D&D 5E D&D and who it's aimed at

[MichaelSomething]

Is this what you're looking for???

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I will admit that I would have liked the first 5E Feywild adventure to be more along the lines of how 4E depicted the Feywild. While Wild Beyond the Witchlight isn't the nonviolent kumbaya hugfest people make it out to be, it's certainly lighter than the original take on the Feywild, which was more along the lines of the Brothers Grimm.

For example, the 4E Dungeon Magazine article for the archfey called the Bramble Queen has this as its opening blurb:

"Quench her burning wrath in a deluge of blood" is a pretty metal way to describe the motivations of a fairy queen.

Here's some pictures of her and her fellow archfey, a right delightful looking bunch if I say so myself.

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Wild beyond the Witchlight is not all fluffy and light. If you play it totally non violent you are making bargains with very dark powers and allowing very evil and cruel practices to pass.

Just how dark will be very DM dependent but a DM so inclined could make this module very dark indeed. I mean yo could run it Disney light but you would be dropping stuff to do so.

 

[Retreater]

Witchlight might be so dark that you can't read the text on the pages, but I'm not going to pick up the book initially if it's got displacer beast kittens on the cover and trying to look adorable.
If I hear later that it's an excellent adventure and the cover isn't representative of the adventure, I may take a look at it.
But the only other image going through my head (besides the displacer beast kittens) is the fairy winged neck beard gate keeper named Frog-Nard (or whatever) who has a bubble vape.
If that's something you like, great. For me, it's just not what I want to have in my games.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Witchlight might be so dark that you can't read the text on the pages, but I'm not going to pick up the book initially if it's got displacer beast kittens on the cover and trying to look adorable.
If I hear later that it's an excellent adventure and the cover isn't representative of the adventure, I may take a look at it.
But the only other image going through my head (besides the displacer beast kittens) is the fairy winged neck beard gate keeper named Frog-Nard (or whatever) who has a bubble vape.
If that's something you like, great. For me, it's just not what I want to have in my games.

That is your loss then.

 

[WayneLigon]

Yeah I figured - my age joke was just an off-hand joke

But for things that are truly geared at 12 year olds - it's the Essentials Kit and the Starter Set. Which are more "all ages" than geared specifically towards 12 year olds.

(Maybe that's the actual complaint that people are having - that D&D is being marketed more "all ages". Though honestly outside of a few missteps in the 3e era and the really early days of D&D I think D&D has been marketed as "all ages" for a long time.)

Exactly. Sometimes think the 'Disneyfied' comments are from people yearning for the bare-boobies pics in early Dragon issues and thinking, somehow, that will come around again.

* And until I looked, I had no idea that 'Disneyfied' is an actual word in the Oxford dictionary. To 'cause (something) to become reminiscent of a film or theme park created by the Walt Disney Company, especially in being sanitized or romanticized.'

 

[Medic]

But those changes aren’t there to appeal to children, but rather to make sure women and people of color are comfortable playing the game.

"Uncomfortable" describes my experience with Dungeons & Dragons elegantly, but it sure wasn't because of anything in the books, old or new.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If I hear later that it's an excellent adventure and the cover isn't representative of the adventure, I may take a look at it.

It is representative. The Feywild a world where cute cuddly things murder you (or worse).

 

[UngainlyTitan]

It is representative. The Feywild a world where cute cuddly things murder you (or worse).

Especially worse.

 

[Retreater]

That is your loss then.

And that's okay. I think every DM should pick an adventure that calls to them, that they would feel comfortable running. For me, even going back to my earliest games, fey don't really interest me. (Heck, look at this chart and see how many fey rank towards the bottom of "favorite monsters" of the board members. D&D 5E - Here's Our Favourite (and least favourite) D&D Monsters!
I also don't like dragons - I don't find them especially interesting. So I'm probably not going to pick up Fizban's Treasury or the upcoming Dragonlance stuff. Obviously I don't think anyone is wrong for putting dragons in their Dungeons & Dragons games, just as I don't think it's wrong to have a fey-based adventure. It's just not for me.

 

[Minigiant]

As a person in sales, one thing Iknow isit is hard to sell someone something they already have.

One harsh truth is that for fans of simpler, older, editions is that selling you books that youalready have orcan easily convert will be hard for WOTC. Not that they shouldn't aim for them but that making these groups a huge chunk of the target is just making it hard for WOTC. Therefore the percentage of targeting to them has gone down over the decades.