D&D 5E Everything You Need To Know About Witchlight

Todd Kenrick posted a video summarizing a press conference which listed many of the things you need to know about The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. The video is below, but I've bullet-pointed the key items if you can't watch it right now.

• The Witchlight carnival is a mirror of the carnival in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. Shadar Kair are in charge of the feywild carnival and someone else in charge of the Ravenloft carnival. If these two carnivals meet the ownership shifts again and it is part of the plot that Mr Witch and Mr Light do not want to trade the carnival back.
• The carnival will go to multiple worlds. Inspiration actually came from things like Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes; Mr Light is a reflection of Mr Dark from that movie.
• There's a map of the Witchlight carnival laid out like an amusement park map.
• Time is a component of the adventure. Time moves very differently in the feywild and the shadowfell. Expect time hijinks!
• The Witchlight carnival is a way of getting into the feywild itself.
• There are domains much like the dread domains but these are called domains of delight. Each is controlled by an archfey that has power over each of these domains.
• Some art included the Palace of Hearts of Desire, and they showed a treant called Little Oak who has a tree house built into his back and children live in that tree house, plus a displacer beast kitten named Star.
• This adventure will be a very light hearted. Any challenge in this book can be solved with combat but also in a non violent way. Talking your way out of things etc.
• The carnival has attractions and NPCs like a mermaid, a mime named kendlefoot, a Kenku that's up to to to to no good. Also classic characters from the D&D animated series. On the map there is a rollercoaster identical to the rollercoaster in the intro to D&D the animated series. This can imply that that entire amusement park was the Witchlight carnival in disguise.
• Playtesters loved the game you can play in the carnival.
• There's 'custard damage'.
• Player options include new backgrounds. The Feylost and Witchlight Hand. Plus the fairy and herangon (rabbit folk) races.
• Warduke, Strongheart, and Kellek from the cartoon.

 

[Parmandur]

Huh, that's interesting. Considering she's also missing however, it doesn't seem this Archfey is really the villain either.

Also, as dangerous as this module may be, if you can really complete it without ever getting in a fight, I'm a little doubtful on how deadly it is. There are other ways to create danger, but having all fights as optional does point to it not being very deadly.

Sure, just saying that the reason the Archfey is out of commission might not be all sunshine and giggles, and the Feywild in general.

 

[Parmandur]

I for one am curious as to whether they mean "You can avoid fights, if you succeed all your checks." Meaning, there's situations where you can avoid a fight, but if you fail your persuasion or deception roll, you'll be in one.

If it truly is an adventure where you can avoid all fights regardless of rolls, that doesn't seem like a very deadly place.

I think it is the first one, and probably they had playtest groups who successfully got through without big fights, which is whybPerkins feels comfortable saying that. I'm sure fights are a very real and dangerous possibility.

 

[R_J_K75]

I for one am curious as to whether they mean "You can avoid fights, if you succeed all your checks." Meaning, there's situations where you can avoid a fight, but if you fail your persuasion or deception roll, you'll be in one.

If it truly is an adventure where you can avoid all fights regardless of rolls, that doesn't seem like a very deadly place.

If time is a factor perhaps all encounters are a one-off in a single adventuring day or spread out so they are truly unique and meant to be taken seriously and not the standard grind. There's irony in a light hearted adventure. All deadly encounters, now that sounds like fun, brains over brawn. Unfortunately I don't think WotC has it in them.

 

[Parmandur]

If time is a factor perhaps all encounters are a one-off in a single adventuring day or spread out so they are truly unique and meant to be taken seriously and not the standard grind. There's irony in a light hearted adventure. All deadly encounters, now that sounds like fun, brains over brawn. Unfortunately I don't think WotC has it in them.

Stranger things have happened.

 

[R_J_K75]

Sure, just saying that the reason the Archfey is out of commission might not be all sunshine and giggles, and the Feywild in general.

I have a feeling that the carnival is only a portion and the next half may be dangerous.

 

[Parmandur]

I have a feeling that the carnival is only a portion and the next half may be dangerous.

Not as un-sinister as first impressions may suggest.

 

[R_J_K75]

Stranger things have happened.

I havent played as a PC in at least 15 years. I just got to play over the last 3-4 sessions of CoS and LMoP and Im already bored. I just want something different out of an adventure.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I'm hoping the final product won't be quite as innocent as the previews so far make it seem. Iggwilv, the author of the Demonomicon, is apparently in the adventure in some capacity, and in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything one piece of art showed her attended by redcaps aka murder fairies.

Why on earth is there this perception that the Carnival is innocent? Or lacking in danger? Of course it's trying to look innocent; carnivals want to draw the punters in. But it's a carnival. And its job is to make as much money (or other things) out of the punters as possible and make sure the punters never leave with any Carney money.

However, given that Feywild Hobgoblins are apparently being saved for a later book (I think that's what was said in one of the preview videos, anyway) perhaps something more akin to Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is in the works.

Here's hoping! I suspect that they're waiting to see the reception for this.

 

[bedir than]

if you can really complete it without ever getting in a fight, I'm a little doubtful on how deadly it is.

Breaking: Tomb of Horrors not actually deadly

 

[Remathilis]

Huh, that's interesting. Considering she's also missing however, it doesn't seem this Archfey is really the villain either.

Also, as dangerous as this module may be, if you can really complete it without ever getting in a fight, I'm a little doubtful on how deadly it is. There are other ways to create danger, but having all fights as optional does point to it not being very deadly.

I think people are reading into this a little heavier than anticipated.

My take on it is whatever the main conflict is, it can be overcome without requiring the classic D&D BBEG or dungeon-crawl type of action. For example, you could have the main resolution be the PCs learning a spell/ritual that undoes what the villain is doing. As long as the PCs learn the spell and do it, the bad guy is defeated. No "slay the villain to stop his plan" or "explore the dungeon of doom to find the lost relic", but perhaps interacting with the carnival, nonlethal contests, puzzles, riddles, and exploring strange areas will be emphasized.

I find it ironic how people complain that D&D is too combat focused, PCs are murder-hobos and that the social and exploraiton pillars are woefully underdeveloped, but when a module comes along de-emphasizing combat, it is viewed as "Disneyfied kiddieland with no stakes".

Loud and clear message to WotC: D&D is all about the damage dice.