I hope some of you take the time to give this book a chance. It's seriously worth it. also oops I totally sayed Fireholt instead of FireJolt... Merch, Discord, and everything else: linktr.ee/XPtoLevel3
It somehow achieves the impossible by failing to be either a setting book or an adventure book. It devotes more than half of its page count to an adventure that is impossibly difficult to run, and doesn’t provide enough details to flesh out the setting to run said adventure. It’s just sad.
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! PAAAAAIIIINNNN!!!!!! I broke my hand yesterday because of the hate comments I get all the time. I was so angry that I punched a hole in my computer. Please don't hate me, dear y
As a DM that loves changing everything about an adventure to match my players and their characters, this sounds like my kind of campaign book. You seriously got me pumped to run this with my siblings! Thanks for the video. :)
Man,not saying that is bad that you like it,but when i paid 50 dolars for a premade adventure,i want a premade adventure,if it was to do everything myself,i would'nt buy this book
Man, this sounds really fun. I would love to play a game with a real roleplaying and narrative driven story. I’m in a group that is that “get info from the npc and move on quickly” group and I find myself feeling like I’m on the other side of a window. I never get the chance to explore my character or learn how to improv and roleplay. I’d love to be in a game like Strixhaven. Guess I just have to find the right table.
From the sound of it, Strixhaven is more to your group's playstyle than yours. There's no story arc, no narrative to drive anything. There's no real point in sticking around to learn more about the setting. It's very episodic.
Try role-playing yourself I find that often times people don't know how to rp so they don't. If they see someone else have fun rping then they might do more of it... If not I suggest finding a group that has more your play style
In fairness, DnD isn't a particularly good *roleplaying* game. Most of the actual rules are just combat and the system doesn't really encourage rp, it's just a style of play that people enjoy so they try to make it work.
I've actually been running a game set in a magic school for almost a year so I was really excited to hear that they were coming out with a source book about a magic school. When the book came out I was delighted to get my hands on it and it has been exactly what I need. Magic items that fit students' life, rules for clubs, jobs, hobbies, relationships with NPC students, it's perfect points of inspiration
And I’ve been “writing” (just in my head) a magical school setting for a campaign for years now! Maybe getting a hold of the strixhaven book will help me finally start cementing some of my ideas.
@@corsicasanova why would anyone run the game like that, where did you get the idea that this is what he meant by enjoying the relationships between player and npc
I was really excited to run Strixhaven as a new Dungeon Master, but there really wasn't enough for me to build something. Maybe when I have more experience, I'll be able to do it
@@tripler2833 Yeah. To add onto this, that statement might seem like stating the obvious, but it really isn't. In writing, people often get stuck in the "learning about writing" part, and while that is important, every decent writer I know will say "just write". Same with DMing. You can watch as much Davvy Chappy, Dungeon Dudes and Runesmith as you want, but you'll never really improve until you take that leap of faith. Just DM.
I wonder if this is the biggest problem, less that there isn't enough information but more that there are so many new people playing D&D and other TTRPGs than there was 10 years ago?! I don't use published stuff too much, at least not for more than mining all the cool bits for my own stuff! There is ALSO the issue that so many people just want to be hand-held and just want the books to tell them what to do like they were playing a video game, they should probably just go play a video game!
I think it's the fact that you're dropping a good amount of money on a book. You're expecting it to do the work for you to save time. If I had the time to make up everything I wouldn't really need the book now would I?
Funnily enough I love Strixhaven as I almost never do modules as they are always so in depth and I can't memorize it all. Strixhaven is perfect cause it feels like it has a solid jumping off pointbut AI still get to homebrew stuff
I feel like this is a valid point. The main thing I’m missing from Strixhaven is a sense of the past and the future for anyone currently going there. Which is especially weird when one of the five colleges is entirely dedicated to “preserving history” - WHAT history? It’s just way more open-ended than MtG settings usually are. Some of that is refreshing, and some of it really isn’t.
I want to rescue a point that Jacob made during the video "It becomes YOUR Strixhaven", I believe that THAT simple statement should apply to all of D&D, we're currently running hoard of the dragon queen and after almost a year of playing it, we finally reached chapter 7 (no spoilers please, we are starting the chapter... today february the thirteen 20222 :u). Maybe it isn't the best written campaing, but we've made it really interesting with our backstories, the encounters, the roleplaying (which is for most of us in the campaign the most important part), making it our OWN hoard of the dragon queen. Our DM made us the chosen champions of gods (each from a different pantheon), we were Volo's guards while travelling to Waterdeep (he ended up giving us an older version of volo's guide to monsters), when we arrived we met Elminster who showed us Elturel's Fall (kind of telling us that our DM will probably convert DiA into a lv. 15 to 20 campaing to finish it with our characters), and at the end of Castle Naerytar in chapter 6 we fought the Adult Black Dragon Voragamanthar, who my character met in a nightmare (I chose the apocaliptic dreams bond). Our cleric sacrificed a level to revive the fighter (a decision that rolewise is amazing and we loved, but I question every single day :u). In the end it all resorts in: If everyone is having fun, then it's a good campaign, doesn't matter if stuff outside the book happens. Try to make it yours somehow.
I hope to see a whole Strixhaven campaign from you in the future. Imagine having to pass a certain number of classes a semester and then graduating or failing with your friends at the end of the campaign.
I don’t think everyone’s problem was that the story was not detailed I think there just wasn’t a lot of source material for a source book and people paid for a source book, not for inspiration for a wizard school, that already exists for free
YES THANK YOU! Like I paid for a story and a flushed out resource, not something where I have to do 90% of the leg work and come up with my own answers to questions because they just didn't provide them.
@@XPtoLevel3 That's more than a little unfair. They said they felt like they didn't get enough to justify it being a source book, then you come out and respond with "So you're saying you get nothing?" Not enough =/= Nothing.
@@XPtoLevel3 I think it’s not that he’s getting nothing, but getting something he sees as worthless because you can get a good magic school setting for free without buying a book
huh I guess it's up to the DM's style of prepping. I tend to BS my way through my sessions, but having KEY elements planned out before hand. Thus allowing my players to freely go and do things. So I LOVED Strixhaven. Gave the key elements of the world but gave me and my players the creative agency to fill in how those elements affect them and the world. Great book honestly.
Man,not saying that is bad that you like it,but when i paid 50 dolars for a premade adventure,i want a premade adventure,if it was to do everything myself,i would'nt buy this book
Stryxhaven seems a lot like Eberron, providing a solid structure while leaving lots of questions for the DM to answer and weave together as they see fit. I find that prospect of personalization really fun.
I think the main difference is that Jacob ran it for fun with his friends, while from what i understand Davvy had to run it multiple times for different people as a job. That's probably why experience differs so much. It's one thing to come up on the fly with your friends with something and completely another if you are trying to be professional, if you catch what i mean.
Having more information in your source book doesn't take away from the playstyle you're describing in the first part. You're never beholden to every single rule in a book, you can easily change and modify anything to "make it your own." No, we don't necessarily NEED to know where the dorms are, but having that detail doesn't stop you from ignoring it. All leaving out details does is force DMs and players that do want more details to make them up, which isn't what everyone wants. Yes, D&D is a game of make believe and a lot of the fun is making stuff up, but not every DM or player wants to have to decide on every other important or unimportant detail. Regardless of how strong the skeleton or base is, we ARE still having to make stuff up that we wouldn't have to. Having to "creatively come up with stuff in the middle" is still having to do work. Great video, glad you enjoyed the book and love seeing your passion about it, but the argument in the first section isn't great.
I don't believe there's a DM out there, who HATES having extra info to pull from. It's tedious, sure, but when you compare it to Ravnica and Theros, books who went INTO great detail (for the most part), you had less "ass pulling" ie pulling stuff from thin air, the more info you had. Not to mention Strixhaven is the first ever D&D book I've read that literally states "Just roll some dice, dummy" which given their price tag, was annoying imo.
@@Noanatsuka One of the strengths of Theros is that it gives detail but often not a great amount of detail. Which helps it remain approachable while still being helpful. It's not too sparse and not too much. I do think Jacob has it right that too much detail can become intimidating and walls of text can make DMs miss out on important details. Hoard of the Dragon Queen is a perfect example of this (where it has NPC's that just have whole lists of reactions to player actions). You can easily become bogged down in it. Having said that, I don't think Strixhaven is a good sourcebook because half of it is dedicated to this adventure. When you look at Ravnica or Theros the adventures were very short (levels 1-2) and just do a basic introduction to the setting. Instead they went with a much longer adventure with Strixhaven and really didn't detail out this campaign setting. Which is a shame especially for people buying it who expected a sourcebook.
I understand the argument but in my opinion it is much easier to add details and fit the game around your characters than it is to forget about something that is important and to remove stuff And if you are dming you have to be able to make things up to be effective so if you don’t have fun doing that than stick to playing in games not dming
I don't use pre-mades but the way you describe this book sounds a lot like how I write my own campaigns. A series of lore and guidelines, but not a strict linear story.
14:14 How my druid would use skywrite. "Hey it says gullible in the sky." "Oh hey it actually does" Meanwhile they're casually scoring a goal with their duck familiar they summoned.
I think the main issue is that you are buying a product, that compared to previous pre-written books, is just...bare bones. While yes it is interesting that you can fill in the blanks as a DM, a lot of DMs just buy these pre-written books specifically to not make up stuff because all of that stuff is taken care in the books. While some may enjoy this, other's wont, and that's fine, it is all about personal taste at the end of the day,
I agree with your point, but coming from the other side. I have never played nor planned on buying any module ever, because their videogamey style and overly detailed adventures seemed boring and I never cared for any of them. This, being different, is the first one I actually may consider getting and playing. So yeah, I can see why people who love the other modules wouldn't like this, and that's fine. They have so many other options to choose from. As for me, I'd like more things like this one, and I wouldn't mind paying for it, because it is different. So I really hope they make more books like this one, for DMs like me~
Pretty much this. If I wanted to do all the work, I'd make my own campaign like normal. I don't pay money to do what I'd do normally anyway, I give them money for books to do that for me for when I don't feel like writing everything this time.
@@Forever_Muffin And nothing wrong with that! I see both point of views as valid, at the end of the day, it's all about taste and preferences. Just that personally, I do prefer the previous style of books more for running a premade game.
You have to consider even though this was advertised as an adventurer book Strixhaven is actually a source book, the point of it was to sell the options like owlin and *gag* slivery barbs spell so it was mainly just really awkward Marketing on WotC part where they wanted to sell it based off premise but it was written based of mechanics.
@@Forever_Muffin It's much easier to pull stuff out of what is written to give yourself more room than it is to fill it in. In Strixhaven everything you need to fill in should probably be written somewhere for consistency, and it would've just been nice if it had been in the book already.
I wasn't super happy with the book, I expected way more of a setting book, maybe even with DM tools to create and shape your own magic school, and it's surely not that. So I find your opinion very interesting. Maybe it helps me look at Strixhaven in a different light. I will keep it in mind, when I want to use it.
I wish we had more people like you that can respectfully disagree with others who have differing opinions and even learn from them and less people who just threw tantrums whenever they saw something they didn’t like i.e. what feels like the entire internet
My 12yo stepdaughter is super into Harry Potter so I made her (last year when she was still 11) a very authentic looking acceptance letter to Hogwarts and immediately afterward we played a table top dice gaming system for it where we played through her first few weeks at school. I bought this book and told her we can play it as a different school in the Wizarding World universe, her family just had to move or something. She is super excited and wants to play as the character she has already started, a Hufflepuff. I gave her a copy of the phb and explained that Clara was a witch in the HP universe but the things she did are accomplished by many spellcasting classes. I gave her a copy of the PHB to help her decide what class her character is and she's been obsessed with it so much she is sleeping with it and reading it all day while I have been working. I hope when we get started this book will be fun for us to explore. Any advice would be welcome, from the audience too. I'm going to DM for my daughter while her friend joins in as another character over the phone.
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve been a DM since 2000 and between Witchlight and Strixhaven, I’ve been more excited for my preordered adventures this year than in a LONG time. I love Strixhaven and can’t wait to run it once I build the right group.
I absolutly LOVE strixhaven but even I have to say it is not worth $60 if it was cheaper(much cheaper), Strixhaven is great as a setting but the pre written adventure is meh at best but combined with the other stuff from 5e and a group of freinds it forms an amazing experience, I can also see that online or with people you dont know it could be incredibly boring due to the fact that its mostly based on the players impulse descisions
From what I've seen people talking about, Strixhaven is a good theatre of the mind game. My dumbass can't do theatre of the mind sadly. I also run over Roll20 because my D&D group is half in the US, and half in australia which means it's kinda hard to do face to face D&D and I know maps help my peewee brain keep things in order. Strixhaven isn't for me as it lacks the things I feel _I_ need for running a game but that doesn't mean it's necessarily bad.
@@mibber121 I was thinking the exact same thing. It's the main reason I'm shifting to other rpg systems that focus more on narrative and role playing rather than grid-combat, as the theater of the mind deal is what makes rpgs fun for me and my players. I can't even imagine not having it and it sounds really sad :(
@@mibber121 How so? Theatre of the mind is just the game minus the grid, you don’t lose out on any of the imagination by having a grid you just lose the confusion of who is where.
@@williaml840 sorry i think you may have misinterpreted what i said a little!! I didnt say using a grid means you lose out on imagination!! I was sad because this guy said he cant do thestre of the mind, which implies that he doesnt have the kind of imagination which works well with imagining scenes/scenarios and stuff. Which wld also mean that he would lose out on alot of the non-combat fun of the game since the part of dnd that isnt combat is almost entirely imagination based
Thanks Jacob. For a long time I didn't give Strixhaven a chance since I felt like it was an adventure disguised as a source book, and it kind of is, but that doesn't mean it can't be a good adventure where you build the setting together. Thanks for helping me to give it a chance. It really sounds like it might be something I'd like to dry GMing for eventually. God bless and have fun being a dad!
this video was what made me decide to run strixhaven in my own homebrew world. we had our first session today and me and my players love it a LOT, especially the room it allows to adapting to your own world, roleplay within it, do a lot of character building, and generally feel really cool and capture that magical school thing without everyone being kids. it's SO much fun and everyone is genuinely excited for the exams! thanks sm for this video.
It seems like the book fulfills the Niche demographic Jacob sits in. One side is DMs that want to 110% make their own world with their own rules, population, and events, on the other end DMs that like having a guide, something they don't have to put much brain power into so they can focus on mechanics and fleshing out story beats without having to worry about who Bob Silverfang is. Here lies people like Jacob in the middle where he like having a theme and setting to work off of, but doesn't like having everything laid out for him cause he doesn't think the same way the person who wrote the book does.
He doesn't like everything laid out, but then says how he loved that there is a very specific laid out positive and negative response for a lot of the NPC's.
@@Epic_ZQ9 1:32 of the Video Jacob points out the problem with that, where too detailed of a an adventurer runs into the issue if you change something it sometimes causes an annoying domino effect where the thing you changed was important for one reason or another so you keep changing things to make it work. Yes you are the DM you can change whatever you want whenever you want but the point is the intention a DM would buy a book in the first place.
I acually got so excited about Strixhaven because I love the MtG setting that I started running a Strixhaven campaign a month before the book was set to come out... And then it got delayed, so I just kept running it while the book got further away from me, piecing together details about the setting based on what I already knew (and some insane amount of googling and MtG wiki reading), our group has a teacher overseeing their class progress (sort of like a home room teacher) who is a previous adventurer from another campaign, and they live at the Bow’s End Tavern with dorms on the second floor because that’s what made sense to me. My point being, I have now comfortably moved into playing the campaign more from the book because the decisions I have made don’t completely derail the setting.
As a brand-new DM who's about to start Strixhaven, I'm glad I have wiggle room and space to homebrew off of a general setting the book describes (I am a college student doing this for a TTRPG club and I do NOT have time to create something from scratch). Can't say that everything isn't daunting though, and I hope I do okay. Storytelling is where I thrive I think, and knowing that that's where Strixhaven thrives brings me some solace
You've made me reconsider running this book, Jacob. Your tie-in to Dragon Heist (which I'm currently running and spent a LOT of time fleshing out faction NPCs and allowing my players to just LIVE in the city for a bit before stuff hit the fan) made me excited to build the campus and going-ons up hand-in-hand with my players.
I don't think you realize that you are an experienced DM, with many years under your belt, and are thus equipped with the tools to fill space like this.
Very good point my friend. Experience can sometimes blind you to what truly is ignorance. But smart shit aside, yeah. You need to have a decent book that works for all DM’s, just starting, all the way up to, I’ve been running this for 30 years, type shit. And I’m going to be honest, wizards of the coast does not know how to do that.
@@outercat yeah, right? I think it just comes down to the DM and the players. One new DM might be overwhelmed by the level of detail in other books, but is perfectly comfortable filling in blanks. While another new DM can manage a bunch of details just fine, but can't improvise or create something by themselves. Similarly some players will find different things more enjoyable. One group might do better reacting to the environment and aren't as interested in being proactive with roleplay or making their own story so Strixhaven won't be fun for them. Whereas another group might love to take the initiative with story telling and roleplay. Both groups of player types could easily be seasoned players or newbies. It's really more about playstyle than experience.
I’m using this to DM my first campaign, and you’ve nailed a lot of what made this sing out as the module I wanted to start with. Especially your comment about imagining it as a tv show! I was looking for something episodic, something where most play sessions would start with a new provocation, rather than trying to remember exactly what we were up to last week. But I also have players who are more than happy to run with the freedom I’m giving them, who want their characters to switch between being provoked by something urgent and also just hanging out. (Again, like a tv show!)
This was low key inspirational as fuck for a new DM running waterdeep dragonheist feeling the pressure of scale of expectation and just feeling like if I don’t have something provided for me I can just decide what happens or don’t need to pick a specific spot in the city for every little place they go, they can just simply be there
Quick bit on the trapdoor scenario, easiest fix without changing NPC motivation that I use: just tell the players the tables were swapped AFTER they find the trap door / descend. I've had similar situations many times before--correct it after it's been resolved, as long as the end result is the same, you can adjust how they got to that point. Full disclosure, haven't gotten Strix nor do I plan to. It sounds like Strixhaven is more friendly to Theater of the Mind. It does seem a questionable value though, since it if it's sold an adventure module, it's a bit too barebones to justify its cost, and if it's more a source and setting book like you're describing, 60% of it is dedicated to the barebone adventure. (Which seems like a weird ratio. You'd think if it takes up a majority of the book it'd be a bit more fleshed out.) Like, personally, I dunno how much I'd need a book to help me lay the groundwork for a lot of the systems mentioned, and it'd be better to use the adventure section more for NPCs and setting information and stuff to drop in the world (maybe with a short overview of an adventure idea instead, with some tips on how to craft an adventure).
Also skill challenges are baller, agree on that. On a tangent, they're actually great for handling chase scenes, where a party comes to obstacles and needs to come up with ideas to get past them. What my DM did was had a table that'd roll for each person in a round, and they'd be given a different obstacle, such as a crowd of people or a door, and the player can use the obvious method to get through, or come up with something on their own. Can also do it with group checks, highlight an obstacle or even a few, and let the party decide who'll act to get past it (like a door) or group check it if it's a party-wide obstacle (like marshy terrain). Works way better than the default chase rules.
@@Zedrinbot I'm partial to using the chase rules from Call of Cthulhu over just skill challenges. Much more thematic, increases stakes and operates much faster than anything in DnD. You can watch Seth Skorkowsky’s video about CoC’s chase rules to check them out and see if you like them better.
@@LobsterwithinternetOh i know of COC's chase rules, I like them a lot too. They're just very different from what 5e already has so importing them can be a bit weighty for the unfamiliar. I've used them before though to do a more combat oriented vehicle chase though.
I find that I change and alter so much in modules, that I would prefer a more bare bones module. Then again, I have a home brew world and try to fix and fit modules into it..
Can I just say that I personally LOVE your reviews. We seem to have similar ways of thinking and attacking a module. That makes me very happy to have someone analyzing story over substance. Your reviews are the most helpful to me personally.
Love the channel! Never actually played a game of D&D but ive been watching a ton of videos and recently bought the starter box set with Player Guide, DM guide & monster manual. So I'm excited to go on my first adventure! This might be one of the first books i pick up next! Thanks again for the videos!~:-)
i'm about to start this campaign with some friends and I'm so excited to run it for all of the exact same reasos you listed. These more skeleton sourcebooks are always my favourite when running module adventures as they do all the hard work while giving you flexibility to create your own version that's the right fit for your table with the least amount of work..
I’ve really loved using Matt Coleville’s skill challenges for years now, and my players have really enjoyed them too. One of our favorite moments of Out of the Abyss has been the encounter with a certain two headed demon lord in slooblodop. I’d like to see how Strixhaven has revised the original system from 4E.
Thank you! I was super excited at first then I saw some of the videos kinda bashing the book, so I became hesitant. This video made total sense to me and you have reignited my want to give this book a try! Thank you so much!!
I think it comes down to price and expectations. DMs (like myself) will make their own changes as I see fit anyways. For 60 dollars from a "Tripple A" RPG developer like WotC, I have high expectations for the content within. I have spent less money buying from indie/third party developers and received more and clear support. Another factor is mechanics. At the present moment, I am unsatisfied with the stat blocks, spells, etc. presented within Strixhaven. Each statblock has their own highs and lows, but on the whole I do not like them or the design direction they're taking NPC spellcasters (I like spell slots, they work identically to Players and offer versatility) While I don't object to high-roleplay games, and other peopke are welcome to play as they like, I want a balance between combat and roleplay in D&D (Which Curse of Strahd does well, though is limited in monster design. Some combats are very large difficulty spikes, but on the whole, following the book provides options, guidance, and tools). Just in general, I think a lot of problems in TTRPGs would be solved by not turning D&D into something else, and instead playing new, unique, different game systems suited to the game/story they want. Sadly there is just too much money in D&D that people aren't looking elsewhere
You could rewrite the bad guys from that trapdoor scenario as bumbling amateurs or idiots who got their own plot (or someone else's orders) wrong and sat at the wrong table. Project the DM's embarrassment and panic onto those NPC's as the party inches closer to just looking under their feet. Just like that, the DM didn't "screw up"' - he improvised. Those bumbling idiots could even become recurring villains like Team Rocket from Pokemon or the Rubberobo Gang from Medabots. They come up with (increasingly competent) schemes with a glaring flaw for the party to exploit. It'd make for an upbeat reprieve for the more grim or serious threats the party faces in a campaign.
Okay, but like you have to completely rewrite that. It's all you and that's great but you also have to rewrite everything that comes up that is involved with that point. Anytime something comes up that contradicts your improv you then have to improv that again. All of this is fine and doable, but how is this different from having a less detailed module that you improv off of. Yeah there is more of it but honestly I always end up having lots of improv no matter the module. This then makes it easier because I don't have to work out all the details that don't play nice with my improve in more detailed modules. I think strixhaven is really nice as a module and would love more like it in the future in addition to more detailed modules. I want a mix of both kinds of modules in the future.
I really appreciate this video and find it inspiring what u made of the adventure. What annoyed me though was that the book still cost $60 for what was basically someones pintrest mood board. If the book was mainly inspiration and flavour then make it cheaper or free. If you want me to pay, then give me more than a couple of spells, one race and some ideas for scenarios. There are homebrew kickstarters that have more.
@@outercat Think you missed the point. They couldn't know the book was bare bones without reading it, or without someone else's opinion. Either way, another book was sold.
I feel like if you really wanted to have a "down time" section, you could include a holiday weekend or spring break. I can imagine it would be really fun to just hang around Strixhaven and explore, if you have players that enjoy that type of thing. I personally have memories of just hanging out with friends on campus of my college during holiday breaks.
I think going forward I'm gonna use the Strixhaven mechanics to run a more general Mage's Guild in my games To me Strixhaven does for spellcasters what Piety in Mythic Odysseys of Theros does for religious characters; it gives you optional mechanics to flesh out your world and your characters
I LOVE YOUR RIME OF THE FROSTMAIDEN. Please don't stop running it, it's the most fun I get most of the time. Even if you don't try to make it entertaining, like Crit Roll, your party is insane and makes everything so fun. (Also great video! :3)
IN THE RED CORNER, SEXY AND STUNNING, DEMANDING BETTER WRITEN MODULE, DAVY CHAPPY! AND IN THE BLUE CORNER, YOU LOVE HIM, YOU HATE HIM, THE MASTER OF TERRIBLE HOT TAKES, JACOB!!!
I love the bare-bones aspect!! I'm trying the same thing with dragon heist by replacing the factions with homebrew based on a mix of what I want to do after level 5 but mostly my player's backstories. I can't wait to pick up strixhaven
@@feral_orc first, because it's designed to be finished by the dm, where as when changing a book like dragon heist I have no idea how much work I am creating for myself in later chapters by changing some things and keeping others the same in early chapters. Strixhaven is like a nearly finished house that's left to you to complete while other books are fully finished houses that you are renovating and hoping you don't accidentally knock down a load-bearing wall. secondly, because it actively encourages players to make these changes so they're not afraid that their input could break something down the line. I don't think that bear-bones books are 'objectively better', but releasing one to encourage dms to homebrew a bit is not a sin.
I LOVE that the different student courses offer enhanced spell selections as well. It's almost like gaining a second Subclass for certain spell casting types. a sorcerer with a connection to druidic magic via the Witherbloom school is a really cool idea. or other similar things. i mean a green or black dragon sorcerer would really feel natural with the witherbloom school.
Amazing video :). This really describes the reasons I love homebrew so much and tend to steer away from modules. Having the freedom to put in your own stuff that's cool and not just read into off the page and relay it to your players is 10x more fun. Also skill challenges are amazing I agree a hundred percent, player power and the memories from letting them make up their own things is incredible. I'll definitely will have to look into this book!
So, the big problem a lot of DM's have with it is not just it being a skeleton, but what that means. Some DM's buy books and want to run them as is as this saves them time and energy (especially with a new group) and they can just sit down and play. Strixhaven while you can do that (it feels really shallow and empty if you do) it should bee run more as "Guidelines" and used like clay - where you the dm mold it to what you want it to be and can always add more clay to make it what you want it to look like.
No way, you just described DMing. Also, if you don't want to put in the framework for the campaign, then that's all the campaign will be. "something unpolished can be worked on, but something rushed is forever bad." Having your first experience with your players be something directly from the books with no input from you leaves you as a DM with less tools just to begin with. I feel like you should mould any game you play to your liking, especially this one. I don't think any good DM should just, play a full campaign starter with just the rules you're given no matter what. And some things aren't perfect, and don't fit perfectly into everything. In that case, put some work in yourself, don't be fucking lazy, spend like 3 hours out of the week beforehand making sure that YOU can work with the campaign in the future, instead of just setting down a module because you supposedly don't have the time or energy. In that case, maybe you have other problems. So, in other words, it's my personal opinion that you should never just set down a module and play it as is. Instead, read it over for a bit, see what you can do with it, and maybe mold it a bit to your own liking. It's your job as the DM to see what works and what doesn't with the campaign you're working with; everything is a tool, but if you fail to use it, that's your own damn fault and not the tool's. And, if all else fails, just improv as mentioned in the video. That's what the campaign seems to be centered around anyway. You don't have to have this perfect canon of what exactly is happening and where at all times. You can allow a bit of illogic if that's for the betterment of the campaign, but of course, at your own discretion. All of these should be used as guidelines, that's what D&D is all about. You should at least put some effort into "moulding your games like clay" because that's what the game was built around from the ground up.
I think the problem is more to do with the fact they paid $60 for it and didn't get their money’s worth from it. Imagine buying Stormking’s Thunder at full price and only getting about half of the book.
@@RandomInternetStranger If I wanted that, I wouldn't spend between $30 and $50 on a book when I could make something similar myself. And I do. Remember that most people aren't made of money.
@@RandomInternetStranger I think your opinion is valid but it is not a fair one because you assume that everyone has that 3 hours of the week beforehand to prepare. That may very well be the case for you, but for an adult working a full time job with a family and other hobbies, that 3 hours may be asking a lot. Point is, there is a very big market with a demand for adventure products where everything is set up to be run super easily out of the box. If you don’t believe me, check out OSR products like Winter’s Daughter and The Waking of Willowby Hall. It 30 minutes to skim through them front to back, and requires no preparation at all to run. You literally just read the paragraph of the location the players are in and it tells you what they find and how the NPCs react, formatted with ease of use in mind. There is so little text and yet it gives you all you need to run the adventure completely. Now, you may not need or like such a product. But there is a big demand for such (a very big one by the size of the OSR scene), and to demand the same quality of a full WOTC $60 book where we just want to run a reasonable 5e game out of the box with no homebrew is not at all an unreasonable one. WOTC just fails to deliver and I don’t think that we should be defending them.
@@jltheking3 If you can't put aside a combined 3 hours to plan during a full week, DMing a dnd campaign is not for you unfortunately. There are much better systems than 5e for those that can't invest time into planning a story
I've been a DM for about a decade, and I think this book is absolutely perfect. It's not intrusive, it doesn't fall into the dual DM trap like other books do, and it was perfectly informative to me. I don't want to agonize over minutiae, I want to have fun with my friends and the book, for me, focuses on the latter since the tedium bogs down the game and grants a torpor effect on play and prep.
@@janus2773 Where players unwittingly get two DMs: the book and the DM. Some books are so unnecessarily detailed that DMs will compromise roleplay and table attention and player autonomy because it's not in the book, it risks what's written in the book, and there is a fine line and railroad for the players because it's authored as such in the book and the DM doesn't want to jeopardize all of the details and foreshadowing in it. It makes you ask: Which one of you is really the DM because there shouldn't be two. Hence, the dual DM problem.
Wow!! I felt like you made your points so convincingly, and what you saw in this book really inspires me! I come from more of the crunchy side of things -- and feel like: "What's the point in earning this Sword +1, if some character is just going to invent something into the scene, which completely undoes all of my tactical thinking and strategizing about things?" But your point about the distinction between combat tactical situations, and the "let's roleplay" situations, really helped me find the path to what you are saying. I really appreciate your personable way of explaining things.
I honestly love the Strixhaven book! Seeing your review made me think about it deeper and gain even more appreciation for it. Me and my group all love to play in homebrew settings and my plan is to transplant Strixhaven into my own world, with the first part of the campaign being the adventures in the book. It feels like a good way to get started running my very first campaign because the moments where players have control over the narrative are moments when I can take a breather and start thinking about what I want to have them do next. Your review and seeing how into it your party was makes me even more excited to start my game!
You’ve really sold me on this book. I’m currently running my first pre-written adventure with dragon of ice spire and I’ve thrown so much of my own storytelling into it and enjoyed that element so much. This is by no means a negative in my eyes but I understand that’s not for everyone. Can’t wait to run this.
I have to give you big PROPS for your presentation style. The passion you have for this game really shows through, also, your pacing, editing and mixing are GREAT!! Too many presenters do HYPER editing where everything overlaps everywhere. I do this in radio editing, as you have to fit :43 seconds of copy into :30 seconds. You allow for a thought process to sink in and permeate. The background music was SPOT ON. It wasn't overpowering, it's tone and pace really covey the mood. Sorry for being technical, but you really nailed it! Thank you for your work!
I actually agree with pretty much everything here. I love Strix. My 10 year old nephew Asked me to teach him to play D&D. lol Kid Loves Kobolds so much he made one to play in Strix.
My view is that Strixhaven is less a module/adventure and more a detailed setting book: a basic framework, with a *lot* of room to fill in as a DM, if it suits your group, and a lot of bits you can swap out here and there, like the specific syllabus.
14:05 "Someone step on him!" 😳🦶😆 The way that skill challenges are described here sounds like a great way to approach much of the Social and Exploration pillars.
Looking at the book in the thumnail I thought it said "A Curriculum of Chads" and I don't know a lot about Strixhaven but I'm pretty sure the nerd game didn't add a "Chad" expansion
I love that you described that narrative skill challenges are so much like playing with the Cypher System; with it's ability to describe and help build the collaborative narrative experience. We recently switched to 5E and I realize it's the one thing that's kinda missing from 5E, if you aren't already hip on it; and Strixhaven delivers a few "We'll just do this from now on!" ideas for future games.
"Bad DM Advice" is kind of wild seeing how DND is a game that can be played in MANY different ways. I could see "not for everyone" because there was a time I didn't care for your advice either but the more and more I watch the more I notice that I do actually like your advice.
I agree with you, having a bit of both is great. I love having a bit of work done for me and I also love getting to run wild with my creativity and make my own stories. Having modules and adventures that are well defined and detailed help to cut down on how much you have to create as a GM but offer you little creative input. Having modules and adventures that are bare bones means you have a lot more work to flesh it out, but give you tons of creative freedom to implement what you want.
The amount of passion you have for this book makes me want to do a deep dive on it and eventually run a Strixhaven campaign. I love the magic school settings, and this sounds wonderful!
Just finished a campaign run in strixhaven, where a novice DM tried to not only run this fairly complex setting, but also add several nuanced subplots. One of these involved our newest player being mind controlled without the rest of the party knowing, and the only hint being the character acting differently. Seeming as this was a new player, I and the rest of the group simply thought it was the player finding their stride in roleplaying, so when the character betrayed us at the end, you can imagine our reactions. In the end, the DM obviously should have just written a harry potter fanfic, because god damn I felt like I was on the dnd polar express through harry potter land. The whole experience has left a terrible taste in my mouth for the setting, so this video was nice to see why it isn't all bad. Oh, and yes, I did contact the DM after the final session, said I appreciated all their hard work, but probably wouldn't want to play another strixhaven campaign in the future. We are a close group of friends, so that's why I didn't back out of the campaign part way through, but man It genuinely is the worst dnd i have ever experienced. Edit: Oh yeah, and my mischevious bastard of a character tried to cheat on the exams, failed the check horribly, and ended up spending the rest of the campaign in detention instead of extra curriculars, which the DM interpreted as, I got to sit there while everyone did extra curicullars because no one else in the school got detention, and it was impossible to escape. :)
Honestly, you're right. I think by that point in the campaign, I was already a bit fed up with it all, but I definitely shoulda gone Oceans 11 up in that bitch and broken out or something.
youve sold me on strix. i hadn't heard much about it, but im more of a bare bones improvisational dm so it sounds right up my alley, plus the ability to freely change things without having to really worry about ruining everything else is really appealing
So it seems like your main point is that becuase there's less in there, there's more opportunities for you to roleplay and make your own lore. I have a couple of counter points to this. 1: A fleshed out module dosen't always have to be played out the way it's written. Just becuase a module has a lot of information dosen't mean that you HAVE to play it that way. Some of the best modules out there have a set narrative and way things could go, but allow wiggle room for the players to do their own stuff. In fact, I know plenty of people who use modules as their, but then fuck off into their own homebrew direction. Are there going to be inconsistencies? Yes, but most of the books already have those anyways. A well written module can be reversed engineered to suit your own purposes. It gives choice. Do you want something written our for you, or do you want to start out with something and turn this setting into your own. Some of the best games i've seen start off with a module, then go off into it's own thing. Strixhaven doesn't give you that choice. It's great for roleplay sure, but some people don't want to be forced to homebrew 80% of a book they paid 60$ for. 2: Skill Challenges feel a bit underbaked. So, I want to start off by saying that i'm a huge advoacte for homebrewing. There's a lot you can do with 5e as a base, and then Frankenstein it into something else. It's a ton of fun! but to me, the way skill challenges are presented feel TOO bare bones and kind of go against how D&D plays. 5e is nowhere a perfect game and it's even a bit too simple at times... but even then, this could use some more depth. It dosen't have to be as complicated as combat, but it needs more. Especially the sporting events. What if there were events on the field that caused adavtage or disadvantage? What if you were limited to certain skills depending on location? There's a lot more they can do while keeping it simple. And I'm not huge on the whole "You should stop playing 5e thing" and that's not what i'm trying to say. But the way you decribed Skill Challenges is a lot like how Powered by the Apocalypse games work. They are games that have vauge actions your players can take, and it puts the narrative into their hands for them to describe what they are doing. In a system not based around that... it feels a little too simple and bare bones. In conclusion: I can see what you are getting at, but I still have to disagree. I feel like Strixhaven would have been better as a Setting book rather than an adventure. As an adventure, it just fells unfinished and does NOT warrent 60 fucking dollars. That's a lot for a book that feels relatively empty compared to other modules.
The book is midway between being a sourcebook and an adventure. For whatever its worth, it is listed as a Setting sourcebook on DNDBeyond, but is sold as an "adventure book" on Amazon. Regardless, it gives you all the location information you need to run your own adventure in the setting, and then gives you a short adventure to go with it. And the only way you'd be paying $60 for the book is if you are paying premium for the alternate cover, which is kind of on you at that point because the regular version is available for around $30. In conclusion: You're whining about things not being fleshed out and then talking about how you like to strip the flesh away and just use the bones anyways. And if that is what most people are doing, then why should they spend the time and resources to fully flesh out anything when all anyone wants is the bones?
I've had two different groups love the formatting of Storm King's Thunder. Plenty of detail to dig into, but the freedom to blaze your own path through the story. Strixhaven seems to be the opposite.
Thanks, Jacob. I’m DMing a Strixhaven game at the moment, and this video was really useful for me. I have more confidence now, in order to have more fun with my players. Keep the good work
Our group actually did more combat when we primarily played in person than now when we primarily play in online (discord and roll20). We've had many sessions where there is little or no combat.
as others pointed out, the main issue is that strixhaven is incredible bare bones and doesn't offer any indepth content. why should i pay 60+ for a book that basically just tells me, "here's the most surface level, bare bone descriptor of the thing we could get away with, now go make up your own stuff". if I'm just forced to compensate for the book and make up everything myself, why even bother buying it in the first place? yeah, it's neat and all to get some very basic setting ideas, but i can get those online for free. it honestly would be much easier and cheaper for me to just run my own homebrew game, if i have to make up everything myself anyway.
I bought this book on a whim as my first adventure book. I was excited and was drooling while going through it and then started seeing videos criticize it and had a bit of buyers remorse as I had no adventure experience to compare it with. You've reignited the excitement and I'll look forward to the collaborative experience with my friends. : )
Pro tip: If you need to be convinced by other people whether or not your purchase was a good idea you will definitely get scammed at some point in your life.
It's not that I don't see your side, it's that having the detail doesn't stop your way from happening. Details are builder's tools, it's not the module's fault if your DM uses them to build walls. You don't have to use every tool in the kit. If I insist on using every wrench and hammer I own on every project, it's not the toolbox's fault that I just needed a screwdriver. I agree with you on the skill challenges, I've run my skill checks like that for 10 years now. And I agree with you on the NPCs, they're definitely a lot better since they're all detailed and fleshed out this time!...wait... Maybe it's because I got in around the launch of 3e, but I expect my rulebooks to be filled with rules and my setting books to be filled with setting details. Giving me rules and saying to change them if I want is fine, opening the book to find "just make it up lol" makes me wonder why I just spent $60. Your way of play is fun, I've had a blast in games run that way, but this felt like a worst of both worlds book for me. If you want to be an adventure, give me enough structural detail that I can run the adventure. if you want to be a setting for me to make my my own adventure, give me more setting info. But to each their own.
I really like strixhaven because just a few pages of the book makes me have A LOT of ideas of things that i can put in my games. My favorite thing is the dedication for the NPCs, it's very fun to read and i world love to have More of this content in future books
Yeah, Underwhelming is the right word to describe it. Strixhaven does feel like a big missed opportunity. Like, I knew from the name they were going to focus in on the school, but it feels like they neglected Arcavios as a larger setting while also half-assing the school itself.
I think it's a great resource for a player at an existing table who wants to dip their toe into DMing, the school life helps keep the tempo while they find their feet, but it's also a great sandbox for when they start wanting to take the story somewhere completely their own
But at what point is this stuff 100% necessary? Like if I don't explicitly state where the dorms are, does it change the quality of my campaign? Chances are the pathway or direction to the dorms will only be brought up once or twice. By like the 2nd session you'll probably just be saying " you return to your dorms". If a player asks where the dorms are you can just make it up. Nothing wrong with that.
My group ended up getting really high level, played mage tower, and one of them used polymorph to turn the other team into the mascot, and easily won. Man I love mage tower
I think the issue complained of is in Strixhaven is more that the mechanics are bare bones. Mostly a lot of die rolls to see whether you pass exams. Which is boring. The lore being somewhat simpler than in other WOTC modules does make Strixhaven more manageable, I agree.
@@MyFunnyVids888 Some dice rolls are tied to good story or creative attempts to persuade an NP to do something. In Strixhaven, it's almost all full of simple fight encounters with no real connection to the main plot, let alone the theme of each mission.
I just want to say thank you. This really makes me appreciate strixhaven more and it reminds me that even though I like plotting these massive stories, it can be just as fun to not know what will happen. Ryuutamma is also slowly teaching me this.
So nice to see Ryuutama mentioned! I just stared GMing a Ryuutama campaign, and having it be open world and just be about the adventurers and their goals and travels really changes perspectives a bit. You don't always need a fully detailed world, a big serious plot, or dozens of pages of NPCs and such to make a compelling and nice narrative. Sometimes, all you need is an interesting world in which the characters can just be themselves, and the many adventures this brings to the table ~
Totally agree! I saw Davvy's review and was pumped to go get the book myself. Knowing that I was able to improv the details and not worry about studying the module to make sure that "I" wouldn't make any mistakes.
I got into this channel in earnest just today. I love the candor and positive take. And I don't just mean positive like "it feels positive and nice." But instead I mean you explain the buy-in for stuff. You've got a good criticism for things you don't like, but I really connect with the content where you explain an angle to enjoy things. Like this. Taking Strixhaven as a nice slice of life thing. I'll definitely use this face to face.
I would have preferred a more generic Wizard School setting that you could pick up and put into the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, or your own home brew setting. This felt really tied to the MtG Strixhaven setting. It feels like you’re either going to have to set it In Strixhaven which is now in Waterdeep for reasons or do a bunch of work to try and adjust this to your own campaign setting.
I think an easy solution would be to tailor the terrain around Strixhaven to your setting. Lorehold doesn’t necessarily need all the cliffs, it just needs the canyon and ancient dig sites. Witherbloom doesn’t need to be in a swamp, it just needs to be in the wilderness or at least wilderness adjacent.
THERE IS NO LARGER STRIXHAVEN “SETTING.” It literally is just a school. It IS exactly what you’re describing that you wish you had… Where is anyone from Strixhaven FROM, dude? What do their families do for a living? The reason you can’t easily put Strixhaven in Eberron is because of the difference in the MAGIC SYSTEM, not the “setting.”
What Strixhaven has cannot be underestimated, that being SHEER CREATIVE POTENTIAL. Which in my eyes, is really what D&D is about. That and making you feel stuff, and Strix does that well too.
@@Alfabravo313 This^^ D&D is already a creative game. By design, creativity will already happen regardless of the adventure. If i buy an "official" product, it should provide restrictions/structures which demand creative answers from the people
I am so glad to hear about this module! I GM FFG STAR WARS, where i run something similar with a STAR WARS slice of life meets Hogwarts & High school dramas RP campaign, on a Sith Academy for young teenagers. I had nothing to be inspired by, so i made everything from the ground, with 50 students in their year, plus faculty, all with their own agendas and ideals. This book, even if its D&D, sounds to me could give lots of inspiration and ideas for making my school life campaign even more interesting. Thank you for putting our yet another great informational video for us GM's out there! Keep up the amazing work!
Thank you SO much for making this video. I absolutely love this book and am so happy they made it. I was least excited for it out of the 3 that came out at the end of the year but it has surprised me in such a fantastical way. I was discussing the “un detailed” portion of the campaign with a friend and I think it’s such a solid foundation to not only run an entire campaign but to just pick it up and drop it into another campaign. I love the book and you did an awesome job explaining why it’s so fun!
For the locations bit, I feel any location called-out in the book should be noted on the map. There can be plenty of places in-between that can be filled-in, but if an NPC says the party needs to go to a place, the party should be able to know where they're going, unless the module is intended to be frustrating in getting around.
Awesome video man. I personally reeeeaaallllyyyy struggled with Chapter 2 of Dragon Heist, to the point the game was delayed over a year between sessions. (We’re now halfway through Chapter 3) Trying to go back in with a new mindset like this and creating those stories with my players has been a game changer.
I’m have the book but I’m holding off on reading it because I’ve wanted to play in it first. I actually tried to run a magic school last year in one of my campaigns and I just overwhelmed myself with building out the classes, how the teachers would react, and too much on the details to the point where I ended up dropping it. Playing a magic school has always been a huge fantasy of mine so I am super excited to play in this. Also, please do more long videos! I absolutely love these!
As someone who plays magic: the gathering and DM’s… I loved ravnica and theros lore-wise, mechanic-wise, and their implementation individually from other dnd settings and that they maintained everything we learned about the planes. Strixhaven’s implementation was just… bad, frankly. I could probably replace the names of the houses in strixhaven with the ones in Eberron and no one would know. The flavor of strixhaven is incredibly lost in this book. The Oriq as an underground faction is so underwritten I could take it out completely and the campaign would seem more cohesive. Mage tower is fine, plenty for us to add, don’t know why there weren’t any quest specific suggestions around it or magic items for it but meh. Comparatively with the other MTG/dnd crossovers, this one feels incredibly half-assed.
Hi! I don't wanna play magic, but I want to know more about the strixhaven setting. can you recommend me sources? (I guess there is a wiki, but other than that...)
I completely understand where you’re coming from, but the agnostic template vibe is part of what I like about it. I see the university style as another tool in my belt like factions, domains of dread, or guilds.
Big agree here. Like… don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a skill challenge. I LOVE that the book is encouraging newer players to roleplay. Any source material that does that? Can’t be all bad. But seriously… if you’re going to school, there’s a larger cultural and economic reason someone sent you to school. Schools don’t make sense without surrounding arts, culture and businesses.
@@emilysmith2965 you can make each player decide their own reason for attending magic school and build the world around that. Harry potter never bothered to explore how wizards earn money. We barely get world building beyond hogwarts and its still a romp to play around in a magic school
