Opinion: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. Who is this Book for?

Recently Wizards of the Coast announced two new books for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
The first [which we will cover in next week's blog post] is a new adventure module titled The Wild Beyond the Witchlight which I am super excited for. The second, is a campaign setting for one of Magic: the Gathering’s latest worlds. This book is entitled: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. I am much less interested in this campaign setting than in the new adventure module and, to be honest, since its announcement, I have been asking myself “Who is the target audience for this product and why was it chosen as the next campaign setting?” 

I want to start by clearly stating my biases. (My goal here is not to yuck someone’s yum. There is clearly a target audience in mind for this product or else it would not have made it off the cutting room floor.) I am a Dungeons and Dragons fan and have been for quite some time. I enjoy Dungeons and Dragons 5e and have purchased almost all of the modules and sourcebooks upon release. I am also a Magic: the Gathering fan and I invested pretty heavily in Strixhaven as I thought the Magical Colleges were pretty neat. So will I be adding Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos to my collection? Absolutely. Without question. Once again, my goal here is not to dismiss this product; nor is it to convince you not to buy it from your favorite local game store. Instead, I want to give my assessment of the product based on what we know so far and to discuss some possible alternative products that we may or may not see in the future.

To give a brief and simplified synopsis, Strixhaven is Wizards of the Coast’s interpretation of the “Magical School” trope. The School of Strixhaven is made up of five colleges including: Prismari who use their elemental magic to express themselves artistically, Lorehold who use their magic to uncover the secrets of the past, Witherbloom who study the forces of life and death, Quandrix who study the equations and formulas that make up the universe, and Silverquill who use their magic to shape cutting words and create living ink. There is also a faction of mages known as the Oriq who are obsessed with forbidden knowledge and seek the destruction of Strixhaven and it’s colleges.

My first question is, why was there such a long time between the release of the Strixhaven set and the release of Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos?

Wizards of the Coast has also released some playtest material which you can see here. Of the proposed material, this is the most interesting part for me; not because I really want to play a Prismari Wizard or a Witherbloom Druid, but instead because the options for variant spell casters seem really neat. I am not going to go into my assessment of all of the options because who knows what the final product will look like. What I will say is that, based on my knowledge of the mages of Strixhaven and of Dungeons and Dragons, they have given us a lot of new and interesting options that are very flavorful. This is especially true for the wizard (which if you didn't know, is my favorite class to play). Of the five new subclasses, one representing each college, four of the classes can be chosen by a Wizard. The most striking thing in all of this for me is that for the first time I can remember, the subclass is not tied to just one base class but can instead be chosen by many. Prismari for example can be chosen by Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard. 

Now, I suppose my main critique of the book is just how odd it feels to have the book release so far away from the release of the Magic: The Gathering set. Strixhaven released on April 23rd and the D&D book is currently slated to release on November 16th 2021. That’s nearly 7 months later! My first question is, why was there such a long time between the release of the Strixhaven set and the release of Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos? Was there a concern that the set would not be received as well as they had hoped or did they not put the book into production until after the initial reception? At first glance it would make more sense to have the two products come out at roughly the same time to help hook D&D players into Magic and Magic players into D&D.

At the writing of this article, there are currently two other Magic the Gathering Campaign Settings currently published. They are Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros. These are two of the most beloved sets in the history of Magic: the Gathering and, over the years, have each been visited multiple times. Ravnica’s appeal is in the varied guild factions, each vying for control of the planewide city of Ravnica. Theros, on the other hand, is Wizards of the Coast’s interpretation of ancient Greek and Roman Mythology, complete with monsters, gods, heroes, and epic sagas. These two make sense to me. Ravnica is at the center of the cosmos for Magic: the Gathering and is so beloved that Wizards of the Coast has visited the plane on three separate occasions. Greek Mythology is widely known and very popular so an interpretation like Theros checks out.

So for me the question is, why Strixhaven? Some of the other popular planes include the Norse Mythology inspired Kaldheim, the wild and unpredictably dangerous plane Zendikar, and even the dark gothic horror world of Innistrad. These are just a few examples of all of the cool planes in the world of Magic: the Gathering. So why aren't we visiting them instead? I feel that any of these Magic: the Gathering planes would have the potential to be more popular and well-received than Strixhaven. Perhaps in the future we will see source books for some of these and new planes that we have never seen before. Time will tell.

And what is the crossover of D&D fans who are also die-hard Magic: the Gathering players?

Now that we have unpacked all of that, the real crux of my argument. Who is this book for? If it were for Magic: the Gathering fans, wouldn't we hope that the book would come out alongside the set release? Wouldn’t we have expected to see similar treatment done for Kaldheim? Especially given the recent popularity of Norse mythology in the media with the Loki TV Series, Thor: Love & Thunder, and God of War: Ragnarok? And what is the crossover of D&D fans who are also die-hard Magic: the Gathering players? I can’t imagine this number is very large when compared to these two fandoms on their own. This book is clearly not marketed for just Dungeons and Dragons players who do not have some investment in the Magic: the Gathering franchise as it does not seem to be generic enough to just drop into games. So of the three categories, purely Magic players, Magic players who play D&D ,and purely D&D players, this book seems to have come into existence without any thought as to who its target audience is. It feels like an orphaned book in search of a family.

Here is my takeaway. I am going to purchase Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos for a few reasons. First, it is a D&D sourcebook with some neat character options and certainly will include some neat monsters that I can reskin and throw at my unwitting players. Second, it is set in a pretty cool Magic Plane that has a lot of potential for growth. Third, it has a great looking alternate cover that will look neat on my bookshelf. I simply wish that a little more care was taken in the planning and preparation of this product as it feels out of place and late to the game. Most of the art is already commissioned and owned by Wizards of the Coast from them printing the set proper. So they just have to put the words in the book. I hope that future Magic: The Gathering Campaign Settings have more care put into them than it seems was put into Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. At least the name is appropriate.

Do you have opinions about this latest D&D Campaign Setting?

Let me know!

Till then,

Take Heart!

Karington Hess

Game Master and Founder of Open Heart Games