Afterthoughts: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight

Minor spoilers ahead.

So, now that I've had a chance to read through the entire adventure, I wanted to talk more about "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure". I can honestly say this is unlike any D&D adventure I've played before, though whether that's a good thing is going to vary from person to person.

The module seems kind of easy, to the point that you could probably stay level 1 and still complete the adventure. Every combat can be avoided, though sometimes the peaceful option isn't very obvious. But even when fights occur, most of them aren't particularly deadly. Several creatures are under orders to capture your party alive, or otherwise stated to leave downed parties alone. There's also tricks to end certain fights early, though some of them require insane moon logic. For example, Redcaps don't like receiving gifts, and will drop dead from anger if you give them a present.

Honestly, a lot of Witchlight's logic doesn't make sense, and that's by design. It draws inspiration from The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and a bunch of classic fairy tales. Stories where children fly by thinking happy thoughts, eating cake changes someone's size, and witches can be killed by a bucket of water. So when Witchlight has you trading your shadow to get your smile back, just remember that you are in an absurd land with its own laws of physics.

There's not a lot for treasure hunters. Citizens of Prismeer don't seem to care much for gold, and mostly trade for trinkets. Sometimes more abstract concepts are used as currency, such as a happy memory or your ability to dance. There are a few decent magic items to be found, but serious treasure hunters aren't going to finish the adventure much richer than they started.

There's hardly any use for mapping the overworld, because the landscape of each region changes. This is a great bit of flavor, but it also makes it easy for the DM to railroad players into going straight to the next plot location.

I think it will require a special kind of DM to run this adventure effectively. I don't think I could pull it off. There's a lot to keep track of. Little things that happen in the first session become important much later, so you better write things down. The good news is that it reminds you to take note of certain events, and even includes a story tracker for you to copy.

Even with the right DM, I'm not sure all players can handle it. This module is heavily geared towards roleplay. Hack-n-slashers will still have a good time bulldozing their way through the adventure, but they're going to miss a lot of what makes this module unique.

At one point late in the story, the characters are forced to improvise a play. They're given slips of paper with lines they're supposed to work into their dialogue, making the scene feel like a game of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" In fact, there were a few spots in the module that reminded me more of Fiasco than D&D. This is a lot to ask of some players.

It feels a bit short. I think most groups could get through it in 8 to 10 four-hour sessions. But roleplay-heavy campaigns can be deceptive. If a party really has a flair for the dramatic, they can stretch out some of the encounters for a long time. Even if it is short, replay value is pretty high. There's a ton of variables, so no two playthroughs are going to be alike.

There is an interesting twist in the final chapter, regarding the true identity of one of the characters. However, this reveal won’t mean much to some players unless they are big fans of D&D lore. The DM may want to work in some additional references to the character’s other identity early on, if they want the twist to make an impact later.

Honestly, this is the least “guided” 5e official adventure I’ve read so far. Several sections feel more like a programming flowchart than a story: IF the characters do “X”, THEN “Y” happens. Okay, that’s not uncommon for an adventure. But with most adventures, those are just side events to a mostly linear story. This adventure feels like nothing but a collection of flowcharts. You could probably play this one 100 times and get entirely different stories, but some DMs are going to feel lost running it.

Another thing I’m wondering about. As always, the book gives the layouts of several castles and lairs, with dozens of rooms in each. But since this is such a low combat module, I wonder if players will be as thorough about searching every room. With no need to “clear out this level”, I wonder how many PCs will head straight for their objective and miss some of the more interesting roleplay encounters.

Bottom line? I... don't know. I'm still lost. I'm not the best judge of an adventure anyway, but usually I can at least tell if I like a module after I read it. But this one really depends on DM and the players. It subverts the average adventure in so many ways, I can't tell what it will feel like to play it. It feels like an experiment, like they're testing the waters for more pacifist-friendly adventures.

I don't know if I want to run it, but I would definitely like to play it sometime. The good news is, with all those variables I mentioned, I don't think having already read it will spoil it for me.