Wild beyond the Witchlight: current thoughts?

[NRSASD]

Hello Playgrounders!

I'm just wondering what everyone is thinking about the upcoming book Wild beyond the Witchlight. I must admit, my opinion is being yanked all over the place. Most recently, I was looking at the official listing (https://wpn.wizards.com/en/products/wild-beyond-witchlight-feywild-adventure-0) and some of the selling points struck me as... odd.

I'm all in favor of non-combat solutions to situations, but D&D's characters are uniformly exceptionally good at solving problems with violence. I'm a little concerned the writers may have to go through some obtuse hoops to make everything wrap up nicely and peacefully.

Also, a listed selling point is the inclusion of some characters who served as toy figurines in the 80's?

As always, thanks for any and all opinions!

[Unoriginal]

Also, a listed selling point is the inclusion of some characters who served as toy figurines in the 80's?

They're bringing back Warduke and Kelek! That's wonderful news.

[Millstone85]

I am curious about the concept of "a Feywild domain of delight". Obviously, it is an inversion of a Shadowfell domain of dread. But does that mean there is a dark bright lord who is the eternal prisoner permanent guest of that place and keeps reliving a horrible tragedy memorable comedy?

[Unoriginal]

I am curious about the concept of "a Feywild domain of delight". Obviously, it is an inversion of a Shadowfell domain of dread. But does that mean there is a dark bright lord who is the eternal prisoner permanent guest of that place and keeps reliving a horrible tragedy memorable comedy?

Sounds likely.

Also sounds like being on the internet.

[Ralanr]

I am curious about the concept of "a Feywild domain of delight". Obviously, it is an inversion of a Shadowfell domain of dread. But does that mean there is a dark bright lord who is the eternal prisoner permanent guest of that place and keeps reliving a horrible tragedy memorable comedy?

So basically Alice in Wonderland.

Oddly enough I like that idea.

[Daracaex]

So basically Alice in Wonderland.

Oddly enough I like that idea.

Honestly, it wouldn't shock me if this is partly an homage to Dungeonland as Tomb of Annihilation is an homage to the Tomb of Horrors.

[Cryptwright]

I'm excited to see what Witchlight has to offer, but I write rpg content and i had both a carnival in process and a Feywild adventure in progress.

I wrote a supplement that was the same as Lost Mine of Phandelver but it took place in the Shadowfell equivalent of those locations, and I had started on the sequel in the Feywild version of the locations.

And then the carnival one took place in a Domain of Dread. I previously released one where part of which took place in the Feywild equivalent of a Domain of Dread which I called a Domain of Fervor. Now apparently those are Domains of Delight, though I still like mine better :)

So both seem too close to the new material, so I had to pause both because I don't want them to be contradictory to any lore that comes out with the book.

Ok done ranting but I am looking forward to see if it tells us enough about the Feywild so we can make our own stories there.

[Waterdeep Merch]

It's not the feywild stuff I was hoping for, way too modern. Also, the connection with Carnival from Van Richten's actually annoys me greatly. I consider that the single worst domain in that entire book. And I haven't been able to shake the feeling that it's just the Darkmoon Faire from WoW.

I'm trying to just lose all my preconceived notions and previous hype for the setting so that I can judge Witchlight on it's own merits. My hang ups aren't entirely fair to it. But I want to wait until I can hear some word of mouth on it first.

The idea that every encounter can be bypassed in some way is similar to how I run home games anyway. If it's anything like how I do it, maybe one fight per session gets circumvented somehow, with the occasional full session. Could be good. I'd have to see it.

[Evaar]

It's not the kind of Feywild and Fae content I'm interested in.

When I think about the Fae, I'm thinking of things like The Green Knight which just hit movie theaters recently. That's a pitch perfect representation of how I prefer my Fae - surreal; alien; foreboding; following a concept of logic, reciprocity, and etiquette that, from a human perspective, falls within the uncanny valley when compared to our societal rules...

It's not easy, but The Green Knight nailed it. Goofs and japes aren't really what I'm looking for, and it seems like that's the tone they're going for with Witchlight. I was hoping for something closer to Changeling: The Lost.

[Cryptwright]

It's not the kind of Feywild and Fae content I'm interested in.

When I think about the Fae, I'm thinking of things like The Green Knight which just hit movie theaters recently. That's a pitch perfect representation of how I prefer my Fae - surreal; alien; foreboding; following a concept of logic, reciprocity, and etiquette that, from a human perspective, falls within the uncanny valley when compared to our societal rules...

It's not easy, but The Green Knight nailed it. Goofs and japes aren't really what I'm looking for, and it seems like that's the tone they're going for with Witchlight. I was hoping for something closer to Changeling: The Lost.

I also prefer this. Where you never understand the rules they are close to ours but on a level we never quite get.

[quindraco]

It's not the kind of Feywild and Fae content I'm interested in.

When I think about the Fae, I'm thinking of things like The Green Knight which just hit movie theaters recently. That's a pitch perfect representation of how I prefer my Fae - surreal; alien; foreboding; following a concept of logic, reciprocity, and etiquette that, from a human perspective, falls within the uncanny valley when compared to our societal rules...

It's not easy, but The Green Knight nailed it. Goofs and japes aren't really what I'm looking for, and it seems like that's the tone they're going for with Witchlight. I was hoping for something closer to Changeling: The Lost.

The internet is basically wall to wall negative reviews of that movie right now, but I've never even heard of it until right this minute. I come to you having just read a bunch of reviews saying things like "Terrible adaptation, completely unfaithful to the original poem." and "That ending made no sense, WTF." and even one review consisting entirely of "The makeup was atrocious!". You liked the movie and recommend it?

[8wGremlin]

It's not the kind of Feywild and Fae content I'm interested in.

When I think about the Fae, I'm thinking of things like The Green Knight which just hit movie theaters recently. That's a pitch perfect representation of how I prefer my Fae - surreal; alien; foreboding; following a concept of logic, reciprocity, and etiquette that, from a human perspective, falls within the uncanny valley when compared to our societal rules...

It's not easy, but The Green Knight nailed it. Goofs and japes aren't really what I'm looking for, and it seems like that's the tone they're going for with Witchlight. I was hoping for something closer to Changeling: The Lost.

So true fae, like the Aes Sídhe, and the Fǣġe and not the Victorian affectation of diminutive elves, scary, don't mess this up or they will put you to sleep for 100 years, or worse kind of fae.

[Cryptwright]

So true fae, like the Aes Sídhe, and the Fǣġe and not the Victorian affectation of diminutive elves, scary, don't mess this up or they will put you to sleep for 100 years, or worse kind of fae.

These are the fae I'm looking for.

[Brookshw]

These are the fae I'm looking for.

I'm intrigued, if well done this could be terrific, and so far I've been impressed with a lot of 5e's adventure supplements.

[Cryptwright]

I'm intrigued, if well done this could be terrific, and so far I've been impressed with a lot of 5e's adventure supplements.

The Shadowfell one I did went on to be a bestseller, which really just means hundreds of people bought it, not a bad rating either. And thats Shadowfell, Feywild has so much more you can do with it. Shadowfell was a bit bleak :)

[Kuulvheysoon]

It's not the kind of Feywild and Fae content I'm interested in.

When I think about the Fae, I'm thinking of things like The Green Knight which just hit movie theaters recently. That's a pitch perfect representation of how I prefer my Fae - surreal; alien; foreboding; following a concept of logic, reciprocity, and etiquette that, from a human perspective, falls within the uncanny valley when compared to our societal rules...

It's not easy, but The Green Knight nailed it. Goofs and japes aren't really what I'm looking for, and it seems like that's the tone they're going for with Witchlight. I was hoping for something closer to Changeling: The Lost.

Ah, a "man" of culture. You and I have the same feelings about the Fae, I see. The Feywild should not be considered in any way 'safe', except when compared to the Shadowfell (which is actively inimical to life, iirc).

Whereas the Feywild will only probably kill you. It's got its safer spaces, but those always come with a cost (be that something material, a favour or merely acting to fey etiquette).

[Evaar]

The internet is basically wall to wall negative reviews of that movie right now, but I've never even heard of it until right this minute. I come to you having just read a bunch of reviews saying things like "Terrible adaptation, completely unfaithful to the original poem." and "That ending made no sense, WTF." and even one review consisting entirely of "The makeup was atrocious!". You liked the movie and recommend it?

I loved it. Claiming the makeup was atrocious is just... wrong? Like that's factually wrong. I don't know what to tell that person.

It absolutely is weird and surreal. It's a David Lowery movie. Look at his filmography. It belongs there. It's the kind of movie that isn't going to work for general audiences, but will work for people who are interested in going a little deeper. Like, look at the Rotten Tomatoes results - 89% critic score, 53% audience score. Compare to the results for Rise of Skywalker - 51% critic score, 86% audience score.

It's unique. It does things most movies wouldn't do. It hits the tone that it's trying to hit, which is following the weird logic of old stories where a lot of things happen and don't necessarily seem to flow from one step to another. But if you know what you're going into this movie for, it nails it. The way I've been saying it is that it's a movie primarily concerned with communicating an aesthetic and tone rather than a story.

I think David Chen's review does a good job of setting expectations correctly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIlHsR1s-s


Ah, a "man" of culture. You and I have the same feelings about the Fae, I see. The Feywild should not be considered in any way 'safe', except when compared to the Shadowfell (which is actively inimical to life, iirc).

Whereas the Feywild will only probably kill you. It's got its safer spaces, but those always come with a cost (be that something material, a favour or merely acting to fey etiquette).

Yeah. Without having seen the book, it seems like Witchlight is closer to the depiction of the Night Fae of Ardenweald in World of Warcraft - which is to say, exactly not what I want from Fae creatures. It's not about being cute and giggly and putting silly hats on things but also loving trees; it's about oaths, curses, the dangers of the unknown wild and the nobility that rules it. Maybe Witchlight is going to surprise me, but the advertising so far suggests we're getting something closer to Ardenweald.

[Boci]

So first we had "Frost of the Frostmaiden" and now we have the Witchlight Carnival, run by Mister Witch and Mister Light? Too early to judge, but not the most confident of this, and what's with WotC having terrible names for/in their modules? Maybe in Witchlights they're deliberately leaning into the "glowing lights and musical laughter" early on to later pull the rug out from under the players? I dunno...

[Naanomi]

*lore stickler hat on* why did they use the term Witchlight, which has pretty important connotations from Spelljammer lore? Is there a secret planet killing slug, bioengineered by orcish shaman to turn the tide of a desperate genocidal war against racist elves and their allies hidden somewhere in the module?

If not, was there not another word to use?

Should we also expect to see Lord Blackmoor of Nentir Vale, Lord of Athas; and his queen Ashardalon?

[thorr-kan]

I'm cautiously interested.

I like the idea of a carnival as a transition point. I'm very curious about adventures in the Feywild.

I just bought Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. I was a huge fan of Carnivale in 2E; it's one bright spot in the Domains of Dread, however twisted the Dark Powers make it. I loved it. I *do not* like the changes made to Carnivale for 5E.

But I am strangely intrigued by the idea of the Shadowfell and Feywild being intermingled, with Domains of Dread and Fey Realms interspersed in the Mists. You can travel the Mists, but you never know where you're going to end up. And while Fey Realms may not be a dangerous as Domains of Dread, it's not like they're safe...

Gothic Horror vs Fey Terror.