D&D 5E Feywild-based campaign?

[Kobold Avenger]

With a bunch of the Unearthed Arcana using subclasses that reference Fey or Feywild it got me thinking about a Feywild based campaign. As in one that completely takes place in Feywild and all PCs are Fey or Fey-like races. The intrigues of the Fey courts would be a big part of the setting, and they'd be little or no interaction with the Material Realm.

So for PC races, I'm guessing it's mostly Elves, Half-Elves and Gnomes and maybe Halflings out of the PHB, outside of the PHB: Firbolgs, other Elven subraces (Eladrin and Shadar-Kai), Goblins (but possibly not Hobgoblins and Bugbears), Centaurs, Tritons, Shifters, Changelings (maybe, but a Changeling in Fey terms is different from Doppelganger), Satyr (from the upcoming Theros book). Everything else such as Humans on a discretionary basis.

For the Fey courts there's traditionally being the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, but other seasonal based courts have also made it's way into the game. I feel the big thing if dealing with the Seelie and Unseelie is to emphasize that the Seelie does not equal Good and Unseelie does not equal Evil. Many settings when dealing with those 2 courts tend to fall into that trap very easily. I guess conceivably the PCs might belong to both of the courts and be in the same party together.

I only have some thoughts so far on how such a thing might go.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’d pick up the 4e book Heroes of The Feywild. It’s nothing but how to run a campaign in the Feywild. One of the better D&D books of any edition, as well.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

My sense of the feywild is it obeys dream logic. so, for example key points of geography might change, and no one would really notice.

You could lift changlings from Eberron, however, a "changling" could also be a human who was swapped for a fey child as an infant.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

My sense of the feywild is it obeys dream logic. so, for example key points of geography might change, and no one would really notice.

You could lift changlings from Eberron, however, a "changling" could also be a human who was swapped for a fey child as an infant.

I think the feeling of unfamiliarity would be captured better through human, dwarf, etc. PCs than fey races.

 

[RangerWickett]

If I did a game that heavily featured the Feywild, I'd still want to have at least 40% of the game happen in the real world, so the dream logic still felt odd.

In ZEITGEIST, the 9th adventure of the series (The Last Starry Sky) is set about 60% in the 'Dreaming,' which is our setting's version of the Feywild. It involves a murder mystery where a bunch of fey are the suspects, so not only do you have to figure out who had the ability to commit the murder, but you have to understand what sort of weird fey motivations could drive them to kill the guy.

 

[dave2008]

If I did a game that heavily featured the Feywild, I'd still want to have at least 40% of the game happen in the real world, so the dream logic still felt odd.

But if it is to be all fey-based characters, perhaps it shouldn't feel odd?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But if it is to be all fey-based characters, perhaps it shouldn't feel odd?

You could do an adventure in which a bunch of fey PCs got trapped in the "real" world: "What!? I'm sure that exact same building was in the exact same place yesterday!"

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

When it is about the feywild the rich mythology by Chalenguing: the Dreaming is too strong to not create my own mash-up.

My suggestion is there is a conflict between the primal powers and the pantheon of gods. The lord feys are starting a "revolution" against the clergy, but really it is a second titanomachy (titans vs gods). The giants and lord feys hate each other but they are "necessary" allies against the pantheon, because they are the agents of the successor of the ancient titans. (Something like mixing "Game of Thrones" and the videogame saga "God of War").

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Tales from the Old Margreve from Kobold Press as a lot of possible adventures for a feywild-themed adventure. You can also put your hands on the Mirkwood Campaign Guide (the shadows of Dol Guldur could be replaced by Unseelie) for AiME, if you want to add an ever-encroaching darkness to fight against over many years.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot, Terrible Beauty a supplement for Shadow of the Demon Lord for its feywild-equivalent. While its only 5e-adjacent, I think its the best supplement if you want to go the ''weird, dangerous passions and child-like cruelty'' angle with your fey.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But if it is to be all fey-based characters, perhaps it shouldn't feel odd?

For all Fey-based, rather than “normals from the material lost in the Fey”, Heroes of The Feywild is where it’s at. It’s a good source either way, but it’s a really good source for just setting a campaign in the Feywild and being able to play Feywild natives.

And Satyrs will be in 5e soon, so that only leaves dryads as a “missing” option.