Starburn Academy is a rare find with the adventure located in a magical academy and all PCs expected to be children/pre-teens. While danger does lurk around every corner, players are not necessarily expected to fight their way through the adventure. Rather, they must learn, gain points, uncover a potentially sinister plot -- and then call the adults.

In Starburn Academy, you are called in by Delilah, a mildly eccentric wizard/instructor. Her academic rival Dorian has been acting suspiciously, and she suspects that he's up to no good. She has seen your academic potential and wishes you to help her. If you agree, she'll give you magical items, gold, and, better yet, an education at the finest magical institution in the land. To fulfil this objective, you must go to class, brush up on your knowledge, make friends, and join a secret society. If all goes well, you'll uncover a dark magic user. If it doesn't, you might be killed -- or worse, expelled!

Starburn Academy is honestly a delight. There is a great student NPC list that you can use to populate the academy, and each of the rooms/classes have fun lore and objectives attached. I love the potentially non-combative nature of the game, and it was great fun coming up with all the student voices and personalities and making Dorian seem extra fidgety. It definitely has some Harry Potter flavor, which you can choose to increase or decrease as you wish.

However, I do have a couple of criticisms. For the rooms/classes, it would be good if there were potential random encounters there. Likewise, for the list of student NPCs, it would be good if there were suggestions on how they can further the plot or help the PCs. As a DM, I made up some things, but I would have liked a little more guidance in that area, especially since my party liked the game enough that they would have continued playing in that world. Having additonal encounters and tie-ins would help parties expand and live in this world after the main adventure is over.

But if you want a fun, Harry Potter-reminescent game with some light-hearted intrigue and combat, I definitely recommend Starburn Academy!