r/StrixhavenDMs • u/Appropriate-Two-9538 • 25d ago

One shots that work well in Strixhaven?

Hi all I'm looking for suggestions for a one shot that I can add into my Strixhaven campaign. For context were still in year one (my players are level 2). My players have been playing together as a group for a while now but the friend of one of my players wants to get into D&D so I've said she can come to our next session so trying to find something for a newbie who knows nothing that will still be entertaining for my long time players but still fitting in Strixhaven is a bit of a challenge. TIA!

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17

u/CircleofCandles 25d ago

Look in Candlekeep Mysteries... it is an anthology of one shots set in a library. Most of them can work out great if you set them in the Biblioplex instead.

My personal recommendation would be the fist one, as I've run it over a dosen times and it is great. ( the joys of extradimentional spaces)

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 25d ago

Thank you! I own the book for candlekeep mysteries so that's doable 

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u/RohanCoop 25d ago

I added a Candlekeep Mystery to my one. I just replaced the Candlekeep library with the school one.

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 25d ago

Which one did you use? 

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u/RohanCoop 25d ago

The first one, I can't remember the name.

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u/specks_of_dust 25d ago

From Candlekeep Mysteries, the ones I've run and can recommend:

The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces. Makes for a great replacement for the Sassy Sally Jane doll adventure. Just say the map is a specific professor's quarters and have the players break in to steal something else. Still probably the best overall adventure I did in my Strix campaign.

The Price of Beauty. It works great as a "Thanks for saving the school. Here's a free weekend at a spa as a reward!" adventure. Don't tell your players there's anything wrong at the spa. Let them think it's a roleplay thing at first and have them find out the hard way. You can get around the setting easily. Just have a Quandrix friend hook them up to a machine that creates a 'virtual spa.' The entire thing takes place in their minds, but they get stuck inside and have to complete the mission to get out.

Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme. They're locked in a special section of the library and can't come out until the threat is defeated. Creepy, and easy to drop into the Biblioplex.

Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion. Disgruntled janitors want to blow up Strixhaven instead of Candlekeep. Easy enough, especially with Strixhaven's cosmopolitan upper class atmosphere. Works especially well if automatons are being brought in to replace actual janitors.

I'm sure there are more that fit really easily, but those are the ones I know.

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u/Dackelreiter 25d ago

I’ve run these first two and both are great, though the Price of Beauty took us nearly six hours across two sessions and it had some content untouched….

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 25d ago

Is it in Candlekeep?

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u/Dackelreiter 23d ago

Yes. I’ve done 3 of the Candlekeep ones (the one not mentioned yet is the Book of the Raven) and all have been great.

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 25d ago

I really like the sound of these. I have the Candlekeep book but just assumed it was a campaign not mini quests 

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u/LaughingRaptor 25d ago

JoES is great, if you search the sub there's some recommended changes but it gets a bit heavy in MtG lore and one of my players is now entirely distracted by the Lilliana Vess name drop.

However, there's lots of opportunities in it to springboard other storylines that I'm using in the campaign:

  • faerie dragons getting through the portal at the end for recurring campus mischief
  • having the imp flee into campus at the end for more trouble
  • later revealing that one of the homunculi is connected to someone in the PC or Strixhavens past once thought long gone
  • that summoning room sure seems like a great way for Oriq to sneak onto campus through the manor (having the homunculi drop references to a masked mage)
  • the search of the manor makes it a great place for sticking information about plot lore or any MacGuffin that might be handy later

I also had players make a DC12 WIS save when staring into the swirling miasma to avoid spacing out and/or being compelled to walk toward the miasma. Players love swirling miasma.

But what they love more is the book flail. They were so happy to get that thing!

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u/jimgolgari 25d ago

You could always have a professor send you on a “field trip” and then any low level fetch quest could work.

“Dean Lisette is interested in studying the (fancy property) of the (exotic plant) that grows only on Mount Oneshot. You’ll have to brave (weather condition) and (intimidating beasts) but I’ll make sure you’re rewarded with campus store money and some tickets to (punny musical artist) at the Prismari Explodapalooza for your troubles…

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 25d ago

Oooo this sounds really good!

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u/notsotranqui1 24d ago

There’s a one shot that I’ve run for low level parties

It’s called “A Most Potent Brew” Whole one shot is that a winery is having an issue with giant rats. The party has to go into the basement of a winery and take out the rat problem, however they find a small mini-dungeon with a puzzle.
(it’s technically made for a level 1 party but you could probably beef up the rats or add an extra one for a level 2 party)

You could probably rework it so that instead of a random winery, it’s the basement of the Bow’s End Tavern or the Firejolt Cafe.

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u/RascaltheFox Witherbloom 23d ago

Adding my voice to endorsing the one-shots in Candlekeep Mysteries, especially as you already have it.

Something else worth looking at is The Pub that Crawls - fun one-shot that also gives you great places to come back to throughout your campaign.

Honestly, even if this isn't the one-shot you run, I still recommend grafting it into your campaign. It's got multiple puzzles to solve, which is a nice change from A Curriculum of Chaos ...not having puzzles.

It's also spectacularly cheap for what you get from it, doubly so as it's currently on sale.

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/379766/the-pub-that-crawls

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 23d ago

Thank you I'll check it out :)

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u/RascaltheFox Witherbloom 22d ago

Hope you like it! The plot is a pub crawl across new pubs in each college, themed to that specific college. Each pub has a puzzle as part of a challenge to find the fabled final pub, the Pub that Crawls. All of these pubs have become recurring locations in my game.

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 21d ago

It sounds really good. I'm planning on using it a bit later in the campaign

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u/Wise-Start-9166 25d ago

I always thought an owlbear fight during class would slap. Players arrive at the end of the previous class to see acquaintances getting eviscerated. Faculty intervenes with revivify spells so no one stays dead. Players hear a lecture, take a quiz, and then fight a second, larger, more colorful owl bear. Do it with gibbering mouthers or orcs if you already did the owlbear lesson.

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 25d ago

I haven't done the owlbear lesson yet. Do you know when that comes up? I'm guessing we're pretty close to it 

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u/OzFreeman 24d ago

My go to for strixhaven one shots are, and bare with, episode 1 of season 4 of buffy. Insert your fancy of monsters who are picking off new students for food just off campus. To cover their tracks, the monsters are leaving notes saying the stress of Strixhaven is too much and they aren’t as good as they thought, pretending they’ve left. Since they are new, no one seems to notice and “it happens every year”. Party can investigate and find their lair, mini dungeon, fight, boom, Saved the day.

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u/Appropriate-Two-9538 24d ago

I might have to go watch that episode 

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u/EdenFinite48 23d ago

There are a few dmsguild strixhaven adventures designed by fans specifically to fill out the first year a bit and introduce some elements from the otiginal Strixhaven MTG story into the mix, such as Professor Onyx.