D&D 5E What would you like to see in a Domains of Delight Setting?

[Urriak Uruk]

The parody module Castle Greyhawk could be an interesting demiplane that sometimes appear in the material plane.

I actually like this idea. To the locals of the Domain, they call it Castle Greyhawk, but informed travelers call it, Castle Hey-Gawk.

 

[Yaarel]

Domains of Delight = Good

In my campaign from 4e to 5e:



In the Feywild, all of the Eladrin courts get together once a year for a "Sacred Revelry".

Since 4e, the Eladrin are mainly Charisma-Intelligence, with a rational democratic parliament founded on constructive debates. Everything is about magic and the civil management of it. Generally, the more powerful mage families enjoy the most influence, but newcomers can become influential within the parliament too because of merit. Each court has its own concerns and favorite forms of magic, and its own culture. It is a fairly thoughtful society, but during the Revelry they go crazy. (Compare Star Trek Vulcans, with more emphasis on aesthetic magic.)

• The Revelry is completely hedonistic − with magically created foods and intoxicants.

• Bards prepare entertainment wielding musical charms and illusionary spectacles, and Wizards unleash elemental fireworks.

• Sports are Wizard duels to death, where the survivor wins, and the loser gets resurrected.

• Various family units use various kinds of magic to create and give birth to children by various means.

• Court by court, every Eladrin joins together in massive collective rituals to unleash cosmic forces toward various projects.

The Revelry lasts for eight days.

 

[Imaculata]

A domain with no shrimp?

 

[Quickleaf]

One thing Ravenloft does is establishing connective narrative elements to make the disparate mini-settings (domains) feel like something greater, or more cohesive, than the individual parts. The Mists, the Vistani, the Dark Powers, Dark Gifts, hints of things crossing borders (maybe not this one so much) – these become touchstones that really drive home the feel that this is a Ravenloft game, we're in a Domain of Dread.

I'm interested in what that connective tissue looks like for Faerie realms.

Do you always have a choice about entering the Feywild, even if it's a misleading or tricky one? The Mists of Ravenloft can just grab you, but the faerie trods / witch lanterns / Pied Pipers lure you in, convincing you that what you want – what you need – lies over this rainbow, through this vale, down this path, with this person, in this chest.

Do you always have missing time in the Feywild? So part of every adventure is rolling on a table about what you've forgotten or what happened leading up to the start of the adventure that feels like a dream? Is that reserved for traveling between realms? Or is there some other timey-wimey element?

Do character psychologies / flaws / hopes / emotions you bring into the Feywild with you get magnified? Does that look the same across faerie realms or are there different expressions in each realm? So maybe in one realm your hope literally flies out the window manifesting as a butterfly-winged fairy which you then must catch?

Does everyone you meet have some kind of relationship to the fey courts, whether that's good standing, being an outcast, rebelling from one to the other, playing the courts off each other, or what have you?

"Domains of Delight" makes me think of wish fulfillment in the same way that Edward got all the Turkish Delight he wanted from the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but that ended up being his undoing. A genie doesn't really want to grant your wish, and you need to pin them down, trick them, or earn their respect to gain a wish. A devil is oh so eager to claim it wants to grant your wish, but it's ultimately plotting to screw you over. A fey is different. Not only does the fey sincerely want to grant your deepest wish, it also is going to give you that, the wishes tied to it you didn't realize you secretly longed for, all on a silver platter. Why would you ever want to leave? And by the time you realize you want to leave, trying to do so is offensive. Look at what I've given you! Isn't this what you wanted all along? The idea of "delight" is basically what happens when we get what we think we want... Is it actually what we wanted? Are we really content? And if it is what we want, and we are content, can we go back to our humdrum mortal lives without a terrible sense of loss?

Those are tricky themes to pin down in D&D – which is, at least in part, a power fantasy where yeah getting the hoard of treasure & magic items IS the point – but I'd love to see a Feywild book delve into those themes.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I am very curious whether these Domains of Delight are constructed around a singular person, much like the Dread Domains are constructed around the Dark Lord. All we know right know is a single domain's name, Prismeer, but it would be interesting if much like Barovia (constructed around Strahd) if Prismeer is constructed around Zibelnya or someone else.

 

[Stormonu]

Sure, I think they can be constructed around a singular person, and I think @Quickleaf hit on some aspects how these places come to be. They are essentially wish fulfillment, but they've gone to far. The individual got their wish, but in some way realized it wasn't what they really wanted after all.

The Land of Never. Tom was a child who never wanted to grow up, never wanted the responsibilities of adulthood and wanted to live a life of adventure. A powerful fey gave Tom his wish, all for the mere cost of his shadow. Tom willingly agreed and was swept away to a mythical island of mermaids, pixies and pirates. Tom was most intrigued by the pirate king, who led a merry band of scalawags. He tried to mimic the pirate king, gathering to him a group of other lost children to create a gang of his own to counter the pirate king's band. But he's just a kid, and no one really takes him seriously. Sometimes, he wonders - just wonders, what it would like to be grow up and be a responsible adult...

The Thousand Acre Woods. Kristopher was a lonely, sickly child with no friends, until one day, when talking to his stuffed animal friends, it responded. It offered Kristopher friendship if he would come to the nearby forest and bring all of his stuffed animals with him. Kristopher happily agreed, and with an armful of his favorite stuffed animals, made his way into the deep woods. There, in a perfect glade, his friends awoke, and they talked and played until Kristopher realized he was hungry. But when Kristopher attempted to return home, he found every path led back into the glade. His new friends happily took him back to their home, fed him and put him to bed in the coziest bed he'd ever slept in, but sometimes he gets homesick, but can never quite find his way home...

Where Wild Things Live. Maxie was a precocious child, who loved to stomp around the house in her fearsome tiger pajamas. One night though, she broke her mother's favorite vase as she chased the household dog. Maxie was sent to her room, where she stewed over her silly punishment. After an hour or so, a strange, kindly monstrous being with great yellow eyes appeared at her window and beckoned to her. "Come with me," it kindly told her, "and no one will ever tell you what to do again." Maxie didn't look back as she climbed out the window and onto the creature's back, finding it floating on a cloud. Like a great boat, the white cloud whisked both through the night sky, until it disappated over a jungle-covered island in the pearly blue sea. Maxie fell with a scream, but her fall was broken by the huge leaves of the monstrous jungle, depositing her softly to the jungle's floor. When she finally stood back up, she found herself in a ring of curious, monstrous creatures who bowed before her as queen. Jubilant and unafraid, Maxie took on the title and commanded her new follows on a great rumpus through the spooky jungle. She rolicks there still, sometimes wondering if her mother is still mad at her...

Beyond the Magic Mirror. At the foot of the Vale of the Mage lies a curious cave with a single chamber. At the back of this chamber stands a towering silvered mirror that casts the reflections of everything but the living. They say that the Mage's daughter, Alicia, spurned her father's teachings of magic and disappeared through the mirror long ago, but few know its location and fewer have returned from its reflection. Those that have returned half-mad, speaking of talking flowers, soldiers made of cards and a curious hatter who is quite insane...

The First Land. It has been passed from family member to family member for generations, yet it is spoken of with awe. To the uninitiated, it appears as a single teakwood standing wardrobe closet, filled with moth-eaten otter furs. But with the doors closed behind them, those within the closet find that the furs give way to fir trees, and eventually to a fantastic realm of talking animals and mythical creatures. Ruling over this land is the great lion Nobanion, who looks over the descendants of a child he befriended long ago, helping those descendants in times of their greatest need.

I could go on, but I think you get the gist...

(Oh, and I think Disney's Aladdin would make a superb Realm of Delight too - who doesn't want to be prince ... until they can't get away from the responsibilities...)

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Sure, I think they can be constructed around a singular person, and I think @Quickleaf hit on some aspects how these places come to be. They are essentially wish fulfillment, but they've gone to far. The individual got their wish, but in some way realized it wasn't what they really wanted after all.

The Land of Never. Tom was a child who never wanted to grow up, never wanted the responsibilities of adulthood and wanted to live a life of adventure. A powerful fey gave Tom his wish, all for the mere cost of his shadow. Tom willingly agreed and was swept away to a mythical island of mermaids, pixies and pirates. Tom was most intrigued by the pirate king, who led a merry band of scalawags. He tried to mimic the pirate king, gathering to him a group of other lost children to create a gang of his own to counter the pirate king's band. But he's just a kid, and no one really takes him seriously. Sometimes, he wonders - just wonders, what it would like to be grow up and be a responsible adult...

The Thousand Acre Woods. Kristopher was a lonely, sickly child with no friends, until one day, when talking to his stuffed animal friends, it responded. It offered Kristopher friendship if he would come to the nearby forest and bring all of his stuffed animals with him. Kristopher happily agreed, and with an armful of his favorite stuffed animals, made his way into the deep woods. There, in a perfect glade, his friends awoke, and they talked and played until Kristopher realized he was hungry. But when Kristopher attempted to return home, he found every path led back into the glade. His new friends happily took him back to their home, fed him and put him to bed in the coziest bed he'd ever slept in, but sometimes he gets homesick, but can never quite find his way home...

Where Wild Things Live. Maxie was a precocious child, who loved to stomp around the house in her fearsome tiger pajamas. One night though, she broke her mother's favorite vase as she chased the household dog. Maxie was sent to her room, where she stewed over her silly punishment. After an hour or so, a strange, kindly monstrous being with great yellow eyes appeared at her window and beckoned to her. "Come with me," it kindly told her, "and no one will ever tell you what to do again." Maxie didn't look back as she climbed out the window and onto the creature's back, finding it floating on a cloud. Like a great boat, the white cloud whisked both through the night sky, until it disappated over a jungle-covered island in the pearly blue sea. Maxie fell with a scream, but her fall was broken by the huge leaves of the monstrous jungle, depositing her softly to the jungle's floor. When she finally stood back up, she found herself in a ring of curious, monstrous creatures who bowed before her as queen. Jubilant and unafraid, Maxie took on the title and commanded her new follows on a great rumpus through the spooky jungle. She rolicks there still, sometimes wondering if her mother is still mad at her...

Beyond the Magic Mirror. At the foot of the Vale of the Mage lies a curious cave with a single chamber. At the back of this chamber stands a towering silvered mirror that casts the reflections of everything but the living. They say that the Mage's daughter, Alicia, spurned her father's teachings of magic and disappeared through the mirror long ago, but few know its location and fewer have returned from its reflection. Those that have returned half-mad, speaking of talking flowers, soldiers made of cards and a curious hatter who is quite insane...

The First Land. It has been passed from family member to family member for generations, yet it is spoken of with awe. To the uninitiated, it appears as a single teakwood standing wardrobe closet, filled with moth-eaten otter furs. But with the doors closed behind them, those within the closet find that the furs give way to fir trees, and eventually to a fantastic realm of talking animals and mythical creatures. Ruling over this land is the great lion Nobanion, who looks over the descendants of a child he befriended long ago, helping those descendants in times of their greatest need.

I could go on, but I think you get the gist...

(Oh, and I think Disney's Aladdin would make a superb Realm of Delight too - who doesn't want to be prince ... until they can't get away from the responsibilities...)

A part of me thought, "What monsters would the PCs fight in the Thousand Acre Woods?" and then I remembered...



Damn, John Cleese is a great narrator.

 

[Maxperson]

The way I see it, it's less Domains of Delight = Good vs Domains of Dread = Evil as Domains of Delight = Pleasure vs Domains of Dread = Suffering. One is the danger of temptation and vice/excess and other other is the danger of torture and lashing out.

Despite being in the Feywild, not all Domains of Delight should be fey heavy, although many should.

Domains based on various fairy tales could be interesting, like a Snow White Domain, or an Beast and the Beauty Domain. Others should be fresher.

I think one of the Domains is based on South Asian lore.

Candyland. Turn Candyland into a domain.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Candyland. Turn Candyland into a domain.

 

[Tonguez]

Talking Sundaes. Talking Sundaes that hop around, make jokes, laugh alot.

Eating any adventurers they encounter/meet along the way.