Dungeons and Dragons built itself upon a foundation of swords and sorcery. These days, It’s reached a point that players of the swords persuasion feel that sorcery gets more toys to play around with. Regardless of balance, that’s simply the situation when sorcery lets you bend reality to your whim. Yet most casters don’t get to that “whim” part so easy. They need training and guidance.
Some sort of wizarding school, one could say.
Academia Arcana RPG is an upcoming fantasy RPG set in the Eternal Academy, a wizard school full of mysteries from eons of magical learning. The game features over 200 pages that detail the classes, spells, and denizens you will meet on this wizarding adventure. Naturally, those of the sorcery persuasion with their DnD classes will have an easier time acclimating to the curriculum.
It runs on the Dungeon Crawl Classics system, an OSR-infused take on DnD-style gameplay. As expected of an OSR game, dangerous situations are short and lethal. The perfect adjectives to use for reliving high school when the kids have access to Fireball. Adding to the danger of other teenagers are various monsters, ranging from familiar DnD races to the more esoteric spawn you’d expect from a wizarding school.
It’s such fun having a staple trope of my childhood come to the tabletop with this much love poured into it. Kids and YA books especially loved the concept, special places where young people could unlock their hidden potential. What makes these so exciting is the very real dangers they face, balancing out the fun with surprising tension. Magic is dangerous, yet at the same time, it is so intoxicating in its appeal.
The gorgeous art style does a fantastic job of portraying that. These covers in particular show a great range of magical experiences. A study session where you slowly become embraced by the spells, a volatile incantation hot to the touch, pure whimsy at learning something beautiful, and sinister concoctions requiring a delicate touch. Needless to say, I’m very excited for the final release.
You can check out Academia Arcana RPG on Backerkit here!
For more magical experiences, the Wargamer Discord has plenty of wizards, though we can’t promise they’re all of the coast.
Source: Wargamer
