New information about the upcoming Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos book for Dungeons & Dragons is making it sound a lot like one of the Persona video games. Strixhaven University is a magical academy from Magic: The Gathering, which is being added to the D&D multiverse in November thanks to the new book.
The students at Strixhaven University attend the school for a number of reasons, as not all prospective pupils are spellcasters. Once they complete their first year, they choose from one of five different colleges in order to refine their skills further. During their time at Strixhaven University, the players will need to complete exams, take part in sporting events, and deal with any threats to the school.
The Persona series of video games have achieved mainstream success in recent years. Unlike fantasy JRPGs, like the Dragon Quest and early Final Fantasy games, the Persona series uses a contemporary setting. The main characters are high school students, who must use their newfound supernatural abilities to deal with threats to the entire world, all while living their everyday lives and achieving success in academics.
D&D's New Social Links In Strixhaven Explained
Wizards of the Coast recently held a press event that included a deep dive into the content in Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, which included a discussion on the new mechanics in the book. Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos is adding the equivalent of relationship mechanics to D&D, with players able to forge friendships with other characters at the school, in order to gain mechanical benefits. The players can also have their own rivals to face in the school.
The system sounds a lot like the Social Links from the Persona games. Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos comes with adventures that track the players' progress throughout their time at Strixhaven, culminating in them defending the school from harm. Game designer Jeremy Crawford even admitted that Persona 5 is one of the few video game RPGs that he has completed more than once.
The Social Link system in the Persona series is a genius concept, as it ties the player to the setting in a way that affects the dungeon-crawling aspect of the gameplay. D&D has been begging for a similar system for a long time, and a magical university sounds like the perfect way to create a Persona-inspired Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The players who really want to embrace the concept could take on the College of Spirits subclass for Bards, as that's as close to a Persona-user as the game gets.
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos will be released on November 16, 2021.
Source: Wizards of the Coast