Thoughts on Feywild Time Warp

[Techcaliber]

Hello playground!
At the end of my last session, my party came across a portal to the Feywild that will lead them further into the story. The Feywild provides a lot of fun opportunities due to the Time Warp mechanic, but before the next session, I want to know if I should use the Time Warp mechanic, and if I roll and get days to weeks/months/years, that could change things a lot when they return. While this isn’t necessarily bad, I don’t want it to feel forced, so, anyone who has been in a game where Time Warp has affected you, what are your thoughts? Thanks!

[Chronos]

Fey timewarp is not something that you should be rolling for. It's never random; it strictly and to the letter follows the rules of narrative. When the party comes out, it is precisely whatever time would move the story forward best, be that the moment they entered, a century later, or the previous day.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The way I've been running it, I treat the time warp as something that can be controlled, at least to some extent, by certain people in certain places. I think, if it wasn't, it would just be too disruptive to the setting.

But for you, the question is: would any of the possible outcomes ruin your narrative if you rolled them? If not, you may as well have some fun with it.

[Temperjoke]

I think it should be present as a "threat" so to speak. It adds a sense of risk to the trip, after all, what good is trying to complete their present quest if they don't return for a 100 years? It would likely be too late to succeed then (I'm speculating, you didn't provide many details). But if they're aware of that, then you can introduce elements that would enable them to overcome that obstacle, such as a deal with a fey, or locating a specific exit that returns them within a reasonable amount of time. That means they have to engage in the world more, which is never a bad thing.

[Techcaliber]

Thanks for the responses, I'll be sure not to roll so there is control, and I'll think about the outcome of each time warp. Again, thanks!

[iTreeby]

I run it as a navigation challenge, in my settings with the feywild, the whole thing is broken into different patches of seasons while also mirroring the material plane. If I am going to the bank from my house and decide to go through the faywild I need to make sure that I walk to the bank in the feywild without walking through any season other than the one I started in so, if I start in summer and the bank is in summer and the path is all summer, I can walk to the bank in great time, but if I go through fall, winter and spring to get to the bank in summer, I will have been gone a year... This system can get tough if the party splits up but usually it isn't a problem. Typically I also say that fey courts can/won't make it work conveniently.

[DeadMech]

I'd be pretty careful with any time warping. It's one thing to finish a quest and have an angry spouse or sibling scolding you for being missing for 7 weeks when you think only a single day passed. It's quite another to finish a quest and find out everyone you ever knew or loved has been dead for 200 years. Don't wanna wreck any investment the characters have built up with your world.

As long as this thread exists though I've also been mulling some feywild stuff for a campaign and I could use a sanity check on some ideas. I'd been thinking it might be fun and make the plane more alien or threatening if when PC's arrive for the first time they are afflicted with some conditions to reflect the energetic manic nature of the place.

Like until they pass a con save they are immune to sleep but not exhaustion from lack of sleep. Maybe give them vague instructions that their emotions are heightened and they feel more enegetic so they have disadvantage on checks against fear effects or enchantment effects. Starting save DC relatively high but plummeting over a couple days since I don't actually want to kill people with exhaustion levels.

Maybe gain long rest benefits over a short rest and short rest immediately after battles end.