Wild Beyond the Witchlight Begins with a Perfect 5E D&D Halloween Opening

Wild Beyond the Witchlight is the newest book for fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons and it has the most Studio Ghibli vibes I’ve seen in any book from Wizards of the Coast. Think Spirited Away for this one. Wild Beyond the Witchlight comes at the perfect time as it offers some major creepy carnival vibes. This 5E D&D adventure absolutely embraces everything witchy and spooky about the Feywild. When I tell you one of the best parts of the book is in the beginning, it’s no trick — this section is a treat.

Something lost

I love how Wild Beyond the Witchlight dives right into the ethereal nature of the Feywild, embracing those Grimm Brothers story beats by having the main villains in the Feywild as hags. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — hags are my favorite monster in the Monster Manual. The introduction for this 5E D&D adventure leans into exactly why I love hags and find them so truly frightening. See, these hags have set up the premise for the campaign by stealing something from the players.

But there’s a twist.

The thing that’s lost isn’t something so paltry as a replaceable trinket or gold. No, this is something precious to the character like your character’s ability to keep secrets or their artistic creativity. These give me massive vibes like something from Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle. [NERDITOR’S NOTE: Or our own Scarlet Sisterhood!]

Of course, this thing lost by the characters was taken by one of three hags, each who rules their own section of the Feywild broken up into sections entitled Hither, Thither, and Yon. I love this.

As if the chapter titles and hags weren’t flavorful enough we get a small table outlining a minor curse your character suffers from, a curse which changes in nature depending on the hag who stole from you. The one about not being able to tie or untie knots with a nonmagical rope can get particularly interesting, if you want to have a scene like in Curse of Strahd where the villain taunts the characters and you need them to sit still and not kill something long enough for your villain to monologue.

We’ve got a couple of ideas here at Nerdarchy on running hags and let me tell you, this is one of the best places to include this advice, as the hags are all I hoped they would be. Leaning into the ethereal nature of things stolen from the characters is a brilliant way to set the stage for what happens next — the Witchlight Carnival.

Something found

Alternatively, if your players prefer hard mode, or if they don’t like the idea of recovering something lost to them, then an alternative introduces a warlock patron for the party. Wait. I said that wrong.

See, your players aren’t necessarily warlocks in this alternative. Instead, they get a patron, a benefactor, as those who hire characters running an Acquisitions Incorporated-style game.

In this scenario, the warlock is the patron, and he needs you to use a crossing into the Feywild to find his actual warlock patron. And of course, where is this crossing into the Feywild? The Witchlight Carnival.

What’s especially interesting and engaging about this option is that (much like the first option for beginning the adventure) your character had an encounter as a child.

In this case, the encounter was not necessarily with the Witchlight Carnival, but instead, it is with a woman matching the warlock patron’s description.

Vibrant colors and vivid darkness

Setting the stage for the beginning adventure in Wild Beyond the Witchlight we meet the titular carnival, which has set up to perform near your characters’ starting point, presumably in the mortal world. The adventure prompts characters having a history with the carnival, though I think it’s just as interesting to interrupt an ongoing campaign with this unexpected faerie fair.

If you’re not keen on either of the ideas presented in the book for backgrounds you can always borrow from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. This adventure easily accommodates horror backgrounds.

Either way the Witchlight Carnival is a prime opportunity to come up with all sorts of zany attractions for your characters to encounter. You might include some minigames or possibly let the characters explore the carnival and meet some vibrant and/or menacing NPCs.

What’s really interesting is you can absolutely have the characters exploring the Witchlight Carnival with minigames and meeting NPCs for a fun Halloween one shot then have them return to the carnival at a later time if your game doesn’t readily accommodate an excursion into the Feywild waiting beyond the crossing at the Witchlight Carnival.

Wait a minute! That’s why it’s called the Wild Beyond the Witchlight! I didn’t miss the title until just now. You can’t prove it.

What do you think?

At any rate, let us know if you’re running Wild Beyond the Witchlight or another 5E D&D Feywild campaign. What spooky plans do you have in store for your D&D group? Whatever your thoughts, drop us a comment and a like. Feel free to tweet @Nerdarchy on Twitter and be sure to connect with us on Facebook!

*Featured image — The arrival of the Witchlight Carnival is a highly anticipated event. [Witchlight Carnival by Katerina Ladon]

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