Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos will be the next MTG setting for Dungeons & Dragons
A semester of spellslinging.
Publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced that it will be bringing another plane from Magic: The Gathering's trading card game multiverse to its ubiquitous tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons 5E with Strixhaven, Curriculum of Chaos. The setting sourcebook is due out November 16th and will provide groups everything they need to enroll in a session of adventure at the renowned School of Mages.
As reported by ComicBook, Curriculum of Chaos was one of the first announcements during WIzards of the Coast’s “Week of Legend Lore” event, which began today and will feature plenty of new titles and additions to Dungeons & Dragons. More detailed looks are planned for July 8th, but the publisher provided a look at the cover - with art by Magali Villeneuve - featuring a trio of students in blue and white, along with one very put-upon library archivist gargoyle perched atop a stack of books (definitely the GM of the group).
The university of Strixhaven is located on the plane of Arcavios and is the pre-eminent school for the multiverse’s elite mages. It was also the focus of the latest Magic: The Gathering set - Strixhaven: School of Mages - and provided players a look at the five distinct colleges that comprise the academy, each with their own area of expertise and mechanical draw. An additional highlight is the Mystical Archives, a collection of magic from dozens of planes that serve as both a historical tool and treasured repository that the colleges’ deans and their draconic scions viciously protect.
This will be the third time the hobby streams have crossed to produce a campaign setting edition, and each previous one focused on a popular plane that the trading card game had visited at least twice. Both Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros arrived to capitalize on the established knowledge and excitement for those worlds, and each had been the focus of a particularly plot-heavy round of narratives.
That’s not to say Strixhaven doesn’t do a good job painting a clear picture of life on the plane of Arcavios, but Curriculum of Chaos may function more to broaden the scope of what we know and where we can go compared previous MTG-themed books. Some core characters, such as Liliana Voss, seemed to have their current arcs end during the events of the latest card set, while others - namely the Ikoria-born Planeswalker Lukka left threads untidied as that particular chapter reached an end.
Wizards of the Coast announced earlier today that it would be publishing a non-Magic: The Gathering campaign book titled Wild Beyond the Witchlight, arriving in September. It will ostensibly introduce players to the elusive and unpredictable magic of the Feywild realm and its inhabitants.
Wizards of the Coast said players will be able to see playtest character options for the book in an upcoming Arcana Unleashed edition planned for this month. These materials are regularly released as a way to gauge fan reaction to proposed ideas, so don’t expect it to be representative of the book due on November 16th. It’s the practice test, not the term final.