Summary
The world of Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos can prove to be a highly rewarding adventure module for you to bring to yourDungeons & Dragonstable. This adventure is perfect for players craving a light-hearted, at times totally zany adventure that places players in the roles of students at Strixhaven, the world’s most prestigious magical college of learning.
But if you’re a DM hoping to run Strixhaven for the first time, some important things make this adventure unique from other D&D modules. That’s why we’ve created this list, which has the best tips and tricks for running Strixhaven.
10Strixhaven Has To Feel Immersive
Get To Know Your New Home
Strixhaven is a vast campus with individualized schools of study, various locations to explore, and aton of NPCsto meet. In order for this world to feel fully realized, it’s up to the Dungeon Master to truly immerse their players in this world.
When preparing to run Strixhaven, make sure you study Chapter One of the sourcebook religiously. This chapter will give you a breakdown of many different locations at Strixhaven, which you’ll also want to relay to your players. It’s suggested in game one that you provide a tour of campus to your players as well, enticing them to visit various locations.
9Get Players Invested In Their Studies
Homework Can Be Fun!
One of the most unique aspects of Strixhaven is getting to roleplay as students in school. This takes the form of exams and tests that players must participate in each year. While these mechanics may seem tertiary, ultimately, you must get players invested in this part of the game.
This is because, for the most part, exams are one of the main ways that players can earn metaprogression throughout the adventure. ensure this is clear to them at the get-go, so they know to actually spend time having their characters study for exams.
8Adventures Are Often Second To Roleplay
Puts The ‘RP’ In TTRPG
The Strixhaven module is broken down into six chapters, but only four of these contain actual adventures, one for each year of school. These adventures take place over the course of a single year at Strixhaven, which is a fun and enticing timeline to run an adventure on.
However, because there’s only a handful of plot beats for each year’s adventure, you’re going to wantto fill time with roleplayas opposed to combat-based adventures. Make sure, before running Strixhaven, that your table is comfortable with a roleplay-heavy module. Otherwise, you might find yourself rushing through adventures and finishing the module in three to four games max.
7Use Tracking Sheets
They’re There For A Reason
The Strixhaven module offers each player’s student a Student Tracking Sheet, which they can use to track their relationships, campus jobs, extracurriculars, and exam scores. While you can track this on your end as the DM or have players do it in their own fashion, it’s recommended that you encourage your players to use these tracking sheets throughout their adventure.
While players do still level up much in the same way that normal D&D campaigns work, these trakcing sheets are unique to Strixhaven, and make the module stand out. Your players are more likely to enjoy the adventure overall if they’re tracking their own metaprogression as students, especially if they’re mostly veteran players who are perhaps a bit bored with normal leveling rules.
6Downtime Activities Are Imperative
Stop And Smell The Roses
As mentioned previously, the individual adventures for each year can be a bit sparse in terms of actual plot points. That means that one of the main aspects of gameplay for a Strixhaven adventure is going tobe downtime sessions.
Show players that investing in their downtime by spending time studying, working on their relationships with fellow students, and more, is valuable and worth the effort. Investing in extracurriculas and jobs, which often feel like downtime activities, can earn players tangible rewards, and help life at Strixhaven feel more immersive.
5Roleplay Murgaxor To Your Liking
Bullywug Was A Bear
The central antagonist of Strixhaven is a wizard named Murgaxor who once attended Strixhaven hundreds of years ago. In the abstract, he can sound quite menacing to players. In reality, Murgaxor is definitely one of the sillier antagonists you’ll find in a D&D module. So, as a DM, you have two options at your disposal.
One, if your players prefer a darker motif, you can adjust Murgaxor to be genuinely more menacing, perhaps even changing his species from bullywug to something more intimidating. Or, you can lean into the goofiness of the adventure and roleplay Murgaxor as a faux-menace who hardly poses any real threat. Either way works, but choose based on your table’s preferences.
4Distinguish NPCs
Make ‘Em Stand Out
One of the key gameplay elements in Strixhaven is building relationships with fellow students. In Strixhaven, there are even mechanics that are similar to dating sims in other games. So, when it comes to running these mechanics, it’s important to verify that each NPC student stands out.
Luckily, the NPCs given to the DM are quite colorful and fun to roleplay. Just make sure you’re providing distinct voices, visual descriptions, and more, so that players remember which NPCs are available to romance. Otherwise, they might not get that invested in this element of the game, which can prove to be highly singular and fun if done right.
3Decide Between Roleplay Or Relationship Points
Tailor For Your Table
On the subject of tracking relationships, Strixhaven offers two options for doing so. One, you can use a system of Relationship Points provided to you in the module to help players track their relationships with other students, potentially earning boons and banes depending on their dynamics.
Or, you can just have players roleplay these relationships without tracking them. If your party is more engaged with roleplay than tangible gameplay mechanics, this can work. However, it’s recommended you use the relationship points system to encourage players who might not be so keen on RP.
2Discuss Romance Roleplay In Session Zero
Dating Can Be Scary, After All
Safety tools are always really important in roleplaying games, and Strixhaven is no exception. While the adventure itself is relatively tame and doesn’t have that many elements that might prove harmful, because there is a dating sim mechanic, you’ll want to sit down with your table ahead of time and discuss how players want to RP this.
Some players might be uncomfortable roleplaying romance, while others might love it. Either way is fine, but just make sure your players know what they’re getting into, and make sure it’s clear that the romance is roleplay only, and stays at the table.
1Use Time Skips Effectively
As mentioned, each adventure in the Strixhaven module takes place over the course of a single year. At the end of this time, players progress to the next year, with a few months of downtime in between. While you may just skip ahead to the next year, it’s recommended that you make use of this time skip.
Ask players what they did over their summer break, or if they want to roleplay elements outside of the main campaign at home or with friends. you’re able to even encourage players to write letters to the other characters during this time. Either way, using the time skips to progress the plot, rather than just ignoring it completely, is always helpful for immersion.
