‘Tis the season where children and adults alike are packing their backpacks and returning to school for yet another year. Whether you’re skipping joyfully back to school or dragging your heels with resignation, this month’s community spotlight aims to inject a little magical pep in your step. Books open, wands (or whatever your spellcasting focus of choice) at the ready, because here are five different supplements written by folks in the community that you can use in any adventure set in Strixhaven, or any magic school in your own setting.
- Strixhaven Student Prospectus: Lorehold
- Mimsy’s Strixhaven Shop of Treasures
- Strix U: An Actual Play
- Biting the Bullet
- Strixhaven Faculty Handbook Volume 2: Multiversal Exchange Program
Strixhaven Student Prospectus: Lorehold
Strixhaven Student Prospectus: Lorehold, written by StickyHunter (she/they), aka Stephanie Farrow, is a fantastic all-around supplement for any campaign set in a magic school. It has new spells, feats, a new subclass, and more. The supplement contains Stephanie’s own artwork; they are a freelance artist with a Bachelor’s Degree in Games Development, and were the art director on the best-selling Odyssey Anthology series.

Expertly Developed Courses
My favorite thing in Strixhaven Student Prospectus: Lorehold is the new courses you can offer your players. Do you have a character interested in languages? Philology is ready and waiting for them. Perhaps a character wants to learn about warfare and battle techniques? Add Hoplology to their schedule!
Each course is written in the style of Strixhaven, detailing ways the characters can study for, and write, their exams. There’s plenty of flavor to be found here. For instance, a clay tablet found on a relic table harkens to the Epic of Gilgamesh:
“A clay tablet with writing written in Ancient [a new language in this supplement], made with a simple writing tool pushed into the clay at various angles. Anyone able to correctly read it will see the grooves of the letters glow as it’s read. It tells the story of a long passed king, and the loss of his best friend. The tablet has several points where the clay has bubbled and burst, obscuring part of the story, and indicating that it was fired by accident, perhaps indicating the burning of the building it was kept in.”
Part of the reason these courses feel so real is that StickyHunter worked alongside Frederic Walker (he/him), a disabled archeology student and editor, specifically to bring as much accuracy to these courses as possible. As Stephanie explains, “It started as him lovingly talking about archeological terms and practices, then me trying to work the rules to reflect the careful excavation you find in fieldwork.”
Strixhaven Student Prospectus: Lorehold also includes a number of new NPCs: some students and new professors. I love Siulogma of Valdrasheen, an ancient scholar who is actually a summoned spirit of a celebrated scholar. It’s such a fun concept for DMs to run with: This teacher of ancient history often refers to their own work, and has firsthand accounts of big historical events.
You can buy Strixhaven Student Prospectus: Lorehold on DMsGuild, and connect with StickyHunter on their Twitter, and find more of her work on her website.
Mimsy's Strixhaven Shop of Treasures
No magic school campaign would be complete without a whole bunch of magic items, and Mimsy's Strixhaven Shop of Treasures has you covered. Written by E.R.F Jordan (she/her), this supplement has 100 new magic items. Yes, you read that right. One whole hundred magic items. But before we dive into those, we first need to talk about Mimsy, the merchant who sells all these treasures.

Who Is Mimsy?
Mimsy is probably the most interesting shopkeeper NPC I’ve encountered. Much more than a simple merchant for player transactions, she has a rich backstory. As a student in this same school (either Strixhaven, or whatever magic school your imagination creates), she was betrayed, ultimately leading Mimsy to enter into a fiendish pact. This is the very reason for her shop: She is trying to stave off a soul-debt with gifts of powerful items she barters for, meanwhile secretly hoping to find an item strong enough to defeat her patron. Mimsy is an NPC with the potential to pack a narrative punch in virtually any story.
“While writing Mimsy,” Eleanor said, “my goal was to make a character with a lot of faces: She's a charming merchant, a morally gray warlock for an evil entity, and an ex-student trying to get out of a bad situation, among other things. That way, she can fit any role that needs filling in a campaign, and even move between them as the situation demands—fertile ground for delicious drama!”
Delicious drama, indeed! If that drama turns into the fighty kind, E.R.F Jordan also included a guide for using Mimsy in combat, along with her stat block.
100 Magic Items for Your Adventures
Returning to the literal 100 magic items, there is something in here for every campaign and story. The items are themed around life at a magic school, as well as the five colleges of Strixhaven, but they cover plenty of thematic ground and are easily adaptable for any setting. For a little extra fun, each magic item includes a text box with a quote for when Mimsy is trying to sell it. Take the bracers of prismatic energy, for example. It’s a rare item allowing a spellcaster to occasionally change a spell’s elemental damage type to another:
“Look,” Mimsy says, “you could just pick another spell, sure. But sometimes you have an aesthetic to maintain, and you just want to hurl bolts of lightning until the cows come home. D’you feel me?”
Yes, Mimsy, I really do feel you. Take my gold!
Mimsy’s Strixhaven Shop of Treasures is available on the DMsGuild. You can find more of E.R.F. Jordan’s work on her website, and connect with her on Bluesky.
Strix U: An Actual Play
Strix U is an all-black, HBCU-inspired Strixhaven actual play set in a homebrew world and DMed by Lexi McQueen (he/they/she), who is also known as Black Girl Mage. The story follows six students who all come from different backgrounds as they carve their path as the most promising generation of Strixhaven students:

- Amethyst Wilson, played by CJ (they/them)
- Aniyah Pierre, played by Liv (she/they)
- Dante Bloodforge, played by Walle (he/they)
- Lamar Jenkins, played by Austin (he/they/she)
- Jae Williams, played by Izzy (she/they)
- Soleil Kennedy, played by Samm (she/they)
The story explores how each of them views success, magic, knowledge, and relationships, focusing on various expressions of black joy.
Magic Schools As Community
“This AP was truly a dream,” Lexi said. “When the D&D book was announced I immediately started picturing the school and how it fit into my own world. It didn't take long after that to get the wheels rolling on the idea.” At that time, he was new to the actual play scene, so when he made a wishlist of players he admired, he was surprised when everyone said yes. The group spent several months just chatting together, building bonds and friendships, before starting to film the show. Those foundational relationships are evident in the group’s storytelling and clear chemistry; community is an integral part of Strix U.
“I was the kind of kid who went to sleep wishing on stars and woke up wishing today would be the day my new powers would send me on a journey,” Lexi said. “Something I realized as I got older was that if you were the only chosen one, it'd be quite lonely. The magic school genre has a community of other gifted folks baked in with the genre, and the dichotomy of different powers and different belief systems interested me from the get-go.”
When I asked Lexi what their favorite moment in Strix U has been so far, they pointed to a heartbreaking moment of betrayal in the prequel series. “It's this intimate moment showing the true heart behind both of these characters in a way we haven't seen them—vulnerable and serious—even though the whole show so far has seen them differently.”
The next season of Strix U is coming soon, with an eight-episode arc entitled “Strix U: Legacy Bound.” It’s a story about a homecoming ceremony and, in Lexi’s words, “the chaos that ensues maintaining the expectations of the generations before you.”
You can watch all the episodes of Strix U on Lexi’s YouTube or Twitch, and follow the show’s Twitter.
Biting the Bullet
Sometimes you want a mystical magic school adventure full of dancing fairies and rainbows. And sometimes you want an adventure with a darker tone, without losing all of the whimsy. Enter Biting the Bullet, a murder-mystery adventure that takes place in an altered reality of Strixhaven. Written by DenMother, this roleplay-heavy adventure is inspired by the Japanese video game series Danganronpa, and takes characters from 5th to 10th level. While it’s written for Strixhaven, it’s easily adaptable to any other setting by simply placing the Biblioplex library into your own magic school.

Adventure Overview
The player characters in Biting the Bullet are all prodigies of one sort or another and have the title of “Great.” As a Great, they each receive a letter from a staff member, inviting them to the Biblioplex to undergo an initiation challenge called the “Great Test.” When they arrive, they meet a wide array of other students who all received the same cryptic invitation. The dark library contains a portal, and when the characters step through it, they are transported to a small demiplane—an alternative reality of the Biblioplex. There they meet a fiendish teddy, Desbear, whose name is pronounced like “despair.” This pun sets the tone for the adventure: whimsy but, as the characters are about to realize, also rather sinister.
The Great Test begins: Someone is about to be murdered. Desbear announces the characters are stuck in this reality forever, that is, unless someone dies. No evil and sadistic test would be complete without an arbitrary timeline, and this is no different. The characters have 24 hours to complete this first part.
Once someone dies, the second task begins: The characters have three hours to find out whodunit. Sounds like the perfect holiday from school!
A Full Cast
Biting the Bullet doesn’t pit the player characters against each other, that is, unless the group wants that. Instead, DenMother provides a host of NPCs to use for this little “get away with murder” challenge, each with their own boons and banes for characters to access, depending on the direction of their relationship. My favorite is Skittlebeams, a trans female scourge aasimar. She’s a bright and bubbly cheer captain who is so averse to conflict that she shoots colorful sparkles to distract others from any negativity. Not only is she a delightful NPC, but we sure love to see that trans representation in the magic school genre!
The delightful cast of NPCs enable players plenty of opportunities for roleplay. “Social interactions and roleplay with thoughtful takeaways are definitely my go-to aspects when running a game,” DenMother said, “and while the situation is dark and grim (players are made to be a judge, jury and executioner of who they think is guilty of the murder) the module is also a way for players to focus on the relationships and personalities of the NPCs, and the psychological impact of the scenario: Can hope prevail? Are we just corruptible and prone to give in to dark destructive natures, or can we fight the good fight with our inner light?”
You can buy Biting the Bullet on DMsGuild. You can also watch it being played out in a few different ways on the DenMotherPlays Twitch. DenMother is a South East Asian Mindanaoan Filipino content creator, an experienced DM, and a designer. You can connect with her on her website or Twitter.
Strixhaven Faculty Handbook Volume 2: Multiversal Exchange Program
Strixhaven Faculty Handbook Volume 2: Multiversal Exchange Program is one of the most useful supplements for running a magic school campaign. Author Thomas Kolar (he/him), a teacher by trade, walks you through the ins and outs of the magic school genre using Strixhaven as a starting point, but a DM running any magic school game will find this handbook incredibly useful.

Teacher’s Perspective
As a teacher, Thomas has a unique perspective on magic schools. Referencing the old adage, “They may not remember much of what you taught them but they'll always remember how you made them feel,” Thomas explained. “I think the key to understanding a school-drama story is that it is a story about the feelings we remember from school—pressure, drama, emotional highs and lows, etc. Part of why the genre is so popular, I think, is that most of us do have really clear and vivid memories of those feelings even if we don't remember much of the content we learned.”
Genre Breakdown
In the first section, Thomas gives advice for adapting the Strixhaven setting for stories in all kinds of different schools: high schools, military schools, sports schools, and mystery schools. After all, a story set in a military academy is going to have a very different flavor than a traditional high school! Next, he tackles alternative schools in various settings, for instance, Arcanix or Morgrave University in Eberron. He even goes a step further and addresses the possibility of bringing the magic school genre to various hardcover adventures. The ninth level of Undermountain houses the arcane academy Dweomercore. As Thomas said, “This sounds to me like an excellent setting for a high stakes, cutthroat (probably metaphorically) magic school campaign.”
Other crossover possibilities Thomas explores include the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden adventure in Faerûn, the Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen adventure in Krynn, and the Domains of Dread in Ravenloft. This supplement really does have advice for virtually every kind of magic school story across all kinds of settings.
You can purchase Strixhaven Faculty Handbook Volume 2: Multiversal Exchange Program on the DMsGuild. There are also several free samples, including one focused on Ravenloft, Eberron, and the Forgotten Realms. Thomas and his wife, Rachel, have a podcast, The Wonderful World of Darklords, where they talk about crossing Disney fairy tales with the Domains of Dread. You can connect with them on their Tumblr.
Alyssa (she/they) is a freelance writer who lives in Canada with her husband, four children, and dog. When she isn't pursuing one of their many special interests, they are researching, analyzing or rambling on Twitter (@alyssavisscher) about yet another special interest. They love games, plants, sci-fi, painting, and stories. She queer, disabled, neurodivergent, and is impressively terrible at small talk.
I love seeing cool DM's Guild products highlighted - nice for the spotlight to find some things that are a little under the radar but can really add to a campaign.
Decent
I'm hoping for a Strixhaven rivalry (the other 5 color combo) to add to my Ravnica campaign. Make Prism University complete.
cool
🎷🐛
These all seem really interesting.
Pretty sad you have to rely on 3rd party content or your own work to give any degree of substance to the poor excuse of a setting book/adventure.
Speaking of returning to wizardry school (Go Ravenclaw). I was trying to find spell components. there are none to be found anywhere in the DM's guide or players handbook. I was going to be completely asinine, and actually make a list of all my components. so that my dm could not hose me, when I try to cast a spell. There are none. please direct me to the spell component store!
In the Player's Handbook, beginning on page 211, the spell descriptions do include components (V for verbal, S for somatic, M for material). Since your character can likely speak and move (most of the time), you are obviously concerned about material components. In D&D, not all spells require them, but make sure that you have what you need for any that do. For example, the Alarm spell requires a tiny bell and a piece of fine silver wire. The Identify spell, which wizards can ritual cast directly from their spell book, needs an owl feather and a pearl worth at least 100 gold pieces. I highly recommend checking every spell in your spell book as a wizard, or the entire clerical list up to what you can use as a cleric, for any material components that you might need, unless you have an arcane focus. Oh, and absolutely yes. Go Ravenclaw!
Does no one in that actual play thing know what an objective pronoun is? One of them even decided he wanted all of the subjective pronouns. It's ridiculous. How would a sentence with a passing reference to them be structured? It can't be done with the list of pronouns given. If you can't use "him" or "her", you can only keep saying "that person". Also, why do we even need to know which pronouns they like, and why is it important that we know this "Frederic Walker" person is disabled? Why does that make a difference? This whole thing just smells like a marketing ploy to appeal to minority players, but what else can we expect from the 5.5e era WotC?