Strixhaven became a Magic: the Gathering and a D&D setting when Wizards of the Coast released Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos this month.
As Rime of the Frostmaiden did last year, adding in brooding horror to show new D&D fans an angle of the game they might not have considered, Strixhaven also introduces a new vibe. It’s a setting not a million miles from Hogwarts with campus-based fun, kissing, dances and plenty of adventures too.
The result has had favourable to middle-tier reviews and you can find those curated in the RPG news summaries of Routinely Itemised: RPGs #130, #129 and #128.
Yeah, three weeks of news summaries. Strixhaven was announced with plenty of notice, and its run-up has been generous. There’s been more than enough time for 3rd parties in the community content program at the DMsGuild to write for it.
Are those community content Strixhaven downloads any good? Short answer; yes, it seems so! This top five is compiled by searching the DMsGuild for Strixhaven, sorting by rating and accepting only those supplements written with Strixhaven in mind, rather than adapted to mention the latest book retrospectively. There’s nothing wrong with adaptation, they are welcome, but they’re not the article’s focus.
Strixhaven supplements on the DMsGuild
Candlekeep & Strixhaven Bestiary: Monsters, NPCs, Magic Items, and more by Stormcrow Dreamscapes has a 5/5 review average.
This D&D download does what the title promises and gives you monsters plus an occasional NPC.
Clockwork Library Staff, Ink of Juiblex and Servant of the Binder have all helped the supplement become a silver best seller. The book is dedicated to Forgotten Realm’s creator Ed Greenwood in a nice touch.
Yes, the book was initially imagined as a Candlekeep sourcebook but adapted in time to make this list. As author Can Uzmen notes, they prefered Strixhaven and could adjust it in the time ahead of the official D&D release.
Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery by Arcane Eye.
Mike Bernier’s companion to the Curriculum of Chaos is a gold best seller.
In these 53-pages, you’ll find 144 class events, expanded class mechanics, a group points system and a rival one.
That group points system gives your characters and players a reason to work together, and it also gives you ways to make those collective results more significant to the adventures found in Strixhaven.
There are four class ideas for each of the courses in Strixhaven and likely to take no more than five minutes each.
Strixhaven University Diploma by Brian Hardin II.
A Pay What Your Want download, with a suggested price of $0, and yet with five pages to offer. It offers handouts to bring Strixhaven diplomas to life.
There’s diploma paperwork for Silverquill College, Lorehold College, Witherbloom College, Prismari College and Quandrix College. Each printout is designed to fit on an 11″ x 8.5″ sheet, with a bit of space around the edge.
Brian says that assigning the fonts to each college was the most challenging part!
The Pub that Crawls by Nick Stefanski.
A crawling pub is a story told at Strixhaven and, in this case, also a 28-page adventure for $5.
The catch? There are six pubs, not one.
Each pub has a challenge suitable for a one-shot, or you could try the most amazing pub crawl ever and attempt a 6 to 8-hour adventure. Hopefully, one that you remember in the morning.
Designer Nick also notes that you should find one suitable for most settings with a half-dozen pubs or even take it multiverse.
Mimsy’s Strixhaven Shop of Treasures by E. R. F. Jordan
A copper best seller and $10 for 100 new magic items all bundled together in a roaming shop. The download was written with Strixhaven in mind, but the shop can be moved anywhere.
The rumours in Strixhaven are that you find the shop by finding a specific door and at a particular hour. It’s easier for purchasers to get it, just click add to cart, and you’ll find two sections inside.
The first section is all about the shop and Mimsy, the shop’s keeper, the second is that impressive catalogue that takes the download to 32 pages.
That’s the top five for now, but it’s early days, and I predict there would have been changes if we were to revisit this in just a month. Honourable mentions certainly go to Craig Mackie’s Students of Strixhaven and E. R. F. Jordan’s Heroes of Strixhaven.
Quick Links
- DMsGuild’s Stixhaven content.
Creative Commons scroll by MattBas.
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