D&D 5E (2014) Wish List: Campaign & Source Book for Feywild

[Guest 6801328]

I was reading about Hags in Volo's guide last night, and realized what I really want for Christmas: a campaign set entirely (or almost entirely) in Feywild. Start with an adventure that gets the heroes up to level 3 and leaves them stranded in Feywild, then have them quest their way through Feywild in a sort of dark and twisted fairy tale.

I could also see some side-jaunts in Shadowfell.

Anybody? Mike Mearls? Bueller?

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

There are already a couple of APs where the premise is "You are trapped in a strange place, find a way to escape it" with Curse of Strahd and the first half of Out of the Abyss. I do want Feywild and Shadowfell adventures, but with an actual compelling reason for adventurers to go there.

 

[ccs]

Well since I'm sure that their release schedule is planned for the next 2 years or so I hope you weren't wanting it by Xmas '17.

 

[Charles Rampant]

There are already a couple of APs where the premise is "You are trapped in a strange place, find a way to escape it" with Curse of Strahd and the first half of Out of the Abyss. I do want Feywild and Shadowfell adventures, but with an actual compelling reason for adventurers to go there.

That's an interesting point. More pertinently, an adventure which features the characters moving between the Material and the Feywild repeatedly might be very interesting - having the same dungeon twice, for example, and needing to chase someone in the Feywild before returning to the Material to face them.

 

[Jester David]

The Feywild has always been an ignored and underused part of the lore. Even in 4e, the Feywild book was as much a player option book as planar guide.

 

[Guest 6801328]

There are already a couple of APs where the premise is "You are trapped in a strange place, find a way to escape it" with Curse of Strahd and the first half of Out of the Abyss. I do want Feywild and Shadowfell adventures, but with an actual compelling reason for adventurers to go there.

Fair enough criticism, but there's also a good reason for the trope (whether in fiction, film, or rpgs). It's fun.

So I'm all for alternatives, but not if it's "hop into the Feywild whenever you want". There's got to be some suspense, and in general I'm not a fan of "we adventure because we are professional adventurers". I like players to feel like they are swept up in events.

I could see the adventurers voluntarily stepping through the portal, but I think I'd want them to be stuck there once they did.

Alternatively, this could be a campaign setting based on Feywild, and not an alternate plane. So they'd be "stuck" there in the sense that it is there world.

 

[Tony Vargas]

There's got to be some suspense, and in general I'm not a fan of "we adventure because we are professional adventurers". I like players to feel like they are swept up in events.

D&D has generally lent itself to the 'professional adventurers' trope.

I could see using Bonds, for instance, and backstory to bring the party together and give them a reason to get swept up in an adventure instead of taking a 'job' from a mysterious type at the back of the tavern.

So I'm all for alternatives, but not if it's "hop into the Feywild whenever you want".
Alternatively, this could be a campaign setting based on Feywild, and not an alternate plane. So they'd be "stuck" there in the sense that it is there world.

The resources that already exist for the feywild were, of course, for 4e, and it's not the easiest ed to translate to 5e. Still, they could be worth a look and are probably in bargain bins somewhere: Manual of the Planes and Heroes of the Feywild have the most, by far. Beyond the Crystal Cave was done for Encounters in 2011. The Feywild was also developed some in various on-line Dragon mags - not sure how to go about getting access to those, now...

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Fair enough criticism, but there's also a good reason for the trope (whether in fiction, film, or rpgs). It's fun.

So I'm all for alternatives, but not if it's "hop into the Feywild whenever you want". There's got to be some suspense, and in general I'm not a fan of "we adventure because we are professional adventurers". I like players to feel like they are swept up in events.

I could see the adventurers voluntarily stepping through the portal, but I think I'd want them to be stuck there once they did.

Alternatively, this could be a campaign setting based on Feywild, and not an alternate plane. So they'd be "stuck" there in the sense that it is there world.

I agree that travelling to other planes of existence shouldn't be a trivial affair and getting back should be a concern of any hostile adventuring locale. I just dislike the aimless nature at the beginning of the escape APs. Once the characters figure out that they are in a strange place, in my experience there's always that period of "well now what?" where the PCs just kinda wander about. Then inevitably the first non-hostile entity you encounter has some information about where to go next and it all feels a bit contrived. And from there the flow of things can get wonky if there is side content available. There were a few moments while playing through Out of the Abyss where our group stopped to think why we were doing all these quests for a hope of a chance that maybe there's a possibility we'll get some info to get travelling in the correct direction home.

 

[Quickleaf]

I was reading about Hags in Volo's guide last night, and realized what I really want for Christmas: a campaign set entirely (or almost entirely) in Feywild. Start with an adventure that gets the heroes up to level 3 and leaves them stranded in Feywild, then have them quest their way through Feywild in a sort of dark and twisted fairy tale.

I could also see some side-jaunts in Shadowfell.

Anybody? Mike Mearls? Bueller?

The Feywild has always been an ignored and underused part of the lore. Even in 4e, the Feywild book was as much a player option book as planar guide.

One of the few lore additions 4e made/embraced that I really liked was reinvigorating the Plane of Faerie / Feywild. Actually, I've been meaning to pick up Courts of the Shadow Fey from Kobold Press; IIRC they did a 5e version. The madcap court politics of the fey would be an awesome thing to explore. I think it could speak to a lot of play styles too.

Fey-themed encounters (e.g. the Green Knight or a talking head) are staples of some of the material inspiring D&D.

It would definitely need some new fey monsters, especially things above CR 5. There are many to convert, but the ones that come to mind are the Eladrin and their Court of Stars.