on their own backgrounds and character development so the major events in the book can easily fill in as "side quest" type adventures when there is a lull. I am not a Harry Potter fan, so I appreciated that it was quite a bit less HP than unofficially advertised by many reviewers. Unique NPCs and relationship system, tied to Magic the Gathering (but not so much that you have to have played MtG to understand), jobs, extracurriculars, and grades. I suppose my only complaints are (1) the book is very light in material (ex. Racing frogs, putting on a play, etc) and that won't fit with all campaigns/groups. Ties well with Candlekeep and Witchlight. And (2) I don't understand the amount of spelling and grammar errors in WotC books, especially considering their cost. WotC needs to improve editing.
Update after playing with 2 groups: definitely come in with your own filler plots and ideas as the book has a skeleton framework meant to cover 4 years. Know your players' style and if they want to focus on the minute like grades, or broad strokes adventures.

A different but very fun kind of DnD-module with great rules on benefits from social encounters, mechanics for exams and extracurriculars and a ton of minigames to really live out the Harry Potter-style fantasy of going to mage school. I am really looking forward to running this, as I know that some players will probably be more excited by the college life roleplay than the combat encounters. I enjoyed the story for the most part, especially the Year One and Year Three adventure, while I definetely wished Year Four had been fleshed out a bit more, even if it seems to have some emotionally poignant moments. A common criticism is that the book requires a lot of heavy lifting from the DM, which I admit is true, although I won't mind coming up with exciting scenes for extracurriculars, sports and jobs. The setting is very well described and there are some great NPC's included that should really get the creative juices flowing. I also really dig the potential for the characters to get friends, rivals or even lovers, that take on an even bigger role as the campaign progresses, and I would probably like to delve even deeper with the social mechanics than the book recommends, when I get to run it. Some cons however are the minigames, that seem varied in form of bar games, improv theatre and magical rollerskating, that sadly all use the same skill challenge mechanics as well as a lack of variety in locations, where we return to the swamps on Witherbloom campus like five times but never even visit Quandrix campus. As mentioned before, I think a lot of potential is missed with Adventure Four, where a lot of focus is on saving the campus from an evil threat, at the cost of exploring stuff like final exam projects or advice from the counselors at the individual faculties. All of these are definetely things I'd consider improving on in my own game. However, I am really pleased with this book for its wonderful world, adorable side characters and fun college hijinx. With the right group and a bit of prep time from the DM, this book definetely has the potential to deliver a magical experience.

The magical university aesthetic is the same amount of not-for-me as magical boarding school, it turns out. The setting is fine, I guess, with its externally and internally conflicting schools, and the full maps are certainly pretty. The owlin are very cute, big fan of them, and the backgrounds and feats etc. are a good way to really embed the characters into the place.

But none of it really sparked for me: the NPCs are bland, the relationships and other such mechanics aren't anything better than a half-decent DM could come up with on the spot, and the adventures themselves (most of the pagecount) are bitty and trite. If this is the jam for you and your players, there might be something in here for you, but honestly homebrewing an equivalent, given the wealth of material to draw on, wouldn't be difficult, and you'd probably end up with something more interesting.

I absolutely loved this setting!
The new characters are great.
I liked the concept of having the PCs enroll in various different subjects, worrying about acing their quizzes and exams whilst they seek to find what dark plans are being put to place within the campus. And dealing with college shenanigans aswell!
Highly replayable, as choosing different options all around isn't a problem, and a college of magic can be an ever expanding and ever changing setting.

Gah! I can see why this has a lot of negativity directed at it, but this is a great source book.

The good: there is so much here to inspire GMs who love world-building. The unique monsters, study rules, and the focus on using relationships to enhance encounters is exciting. It found a way to make school exams simple and not a chore (though I have yet to enact it with players).

The "campaign" also has super cute monster-of-the-week vibes combined with the best bits of university social life. There's great content here to make a light-hearted series that crescendos into tense drama.

Cons: Some of the details are really flipping vague. I couldn't wrap my head around mascots until I read the stat blocks for each one, and I still feel uncertain. It also doesn't provide the meat and bones of a story based in education. For year one at Strixhaven, there are precisely 7 encounters, all of which are pub games and festivals. That's 7 days out of an entire school year.

The bottom line is you must be prepared to invest hours of planning to bulk out the story and the world if you want something substantial. And this is hard, because how do you make "pretending to be at school" fun without getting bogged down in real-life comparisons? You don't want to give players homework, and you don't want to boil down a lot of tasks to endless roll checks, and you don't want to make the majority of encounters classroom based, but we do want some kind of classroom experience!

My advice is NOT to invest time figuring extra homework and exam rules. Instead, make brief classroom descriptions, and then focus the lesson on a practical task that often requires leaving the classroom or completing outside of class time. And focus on the practical, not the paperwork. Introduce conflict partway through completing their task. The result = the relative feeling of classes without writing lesson plans or boring players with skill checks.

I've read the whole thing and it was worth the investment. I'll be using the campaign as written but spreading out each encounter between my own content to create a more substantial story for each year.

A great idea. Feels like Hogwart's but with a D&D basis. Good maps and character options. Could be a good side quest.

Got this book so I can DM a campaign for my Harry Potter-loving kiddo. The campaign adventure itself is cute, taking course over 4 in-game years with mini games and a big overarching story (they also allow you to do each chapter as one-off adventures with minimal changes). Death is treated extremely lightly until the final battle, so this could be ideal for younger parties. But the setting and source book material is subpar compared to previous D&D products (including Critical Role's book & the other MTG crossovers).

For example, calendars and dates of any kind are entirely omitted this time around - an odd choice, given the college setting - so DMs have to either make something up, pull in material from another setting, or handwave everything as "early/late in the year" or "a few weeks/days later". Holidays are celebrated, but only explicitly in context of an interfaith club, and no other information is given other than them existing.

Similar issue with gods, deities, or even where divine magic comes from - they presumably exist (since clerics, paladins, explicitly religious NPCs, and the interfaith club exist), but DMs are forced to make stuff up, pull in stuff from other settings, or ignore it and hope your players' characters are all nonreligious and never interact with NPCs of faith. (Contrast that to, say, the Ravnica setting, which is nonreligious but the sourcebook at least explains that divine casters get their power from ideals...)

There's other issues too, but you get the gist. It's especially fine for one-off adventures, but DMs will have more world building duties than normal if you make it a campaign.

I haven't actually played a tabletop role-playing game since I was in high school, but I still enjoy reading RPG books to take in the world-building and creativity. Strixhaven is a new offering for Dungeons and Dragons, a Harry Potter-inspired "school" setting created in partnership with Magic: the Gathering. (Wizards of the Coast, who created Magic the Gathering, now owns D&D as well.)

It sounded fun, but the setting come off as twee and superficial, with a drawn-out, low-stakes arc. Much of Strixhaven is devoted to college clubs and shenanigans, with players looking to study for tests and build friendship points on campus. But that light tone is at odds with a central plot that sees a jilted student from centuries past attempting to drain the life force from campus.

The two concepts feel at odds with one another. The adventures here see students trying to gather potion components or save the school dance, but they come off as cutesy and generic.

The Strixhaven school setting feels uninspired too. There are five factions, each with its own magical focus. (Lorehold, for instance, focuses on Order and Chaos.) But the lineup feels like the marketing mash-up it is rather than anything overly personal or creative. I spent most of my time skimming the pages, and it was rare that anything prompted me to stop for a closer look.

Great accessory for magic school oriented campaigns 😁

Save your money. This is utter garbage unless you are REALLY obsessed with all things Magic: The Gathering. Five spells, one race - that's the entire takeaway in this book unless you are specifically playing this single world. Not even a world - a *CLEARLY NOT HOGWARTS BECAUSE WE HAVE FIVE HOUSES* single magic school. And five adventures for the players fighting a *CLEARLY NOT VOLDEMORT; HE HAS A NOSE* villain. Seriously, if you've read the books of Harry Potter or watched the movies, you will be completely spoiled for the adventure.

WOTC, do better. Do MUCH better.

It's a magic school!

...with only 5 new spells. FIVE. The original game already has hundreds.

I don't mind the setting but they only explore one area in depth 4 times. The campaign is super repetitive games for the first half. The NPC relationship stuff is interesting but not enough to save it. I'll have to add a bunch to make this entertaining for my group which is annoying. The book is supposed to do 80-90 percent of the lifting.

If you're looking to get into D&D, I'd go with any other book over this one.

This was a slight disappointment. It's honestly more of a mini campaign than it is a significant add-on to the game. If you extract the campaign part, you're left with shockingly little in the way of new stuff for the game like items, spells, or monsters.

You basically get the Owlin race, a couple items, and a handful of monsters.

The campaign is great, it's just the majority of the book which is not what I wanted.

Poorly thought through and put together Harry Potter cash in. Art is top notch though.
I have seen better rules for magical schools online.

A huge magical setting that offers new opportunities (but also dangerous potential)

Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos is an odd synthesis of magic the gathering and dungeons and dragons…providing a new setting for players…

Strixhaven is essentially a multiverse magic school for all manner of students (though obviously it’s ideal if they have some kind of magical ability either arcane or divine).

Divided into five different schools to cater to different types of characters, this book also offers a wide range of student jobs, local quad businesses, and extracurriculars to participate in.

I feel that Strixhaven is a fun example of a game of final fantasy VIII was focused entirely on schoolwork and not on adventuring stuff.

The book also offers a range of courses, professors, and fellow students to help shape the experience of a “class” attending Strixhaven.

Meanwhile there’s the odd adventures designed as part of a campaign…which can easily be altered or adapted depending on your players. There’s also a dark conspiracy and stuff…but really that just depends on what the GM wants to do…

The book includes a very nice map of the campus with the back of the map containing various locations that appear in the book (the local student tavern, the detention area, the historic building, etc).

Well worth checking out even if your group is just passing through…or adding to the backstory of a mage in your party…

## Why I Picked It Up ##

I'm running a campaign for my friends!

It's D&D Hogwarts!

## What I Liked About It ##

It introduced a bunch of social mechanics that I really liked, and that my players enjoyed.

It's very playful and lighthearted.

It did a pretty good job at encouraging the players to be fantastic heroes, but also high school students with jobs and extracurricular activities and relationships to maintain. I dig that "slice of life" kind of writing.

## What I Didn't Like ##

The pacing gets really off towards the end. Year 4 is basically "drop out of school to fight the big bad guy." Kind of like how the last Harry Potter book was all camping.

It also got a little formulaic. Each trimester of each school year followed the same outline: 1) Wacky social encounter, 2) Combat!, 3) Exams. Which worked okay, I guess. But you always kind of knew what was happening.

I also don't feel like my players were ever really in any real physical danger. If you're running this, you'll need to spice up your encounters quite a bit.

## Who I'd Recommend It To ##

If you are somebody who complains about how unbalanced the "Three Pillars" of D&D are (Combat, Social, Exploration), then you should play this module for a spotlight on Social, with some good combat and exploration to boot.

Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos by the Wizards RPG Team is a formidable addition to the D&D compendium collection that boasts new rules, mechanics, and campaign flavouring for all your Harry Potter fantasy needs. Strixhaven sets up the layers of a intricate school system, social encounters and interactions revolving around extracurriculars, exams, and other school-related mechanics, and a 4-year overarching storyline. It all seems to line up for an interesting campaign. However, it isn't built as a fully realized campaign, but more of a precursor for those wanting to use a school setting. It lacks in building out all facets of the narrative beyond the major plot points, and forgoes smaller details like a set calendar or the use of deities for holy characters or domains.

TL;DR: Great additions to D&D mechanics, particularly education-based settings and social encounters. However, the barebones campaign makes it impossible to run straight out of the book without major additions. Recommended as a supplement to a preexisting world to add schools throughout that are intertwined with narrative plot hooks.

This book suffers from the problem of "wow, isn't this world massive where anything could happen! Yeah! Good luck wrangling all that potential. It's a LOT!" Also, tons of fight have the written tone of "oh no! Everyone else is too afraid to do something... except you! Go, be brave! Only you can solve this! [Not any of the dozens of high-level professors on campus.]"

But still, this book won me over by the end. Having a locked set of 15ish NPCs that you bond with (or rival with) over time is neat. There's some (expected) tone shifts that will be interesting to run. I'm excited to finish this campaign.

Basically, the book would be overwhelming for a newer DM to run (sprawling amounts of info, need to feel comfortable breaking from the book). Tone more fitting for a younger (or at least whimsical) group of players. Not bad!

Not super impressed by the adventures/stories, but the setting's pretty great. Have been looking for a way to sprinkle some Harry Potter onto my DnD games, and this could definitely serve as a good starting point.

Liked:
New Race
Relationship rules
Profiles of students
Framework of campaign, year-based with events and milestones

Disliked:
Feel at deficit for not knowing MTG lore, didn't grab or connect with this area of the multiverse.

Really cool setting, while I am not to familiar with the Magic the Gathering lore but it is still pretty cool as I love the idea of setting a campaign in a school for magic. In fact it would be interesting to use this book to run a Harry Potter esque adventure.

I have an 8 year old who is OBSESSED with D&D, and Harry Potter. Saw this, skimmed it, read the whole thing, now we're running it. So far she's obsessed, but if you're a GM who doesn't like to prepare, you will probably hate it.

Pretty good! My only complaint is for a book on a magic school, there was a surprising lack of magic.

I WANT TO PLAY THIS

Excellent, fun book. Would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to run a more lite, fun, and whimsical version of D&D.

This books is great - a Harry Potter world remix for D&D. See XP to level 3's video review, I'm 100% on board with him -> https://youtu.be/AmEOSIsLm54

Solid book for pseudo-Hogwarts games. LOTS I would do differently but that’s what makes it fun.

Running it this January. I’ll post an update when we get started.

Planning a sort of "dark academia" campaign that I'll use some of this book for, although I'm hoping to go my own direction with it.

Very disappointing