- You can watch this video here.
- You can buy The Wild Beyond the Witchlight here.
- You can buy the D&D Beyond version here.
- You can buy the Wild Beyond the Witchlight Dice Set here.
Setting Up Your Campaign: Chris talks about how the book has a section on what type of information the DM shares with players, and what type you don't.
Chris says that he realized that the DM's Guide doesn't really cover this topic, so the team decided to put some guidance in the beginning of this book.
"Do I tell the players how many hit points the monster has?"
Flipping through the Wild Beyond the Witchlight, I see that Chris is referring to the 'Tips for New Dungeon Masters' section on pages 6-7. There, they write a bit about whether or not to roll dice in front of the players, and what information the monsters know.
Also, there is a large section on whether or not you tell the players what a creature's AC is, how many hit points it has, that kind of thing.
Here's the thing about all of this. Chris seems to indicate that not including this info in the DMG was an oversight. But the truth is... I think there are a lot of DMs who don't read the DMG cover to cover. And even if they do, they're not going to remember everything. Every time I flip through the DMG, there are things in there that I either never realized were in there, or that I forgot existed.
The DMG is a great book. But it's huge. And this is a hobby for a lot of people who may simply not have the time to truly study the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Adventure Structure: Chris says that the Witchlight Carnival (the first section of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) is a sort of romper room before the adventure really starts.
I think that the most important part of each of these adventures is the first chapter. The first sessions. Because everyone is going to play them. The beginning needs to be really good to propel the group's interest, to motivate them to play the whole thing through.
I still feel like most campaigns don't make it to the end. Maybe that's changed in the past few years, but that is something I observed during my time as a game store DM. Most campaigns fizzle out, and it is almost always due to an interpersonal issue - usually a problem player, or a DM who isn't in tune with what the players want.
Location-based Scenarios: Chris says that there is more to D&D than the one pillar of combat. There's three pillars: Exploration, role-playing, and combat.
In this adventure, the group can solve almost every problem without getting into a combat. That used to be something of a bragging point for D&D groups - "We played a whole session without ever rolling a die."
That's actually really fun, and in my opinion the sign of a group that is firing on all cylinders.
One question I have when it comes to the Wild Beyond the Witchlight is whether groups will want to play it. If you tell players 'This is an adventure where combat is optional," will take that as a good thing?
When I look on reddit, all I see are posts about builds and stats and what subclasses are "broken." It seems like a lot of players are still very into the combat side of things.
New Tables for DM's: Ari Levitch talks about the Fey Trinkets table. That's on pages 8-9 of the book.
New Monsters: The book has a few new monsters, which are briefly discussed in this video.
- Brigganocks: Fey miners whose souls live outside their bodies as balls of light. They have an interesting role in this adventure, being rivals to a clan of korreds.
- Glasswork Golem: A very cool addition to 5e, reminding me of the 'stained glass' golems of past editions.
- Campestris: This is a Dungeon Magazine deep cut, a favorite of mine solely due to the art of Tony DiTerlizzi from way back when.
- The Jabberwock: While I'm not a fan of just pulling fairy tale creatures out and plopping them into a D&D adventure without a re-skinning, the art of the Jabberwock in this book sold me on it completely.
Role Playing Cards: In the back of the adventure book are cards containing cards with roleplaying info for many NPCs. Chris says that the cards are meant to be cut out and assembled, to help reduce page-flipping.
Two thoughts spring to mind. The first is that I very much appreciate the effort to reduce page-flipping. The second is.. who is going to actually cut these things out of the book?
There has to be a pdf of these out there right? Let me look. Apparently, the Domains of Delight pdf has a printable version of the cards, and a few other things from the book.
Story Tracker: We are told that you shouldn't feel like you have to rush through the carnival. It is meant to be a playground.
I can see the carnival being very fun, but for some reason I just feel very wary about running it. There are so many little bits in all these different places. Info on certain things, especially Mr. Witch and Mr. Light, are scattered throughout the chapter.
If I ran the carnival, I'm not sure I could keep everything cohesive, even with a map and a tracker in front of me. Right now, I could not tell you the effects of the carnival's mood when it is at its peak or at its lowest.
Similarly, I was almost shocked when I was flipping through the book after completing the guide when I saw that, in Prismeer, when you die, you roll on a special chart. I completely forgot about that. That's a major thing. But there's so many little details that you have to carry with you when running this adventure, it kills me to think I'd forget something that would have added a lot to the fun of the campaign.
Lots more Witchlight stuff to come. Thanks for reading!
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